Cozumel - So Far

Cozumel, Mexico has made a terrific first impression on me. I adore this place. Its been quite the culture-shock, too, and made me realize how lucky I am to have a stable home, air conditioning and to live in an area that isn't soooo humid. I'm realizing I could really get used to staying here and I'm sad Craig and I only have a week left. Time, slow down! 

Thursday night my mom drove Craig and I up to the airport (after i had a teary-eyed farewell with Adi..still breaks my heart! that girl doesn't do well when i leave. sweet thing). for our flight that left to Atlanta, Georgia at 12:50am. Things went very smoothly and we sleepily boarded the plane. I have only flown on one other red-eye flight in my life..and I can see why they call them red-eyes. We, along with the rest of the passengers, were very sleepy and did our best to snooze on the plane, but you can only get so comfortable doing so on those little chairs with the arm rests stabbing your back. However, we did the best with what we could.

Around 5 or 6am (i think) we landed in Atlanta. Here, we had a four hour layover. We drowsily made our way to our gate and set up camp on a couple of chairs where we took a couple little naps. The one thing I will always remember about our Atlanta layover is how dang FREEZING the airport was! Especially where our boarding gate was located. We are talking so cold your insides are shivering, cold. Luckily for us, we brought a blanket and some jackets, but even those didn't get our body temperatures back to normal. Finally, we decided to go find some hot chocolate and while we were at it, we grabbed some McDonalds breakfast, too. After that, we were back to our gate for a nap or two more and got on the plane around 10. (some of these times could be wrong - i was really tired and didn't keep great track of time).

Finally, in the afternoon sometime, we landed in beautiful Cozumel where Ryan (Craig's brother) and Brandon (Ryan's friend) picked us up and drove us to our condo we'd call home for the next nine days. 

Once home, Craig and I said our "hello's" then crashed on the couches for a while. We eventually woke up then put on our swimming suits and geared up for our first beach adventure of the vacation! (i wish i could remember the names of all the beaches we have/will visit(ed) but i guarantee i won't, so 'the beach' will have to do). 

We picked up some pizza to eat on the beach since it was friday night pizza night. While Jeff (craig's brother-in-law) picked up the pizza, we wandered around a little shop/store - it was amazing! Shops are so different here, but I love it! It's a new experience for sure.

Here some of us are waiting for our pizza, outside the little shop..

  

Then, it was beach time! We weren't at this beach too long, because we got there semi-late and you can't stay after dark because there are sea turtle nests (is that what they're called?) around and night time is when the cute little babies make their way to the ocean. However, the time we did spend there was great!

This is the cutest little girl EVER! I adore Craig's nieces and nephews..especially this cutie!..She helped me eat my food.

 Craig and I have a few cute pictures on the beach..I had a hard time choosing one to show off, so here are two..

Aren't we adorable?

he's gorgeous

Ryan is on a soccer team, here, and later that night we were able to go watch and support him as he played! Another unique, new experience. This is where I learned that Cozumel has billions of mosquitos and my blood is very satisfying to their taste.

i get poofy hair in the humidity

Yesterday, saturday..we didn't waste much time in going to another beach. This one was a very nice, touristy beach. So far its my favorite (though we've only been to two..)! It was beautiful and the water is blue and so clean and clear. Oh, I loved it. We snorkeled three times and saw some cute little fish, eels, sting rays, etc. I also got a killer sunburn. We ate some delicious nachos, swam in a pool (yep, a pool at the beach), enjoyed the ocean, jumped off a pier several times and had an overall good time. I'll tell you what, though.. Salt water doesn't taste good or feel good on your lips. It also burns your eyes. Other than that, holy cow, I love it!! Love. It.

Look at that water!

Nachos:)

Another adorable niece! They're the cutest. Also, see that burn forming on my left leg? Its like 100x worse, now. I told you it was killer.

The wonderful beach day had to come to an end, unfortunately. We came home and showered (felt good to be clean, again) and then Craig, Ryan, Brandon and I went to the Plaza for a while to look around and experience the city a little more. Another wonderful, fun experience.

Today was Sunday. Going to church here was..an experience. (yep, i've said that a thousand times). Its weird when you go to church and don't understand a single word. Its neat though, even in a different language, the spirit is the same. It was a very hot building. Oh, the people in this ward, here are the nicest people I've met! Everyone gives kisses here and I love it. Everyone I came in contact with put a smile on my face. A highlight of my day was that several people in the ward told me (actually told Jen and Jen translated for me..) that I look like Barbie! Thats a compliment I'll take:) In our Sunday School, Singles meeting, I even read the scriptures in Spanish. I'm sure I butchered every word, but hey, at least I gave it a shot. Its pretty neat, Craig and Ryan both spoke Spanish on their missions and its really impressive to hear them communicate with people, here. Its crazy to me that they can actually understand what people are saying here! Maybe on day I'll be that cool, too.

After church there were more naps. Then we went to a big dinner down by our pool at our condo. Yummy food and lovely people. After dinner, we swam in the pool a while and then came back up to our room, showered, and have been relaxing in our condo since.

I can't wait to see what the rest of this Cozumel adventure will bring! I'm so blessed to have this opportunity and to be able to spend it with my wonderful boyfriend and his family.

Until next time, my friends..
xoxo