Cancun: a busy city with a really nice airport. They have the cleanest bathrooms I've ever seen in an airport! But, there are "vultures" out the back door, in the form of a pool of taxi drivers and sales people trying to sway you to buy tours.
Mr and Mrs Stok-es: Apparently this is us, in a spanish accent. Mr and Mrs Ashley: hahaha.. this one was funny. Somehow, the room got booked in my name.... which was my maiden name b/c that's the name on my passport... so Robbie had to get used to being Mr. Ashley from time to time.
Aventura Spa Palace: a gorgeous, all-inclusive, adult only, 81 acre resort. Worth it! The resort is located about an hour south of Cancun. There was a mini fridge in our room filled with juices and sodas and water. Robbie loved it. He called it the magic refrigerator b/c it seemed to fill back up almost every time we left the room. There was a hammock on the balcony and a jacuzi in our room big enough for 2!
el gato: we looked off our balcony and there was a calico cat walking into the small forest thing between our buildings. I saw the cat again a few days later while on a photo journey and I tried to pet it. I said, "here kitty kitty"...it didn't come to me. Then I thought, it's not called "kitty" in Mexico. So, I said, "here gato, gato". It still didn't come to me, so I just kept walking.
Cozumel Palace: the coolest thing about staying at a Palace resort is that you are banded with a Palace wrist band. And it's good at ANY Palace resort. So, we took a ferry across from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel... fought a whole BUNCH of "vultures" (selling tours, cars, jeeps, scooters) to get a cab and took it to the Cozumel Palace, where we were greeted like guests there and we had the same amenities we had at our own resort. We walked through the building, across the back deck and out into the ocean to snorkel! Snorkel: (the Mexican men trying to sell you packages pronounce this "HHnorkel") a favorite past time of ours these days. I had a very hard time being convinced to step off the rock and into the water at Cozumel. The water was very deep and I had already watched Robbie slip off the rock. He kept saying, "Just push off and start swimming. Don't try to step off or jump"(as if I would). I didn't think I could do it, then I looked down at the water around my knees and there were beautiful fish all around me... I said (through my snorkel which I would not take out of my mouth anywhere near the deep water) "Look at the pretty fishes..." Robbie said, "Yeah and they want you to come swim with them." I looked at him, the fish, then said, "OKay" and pushed right off and I didn't come back! Then it started to rain and we had to get out of the water.
Senor Frog's: a crazy restaurant in Playa del Carmen just at the ferry dock on 5th Avenue. The waiters play tricks on people (like tickling their ears with really long straws), joke with you, throw a giant stuffed frog in your lap and a sombrero on your head and take pictures of you. Good food, great fun, right on the ocean in Playa delCarmen. We actually ran out of money!! We only had enough to get us a cab ride home, so we had to make a plan to go back another day to Sr. Frogs to get our souvenir photo in the frame. Cesar: probably the best bell boy who ever existed. He helped us find our room, moved our rooms for us when the AC didn't work (he even went and got us new keys so we didn't have to go back to the lobby). He also kept Robbie company when he went to smoke outside the North lobby and gave him advice on where we should go to find a beach and snorkeling. Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of him. We looked for him our last day there to get one (thinking we would see him while we waited for our shuttle), but he was either off or just helping another couple.
Vehiculo: On the second day, we rented a Jeep at Cesar's advice. It was nice to have the freedom to come/go as we pleased. It was definitely interesting... especially with the meter system and the strange "Policia" stations. Which leads us to "Tope", pronounced "Toe pay" (See below). We also took a wrong turn or 2 which involved getting told by fast moving little men, "Retorno, retorno!" Tope: we think this means "speed bump". Robbie hit one while accelerating and I truly thought my boobs jarred off my body.
Retorno: turn around.
Akumal Beach: a very beautiful beach with turquiose colored water and white sand... gorgeous. There were supposedly sea turtles off shore that you could swim out to see (about a 15 min swim over sea grass....wasn't gonna happen) or someone could take you out in a small boat and you could get off the boat and snorkel. Somehow, I could not convince myself to do this, and Robbie was disappointed. But, Robbie makes friends everywhere we go. He befriended another swimmer that told him about a lagoon nearby.
Yal-ku: an "eco-park" with a fresh water lagoon that mixes with the ocean/salt water. We saw some of the most gorgeous fish here in fairly deep water with coral and rocks. You couldn't wear sunscreen in the lagoon b/c they didn't want "the oils" to kill their fish. So Robbie had to wear a shirt. I had put on sunscreen about 2-3 hours before and I had sweated a lot, so I went ahead and got in. I do wish I had had some bug spray... Mexican Skeeters are MEAN! Panic attack: Kim had a panic attack in the lagoon... somehow, I kept taking water into my goggles around my nose. I could blow it out once, maybe twice, then I would freak out. This ended with me screaming at Robbie while holding onto the front of his shirt for dear life, trying not to "drink the water". We were in water well over our heads. Somehow, Robbie got louder than me and set me straight... then I was fine again, following the fish.
Playa del Carmen: a neat city 20 mins north of our hotel. We went there a few times to shop, catch the ferry and ultimately to get back to Senor Frog's to get our wonderful photo frame. This is how we found out that driving in the dark in Mexico is confusing as all get out. There is no sign that says, "one way". There are no lane dividing lines on the road. There may be 1-3 lanes at any time with no evidence of such except for the cars that are dodging in and out around you and the cars behind you are beeping constantly. It took a big fight, the Mexican ghetto, Robbie talking asking directions from a woman on a dark corner (i was a little concerned), an hour of driving in circles on Juarez Avenue, the low fuel light coming on and an empty stomach for us to work together to find 5th avenue and the shops leading to the restaurant. But we found it... and somehow we parked for 2 hours in a parking lot for 10 pesos ($1 US). I real think he was confused.
Tulum: an ancient Mayan ruin we never got to see b/c of tropical rains. A couple of hard downpours with heavy wind and Robbie was convinced my flip flops would not do to carry me another 1/4mile to the actual site. So, we stopped instead at some little shops and had some authenic mexican food, cokes and then headed back to the Palace for our afternoon massages. Mucho gusto: Commonly known as a phrase used in greeting. See this interaction in English: "Hello, my name is Kim. What is your name? Robbie? Nice to meet you!" In Spanish: "Hola, me llamo es Kim. Como se llama? Robbie? Mucho gusto!" ... but no, where does my husband use this phrase? During his first ever massage.... when he wants to tell the girl how good what she is massaging feels. Instead of saying, "muy bien" (very good), he says, "mucho gusto"... which brought some laughter from my side of the room. He also asked for 2 divorces during the trip. He wanted to divorce me for his massage therapist, then he wanted to ditch me for his pedicure lady. He is such a mess!! Of course, I said, "No honey! You're stuck with me!"
Mi Corozon: Robbie's term of affection for me. It literally means, "my heart"... too cute. We had a great time and each day, i had a special card from Robbie celebrating our anniversary (it will be our real anniversary in about a month). He was too cute. He even gave me the cutest stuffed Elephant (his name is Winks). So, there are a BUNCH more pictures and a MUCHO stories, but I'm gonna stop now. Please check out the full album of
pictures. 
