Day 5: Church and Xcaret

Since our fifth day in Mexico was a Sunday, we woke early and checked lds.org for a local sacrament meeting time. Luckily, the church building was just 9 blocks from our hotel. Unluckily, the meeting started at 8am. We showered, ate some continental breakfast on the run, and headed toward the church.

Upon arriving at 8:10, we were surprised to see the parking lot empty. After waiting for a couple minutes, a truck drove up and two men in white shirts and ties approached us. Richard (taking the conversational lead) started asking the men in Spanish what time the meeting began. It turns out, the website is incorrect and the meeting wouldn't start until 9am. We chatted with the men (who turned out to be the stake presidency) and helped the bishop and his wife (when they arrived) to set up chairs in the chapel. Even though I couldn't understand Spanish, the members were so warm, making a point to come over, kiss me on my cheeks, and ruffle Aubrey's hair. It was a good experience.

After church, we walked back to the hotel and got ready to go to Xcaret (pronounced eesh-ca-RET). We spent the remainder of the day here.

Aubrey was fascinated by the creatures in the park--so fascinated in fact by the macaws that we could not get her to unglue her peepers from them for a photo. Hilarious.


We also saw monkeys, tapirs, more "zizards", butterflies (in all their stages), bats, flamingos, deer, a horse and a jaguar.

When Aubrey was catching some winks in her stroller mid-day, Richard and I saw dolphins, sharks, turtles, and an underground aquarium. We saw some awesome fish that blend into the sand. Here is Richard filming one with both of its eyes on one side of its head (and talking to a cute, random tourist).

We saw the "flying men" swing down off of a very high pole suspended upside-down. Aubrey called them the "rosies, round-and-round mans." The man on the top of the pole playing the flute-drum did a precarious dance whilst on top which scared the bajeezers out of me. Upon reaching the ground, they donned elaborate hats and climbed onto a windmill-looking apparatus to did flips for us all.

A highlight of the day was floating down the underground river through the park as a family. The water passed through beautiful caves. At first Aubrey was "sad" and kept repeating "go home, want." After a bit, she began to enjoy the float, though she clung on to me until the last ten minutes or so. Then she decided she wanted to swim. By herself. She was wearing a life jacket, so I let go and she paddled around for a while, making motorboat sounds.

After the river float, we chilled by the beach for a while. Richard snorkeled in some neat pools right on the ocean and saw some amazing creatures.


As the evening approached, we took a trip up the watchtower. From the top, we could see the Caribbean Sea to the east, Playa del Carmen to the far north, and the seemingly unending forest spreading out to the west as far as the eye could see.

Then we went to get seats for the Mexico Espectacular! show. While we waited for it to begin, Aubrey made quick friends with two young couples sitting in front of us. Realizing she only spoke (toddler) English, they proceeded to teach her how to count in Spanish. Aubrey continued to talk to them throughout the show, pointing to the dancers and telling them what she thought about it all. They loved every minute of it, taking time to react enthusiastically and to kiss her head on multiple occasions.

Waiting for the bus and on the trip back to the hotel, Aubrey fell asleep. It is too bad she awoke as we walked back to the hotel. Granted it was 10pm and she had only taken a cumulative-1-hour-stroller-nap that day, but she had quite the meltdown that night falling asleep. She kept screaming, "Daddy! Help me! Mommy! Richard! Help me!" over and over while I feebly attempted to give her a milk sippy, her snuggly horse, her treasured towel-blanky, some Tylenol...all to no avail. After about an hour of fits, she finally fell asleep. And thankfully the neighbors didn't summon the police to incarcerate us.