Butterflies and Cancún!

Some of my favorite days in Mexico...

Last weekend my friend Kim came up from Cuernavaca on Sunday, and she and Anne-Marie and I rented a car (!) and drove to the next state over, Michoacán, to visit a monarch butterfly sanctuary. Strange, you might think, but incredible.

I got to drive, which was awesome and super liberating, and really made me feel like Mexico is my (temporary) home... crazy how having a car for a 24-hour period can do that to you... So about 2.5 hours after we left our house, we arrived at the butterfly sanctuary and began the climb/trek to the top of a hill where the butterflies congregate... They migrate to Mexico every year for their reproduction process, and then return to their homes in the US and Canada once it starts to warm up. As we climbed, we saw a few butterflies, but nothing like people had described to us. Once we got closer to the top, however, we were overwhelmed with how stinkin' many butterflies were fluttering (and in that quantity, buzzing) around. I'm putting a few pics up here, but it's so hard to understand without being there... I highly recommend the experience. On the walk back down, after thanking God for such an awesome sight, we got to eat some num nums, mole poblano, some nopales... deeelicious!

Theeeen... as if life couldn't get any better. I had a great week at school, the students were pretty participative, and I was looking forward to my weekend in CANCUN with my mom and sister...

I met them in Cancún on Thursday afternoon, and it was SO good to see them both... it felt like it had been a really long time since Christmas. We were picked up by our hotel's shuttle, and we made our way to the zona hotelera on a strip on the Caribbean... our hotel was nice, the people were too, a little pushy perhaps, but it was to be expected. We had a nice room, a nice view with a deck that walked out to the pool/beach... it was great. Friday it rained, lame, so we ended up at the high-end mall... our most glorious find there was the aquarium, with specimens from the local waters... I tell you, I really missed my calling to be a marine biologist. The three of us were duly fascinated. That afternoon we ended up closer to our hotel, walking along the beach, relaxing, reading, chatting, catching up, laughing... there was a lot of laughter. To be expected.

Saturday was our favorite day... after some runaround in the morning, we found a catamaran that would take us to nearby Isla Mujeres and some other places for a relatively fair fee... We hopped on the boat and promptly began soaking up the rays... the first stop was snorkeling through the reef, which really felt like a lazy river, with the current just pushing us along as we swam through schools of angel fish. Next we made it to the actual island, walked around for a bit, felt harrassed by some of the vendors... then back on the boat, over to our lunch site, a delicious buffet, then back on the boat heading back to Cancún, where we were pleasantly surprised by the next activity-what they called the Spinnaker. It was basically a huge sail with a rope attached to it that you sat on as the wind blew you around-- a huge swing. It was SO fun. All three of us ladies did it-awesome.

Sunday we got a bit of a late start, due to me not feeling 100%, but that left plenty of pool/book time... That afternoon we made it over to downtown Cancún, to the market area... we got a few good deals, thanks to my Spanish... I actually heard people saying, "Oh, she speaks Spanish, give her a better deal..." Who knows if that was another tactic, but it was relatively satisfying. Shopping really wears me out, especially that kind of shopping... some of the vendors (mostly men) don't really get how to sell to people like us... not accosting us is probably a good start. Oh well.

Monday was our last day, so we took advantage of the shuttle and water taxi our hotel has with 2 of its partner hotels... they were definitely swankier, so we enjoyed their beaches and views for a bit before heading back to the airport... and it was over! The weekend sped by, but it was a blast! SO good to see part of my fam, and to feel rejuvinated after being with them, making plans for the future, etc., reminding myself about the bigger picture. And it was also kind of them to stock me up on books and Trader Joe's items :)

Now back to the grind for a few weeks before my next big adventure... more on that later!

besos~