Back from Vacation

Boy, am I relaxed. I wanted to sit on the beach, sipping a drink, under a palm tree. And I did!


Looking through the palms to the ocean at the Iberostar Hotel where we stayed in Cozumel last week. Michelle and I lounged in chairs for hours one day while Jeff and Dennis dove. I read the book for this month's church book club, embroidered a sampler (is that permitted on a tropical beach??,) sipped a soda, and took a nap. Also snorkeled off the shore and took several dips in the pool behind us. What a relaxing day.


This is the grass in front of our bungalow hotel room.


Our bed was so big we could have fit Amy and Maddie in it too! A king-size bed is really big!


This is what we saw every night when we crossed the little bridge in to dinner.


Sometimes at breakfast we would see this!


There were iguanas all over!


We attended church in one of the Cozumel wards. The members were very friendly, and we felt very welcome. There was air conditioning in the chapel, but not the rest of the building. There was a piano, but no one to play it, so we sang a cappella with the music director pre-singing the first line so we'd all be on the same notes. It was a nice experience and I'm glad we went. (Jeff was a little mad that I told him he didn't have to wear a white shirt. He kept saying, "I shoulda brought a white shirt. I shoulda brought one!)


We also visited the ruins at San Gervasio. Cozumel was the island where Mayan women pilgrimaged to petition their goddess Xel Ha for fertility. There are several ruins that were apparently used for ceremonies. San Gervasio is the only one you can visit at the present time.


Hey, I promise. We came upon these from the back and didn't notice the "no climbing" signs till after we took the pictures. (I was concentrating on my subject matter, okay??!!)


Apparently there were some sacrifices performed here. Human bones have been found.


I wonder how much of what we conjecture about these places is really true.

This was the pier at our beach where we caught our diving and snorkeling boats.


The view looking back from the pier. Our relaxing beach...


Jeff took a snooze in the hammock on our balcony.


This peacock slept on our railing at least one night. We never went outside late the other nights, as we were in our room watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics.


Michelle in front of the old plaza of San Miguel, the only real town on Cozumel.


We loved these orange-flowering trees. These weren't even the prettiest ones!


What a great vacation. We snorkeled from a boat and saw lots of beautiful sea life on the reef, saw baby turtles hatching on the beach, rode some waves on the west side of the island, ate good food, spent lots of time together, and had a very relaxing time. I feel truly blessed to have had so many opportunities to see some of the beautiful places on this earth.