Got our second batch of Trash the Dress photos this morning! (Part 1 here)
Credits and thanks:
Location: Garrafon Park, Isla Mujeres (All Inclusive, snorkeling, zip-lining, pools, hammock areas… amazing)
Photography: Monica Lopez
Makeup: Vanessa Dominguez Alvarez
Hopefully I’ll get some more next week! Couldn’t be happier with how these turned out.
Our favorite part of our weekend trip to the island of Holbox was our hotel: Casa Las Tortugas. Jorge and I both agreed that if and when we return to Holbox, we will be staying at Casa Las Tortugas again.
The hotel has a beautiful pool area, a beachfront restaurant, a spa and a chic beach club area. We loved the rustic Mexican design and beautiful palapas throughout.
Jorge and I booked the most basic room. I was worried I’d regret not getting an ocean view room, but as we spent an evening lying in the hammock on our balcony listening to the ocean breeze move through the palm trees… I knew we’d made the right choice.
This year, Jorge and I have made a list of all the places in the state of Quintana Roo that we’d like to visit. We’ve already crossed many places off our list, although it’s not doing us much good since the list seems to grow every week!
Still, this weekend we were happy to go to the island of Holbox (pronounced “Hole-Bosh”), something we’ve tried to do unsuccessfully for a few years now.
Since we have no car, we had to plan around public transportation, which is very reliable but didn’t present us with many options for time. Here’s a rundown of how we got to Holbox:
The island was absolutely stunning. The downtown area is quite small, with lots of restaurants, colorful shops, and sand streets. You won’t see any cars on Holbox! Only bikes, mopeds and golf carts.
We fell in love with the island and the hotel, although we were a bit disappointed in the water. The sand was white and powder-soft and the water in the distance was clear, bright turquoise… but right on the shoreline, there was either thick mud or brownish-green water with lots of sargasso. It was beautiful, but I guess we’re spoiled after spending so much time on beaches in Cancun and on Isla Mujeres. We’re very picky!
**Note: My friend Kelly tells me that the water is much clearer other times of year. Good to know 🙂
We came back only 24 hours later, around noon on Sunday, to catch the last bus back to Cancun. Here’s how we did it:
Even though we only had 24 hours on Holbox, we felt like it was just enough time to relax, unwind, explore the island and enjoy some amazing food.
Tomorrow I’ll do a separate post on our hotel, because it was AMAZING!
So the past few weekends I’ve taken tons of pictures to share with you guys! Things have been pretty busy at work, but I figure I’ll keep ya’ll updated. Here goes…
Last Weekend:
Went to my friend Dama's birthday party at Black Pub Friday night
Saturday: Went to another friend's birthday party, complete with palapa and a taco stand
My "gringas"... flour tortilla, pastor, onion, cilantro and pineapple
Saturday night: Burgers in a friend's backyard (it had very cool design, but I only managed to get a shot of this light-covered palm tree)
This Weekend:
On Saturday I bought this... I'll tell you why later!
Sunday afternoon: Puerto Morelos
Saturday night: Carnaval parade in Playa del Carmen (all pictures were either blurry or blocked by pedestrians, but the costumes were great!)
What did you do this weekend?
Jorge and I spent Sunday at Playa Delfines (Dolphin Beach) in Cancun. It has been years since we hung out at the beach in the Hotel Zone! Usually we prefer Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen or Puerto Morelos, but I’m glad we finally came around and decided to enjoy our city for once.
The past month has been one of my favorites since I moved to Mexico over 6 years ago. For three weekends in a row, we found great excuses to make the 1-hour drive from Cancun to Playa del Carmen. First we went to the Taste of Playa Food Festival, then the next weekend to the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival, then last weekend just to hang out! Because who doesn’t want to wake up to this…
The most famous area of Playa del Carmen is Fifth Avenue (or “La Quinta”, as the locals call it), a pedestrian street that runs parallel to the beach. All along this avenue, you’ll find charming hotels, tons of restaurants, boutique shops, local artisanry, beautiful cafes and chic nightclubs right on the beach.
Coco Maya Beach and Night Club
A predominantly European destination, Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue is ideal for people-watching. You’ll see everything from luxury travelers to backpackers all on one unique street.
My personal favorite part of Fifth Avenue is a small off-street called “Calle Corazon” (Heart Street). Calle Corazon is filled with twinkle lights, cafes and art galleries, and I lose myself in its magical atmosphere every time I walk by.
Calle Corazon
 
From Fifth Avenue, it’s just a one-block stroll down to the stunning Caribbean beach, where travelers can indulge in enticing meals right on the sand at oceanfront palapa restaurants. But to be honest, sometimes we don’t even make it to the beach! Our favorite thing to do is to simply walk up and down Fifth Avenue and talk about how much we want to move to Playa del Carmen.
"Jellyfish Lanterns"
What’s your favorite travel destination?
So excited! Today after work we’re leaving for a short weekend in Playa del Carmen. The company my friend works for has a currently empty 2-bedroom apartment there, so we’re going to enjoy a couple’s weekend. It’s going to be chilly, but fun! Hope your weekend is awesome, too.
On our recent trip to Rio, we were very surprised by some of the… um… “unique” fashion trends, and not so surprised by others.
Thongs
Everything you’ve heard is true. Brazilian women love to wear their thong bikinis on the beach! Every single woman aged 15 on up to 90 on the beach was wearing a thong bikini, or a very small bikini that had been “tucked in” to resemble a thong. They seemed to be pretty shameless about it as well, which was shocking at first but seemed quite normal after a few days. They would bend over, run around with the kids, and even play a game of beach paddleball in their thongs.
Interestingly, the Brazilian women were quite modest when not on the beach. Even when walking along the boardwalk, the ladies were fully covered… unlike Cancun or parts of the US, where you’ll see women walking along in bikini tops. Not so in Rio. When you’re not on the sand, you cover up.
Everything you’ve heard about Brazilian butts is also true. We did not see a single Brazilian woman there who didn’t have a fabulous butt. Didn’t matter if they were skinny or fat, young or old… amazing butts, all of them.
About 2/3 of the men were wearing speedo’s, but luckily Jorge didn’t feel too left out because there were a good amount wearing trunks as well.
American men will never be secure enough to hug another man wearing a speedo.
Workout Gear
We mostly stayed in the Copacabana and Ipanema districts of Rio, where you’ll find tons of locals biking, playing soccer, playing paddleball, walking and running. They even have gym stations on the beach so guys can do pull-ups!
By Day 2, Jorge had noticed that many of the women were wearing the same workout outfit that seemed a bit odd to us. We saw at least 20 women wearing this trend every day: leggings with knee-high athletic socks. For posterity’s sake, we documented some of these women so you can see it’s actually true:
After seeing it so much, this trend actually began to look attractive. Luckily we left Rio before I had a chance to buy my long athletic socks.
What interesting fashion statements have you seen in other cultures?
This past weekend was the annual Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in one of my favorite places: Playa del Carmen. Held Thursday November 24 through Saturday November 26 at the chic Mamita’s Beach Club, the festival hosted some of the top current jazz artists in Latin America and beyond.
Saturday’s concert began at 7 pm , but Jorge and I didn’t arrive at Mamita’s Beach until around 8 pm. The beach was immense and PACKED. We estimated there were at least 2,000 spectators that night, but probably more. Many had brought their beach chairs, others were standing, and even more were hanging out on the sand talking to groups of friends. It was a very relaxed vibe despite the large crowd.
Throughout the evening, we got to hear music by Richard Bona, Alex Otaola and the Yellowjackets. I’m not a huge jazz fan, but even I was really getting into it! Some of the music was a bit bland for me, but the upbeat numbers were a lot of fun.
Juan and Viri joined up with us later on, and we got a new spot near the very back of the crowd. It was less crowded, and everyone in that area was just sitting on the sand talking to friends with a pretty clear (if distant) view of the stage. Juan had brought a 10-pack, so he and Jorge joked over their beers while Viri and I spent the evening talking and taking pictures. We’ll definitely be back to the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in 2012! It was a fun, relaxed evening of beach, friends and music.
Moving along with the honeymoon posts, today I’ll write about my favorite part of Rio de Janeiro: Ipanema.
You may remember we stayed in the Copacabana district, which was lovely, but on the 3rd day of our trip we finally made it to the neighboring beach neighborhood of Ipanema. Once we discovered it, we’d spent hours on the remaining days of our trip just wandering around the streets and beach of Ipanema, just a 20 minute walk from our Copacabana apartment. It has a very cool vibe, with lots of surfers, beautiful views and endless restaurants to choose from. Ipanema is the perfect place to just… be.
If we ever make it back to Rio, we’re definitely staying in Ipanema!
Note: I know I’ve been using the slideshow feature a lot lately. Personally I like it better for posts with lots of photos, but if you have a hard time seeing it please let me know and I’ll be sure to use regular format in the future.
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