Mexico Trip - Day 4 (New Year's Day)

New Year’s Day! Amy got up pretty early and went down to save us a good spot on the beach. We shouldn’t have worried…..there wasn’t much competition until the afternoon. Everyone else was sleeping in after staying up past midnight. Amy enjoyed sitting on the empty spot of beach by herself and watching the sun and the surf and the seagulls, while Jason slept in with the kids. Amy went back after about an hour to see if everyone was awake and we went to breakfast. One buffet was right on the beach and we enjoyed that one every morning after we found it. They had fun hammocks to swing in tied to the trees growing through the deck and up into the canopy above. The kids got really good at trying all of the different foods. It was very fun! They also got very good at saying basic Spanish words for foods, plus “please”, “thank you”, “good morning, afternoon, evening” and ‘hello’ and “good-bye”. I was very proud of them. Anyway, that morning after breakfast we went and played on the beach all morning. Jason and Ashtyn both enjoyed sitting in the shade, drinking frozen drinks and reading books they were both into. Alyssa and I and the little kids discovered all of the fish that were in the bay right there. They could go under the water with their goggles and almost touch them. Alyssa and Jantzen tried mightily to catch one, but to no avail! The water was quite warm and was refreshing after making sand castles with the morning sun beating down. Santa had brought Jason a “go-pro” camera for Christmas and it was so, so fun to play with. Jantzen and Alyssa loved making movies of everyone swimming and taking pictures of the fish in the water with it. We were back at Xcaret Park after lunch at the ocean buffet. It was quite hot and we toured the authentic Mayan Village within the park, catching part of a tribal show, and visiting the Mexican cemetery and chapel. The best part, I think, was the amazing aviary they had. It felt like you were in the middle of the rainforest - absolutely spectacular - with birds, waterfalls, vines, trees, swinging bridges, etc. You started at the top of the enormous pillar-shaped edifice and walked around and down in a spiral, slowly ending at the bottom. From there the path led to the “mariposas” or butterflies pavilion. It was one of Aubrey’s favorite places, of course! We didn’t see as many butterflies as we had birds but it was still very beautiful. This afternoon we also saw the manatees, tapirs, cougars and jaguars. We finished off seeing part of the night show again but headed to bed because we were exhausted again and had an early morning the next day.

One of the most time-consuming tasks of the week was arraning the rental car for the weekend. We finally made it happen and I picked it up on Friday afternoon. I was very disappointed to learn that the AC didn't work, but I saved a few bucks because of that....