So, this Christmas brought a travel first for me. I went to Mexico! Yes, it’s almost strange to admit I’ve never been since I was in San Diego for so long but it’s a fact. Of course, when I went to Otay Mesa during my Kaiser residency days, I was almost in Mexico. Early in the morning, I would worry about being too tired and missing my exit and ending up in Mexico instead of work. That would make me late.
We went to Mexico with SMS’s family and had a really great time at an all-inclusive. We went to Royal Hideaway Playacar, which was really nice. I did some TripAdvisor reading beforehand and wasn’t too sure about the place but ultimately, it was wonderful. It is clear that there some people on TripAdvisor who are just never going to be happy.
On vacation, I read a lot and hung out at the beach. It was delightful. Linda and I did water aerobics one day, which featured great music and a slightly less great, but enthusiastic, instructor. The food was really delicious and the portion sizes were perfect. I would say most meals came out with a proper serving (aka, enough but not too much food), which was great because wasting food was minimal. I feel that sometimes, all-inclusives (not that I’ve been to many) can serve large quantities to make people feel that they are getting more when really, it just leads to excess- in the belly and in the trash.
I went for two runs and SMS and I went for a walk on the beach. It was really beautiful- wide, fine-sand beaches with clear blue water.
One day, the four “kids” went to Tulum, Dos Ojos cenote, and Cosme’s Taqueria for lunch. Tulum was really beautiful. The sun-bleached stone ruins were gorgeous and we learned a lot (but not too much:) from our guide. Hiring a guide was definitely a good idea because the context definitely made the viewing more interesting. Afterwards, thanks to the magic of our smartphones, we found Cosme’s taqueria which was a small spot that served up delicious tacos. It was a great find and definitely different than the polished all-inclusive or tourist trap restaurants outside of the Tulum ruins.
After lunch, we went to the “Dos Ojos” cenote, which was awesome because I had really wanted to go to a cenote after following the hashtag on Instagram for the last several months. There are some beautiful looking ones closer to Chichen Itza, which we passed on because we didn’t want to drive all day. But there are some along the coast and Dos Ojos is really pretty. There are two separate cenotes, a dark and light “eye,” with a connecting tunnel that I think you could get through without SCUBA gear but I wasn’t going to try.
After 5 days, it was time to head back to California. SMS and I returned our rental car, which was cheaper than a shuttle and gave us flexibility to go to Tulum without booking an overpriced tour. But it was a little bit of a hassle so there was definitely a trade-off.
Back in California, we moved apartments from Mountain View to Menlo Park. Goodbye orange tree in the front yard! Our place in Mountain View was really nice but the commute for Mark’s new job was anything but so…we moved to Menlo Park. The location of the new apartment is great and it’s fun to be near a new downtown to explore.
We spent New Year’s Eve in downtown San Francisco with friends. We went to a 1920’s themed party (flappers and Great Gatsby, not suicidal bankers after the crash of 1929). Our friend had organized a get-together of several people so it was very easy and a lot of fun.
Then it was New Year’s Day! SMS and I started out the new year with avocado toast and good coffee so that was a delicious start. We went to a Australian coffee shop, Bluestone Lane, in SF. I would definitely like to go back and someday, we will get to Australia proper!