Mexico Day 2 - Settling in

 What a beautiful day! We all slept surprisingly late this morning, considering our sleeping arraignments. When we woke up James and David took most of the kids into town to find breakfast but Will could not wait to hit the pool. I wasn't ready to swim, not without the chance to shower afterwards, but it was very nice to sit by the pool and read on my kindle. I also met a very nice man who gave me some advice about dealing with the police and some great ideas for local attractions. 

Will's morning swim

My view this morning

After breakfast we packed up the room and it was during this that I discovered I had lost my reading kindle! I am very sad because I have a lot of books on there and was hoping to read a lot on this trip. As I was lamenting to James about losing all my books on the very first day Christian interrupted without much sympathy, "No mom, this is the SECOND day". That did little to assuage my sadness. (I feel bad about complaining about something so small, especially when we are so blessed to be here and surrounded by so much beauty, but I am right in the middle of a good book!!)

Will hiding from me so he can read instead of pack

Sunset Fishermen Beach Resort

David the luggage shepherd

We had four hours to kill between checking out of our first room and checking into our room for the week so we decided to walk into town and find some lunch. Immediately across from our hotel is a small Mayan ruin and we right away ran into an iguana sunning itself there. 

Exploring

Iguana - Will's picture

Iguana on the ruin - Will's picture

On the ruins outside our hotel

Xander

As we explored more we also found an agouti but couldn't get a picture because Christian was determined to pet it. He is very excited about seeing different animals in the wild! Although as we continued down the sidewalk a sunning iguana surprised him with a hiss and really made him jump! We saw more ruins on our road and quite a few iguanas and agoutis. They are as common as squirrels and chipmunks at home. 

Flowers

Flowers on the road

Ruins

Ruins with a roof

It was about a mile into town and very hot. We were all hungry but the first restaurant we came across was fast food hamburger joint and we wanted something more Mexican so we kept looking. We passed a lot of little stores and in one of them Christian stopped to buy a shirt. The salesman told him it was $10, Christian offered $5, and the man sold it to him for $8USD. He did a great job!

We did a little more shopping as we walked, David found a wallet and Jon found a cool mask. We also found some needed sandals for Xander and Christian. All of the sandals hanging in the shop had two prices, one in dollars and one in pesos. The price in US dollars changed from between $25 to $35 depending on the style and size. But the price in pesos was 160 for every single pair. 100 pesos is about $5 so you can get really overcharged if you don't have pesos on you!

Jon's new mask

Our search for good Mexican food was not very fruitful. We did find three street taco stands which looked and smelled delicious and each had a long line of locals. We do want to try them one day but today it was too hot to deal with the lack of seating, air conditioning, and bathrooms, especially on a day with a long walk home. So we ended up back at the burger joint. On the way back we walked through a beautiful open air mall with trees and hanging flowers. Camille would have loved it!

Open air mall

Xander's Batman burger

After lunch we headed home and ran into another iguana in another set of ruins. Christian also found a ripe coconut on the ground which he is very excited to try. Instead of sticking to the street though we walked back along the beach and enjoyed getting our feet wet in the warm water. 

David by the ruins

Excited by the iguana

He kept raising his head, we didn't know why

Lizard on the wall

Xander

Xander, Will, and Jon

Walking home

Xander and Will

Back at the hotel the boys immediately jumped into the pool while we got checked in to our new room. Once we got all that settled the adults joined the kids in the pool for a bit before we all went for a dip in the ocean. It was so warm! And very calm, there were hardly any waves but we still had a blast playing in the water. 

Boys in the pool

We have two large adjoining rooms and three balconies! David has his own room, James and I have a separate bedroom, and the kids are all camped out in our living room. It looks like it is going to work out pretty well, one of the kids is going to have to sleep on cushions but they'll all take turns so it won't be too bad. Our bedroom balcony has a good view of the ocean and the other two overlook the pool. It is really gorgeous here! And so wonderful to relax. 

Christian's new shirt