Our 20th Wedding Anniversary Cancun Adventure

For more pics from our trip, click here.

February 3, 2018
We spent most of the day packing and getting ready to leave for our trip. I wrote a 23 page guide/schedule for Kerry Bush to follow while we were gone.
She flew in from Salt Lake the day before our departure to Cancun. 
A couple of hours before we left for the airport, Raeonna starting acting sick and saying that her ear hurt. So after we left for the airport, Kerry and Ilah ended up taking her into the ER. They were not finished at the ER until about 2am! She was diagnosed with a really bad ear infection. Then they had to wait until the next day for a pharmacy to open to get her medicine. The ER doctor ended up prescribing some weird medicine that no pharmacy even carried, so Kerry spent over an hour trying to get them to call the ER Dr to get a medicine that a pharmacy actually carried. Raeonna missed me so much too! It broke my heart to leave her and especially while she was sick. The first couple of times we called home, she just cried and cried and cried during the entire call. It was so sad! To top things off, Walgreens could not run our insurance card for some reason, so Kerry paid full price for a bottle of azithromycin which was $25 instead of $5. I felt so bad for my mom in law having to deal with that the first night on duty! I am super grateful for her! ♥️
We drove an hour and a half to Phoenix, boarded a plane to Denver, then stayed overnight at a hotel so we could get some sleep during our nine hour layover.

February 4, 2018

We woke up at 5am and had a shuttle driver take us back to Denver International Airport. It was snowing outside. It has been a couple of years now since I have seen snow. I'm totally fine with that because it is so cold!  The shuttle driver was asking us about our trip. When Evan told him it was our 20th wedding anniversary trip, he did not believe us! He said, "Man you guys look like you're in your 20's!" That comment made my week! ;) 
When we boarded the plane, we saw that it was pretty empty, so after they closed the main cabin door, we got to spread out. Evan and I had an empty seat between us, so I was able to put my feet up on his lap and crochet. It was the best flight ever!!!  We had to wait awhile while they de-iced the plane and during that time I was able to wind my skein of yarn into a ball. 
We arrived in Cancun, went through customs and were on our way out of the airport when we were shouted at to get a taxi from this person and that person and pretty much every person working in the land transportation section of the airport. Then when we got past them, we were shouted at to get free tourist information. So we went over to a guy named Paul and he started telling us about Cancun really fast circling places on a map as he spoke. I could barely understand him and Evan started speaking Spanish with him, then I could understand less than before. Anyway, he said we could get a half price tour if we attend a time share sales pitch, so we agreed and paid him $100 US dollars for our tour to Isla Contoy. He agreed to pick us up from our hotel the next morning at 8am. So we were starting off our 20th anniversary trip with a sales pitch (insert eyeroll here) But Evan said it would be worth it because of the half price tour. Then after talking to him we went out to find our shuttle to the hotel. The only problem was that we missed it...grrr. So we had to wait a long time before the next shuttle came. 
After the shuttle dropped is off at our hotel "Oasis Smart" in downtown Cancun, we checked in. It took awhile. When we entered our room on the 6th floor we found that instead of a king sized bed that we requested there was two full sized beds instead! Evan went back to the front desk to rectify the situation and they told us they were completely booked for the night and could not change us. So we have been spending our 20th anniversary vacation in separate beds. It hasn't been too bad though, at least I don't feel it every time he turns over in bed. I've probably slept a lot better just need because of that. Later that evening we were extremely hungry because we had only eaten snacks all day, so we branched out and ordered room service for the first time in our lives!

In flight foot rest while I crochet? I think YES! Best flight EVER! 

We got our own beds for our 20th Anniversary Celebration because the hotel messed up

February 5, 2018

Evan and I were dressed and ready, waiting outside our hotel for Paul (from the airport) to pick us up at 8am for the time share presentation. We were out there for probably like 10 mins and we were approached by a different guy who told Evan in Spanish that he was doing a favor for a friend and he was there to pick us up instead of Paul. He made sure to check our receipt from the previous day and said everything looks good, so we got into a sketchy taxi with him. He took us to a gorgeous resort right on the beach. They fed us a large breakfast buffet, gave us a tour of the resort and tried to sell us a timeshare multiple times on different levels of commitment and prices, but we just didn't have the money to commit to such a large financial endeavor as that was, even on the lowest tier which was a little under $10,000.
So when they finally gave up trying to sell us something, we went and set up our discounted (half-price) tour to Isla de Contoy for Friday that included breakfast, lunch, snorkeling, and drinks, so it was kind of a party tour.
From that resort, we had the shuttle driver take us to the Ferry so we could go explore Isla Mujeres for the rest of the day. 
While in the shuttle, I looked at my phone and discovered that I had missed a call from Paul. We called him back and we found out that we went to a timeshare that he was not affiliated with in any way. If he would have been on time, that would not have happened...Whoops and hahaha!
When we docked on Isla Mujeres, we didn't really have a plan of what we were going to do. So we bought a snorkeling and dinner tour for two for 900 pesos. Luckily we had brought our swim suits with us, so we paid like 5 pesos each to use some gross bathrooms and change into our swim gear. About the bathrooms here, they don't like you to throw toilet paper into the toilet here. Every bathroom has a basket or garbage can next to the toilet for you to put your used toilet paper in. It's really gross and stinky! A couple of other bathrooms I used, didn't have any supplied toilet paper at all, you had to pay extra for it or leave a propina or tip. Almost every bathroom I went into, there was a place to leave a tip. Maybe I should put propina jars in the kids bathrooms at my house. Haha
A little bit later, they led us out onto a very tiny motorboat that I was pretty worried about getting into on the ocean. 
Our tour guide did not speak English very well so Evan translated for me and an Asian couple in our group.
We stopped in open water near a reef and two sunken ships. We got our snorkel gear on and jumped off the boat to explore. We saw so many large, colorful fish in the gorgeous blue water. There were a lot around the more recently sunken ship. I ended up seeing 2 barracudas too. As we neared the reef some of the others in our group had me pinned in too closed to the reef and I ended up scraping my leg on it. It hurt like a burn, it was a bruise/scrape combined and it was hot. 
The boat dropped us off at a turtle refuge where Evan had to walk around barefoot because he forgot to get his shoes off of the boat. We changed out of our swimsuits in the bathroom, which was not supplied with toilet paper except with propina, then walked over to admire the different species of turtles. I was really worrying about Evan walking around barefoot because of the risk of hookworm, but there was nothing we could do about it. ☹️ 
The boat came back to get us and we sailed around the coast of the island with Evan translating about 60% of what the tour guide was saying. We arrived at a restaurant that was a grass hut. They barbecued fresh fish, and served it with rice & spaghetti noodles (served cold), and a cabbage salad with different hot sauces and of course corn tortillas. The barbecued fish was amazing! I could eat that all day! So I got a second helping of it and then I got a fish bone stuck in my throat! It was very painful! It was stuck in there for at least 30 mins. I'm so grateful it finally dislodged, so I could enjoy the rest of the evening!
After dinner we got back onto the boat and it took us back to where we originally had boarded. Then we walked over to board the ferry and waited in a mile long line to get back to the main island.
When we disembarked the ferry in Cancun, we noticed we were getting really low in pesos and we would have to figure out a cheap way to get back to the hotel.
We didn't have enough money for a taxi, so we were trying to figure out what bus we could take. We crossed the street a few times trying to figure things out. Evan spoke in Spanish to a few people trying to figure things out. Then a van pulled up next to us that said we could ride for $10 pesos each, Evan asked (in Spanish) if they were going towards our hotel and they were so we got in. However, Evan misunderstood about the stops and we ended up getting off at the first stop which was still a thirty minute walk from our hotel, Oasis Smart. Soooo, we ended up walking through the city in the dark. The side walks are so hazardous too, I swear you could fall to your death through a hole in the sidewalk if you are not looking where you are stepping. After walking for about 20 mins we saw a McDonald's. I don't think I have ever been as excited to see a McDonald's as I was that night. It was not for the food or the bathroom, but for the free WiFi so we could look up a map to see if we were even walking the right direction. I looked up the map on my phone while Evan ordered us ice cream and I was so relieved to see that our hotel was only 1/2 mile away! I made sure to save a map of Cancun on my phone for the next times we went out. We got back to the hotel, called to check up on the kids and crashed a little after 11pm Cancun time.

Went to flush the toilet in a fancy resort and found this fancy toilet bidet control on the wall.

Pictures of what the city of Cancun looks like

We had to pay 5 Pesos each to change in these sketchy restrooms. Toilet paper cost extra.

February 6, 2018

We awoke early at about 5:30 am Cancun time so we could be out in front of the hotel to be picked up by our tour at 6:50am. We were the first ones on the big old tour bus that day and the last ones off. It seemed like it took forever to pick everyone up because we had to make so many stops. 
Our main tour that day was to see the ancient dwellings of the Mayan's at Chichen-Itza mainly the Mayan Temple known as the temple of Kukulcan, the serpent God of Light. Our first stop, besides bathroom stops was in a little active Mayan Village. While there, we were told that the Mayan Shaman or healer would choose 5 people out of our tour group to bless and heal. Evan immediately started praying and hoping really hard that I would be one of the chosen five. I recently found out that I have 9 herniated discs in my back along with arthritis and a 3.8cm Mass on my liver that I will get an MRI done on when we return home.  One on my lumbar spine and one on my liver to see what the Mass is. Anyways, I think Evan had so much worried energy around him that the Shaman ended up choosing him and not me. During the ceremony, the five chosen people stood around a rectangle table each holding a different talisman made from obsidian with their right hand and placing their right hand on the top of it. In the center of the table, there was a bowl of water with some kind of leaves in it. The ceremony was mostly in Spanish, so I didn't understand most of it, Evan told me the gist of it when it was over. He said he was blessed with good health! At the end of the ceremony, the Shaman picked up the leaves that had been sitting in the bowl full of water and blessed everyone in the group by flicking water on us, redipping the weeds several times to make sure we all got plenty of water on us. After the ceremony, Evan asked the Shaman if there was anything he could do for me. He told him to go buy at least three pure obsidian rocks and he would bless them for my use. After they were blessed, no one but me or Evan could touch them. So interesting!
After that, we walked over to an eating area and commenced our buffet. Evan bought a virgin Pina colada for us to share in a pineapple that was decorated with slices of fruit to have a face. During lunch there were female Mayan dancers, dancing while balancing bottles and then trays of several bottles on their heads. It was cool. They stopped dancing though because I guess we weren't giving them enough propina (tips). 
It was a good buffet, but I liked the barbecued fish from the night before better. On my last taco, which was chicken, I had put hot sauce on it and our Pina colada was gone, my mouth was on . Luckily, Evan ran and grabbed me some jello to kill the flame and we had some water left in our big, huge water bottle. At our table at lunch, we chatted with a girl from South Korea and another girl from England. It was fun. 
Our next stop was Chitchen-itza. Our tour guide prepped us for it by telling us some fun things about the Mayan Temple. Mayan's believe that the Mayan Temple is the center point of the entire Earth, like the Earth's belly button. On Spring and Fall Solstice, the sun hits the temple in a certain way that it looks like there is a snake slithering down the temple on those two solstices. Also, when you go visit, if you look at the temple while walking backwards a snake will appear (it's kind of hard to explain). The temple itself is like a big calendar. It has 52 squares on it and each one represents one week out of the year. The sun illuminates a different block each week. They have discovered copper in clay pots inside the temple and people have hypothesized that it was used to produce electricity like a big battery. They also believe that there is a cenote underneath the temple. It is just so fascinating, I really makes me want to study it more. 
Another thing at Chitchen-itza was the ball field and their warrior wall. We are not sure whether the winners or the losers of the game were used as human sacrifices (the team captain), kind of intriguing to think about. Also, our tour guide would not allow us to buy anything from the vendors inside of Chitchen-itza while we were there because it is in the state of Yuchatan and we were visiting from the state of Quitana-Roo. It is ashame, because all the merchandise there was so so cheap, the cheapest we saw anywhere. 
After Chitchen-itza, we went swimming in a gorgeous semi-open cenote. Evan and I jumped in from about a 20 foot platform. It probably was not the best decision for me to do that because of my back, but luckily I was fine and you only live once. :) We did not have as much time in the cenote that we would have liked and our tour only gave us 10 mins to get dressed, our tour guide had left some people at Chitchen-itza that were late arriving to the bus, so we were trying to hurry fast so he wouldn't leave us too.
Our last stop was a little colonial town, Vallodolid. We only had 20mins to spend there, so we grabbed an interesting treat for dinner. We both got a crepe, but it was really more like a big cookie. I had them put mangoes and caramel on mine and Evan had them put cheese on his. Mine was better! Haha
At the end of the night we were the last ones to be dropped off. We chatted and joked around with some friends we had made on the bus. Two girls from Australia and a guy named Tyler from New Zealand. It was a lot of fun chatting with them and seeing the funny dynamic between people from Australia and New Zealand as well. I would describe their relationship as frenemies. 
The bus dropped is off in the nine o'clock hour I think, and it dropped us off across the busy street from our hotel...ugh! Luckily, a quesadilla place was still open over there so we each got 2 quesadillas. For one of mine I ordered a black mushroom quesadilla, I don't know what I was thinking! Haha that thing was so gross it made me gag! Never order a black mushroom quesadilla! Haha My chicken quesadilla however, was delightful!
After eating and throwing the black mushroom quesadilla away, we ran for our lives across the street, went to our hotel room, got ready for bed, called and checked in with our kids and went to bed. I was so tired that night and so excited that I got to sleep in the next morning because we didn't have any scheduled tours for Wednesday. Woohoo!

Temple of Kukulcan

Temple of Kukulcan

This is how you tell real obsidian from fake obsidian, put it in salt water and the real obsidian will turn a more silvery color.

Water fall on Partially Open Cenote we swam in

Alisha in the cenote (they made us wear life jackets)

Mayan Taxi...How most Modern Mayan's get around the village

February 7, 2018
Today we kept it low-key. We slept in a little, walked about a mile each way to go shopping at Mercado 28, which is like a Mexican market for mostly handmade goods. I was feeling pretty exhausted, so I took like a three hour nap. 
During my nap, Evan took our dirty laundry across the street to wash it at the laundromat. He ended up just paying a lady to wash, dry, and fold our clothes that we picked up later that night, and it only cost under $6, pretty much the same amount that it would have cost us to do it ourselves! So convenient!
Then we went to dinner at a restaurant called Pablano's which was not very far from our hotel. The food was really good, I mean really, really fantastic! I ordered fried fish and Evan ordered a chili relleno and we both ordered horchatas to drink along with an appetizer. When I was 2/3 of the way done with my horchata, I found a fly in it. I showed the waitress and asked for another one. She brought me another, then she came and turned the TV right towards us and played a Mexican music video about Mexicans trying to cross the American border and being killed and how if they actually make it into America, they only get crappy jobs, etc. We know she meant to play this video for us, because after she turned the TV right towards us, it went to a pause screen and then a play button was pushed. Then she did not bring us our check for a long, looong time! Evan got up to ask the cook in the back about getting the check because he was the only other employee we saw and we couldn't find the waitress. The cook slammed the window on him! It made me pretty mad! These people had no idea that Evan works with all kinds of people from different countries including refugees on a daily basis for his job and this includes Mexicans! He helps people in need get training and find employment to help them be self-sufficient and successful every single day! Grrr! Anyways, we FINALLY got the check and we probably shouldn't have left a tip, but we did anyways because we try to be nice people no matter how others treat us. 

Our laundry all washed, dried, and folded for under $6

February 8, 2018
Cancun Mexico Trip Day 5: We woke up at 5:45am this morning (3:45am AZ time) so we could be ready for our tour to Tulum and Cobá to pick us up at 6:45am from the front of our hotel. Our tour guide's name is Julio and our driver's name is also Julio. We are riding in a nice new passenger van with that seats 20. The van driver is very aggressive but a good driver nonetheless. Tulum was amazingly beautiful. While we were riding there, Julio was telling us about some common words that are actually Mayan. The word Cancun is Mayan and means nest of snakes, chicle meaning gum in Spanish, also means moving your mouth in Mayan, Cobá is also Mayan and means dirty water. Haha 
The temple of the decending God is exactly how I pictured the place where Christ appeared to the Nephites in the Book of Mormon...Exactly....except I did not picture it being that close to the ocean! It is amazing to me how great and intact everything looks in Tulum with it being so close to the harsh elements of the ocean and everything that goes with it! I am sure they restore and clean the structures quite frequently.
After seeing the archaeological sights at Tulum, Evan and I stopped at a little shop and bought a red hammock chair. I'm so excited to put that on our back porch when we get home. We are now trying to figure out how we are going to get it home though because we can't fit it in any of our luggage bags.
After we bought the chair, we met up with our tour group and ate a buffet lunch at a little restaurant called "The Blue Agave". I drank a diet Coke out of a classic glass bottle. It's been over a year since I have drank caffeine or any caffeinated beverage, it was so good! The modern Mayan's love Coca-Cola! We saw painted Coca-Cola signs all over their villages.
After lunch we headed off to the jungle of Cobá. When we arrived we found it it was a really long walk to the tallest pyramid, called the Nohoch Mul pyramid, and they gave us only an hour to look at all the sights in Cobá so we hired a Mayan taxi. A Mayan Taxi is like a tricycle, only there is a basket like area in the front with a bench. So people sit in the front, and the biker does all the work on the back. Between Evan and I, that is close to 500lbs that the poor biker had to bike us up there, it was hard for him, he was huffing and puffing the whole way, but he was up to the challenge and Evan gave him a tip halfway through the tour to keep him motivated. When we reached the pyramid I could not believe how tall it is! It stands 137 feet tall and has 130 steep steps up to the top. This is the last year they have the pyramid open to the public to climb, so I felt like I had to at least try to climb it. Last night and this morning, I have had radiating pain from my lower back, down my left leg. Every time I put weight on my left leg I feel pain rise up into my back, because of this, I was wary to climb the pyramid. Before we left the hotel this morning, I prayed that I could have less pain and get through this tour and asked Evan to massage with one of my black obsidian rocks that were blessed by the Mayan Shaman earlier in our trip. I am so glad it worked, and I was able to make it to the top of the pyramid and back down...albeit slowly... Without any extra pain aside from my extreme physical exhaustion. I was blessed today to be able to do that, and I am grateful! 
After looking at other sights around Cobá our taxi driver biked us back, and we paid for his services. We then found a couple of other cool sights, another ball playing field as well as an entirely different pyramid, though not nearly as tall. We thought we had time to admire the extra sights, but alas, we were wrong and our tour group left to go swim in a closed cenote without us. With our tour guide, Julio, we took a taxi to catch up with them. Luckily they weren't too far ahead of us and we were able to change into our swim suits and take a quick cool dip in the cenote. The taxi cost is $10 extra dollars though, oh and that taxi was a real one. It was a Toyota Minivan a little smaller than the one I drive. Haha 
When we were done with the cenote we drove to La Quinta Avenida where they let us out to do some shopping after being stuck in traffic for a very long time! Evan bought 2 fish tacos for himself to eat and two empanadas for me to eat for dinner. We ate them on the beach but later realized we should have turned around because we had our backs to the ocean. Lol We were trying to be fast so the tour group wouldn't leave without us again.

Mayan bees that produce honey but don't have stingers

This is the closed cenote we swam in. It looks kind of like a well and there is a very windy staircase that goes down into it. It was so cool and refreshing!

February 9, 2018
Today we got to sleep in a little bit. Evan and I were the last ones to be picked up by our tour group at 9:10am. We rode in a big van for about 15-20 mins to a port. We paid a $20 port fee, then proceeded toward our previously paid for tour, had breakfast and then boarded a boat named the Maria Lousia II headed to Isla de Contoy. Isla de Contoy is an uninhabited island and a Mexican national park. They only allow 200 people per day to visit the island.   Contoy in Mayan means Shallow water, it was also known as the place where sailors are supposed to turn to get through the reef. 
The first activity of the day was snorkeling off the boat in open water. Evan went in without me, I stayed on the boat because I did not have enough energy to keep up with the group today. They explored the second largest reef in the world, it begins in Mexico and ends in Honduras, it is called the Meso-American reef. It is also the place where the Atlantic ocean (cold water) meets the Gulf of Mexico (warm water). The water was pretty cold, colder than it was around Isla de Mujeres where we snorkeled on Monday.
When Evan got back onto the boat after snorkeling, they handed him a drink and I said, "Don't drink it, it may have alcohol in it." 
He asked the bartender if it had alcohol and he said, "It's just fruit juice with a bit of tequila." We started laughing, handed the drink back, said tequila is alcohol and got some water.  
We were not allowed to put sunblock on or bug spray on, on the island, we had to do it on the boat. Needless to say, we both ended up with sunburns, and Evan ended up with a handful of mosquito bites. 
When we arrived on the island, I had to use the drop down toilets right away and while Evan was waiting for me, he discovered a bunch of hermit crabs and we admired them for a while before we headed down to the beach. We lay on the beach for awhile, then I went into the water, put on my borrowed snorkel gear and explored the swimming area. I only found a small bit of coral. Evan stayed on the beach and took pictures. He also wrote Evan + Alisha 1998-2018 in the sand. It was sweet. 
After spending about an hour on the beach, we had a delicious and big lunch on the island. The barbecued fish was my favorite! 
When lunch was finished, we gathered as a tour group and took a short tour of the island. The island is a bird refuge. There were so many birds! The main bird of the island is called the Frigate bird. We saw their nesting area, it was really neat, except there were a lot of mosquitos in that area so we didn't stay there for long. We then headed up many, many steps to an island observatory. We captured some great panoramic pictures up there and just stood up there for awhile admiring the beauty of the island.
Shortly after the tour we headed back to the boat and rode to Isla de Mujeres. We spent an hour on Isla de Mujeres eating coconut ice cream and shopping for souvenirs for the kids.
Several times during our trip Evan has been asked if he is Mexican or Gringo because he speaks Spanish so well. It always makes us laugh. He is asked that question a lot when we are at home too, but not several times a day like he is here. Also, when he tells people we are here celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary, no one can believe it and they say things like, I thought it was your honeymoon or you must have been babies when you were married, etc. When we tell people we have 6 kids and our oldest is almost 18, it blows their minds. It makes me feel good that I still look young enough for people to be surprised! We told one guy from Ohio how many kids we had and he replied okay, "You are either Catholic or Mormon!" I said, "Mormon". And we both laughed and continued our conversation.
Later that night, Evan and went to explore the hotel pool facilities, mainly to see if they had a Jacuzzi. They had a bunch of outdoor bath tubs that were the size of ours at home, so we really weren't impressed. Lol When we were getting off the elevator, a little kid pointed right at is and said, "Daddy look! It's yellow people! Daddy! Did you see the yellow people?!?" The Dad tried shushing the child but she continued to say, "but Dad! Yellow people!" Hahaha Evan and I thought it was hilarious and had a great laugh! We have been mistaken for Canadians, Mexicans, and Brazilians on this trip. Lol!

                                                                       

February 10, 2018

Evan and I had planned to go to the beach today, but we decided to go shopping first so that we could make sure to find a bag to transport our hammock chair home in. The stick that the chair is attached to is way too long for our current luggage bag. I was hoping we could get a shuttle to Walmart or something but Evan didn't want to waste money on that and was determined to walk, a mile each way, in the hot humidity of Cancun. I really did not feel it was a waste of money to get transportation because I was so sore from swimming and walking so much on the previous days as well as sunburnt. After walking a little ways, I felt drained, so drained and completely hot and sticky and gross! We stopped at a Mexican supermarket to get something to eat for breakfast, hoping that would help me have energy. We went to the bakery part of the store and it was amazing! I've never seen so many aisles of years together in one store likes that before, so we bought some for breakfast and some for the rest of our trip. Eating some food didn't help much with my energy level, but we continued to walk towards Mercado 23 despite the lack of energy. Mercado 23 is a Mexican farmer's market and handicraft market. On the way there we found a shop that had an awesome bag that would fit our chair, so we bought it. Yay! Evan wanted to continue on to Mercado 23 and we were pretty close so I agreed. While looking through a shop, a wave of sickness hit me and I had to go sit down on the curb with my head between my knees so I wouldn't throw up. 
I finally found enough energy to stand up and leave and we walked slowly back to the hotel, buying another hammock chair on our way. 
When we got back to the hotel we both immediately lay on our beds. I took a long nap and Evan read his book, "Ready Player One". 
During my nap is when Montezuma's revenge hit Evan. That evening he said he felt good enough to go back to the Mexican supermarket to buy food for our trip home in the morning so we went and bought food and alka-selzer. Then we went to a little Mexican restaurant and got a meal to go for me. We got back to the hotel, I ate my meal, Evan ate saltines and alka-selzer for dinner. Then around 6am Montezuma's revenge hit me and I was super thankful for that alka-selzer and the saltines.

February 11, 2018

I woke up at around 6am with severe stomach cramps and then I knew I was in the grip of Montezuma's revenge as well. This was bad, really, really bad. We were okay as long as we didn't eat anything. We are still wondering how we got it. Evan thinks it is from was from the drinkable yogurt we purchased from the supermarket, I think it was from using the ice at the hotel. We drank bottled water the whole time, but Evan assured me that the ice shouldn't hurt us. He even dumped some of the ice water in my cup that used to take my medicine with. I didn't not find out where that water actually came from until after I drank it. I didn't not have a good feeling about that ice, at all.
Since we were both dealing with sickness, we decided it would not be a good idea to attend church in Cancun. We had originally planned to take a taxi to a ward that started at 9am and then take another  taxi back to the hotel after sacrament so we could be picked up by the airport shuttle by our scheduled time which was 11:05am. Instead of going to church, we ended up laying in bed, getting ready, packing slowly, eating saltines and alka-selzer, taking turns on the toilet, and praying we would make it home alright. Our departure from Cancun to Denver was on time, and we got there with a couple of hours to spare. After arriving in Denver and going through customs and border patrol and regoing through security, we found out our flight from Denver to Phoenix had been delayed 2 hours. That meant a 6 hour layover instead of a 4 hour one. I was so cold too! It was only 12°F in Denver and I had packed my warm, cozy sweater in my checked baggage and could not retrieve it. I was so cold that my teeth started chattering. I do not tolerate the cold well. This is why I love living in Arizona! I was either going to have to buy a sweatshirt and/or buy some hot chocolate to make it through the layover alive. We searched the airport for a place that served warm soup. We went to Jimmy's, and luckily their soup of the day was chicken noodle. Such a tender mercy!  So we ordered two bowls of that and then I asked if they could make some hot chocolate because it wasn't on the menu and luckily they did! We slowly savored our soup and hot chocolate. When we finished, I asked for another hot chocolate to go which I held in my hands and sometimes put up to my chest, trying to stay warm from the tiny amount of heat that was coming from the small paper cup as I slowly consumed its contents.
When we walked towards the gate, it smelled really, really bad, like burning rubber. We looked out onto the tarmac and saw a fire truck and several firefighters out there putting out a fire on a Frontier airplane. I'm pretty sure that is what delayed us. I watched as they slowly taxied the plane that had caught fire away from the gate, now there is a new plane (it better be a new plane) sitting at the gate. We are hoping for a safe flight home of course! Evan has to leave our house at 4am to take his mom to the Mesa airport. So if we are delayed any further, she will miss her flight. Instead of departing at 9:45pm, our flight is now set to depart at 11:30pm.

Hotel Oasis Smart Front Desk

Hotel Oasis Smart Lobby

Hasta Luego Mexico