We spent 3 months last Spring in Mexico and this winter we just spent another month and a half. Mexico has become so comfortable for us, but at the same time, Mexico is never fully comfortable. We get used to things but it is never the same as our home. We are ready to hang out with our family for a couple of weeks over Christmas. Unfortunately, our house is rented out so we will be couch surfing a bit for the next couple of weeks while we try to deal with wearing pants and socks again. I have been in shorts and sandals for so long that I don’t remember what it is like. Coming home again has been on our mind a lot during our last 11 days on the island of Cozumel and we ended up not doing much. Our accomodation was 3 units around a small pool but most of the time we were the only guests there, which was lovely. We hung out a lot in our Airbnb villa, read books, watched travel youtube videos, and planned our travels for 2025 and 2026.
We did take a ferry trip back to the mainland in Playa Del Carmen to have lunch with some nomad friends, but we are not big fans of what that town has become. We loved it on our first Mexico trip together in the early 1990’s, but back then it was just a dirt road with some palapa rooms for rent and a few restaurants. Now it is a huge city with lots of traffic. Our expat friends who just bought a condo explained to us why they love Playa Del Carmen, but we can’t forget the rustic experience we had over 30 years ago. We had a great time talking about Mexico and travel with our friends, but we had nothing else to see in that town. After lunch, we got back on the ferry to Cozumel. On another day, we took a private bird tour on Cozumel and were able to see 9 new lifers including 3 endemic species only found on the island (Meg’s favorite was the Cozumel emerald hummingbird). It was fantastic but I was too busy looking for birds and didn’t take any pictures except for some goats that we ran into on the trail.
Cozumel is a diver’s paradise and many people travel here to dive on the fantastic reefs on the West side of the island. We aren’t divers, but we did some snorkeling off the beach a couple of times and one day we took a full snorkeling tour. We saw some fantastic fish and corals on a few reefs and ended our day on a beautiful shallow white sand bay. They gave us beer or tequila, and we hung out wading in the beautiful blue water with rays zooming around our feet and trying not to step on the many varieties of starfish. That was probably the highlight of our time on Cozumel.
Next stop- Seattle, getting our friends and family fix, and prepping for the launch of our 2025 adventures in Asia!