Dan, Elly and I had a wonderful, relaxing vacation in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It took us a day or two to come up with the right rhythm. We over exhausted ourselves on the first day by getting up before dawn, spending the first half of the day traveling and then trying to enjoy the evening walking through town and making Elly sit through a long sit-down dinner. It wasn’t the brightest idea. Yet, somehow we always try to do too much on our first day of vacation. Maybe one day we’ll learn.
Once we took a more leisurely pace, everybody had a great time. Only Elly refused to indulge in R&R. She was too busy mastering her new skills: climbing steps, opening doors and walking.
The vacation was a resounding success due to the following reasons:
1. Luxury home away from home complete with a heated pool – On most days, we took a morning swim, Elly included. Oh, how I miss that pool.
2. Visiting with family – It was a wonderful experience being able to spend a week with Dan’s family. I really do like my in-laws. I’ve always felt lucky to marry into such a big, warm family. Alas, poor Elly misses all the attention.
3. Friendliness of locals – We couldn’t walk down a street without people stopping to say Hola and to ogle at Elly. They marveled at her red hair, called her beautiful, and even pinched her cheeks.
Plus, they were extremely patient with our inability to speak Spanish outside a handful of words, mostly nouns.
4. Avoidance of things we dislike – Though we were 1 block from the beach, we didn’t step foot on it. I have a daughter who makes Casper look tan. No amount of sun protection can save her from getting some degree of a sunburn. Besides, Dan and I are not fans of the beach. We prefer a pool.
5. Good food – It had been my goal to only eat Mexican food while in Mexico. I failed. The meals and snacks taken at the house were your normal American cuisine: pastries, grilling meats, and snacks. When we were out on the town, I stuck to my guns. My favorite finds were tacos de chorizo and cochinita pibil. Yum! Dan pointed out that I have a knack of finding sausage wherever we travel to. When we came back from London, I did nothing but rave about their selection of tasty sausages. I do love me some sausage.
6. Gorgeous fabric – Just gaze your eyes upon my finds.
I already have plans for most of it: dresses out of sequined fabric, apron out of the Madonna fabric, and a gored skirt out of the hand-dyed fabric.
Will we go back? I’d go back just for the pool. Pity it won’t fit in our backyard.
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 