Graduation Vacation in Riviera Maya

To celebrate my MPH, Jake and I headed south to Cancun for 8 days of relaxing in Riviera Maya. It was our first time going the large resort, all-inclusive route. It had its perks and its downfalls, but ultimately, we got in our needed R&R and the Caribbean was nothing short of stunning. Here are a few photos from our trip:

Local wildlife

Iguanas everywhere--we even got to see a fight at the pool one day

Coatimundi & babies: related to the raccoon, but WAY cuter

Cenote swimming & snorkeling day

[cenote: a deep natural pit or sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatan Peninsula and some nearby Caribbean islands, cenotes were sometimes used by the Maya for sacrificial offerings. Thank you, wikipedia.]

If you've heard me talk about my stressful experience canoeing in a cave in Belize (after turning off our battery powered light to establish how profoundly dark it was in said cave, our guide thought a crocodile hit the bottom of our boat... and then decided it would be a good idea to row back to look for it. Ugh. Turns out there was not a croc in the water, but I swear I sprouted gray hairs during that 60 seconds of terror). Anyway, since then I've sworn up and done that I would never go back into a cave. Well, this time I decided to swim in one instead. C'est la vie. It was actually really cool and only a little bit creepy(you just have to ignore the bats flying about 2 feet above your head and the areas where the cave is so deep you can no longer see the bottom). 

Hubs cliff jumping. I participated in the zipline portion of the activities, but there was no way I was jumping off that thing. 

Caribbean sunshine

Until next time! We're already dreaming up our next adventure... :)