Side note: Aaron and I celebrated our own little Christmas before we left. We left our house in utter chaos. So after work and our Christmas, we headed up to Maryland to stay with my Grandpa for the night since we were flying out of Baltimore Sunday morning. We were in a rush so that we could get there in time for dinner, which we were late to anyway, thanks to our GPS and making pit stops at Eric and Darien's and REI.
Anyways, so we flew out of Baltimore Sunday morning and we made it to Houston by the afternoon. Because the plan was to work the whole week at my parent's office until we went to Mexico on Saturday, we celebrated Christmas a whole week early. My parents sent Colby to pick us up at the airport so Santa came while he was gone. :) Here I am sneaking a peek at Santa's gift - Kindle Fires for all of us. Way to go Santa. Seriously though, wasn't I spoiled enough the week before?? Anyways, we opened up gifts and had a grand ole time and enjoyed our tasty Christmas dinner courtesy of Kristy Crabtree. The whole following week, we worked at my parent's office or in Aaron's case, he shadowed orthodontists and met with the orthodontic program director in Houston. So basically a week full of dentistry in some fashion.
On Friday, the day before we are to leave for Mexico, we brought our passports to work with us so we could all check in for our flights and make sure that was done. I start logging in to the United website and I open my passport and I realize that it's my OLD passport. I could go on and on about how stupid it is to keep my old passport in my maiden name in the same file as my current passport but we won't go there. (For the record, I have my old passport because it has all my Europe stamps in it and I don't want to trash it, but now it is clearly marked as the OLD PASSPORT). I swear I checked that it was the right one before we left Richmond but remember we were rushing to get to Grandpa's for dinner? Anyways, it was 2pm on Friday, December 23rd and we were leaving the next morning for Mexico at like 9am and my passport was in Richmond, Virginia. I called our apartment complex - they were out and wouldn't let anyone else in to our place so my next option was having my brother drive 100mph to downtown Houston to the passport office. When I got there, they said they couldn't get me a new passport until Monday. We were supposed to go to Chichen-Itza on Monday!! Aaron was determined to get me there, so while we were driving in a frenzy around Houston, he started calling locksmiths in Richmond. Most wouldn't let anyone in besides us, but finally he found one who would go in with our friends. (Special props to our friends, Josh and Emily Gibbons, over and over again for helping us!) So we had the locksmith break in, had Josh and Emily go in our messy apartment (remember the rush?), and find my real passport. Then we were in contact with FedEx who would pick up the Passport at our friends' house and ship it to Houston. This whole part was pretty touch and go because Richmond is not the most accessible airport in the US. The passport was supposed to change planes and arrive in Houston super late on Friday night. Since we were flying out early the following morning, we just left early for the airport and headed over the US Airways cargo hoping it was actually there. I spoke to someone on the phone who confirmed that it was but you never know until you see it. Especially since some USAir employees insisted there wouldn't be anyone there. Luckily we found it and the passport was there! Crisis averted! Of course all of this cost about $350 - $125 for the locksmith and $225 for the express shipping. Shockingly enough though, our credit card was never charged for the shipment! Thanks to whoever managed that at fedex - we love you.
So after that it was pretty smooth sailing, we boarded our plane to Mexico and could finally breathe. We were picked up at the airport and Colby stayed at the airport to wait for his girlfriend Talyn, who was flying in from SLC. The rest of us went to the our condo, complete with rooftop oasis and plunge pool and then headed to the MEGA store for some groceries. We celebrated Christmas Eve with dinner and walking the streets of Playa Del Carmen.
On Christmas Day we played it pretty low key. We went to the beach and got spots at a beach club where we would drink tropical drinks, play games, and in my case, listen to Bossypants by Tina Fey (she's a genius). I guess there was some ocean frolicking as well. We got dressed up this evening and went to dinner at nice place since it was Christmas and all.
The following day was our day OUT. We had a number of things on our agenda and we had our own bus driver and tour guide to boot. Our first stop was per our request - we wanted to see a traditional Mayan market. So we stopped in this little town and were amazed! Fruits and veggies everywhere! Colby wanted to make some food that he learned how to make on his mission so he and my mom were off gathering ingredients while the rest of us wandered around and soaked up the atmosphere.
Our next stop was Chichen Itza! It was so HOT outside and there was a lot of standing and walking involved. This is where Aaron and I got struck with Monteczuma's Revenge. We spent a considerable amount of time in the bathroom while everyone else went to the observatory.
After replenshing our fluids with some gatorade, we were ready for the next stop - a cenote! Cenotes are underground caverns filled with water and are perfect for swimming. Unfortunately Monteczuma wasn't quite done with the Lairds yet so we were a little late to the swimming activities. We had fun though and enjoyed taking pictures with my dad's underwater camera.
Next stop was lunch! We ended up at what looked like the Mexican version of a mall foodcourt where we got some delicious tacos. I chose chicken instead of pork just because I've never been a huge fan of pork and mine came with fried plantains. I ate those things up and ordered another round just for good measure. Yum! We also got to walk around the little town and explore some of the history.
After lunch, our next stop was the Ek Balam pyramids. We got there just before they closed and got to walk up and down the two pyramids. As you can see, us ladies chose to scoot our way down instead of walk - those steps were steep!! Finally we made the long drive back to our condo. It was quite a day!
The following day we took it easy again and made it a beach day. This was also the day we got to experience Mexican medicine first hand. My poor dad, who is probably the healthiest, fittest man in his mid-50s you'll ever meet, started to come down with Shingles on his face before we left. We weren't 100% sure but after a few days and some strategic googling, we confirmed shingles. By Tuesday, after confirmed googling, we decided to call the our concierge-guy who hooked us up with a doctor who does house calls. A nice Mexican doctor came over, complete with his doctor bag, confirmed it was shingles, handed my dad acyclovir, they exchanged money and he went on his merry way. So fast and so easy. Dad also acquired the nickname "Captain Shingles." We spent the rest of the day on the beach and then we got to go parasailing! I loved parasailing in Costa Rica and so I was happy we all got to do it this time and with our significant others. I think we recruited Colby to make our dinner this night since he learned how to make Mexican food in California.
Wednesday was the day of Xcaret (pronounced eesh-carette?). Talyn referred to this as "Mexican Disneyland" and I have to agree, except definitely not as cool. When we arrived, we were herded to obtain our snorkels and gear and then put everything away, including cameras. My dad's waterproof camera was dead and even though the charger was packed, it wasn't locatable the night before. Anyways, we "snorkeled" through a "river/cave" that was clearly manmade and super weird. We were supposed to be able to see fish and marine wildlife, but I would say the number of fish we saw totaled around 5 for about 30 minutes of "snorkeling" through the "river/cave." (Is is obvious how I felt about this activity?). So after that I was turned off by this whole Xcaret idea because, seriously, what kind of company claims to be earth friendly but then pushes people through that crap? I digress. We found a spot on the rocks/beach to chill and then Dad, Aaron, Colby, and Talyn went snorkeling in the bay. There were more fish in this location as I would discover later that afternoon. Anyways, Xcaret had some animals, some Mayan village replicas, among other "mexican" artifacts and activities. So we spent the day going back and forth between water activties and walking around through the mexican stuff. We also had lunch at a buffet - which I think we all had a love/hate relationship with. In the late afternoon, we changed back into dry clothes and headed over to the show. Oh boy, the SHOW! Our tour guide on Monday told us that Xcaret was the park to go to (over 2 other similar parks in the area) because of the show. He said it was the best. So we booked up dinner seats and ate while we watched a 2 hour spectacle of Mexican culture. It was fabulously well done and it was heart warming to see how much pride the Mexicans have in their country. Pictures below...
Our final full day in Mexico was spent hanging out. Captain Shingles wasn't feeling so great, especially after a crazy day at Xcaret, so we all opted to stay in and hang out and play games. I think we at least went out and ate dinner, but other than that, just some good quality family time.
Our last day was mainly getting to the airport - the lines were excruciatingly long, but we made it with our bags intact. Once we got back to Houston, we went back to my parent's house for about 2 hours and then we had to head to the other airport in Houston where we were to catch our flight to Baltimore (PS I am so DONE flying out of Baltimore :). We arrived around midnight, Grandpa picked us up and then we dropped him off at his house. Aaron drove all the way back to Richmond while I was able to sleep on and off. I think we made it back around 3am, and I made it to work around 10am that morning! We had so much fun, and mad props to my parents for making Christmas memorable. They ARE AWESOME.
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