Yucatan (You Can Tan?)

So GC and I are headed to Mexico next week! Yes, Mexico! And yes, next week!

I know this sounds sudden, but after numerous efforts to find a week in our calendars without a wedding, event, or work venture (it was a pathetic example of our over-scheduling problem) we decided to just go for it and booked a week at The Explorean Kohunlich.

This place looks fantastic and right up our alley, no internet, no TV, and a daily excursion into the Mayan Jungle where we can participate in nighttime kayak rides, tours of isolated ruins, and sailing on jungle lakes. Oh yeah, and the Bungalow. Did I forget to mention that? Silly me. We get our very own bungalow!

We'll experience a hard day of travel on either end of the trip, flying into Cancun and then taking a bus 5.5 hours to Chetumal in the middle of the Yucatan Jungle. Despite the long journey, the down time in the middle will be completely worth it.

In preparation for the trip, I made a bunch of visits to various destinations; the Salvation Army to pick up some lightweight pants that I won't mind wrecking, stops at a few drug stores to create our first aid kit (I had a little too much fun picking out band-aids and ice packs I think), a trip to the doctor to get my anti-malarial pills and Typhoid vaccine (Hepatitis A too), and then, I decided it might be fun to try on a bathing suit or two. Let's just say the shots were more fun. I felt a little more like this,

and a little less like this.

It doesn't help that I am whiter than white. I joked in Jamaica as I lay next to the hoards of bronzed beach-goers, "Just lay next to me, you'll get a better tan from the light reflecting off my body!" A co-worker deemed it necessary to tell me that just because I'm going to the Yucatan, doesn't mean that You-Can-Tan. Trust me I know. 

That said, I may not look like a swim suit model, and I may always grimace just a bit as I stare at my bathing suit-clad body under fluorescent lights in a department store (let's not kid ourselves, at Target) but overall, I'm pretty healthy. I eat well and try to exercise regularly. Sure, I may have a little bit of a self control problem when a bowl of homemade tortilla chips is placed front of me (as was the case last night), but so long as I don't do that too often, life's too short not to enjoy a few pleasures. 

So I'll slather on the sunless tanner (and SPF 50 sunscreen), overcome the slight telltale scent of "no I can't tan naturally."and don my bathing suit with fair-skinned Irish (strong like bull and intended for heavy labor physique) pride, remembering that if I did have a tan, I'd look better than half the girls on the beach. :)

Apart from fair-skinned woes, books, puzzles, and our First Aid kit will comprise the greater majority of our suitcase. We'll pack light, but the true lessening of our load will be in the relieving of heavy, stressed spirits. I'm going to nap whenever the mood strikes me, and not feel even a little bit bad about it. Adios hermanos y hermanas!