Yucatan Day 1: Cancun

Journal entry from Day 1:

Direct flight from MSP, arrived in Cancun 1:30 pm, 85 degrees.
Street man talked Erin into following him, go figure...
Hostel Laurel $25/night, clean, little bugs, quiet.
Dinner: Tender dog meat tacos, 3 mini quesadillas cooked in butter, 1 beer and another that Erin accidentally ordered. Chips and salsa yum!!

Aaron

I will post our journals, blue for Aaron's words, pink for mine. I didn't write anything that day, and to my credit with the "Street Man", I trusted him and he took us to a nice hostel, he made a dollar and we found a quiet place 2 blocks from the bus station.

We got Kinder Eggs, you can get these in the US but they can be hard to find. The chocolate was completely unappealing in the heat, but the toys are the real treat anyway. We got a flamingo and a parrot. I gave these to our bird guide's children on our second to last day.



A colorful wall. I wish the US wasn't so afraid of bright colors, they really cheer the place up.

We dubbed these beef tacos, "tender dog meat tacos". The meat was unbelievably tender, and was unlike your garden variety beef. Pretty good.



Aaron had a cold he was trying to recover from and took this make shift Netti pot to try to ward off any secondary infections. He ended up getting an infection anyway, but luckily between the internet (thanks for your advice Jason!) and over the counter pharmaceuticals, we had that infection nipped in no time.


The moon was so beautiful as it came up that night, bright orange. Hard to do it justice.

I am trying to get a day of pictures sorted a day. Today was an easy one since it was only a half day. Good thing because I'm still getting used to the time change. Tip to future travelers, make sure the times on your cameras are set properly! iphoto has my pictures all over the place.

Things I missed

Our trip to Mexico was great...but there were a few things I was glad to have after coming home.

Toilet paper

Toilet seats

Sleeping in cool air

Recycling

Clean tap water

Not having to eat at a restaurant

Being able to use a debit card instead of cash

No language barrier

And some things I miss already...

The bakeries!

The sun

The ocean

Panuchos and tacos

The reminder that I can go anywhere in the world

Fresh fruit

Great photo opportunities everywhere

Working on my Spanish

Yucatan

We are still in Mexico...today is our last day, we just stopped into an internet cafe to check in for our flight tomorrow. We are at Isla Mujeres. We had a great trip, today is our 2 year anniversary, so we decided to have a relaxed day. We rented a scooter and are exploring the island. We had a great lunch, one of the best meals yet, homemade guacamole, salsa, tortilla chips, quesadillas, grilled chicken and tortillas. It is pretty touristy here, but we are sticking to the inner relm more than the resort areas. We leave tomorrow at 10 am and will have a day to spend in Minneapolis before it's back to the grind. I've taken over 3000 photos...so there will definitely be some pictures soon!

Bad Influence!!

I picked Aaron up from the airport yesterday, and we proceeded to have a food fest. We went to a kind of greasy spoon for hipsters near Hawthorne first, I can't remember the name...And got these really good home fries with the works. Then we went to Ben and Jerry's.



The huge fly that Aaron killed at the restaurant. You didn't think I would go a WHOLE post without putting up some sort of weird bug picture did you?



Then we got to Corvallis, and we were waiting for the dream time special to start at American Dream, so Aaron suggested we go to Big River BEFORE dinner and get a dessert. He only had to twist my arm a little bit. We got raspberry cheesecake. Yum.


THEN we got our pizza. THEN we got gelato. I'm a little embarrassed about this actually. As I started typing I remembered about the Ben and Jerry's...three desserts in one day. Sheesh. At least we shared them all. I did decide against my own gelato, you know you've had enough when birthday cake gelato doesn't even sound good enough to get your own dish. I love that stuff. Love it. Want to marry it. It was an especially good batch last night too, super gloppy and wonderful.



I am off to work, and Aaron is off to rock climb, pick up a tux, visit his parents, get a rental car, see a friend....

Photos

I took a TON of pictures this weekend. They can be viewed at my picasa site, which can be reached by the link on the right or by clicking here.
It is so amazing to me how many different insects and spiders are just outside my door! I have been watching bugs in Oregon my whole life and everyday I go out "hunting" I see at LEAST one bug I have no clue about. I saw 2 today. I wouldn't even know what "class" to put them in, bee, fly, butterfly, etc. I love how this macro lens causes me to look closer. There is an astounding amount of life around us all the time. Today I just sat in the grass and watched. I found tiny flowers the size of a pin head, mini spiders with big attitudes, droplets of water, and cucumber beetles munching on dandelions.
As I'm writing this post, my friend Liesel just told me she found a mite at work, and thinking of me, put it on a slide and examined it under the scope only to find an exquisite display of detail. I'm glad I can inspire with my photographs! Also feel free to leave me comments! They make me happy :)

Striped Jumper

I found this guy in the same place as the one from yesterday. He was not nearly as cooperative, and the lighting was not as good either. I have seen the original jumping spider twice since I photographed him, both times he has hid after seeing me. I feel really lucky that I was in the right place at the right time yesterday. I love their eyes and how expressive they look.

Check out this jumper!

I saw a dead earwig in a web and was taking pictures of it...then realized who's web it was. This jumping spider was amazing, it kept inching towards me, flashing it's red butt, then coming at me. It was definitely threatening me, challenging me. I just googled this guy to figure out what he was, he is Phidippus johnsoni, the Johnson Jumper, or Redbacked Jumping Spider. One of the distinguishing characteristics, besides the obvious red abdomen, are the metallic green chelicerae, which can definitely be seen if you are looking for them. It is a male, the females have a black stripe down their abdomens. I saw two males today acting aggressively towards each other.