On the 4th Day of the Mexico Vacation for My True Love and Me

Sunday November 8 was our 4th day of vacation in Mexico. We were delighted to wake up to another beautiful day! I never tired of the view from our hotel room's balcony: 

We went down to have breakfast in the hotel's buffet restaurant, and I noticed in the foyer (which was right next to the restaurant room) that the tall statue with the water feature had live turtles swimming around in its base. I don't know why I never stopped to look at that before, but I loved watching them. There was one turtle that was stuck on its back, and we watched as it struggled to finally make it over onto it's toes. They were so cute!

We'd originally planned on going to church services that morning after breakfast, but the previous day as we were being driven by our tour guide towards Tulum, we passed the church building and realized just how far away it was (as in about 4-5 miles) from our hotel. We didn't have a lot of funds left, and weren't sure how much it would cost for 2 taxi rides (there and back), so we decided to skip going. Instead, I planned for us to have a professional photography session on site at our hotel, which Josh was NOT looking forward to in the slightest! I don't think Josh and I have had a professional photo session with just the two of us since our wedding, which was over 17 years ago!! Our photographer asked us to both wear white, so we'd gone shopping 2 days prior to find what we wanted to wear for the session.  It lasted about 45 minutes, and the photographer had us take shots around different locations by the hotel. We started close to the hotel, and did the beach shots last. I really wanted more beach shots, but the reflection was so bad because of the bright sun that day, that both our eyes were watering, and we didn't get a lot of good photos due to our squinty eyes. We did get some keepers, though; 

Handsome birthday boy

This one is our favorite

Our poor eyes!

I loved this beach!!

At the very end of the session, he had us laying in the sand, with Josh on his tummy, and me leaning/laying on top of Josh. It was so awkward! And sand got ALL over us, which made Josh super upset--he was already mad because our photo session went longer than 30 minutes like we were told it would be and his eyes were hurting! So after the photo session, we took a shower to wash off the sand and changed clothes again, but the photo session put him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. We decided to go walking down Quinta Avenida one more time, to get a few more souvenirs for the boys. The streets were a lot less busy in the pre-lunch hours (the other day we'd walked it later in the afternoon). It was a nice stroll for us, and since we were already accustomed to their sales techniques, we didn't fall prey to them again. Except this time, we decided to try a massage session, after the masseuse girls both started massaging our necks and upper backs on the street. It was only $40 for a 70-minute session for both of us, which is way cheaper than it is in the U.S. It ended up being one of our favorite things we did in Mexico!! It was calming and soothing for both of us: I was SOOO sore from the previous day's experience with rappelling, and Josh was irritated with the morning's events. It was the best massage either one of us have ever had, and was such a treat!! Afterwards, we walked a little further down the street to get the souvenirs we had in mind, then we walked down a side street to get to a public beach access. We heard that the locals love to go to the beach on Sundays, and we wanted to get a real feel for the area. On our way, we passed the most beautiful trees!

Doesn't Josh look so relaxed after the massage? And a bit shiny, too--they used
a lot of massage oil on us!!

When we got to the public beach near the center of town, we walked along and observed all the people. It was definitely different than hanging out on our beach with vacationers. I didn't take any photos, though, because I didn't want to be an intrusive tourist. After we got back to our hotel, we took showers AGAIN because all that massage oil felt sticky. I took a few photos of the front of our hotel when we first got there; I've never stayed at a hotel without a front door before. When you first arrive, there's a giant hut awning, and you walk up a few steps and you're suddenly inside. A lot of the buildings in that city didn't have front walls or doors--which was totally unusual for me. But because of the heat and humidity, there's no need I guess. Plus, nearly business has security guards for that reason.

I loved these perfectly manicured trees at the hotel's entrance with their
braided trunks. I've never seen a tree like this before!

This is the front of the hotel's foyer (with the statue and water
feature I mentioned earlier). On the right side is the check-in
desk, on the left is the restaurant (which does have doors), you
can see the indoor bar's TV on the far left, and on the far right
is a gift store and tour guide office.

This is the view inside of the foyer looking to the outside where the large hut
awning protects cars from the rain as they drop patrons off, and shields
against the sun's rays from heating the foyer too much. 

After our shower, we had lunch at the buffet restaurant, then changed into our beach clothes. By this time, our beach was pretty full, so we spent a lot of time by the pool that afternoon. They always had activities going on in the hotel, and around the pool, and it was fun to people-watch while Josh read his book. And we both drank a lot of virgin frozen Mango Daiquiries again of course!

We saw several para-sailers on the ocean from our hotel. I totally want to
try doing this next time we go to Mexico!

By early evening, the beach was clearing up, so we went out and swam for a bit in the water and laid in chairs along the beach. It was so relaxing! We were trying to soak up as much enjoyment as possible on our last full day in Mexico. As it got later, and darker, we had a hard time agreeing on what to do for dinner. I wanted to eat at an authentic restaurant, but none were super close, and Josh didn't want to spend money on a taxi or a big meal. I didn't want to just eat at the buffet restaurant for our last meal. After having a stupid argument over it, Josh went back to the hotel room, and I took a solo walk along the beach until it was dark. Then I decided that I was just going to go ahead to a restaurant myself. I walked about three quarters of a mile, then took a taxi the remainder distance to get to El Fogon (the restaurant that our local professional photographer had recommended). It was another 3-sided right next to a busy road, and even though it was late on Sunday night, it was a happening place! I waited just a few minutes on the sidewalk until there was an open table.

None of the workers spoke English, and I only recognized a few words on the menu. I still don't really know what I ordered!! But, I did order Horchata, and was SO excited to have the opportunity to finally have one! The hotel didn't have any, and the milk in Mexico was disgusting (all warm and creamy-tasting), and I was tired of having juice and pop all the time (I never tired of the Mango Daiquiri drink, but I wanted to have something else, too), and I NEVER drank the water. When they brought the Horchata out, I was delighted, and I loved that it was in a large goblet, too, because it made it feel more fancy. I drank it so slowly, as to enjoy every sip!

I couldn't believe the amount of food that came with my meal, and I wasn't even sure what to do with it all! On the plate under the foil was small tortillas, so I topped meat and sauce and veggies on each tortilla and ate it. It was very good, but I surprisingly got full very fast. It was a fabulous meal for only $12!!

As I sat there in the restaurant alone, I was right next to the meat cutter's station. It was fascinating watching him cut meat and cheese off the blocks suspended on a metal rod from the metal hood. I loved the energy in this restaurant: the workers were busy and talkative, the customers seemed happy,  and some type of Mexican NBA was being shown on a large TV in the center of the room. I enjoyed the whole experience of eating at this authentic restaurant, and I was sad I didn't get to share it with Josh. But I did take him the leftover meat and tortillas for him to try!

I used all my remaining dollars and pesos to get a taxi-ride back to the hotel. When I got to the hotel room, I couldn't find my room card. It must've gotten lost in the taxi or on my walk, and Josh wasn't in the room or answering his phone, so I went to the front desk and got another. Josh arrived about a half hour after me. He'd walked down Quinta Avenida again, and went to Senor Frog's. But it was also super busy there, so he didn't order a meal because the tables were full. He just got a drink, and then walked back to the hotel. He was happy that I'd gotten him some food. We sat on the deck of our hotel until it was well past bed time, sad that our last full day in Mexico had come to an end.