I’m back! Mexico recap–part 1

Hello! Wow it seems ages since I last blogged. Yep sadly, my holiday is over. 

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I am back in the UK. Well, I’ve been back since last Wednesday but needed a bit more time to normalise back into reality. You know what it’s like. Blissful time in the beautiful sunshine…then bam back to the real world.

Honestly, the holiday was amazing. And do you know what? We had half a day of rain. The rest of the time it was HOT, HUMID and sunny, sunny, sunny. So my fears of rubbish weather were unfounded. Hurrah!IMG_5182

Gosh, I don’t even know where to begin with my recap. I will save all the food yumminess until Wednesday and focus on what we did instead for this post. Though I will say, the food…oh wow, it was so good. So much, so good, so yummy.

We left at 5am on Friday morning to get to the airport and have some breakfast.IMG_5041

Very excited, but a bit tired and dishevelled looking

OK, OK I will show one meal! If you’ve been a long-time reader (kudos to you Winking smile) then you know how I adore Jamie Oliver restaurants. So we had to go to the Jamie’s Italian for breakfast. It’s just a holiday essential in my eyes. And believe me, you cannot start a holiday in any better way.

Jamie Oliver breakfast

I umm’ed and arr-ed for about five seconds before thinking “sod it” and ordering this beast of a meal. Go big of go home Winking smile And how I love my husband. He got the same but he hates black pudding so I got his. Amazing. I’m not ashamed to say I cleared this plate all except a few spoonful’s of beans and a couple of fried potatoes. Embarrassingly I wasn’t hungry at all for our in-flight meal (how unsurprising) and had to have it in sat front of me on my little table for so long a flight attendant thought I didn’t want it! I was like “hold up lady, I will eat this. But give me a little time!”.

The flight was fine (movie watching makes everything good in my book) and then we got a coach from Cancun airport to Playa Del Carmen. Instantly the heat hit us. It was unreal.

The hotel was beautiful. It was just amazing. We went to bed quite early Mexico time as it was six hours behind British time so we were pooped! Then we got up early (5am!! Thank you jet lag) and decided to go for a run. Might as well!

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This was the hotel lobby at 6am. It was still really hot but the sun wasn’t out yet so it was much ‘easier’ to run in the morning. Plus the beautiful sunrise along the beach definitely helps!

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We didn’t do any actual beach running. It’s really not my thing. Sand in trainers and way too much hard work…so we stuck to the roads. We weren’t alone in our running – there were a fair few locals and other tourists out and about so it didn’t feel strange at all. But the heat. Wow it was oppression. Within one minute of running I was sweating and tired. It added at least one minute on to my usual running times. There was just no way I could go faster. Plus it was nice to just run at a slower pace.

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You might think I’m mad running on holiday but I loved it! I feel weird not running and it’s such a big part of who I am that I couldn’t not run. At times it was tough (when is running not??) but it felt great being out so early and seeing Mexico wake up. Getting back all invigorated for the day as well was brilliant.

Ben and me enjoyed a lot of chilling by the pool time…

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Chilling by the beach time…

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And chilling by the bar time…

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The bar was right next to the pool and a great place to take a break from the sun. I’m not a big drinker so I stuck to tomato juice (where have you been all my life??), iced coffee and diet coke (my absolute addiction). Ben enjoyed the local beer Winking smile

I quite enjoyed putting a podcast on and walking along the beach as well (I’m not overly good at sitting and doing nothing for long periods of time), which I didn’t realise would be quite a work out for my calves!

And lots of swimming in the sea!IMG_5330

Ben and me were so cool, we had goggles (damn you contact lenses)

The sea was perfectly refreshing, not cold but not warm. And so, so clear.

We also did a few excursions. One day we went to Chichen Itza which is a city that was originally built by the ancient Mayans where we saw the Temple of Kukulkan – a seventh wonder of the world!

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We had an hour long tour and found out so much interesting information – there’s a smaller pyramid inside that one! And the Mayans used to sacrifice people at the top of the temple (if you’ve seen Apocalypto it’s similar to that).

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We had such a hilarious day. Our tour guide was a hoot. He wasn’t even meaning to be. He was just was hilarious. We still do impressions of him now. Yep, we’re that couple.

From there we then went to the ‘Sacred Blue Cenote’. Here we got to swim in a crazy underground pool of fresh water (there’s a small hole in the ‘roof’ and that’s it). It was freezing but so refreshing considering the humid heat.

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Another day we went speedboating. We had our own little speedboat and there were about 4 others and we followed the speedboat in front but we could speed up and zig-zag which was quite terrifying. Then when we got so far out we stopped and the instructor gave us snorkels and we went snorkelling and saw some amazing coral reef and fish.

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Terrible photo sorry – it’s a photo of a photo we bought

Unfortunately the afternoon of our anniversary saw a major downpour of rain. But we didn’t really mind – it was quite a nice break from the intense sun. And we had prime positions at the bar.

Mexico rain

For our anniversary meal we chose to go to one of the restaurants that you had to book for in the morning. We chose the Steakhouse.

Anniversary meal

I enjoyed a lovely glass of Sangria with fresh fruit!

It was perfect. Not to get too mushy, but I do love my husband and it’s been such a truly amazing first year Smile

Right, I will leave it there. I have a few more excursions to talk about which I’ll save for another post. Wednesday will all be about FOOD (and a bit more about my running). And as an all-inclusive holiday, there was a lot of food. And puddings. Open-mouthed smile

Have you ever been to Mexico before?

Have you ever been to an all-inclusive? I had never been to one before and I was just amazed (and a little shocked) at how much food was available ALL THE TIME.

Running/working out on holiday – do you take it easy or carry on as normal? Or have a break entirely?

22 Replies to “I’m back! Mexico recap–part 1”

  1. I would be sad to be back from that first picture too. I kind of just pictured Mexico to be a lot of dirt roads, farmer’s markets, and non-air conditioned housing? Hmm… I’m quite the little judger apparently. Now I want to go to Mexico too 🙂

    The underground pool is probably my favorite of them all. It sounds so neat!

    Wow. One year. It seems like you’ve been married for much longer than that! 🙂

    1. When we went out into the more rural areas of Mexico it was definitely less developed, but around the towns and tourist areas it was a lot more prosperous (which I guess makes sense!)

  2. Wow at all of your pictures! Looks like you had an amazing time! 🙂 That sea is so blue. Glad you had such nice weather for the majority of the trip.
    Love the picture of the underground fresh water. Sounds really cool, and a nice change from the outdoor heat.
    I’ve never had black pudding before but someone I regularly run with regularly has it in large quantities before a race…can’t say that’s ever appealed to me, and I’ll stick to my PB bagel for now!
    I’ve never been to Mexico, or an all-inclusive. I think that would possibly be dangerous for me, but it would be nice not to have to worry about where/cost of the food on the trip.
    I’m not sure Dan will allow running on our honeymoon next year, but I would definitely normally take a pair of trainers and head out. It’s nice to go somewhere different on a run. I know lots of runners that only book their holidays around races in different parts of the world.

    1. Omg black pudding before a race??? I’d love to know why! Haha.
      It was great not having to worry too much about where to get food and what restaurants were affordable or nice looking. But yes, very very easy to just keep piling the plate up!
      It’s definitely my intention to plan some holidays based purely on good running. We have one in the pipe-line for next year! I’m very lucky that Ben enjoys running too. Though he’s not quite as obsessed 😉

  3. YAY! I was beginning to think you’d decided to stay in Mexico 😉
    This looks like such an amazing time!! I went to Mexico on a cruise when I was like 12, but I don’t remember much of it. I do remember that gorgeous water though!

  4. First and foremost – Happy Anniversary, Anna! I love how in love the two of you still look. Secondly, I’m quite impressed that you we’re able to clear your breakfast plate. The fact that you could do that all by yourself almost makes you my hero, Ha Ha! Third & final, everything you shared about your vacation so far sounds and looks incredible. I love the purple color of your hotel lobby, your braids are adorable, and the sunny views seem breathtaking!

  5. Looks like so much fun!!! I love Cancun and always have such a fun time there! Good for you and Ben! Also I ran while on vacation like that in Punta Cana and I found that if you run along the water where the sand is more compact it’s not too bad!

  6. It looks amazing! I would love to visit Chichen Itza as it looks so interesting, but I have never been to Mexico.
    Normally on holiday I have a break from running, but last summer in Hawaii I ran quite a few times, mainly because I was just getting back into running and had a half marathon a few weeks after we got back, but also it was a more relaxed holiday than we usually have so I had some time. Although the heat was crazy- I went out first thing but really I should have gone out late in the evening as that was when it was the coolest, as the sun set at about 6pm I think.

    1. I was fascinated by Chichen Itza. I’d love to read more about it – so much I had no idea about!
      I found running a really great way to explore the place a bit more and find that peace of mind. Plus I could totally relax for the rest of the day afterwards.

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