We been back for 3 days now, and I’m not kidding, we miss Mexico. We had a fabulous time. We arrived on Sunday to gray skies and light showers, but, that did not stop us from taking the ferry over the water to Isla Mujeres and feeling our stress level lower with each rolling of the waves. By the time we piled in our taxis and landed in front of our rental house, we were all fully relaxed and looking forward to the next seven days of crystal waters, historical adventures, strong drinks and filling our bellies with typical Mexican food - oh my good GLORIOUS FOOD!

The cloudy skies open up the next day to electric blue skies full of sunshine and light ocean breezes. Perfect weather for poolside lounging and ocean front meditation. Since, my goal was to completely relax during this vacation, I told my friends that I was planning on taking it very easy in the kitchen and if I could help it, bow out of cooking all together. Since my friends are smart people, they decided the best course of action was to hired a local chef to come to our house a couple of times and make breakfast for us. Enter Freddy and Ana, two of the most warm, open, and interesting couple we meet, radiating the undisputible Mexican hospitality like every single person we meet on the “isla” (the island).

When they asked us what we wanted to eat, we quickly gave them a list of dishes that we were itching to tried and told him to wow us. They did not disappointed us. Our mornings were filled with pineapples, mango, papayas, melon, fresh orange juice, homemade tortillas, the best black beans that I have tasted - EVER! And the hottest “picante” south of the border. Typical dishes like Sope, Chilaquiles and Huevos revueltos (scramble eggs). We loved his cooking so much we made sure to visit his restaurant “Freddy” so he could feed us dinner as well. If you are even in Isla Mujeres, made sure you look him up.

The rest of the time we worked very hard, perfecting our Margarita making (and consumption), our relaxation mode, and made sure we soaked up plenty of historical lessons along the way about the Mayan culture. At the end of our eight day vacation we all had fallen in love with the location, the people and vowed that it was not going to be the last time we visited. Sadly I played my lazy card on this trip and did not take as many pictures as I would have liked - I left that to the other photographer in the group, but below you will find some of my favorites.

First up the food…

Our second day breakfast consisted of Ana’s sopes, which are fresh made tortillas (by hand) toped with refried beans, chicken, a bit of lettuce, some crema, avocado cream and the sweetest tomatoes - of course, pool side. After watching Ana making the sopes in the hot comal on top of our stove, we had to take a much needed nap, preferly in the pools as Tom can demonstrate below:

It also helped that our days were filled with watching the birds, sea turtles, diving boats and local fisherman cross right in front of our backyard.

Of course when we could, we did venture out to explore the historical rich culture of the Mayas and soaked up on one of the new seven wonders of the world - Chichen-Itza

Trust me, it’s better in the flesh, up close and personal - the pictures do not do this place justice.

Just like I cannot describe to you the wonderful smell of freshly made tortillas over an open, wood fire.

Or the wonderful choices of Mayan food that we tasted that day, like Cochinita Pibil or the creamy rajas.

But at the end of the day, we returned to our small island, where we jumped with our flippered feet and tanks to view the bountiful sea life in the crystal blue-green waters.

And afterwards tasting the delights of the seas - fresh grilled fish, lobster topped with spicy butter and of course lightly bread fish tacos.

All washed down with cool glass of limonada (lemonade) or a strong Margarita.

But as much as the food was one of our highlights, nothing could beat mother nature in showing us that there are still untouched placed in the world that can still take one’s breath way.

Here is to you Mexico, you carved a sweet spot in our heart and we will be back for more.