Originally Jamie was going to go over to Japan in June and I was going to stay in Vancouver until the end of the year, so this was supposed to be our vacation together before Jamie moved to Tokyo and I moved to the "West End" in Vancouver. Obviously plans changed, but I'm still really glad we went!! Jamie had never been to Mexico before, and I had heard this island was beautiful and not too touristy (which we both hate), so it seemed perfect.
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Usually when I travel I don't book anything and just hope for the best, but this time I decided to make reservations over the internet as I wasn't sure how many options there would be. The people at Hotel Belmar are really nice and I definitely recommend staying there! This is the view from our balcony. The restaurant across from our hotel had mariachi singers, so we got serenaded every night before we went out! |
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Isla Mujeres is really small so we decided to explore a bit one day in a golf cart. You can drive around the whole island in about 3 hours, but we took our time and even found a private beach at the end of this random road! |
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Pirates used to use the island as a refuge and there is a legend about one who fell in love with a local girl and went insane and died after she chose a local man instead of him. We visited his house and here is Jamie climbing the stairs to the roof. |
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We stopped at quite a few places on our drive, including this little beach on the rocky side (the side closer to Cancun is where all the gorgeous sandy beaches are). Here I am shaking out the sarong. |
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My parents came to Isla back before I was even born and wondered if the little cabins they stayed at still existed. Zazil-Ha is now a very expensive restaurant, and this is the view from the bar. The beaches were just incredible, as you can see; the most beautiful water and the whitest beaches I've ever seen. It also seemed that most of the tourists were Mexican, which was really nice. We went snorkeling and met two girls who thought Jamie was Ben Affleck - that was hilarious! |
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On the morning of our last day, Jamie came up from the reception desk and said there had been a mix up with our room and we'd have to move to another room. I was not very happy about that, especially when he led me outside and told me we had to put all our stuff in a taxi and drive to the room! My bad mood evaporated when we ended up at Villa Rolandi (very posh hotel) and I found out he'd been planning this surprise since we got there! This was the view from our balcony, we had complimentary mimosas when we arrived, and the surprises kept coming . . . |
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First we got professional massages on the beach (a couple came in from a spa in town), and then when we went for dinner, we were led down to the beach again and our table for two was set up on the sand and surrounded by torches. It was incredibly romantic and kind of surreal to be honest!! Fantastic! |
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| We met some amazing people on this trip and enjoyed being able to relax completely in a beautiful paradise. The trip home was a bit less idyllic, but it had a silver lining, so it wasn't so bad. Here we are on our last night. I'm wearing the star sapphire and silver necklace I got to design myself.
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