Playa del Carmen Día 6 (la piscina y date night)
Once it dawned (ha, pun) on me that we were by a body of water that faces east, I knew I’d have to get up for a sunrise run.
The thing is though… you can’t really run along the beach to see the sunrise unless you are running in the sand (because all of the buildings along the beach front block the view of the water). Yeah, I actually wanted to move, so I wasn’t doing that! So my run to see the sunrise included a lot of me running to the peer, seeing it wasn’t up yet, running up and down the street, and coming back. It was worth it, though (when isn’t it?!)! This brought back memories of when my dad and I got up early to see the sunrise over the Alboran Sea in Spain!
After a few miles on my own, I stopped back at the condo to see if anyone had bitten on the note I left “running a few, back at 8:00 if anyone wants to join me!” I got back and Steve was in his gear, ready to go!
I took him to a street Gina and I had discovered a few days earlier. I mentioned the owner of our condo told us a few places to run – Playacar, the bike path along 10th Avenue, and a track, north of the condo. Err, even with my best intentions, I never made it to the track! But I think Gina and I may have run close to it, when we took the 10th Avenue bike path north, and discovered it stops pretty soon after it leaves the touristy area.
But on that run, we cut back over to Fifth Avenue, just north of where the touristy part of it ends, and discovered a paved trail that runs along the road. We saw lots of other people working out there, and felt safe.
And we got to see lots of beautiful tags as we ran! So I took Steve there, to see it, as well.
I am surprised the condo owner didn’t tell us about this street, as well! It seemed like you could run out a good amount on it!
The rest of this day was laaaaaaaaaaazy. We hit up the pool around midday. I read a bit, swam a bit, knitted a bit…
I managed to get an AWESOME sunburn, which just peeled last week. If you look at the photo below, it’s the two red marks, under my shoulders. Yeah… I put some sunscreen on my shoulders, and didn’t get much further than that! (Ignore the weird dark lines on our backs – that’s a shadow!)
The afternoon included me teaching Gina how to knit!
She got off to a great start! Unfortunately though, I didn’t get to show her too much, because Steven and I had a date to go to that night… with Luca!
Date night included a stop to see Pedra, and give her treats:
table-made guac at dinner:
a Mayan Flyer show (yes, they climb up that thing then swing their way down!):
We also had tips from our condo neighbor to see the “fire show” – a Mayan dance show!
first dance without fire
second dance with fire
Luca really got in to the dancing! It was so cute (I was dancing with him too… I won’t be posting that video, ha ha!)!
Obviously, date night needed to include some sugar, right before bed time:
Ha ha!
Luca is such a good boy! He listened to us the whole night, and was very good about going to bed when we got back. We had a lot of fun taking him out!
When Gina and Steve came back from their date night, they had a gift for me and Steven: tía and tío bracelets they had custom made (Gina also got me a beautiful scarf, too!!!)!
Those are the Spanish words for aunt and uncle, and it really meant a lot to me that they got those for us – I cherish that Luca calls us “Aunt Kim” and “Uncle Steven”! (Ha ha, as I write this, I am remembering he asked on this trip, what “aunt” and “uncle” mean, and I said “it’s your mom or dad’s brother or sister.” We were all like “he’s asking tooooo sooooooon!” But earlier that day I had called myself his honorary aunt (when someone called me his mom), so we used that word. You know. Since little kids understand the word “honorary.”)
Steven, Gina and Steve and I stayed up a bit after they came back, being giggly and sharing stories of our nights and planning future get-togethers. Also, as I write this, I realize we didn’t have a ton of that sitting around and chit-chatting, like we typically do during our get-togethers, probably because we were on the go quite a bit, and the four of us weren’t always together. I hope our next trip includes more of that! More goofing around, please!
Themocracy
you guys had so much fun!
So jealous of that run! Makes me miss living on the coast. Love those bracelets–too cute! Spending all of that time with Luca must have been a blast. 🙂
Such beautiful photos! It sounds like such a fun trip.
What a great sunrise. I’m not up early enough for that, unless on my trip in college to Hawaii and I was still on Boston time. We hiked Diamond Head and did get to see the sunrise.
Nice sunrise pics! Sounds like a fun date night. I wonder what the accident/fall rate is for those Mayan Flyers?!
Hopefully, it’s very low! ha ha
I’m living vicariously through your photos! While running in the freezing temps this morning, I officially decided that I’m completely 100% over winter + cold weather (even though I like cold weather running). February, in my opinion, is the best month of the entire year to take a warm vacation. Anyway, I’m so happy to hear you had such a positive experience in Mexico! I’ve found it to be a hit-or-miss for people and couldn’t be happier that it was a total hit for you. And I love that you got to run outside there, enough said 🙂
I was thinking about that after I read your post the other day – that you are sick of cold weather but love running in it. 🙂 I guess we could have cold temps without all the snow though! 🙂
I am SO happy we went when we did. The cold and snow hasn’t really bothered me, since we’ve been back (not that it may have, anyway).
Oh really! I wonder why some people don’t dig it!
Table made guac… yum. I could pretty much live on avocados! I am loving all of your gorgeous photos and that awesome video. Those Tio and Tia bracelets are so heartwarming, too. It must have been so hard to come back to Chicago after all that wonderful time relaxing with friends/family and enjoying the ocean! Isn’t running in new destinations the absolutely best, too? There is no better way to sightsee than while in your running shoes!
Even though we got to be there an entire week, it was hard to come back! It helped though, that I didn’t go back to work for another four days after. lol!
YES! I love running as a way of exploring a new place. You never know what you will find! 🙂
You guys are so sweet with Luca – great aunt’s and uncles. I know how much that must mean to Gina and Steve. You guys are incredible friends.
Aww, thanks! 🙂 I hope we always have this relationship with them! 🙂
How sweet – so nice you had date night with Luca 🙂 He sounds so cute watching the pole dance, which was pretty awesome BTW.
Love your outfit! SO nice to be in flip-flops in winter, right.
I love you have another picture with your kitty 🙂
Hooray for a sunrise run! So peaceful and beautiful. How thoughtful of you to take Luca out. He’s grown so much since I saw him last year! Love the bracelets! So sweet.
Loved your date night! And those bracelets are so pretty. So happy that Gina got those for you and Steven.
I always love the idea of seeing the sunrise at the beach, but running on sand is the worst! I think I’d get stressed running back and forth to the pier, like “WHAT IF I MISS IT?!?”
I didn’t realize what you meant by “tags” — like, street art made with graffiti? That’s what they call it in French (“le tagging”), but maybe that’s just taken from an English term. I just call it graffiti or street art, I guess…?
That’s cute you took Luca on your date night (and I’m sure, much appreciated by his parents). He seems like a really fun little guy!
Ha ha ha! Luckily, I could see it from the pier so I didn’t “miss” it! 🙂
Yeah, graffiti street art. That is what I heard it called back when I was in high school… but maybe they don’t call it that here anymore!
Luca is a lot of fun! He asks me so many fun questions! I am always trying to explain things to him, that I bet will just have to be corrected by teachers when he’s in school! Ha ha!