Months before winter Joe mentioned that we should plan a winter getaway when the cold months hit. I, of course, didn't need any persuasion and was super excited about the idea. At first, we wanted to go to Costa Rica but after scouring the internet for hours looking for flights that were affordable and didn't have a 20-hour layover somewhere, we decided to throw in the towel on that idea and instead settled for Cancun. Both of us have been there before but it's a quick flight and since it is somewhat familiar, it probably was a good option for our first real out of the country trip with our baby (Canada doesn't count as out of the country).
So, after much planning and preparing we got our tickets and were super excited. Unfortunately, we were all still sick from Covid. We were no longer contagious but all three of us had lingering side effects. I still felt really worn down and had a cough and congestion that was relentless. Quincey still had a cough and Joe did as well. But, with only a few days before leaving, we decided that the warm weather would do us some good even if we weren't at 100%.
Off we went. Our hope was to get to Denver the night before our flight, but Wyoming winter roads put a "roadblock" *pun intended hahaha in that plan and we only made it to Cheyenee. The roads were covered in black ice and were ruthless for that leg of the journey. But, after a good night's sleep in Cheyenne we were on our way to the airport and off to Mexico!!!
All went great until we started to descend into Cancun. Quincey began to scream and bawl uncontrollable yelling that her ear hurt. I have yet to feel that helpless as a parent. There was literally nothing I could do while she screamed. 12 days before we had gone to the urgent care with her, and she had an ear infection that we treated with antibiotics. She had completed her course of treatment two days before we left and hadn't complained about her ear in days, so it definitely took me by surprise. Besides trying to figure out how I could help her as the plane slowly crept back down to land, my mind was spinning with how in the world we would navigate an ER visit in a different country. People do it all the time, but the logistics were overwhelming, and Joe was sitting at the front of the plane while we were in the legit very back (which was probably nice for most of the plane while she screamed). She kept screaming that her ear hurt, and the tears were just pouring out of her. I started bawling too and telling her how sorry I was, that we shouldn't have come to Mexico without us being 100% and I would do anything I could to make the pain stop. Finally, after what felt like the longest decent ever, we landed, and she acted as if nothing had happened! She said her ear didn't hurt anymore adn she was great. When we finally got off the plane and met up with Joe, he was all happy and talking about how nice of a flight it was while we were both red eyed, but he had no idea what the last hour had been like for us.
Finally, after going through customs and baggage claim and then immigrations (which can be overwhelming in itself with a little one) we managed to find the shuttle company that we had booked to take us to our airbnb. But that didn't go as planned either. Apparently, in Cancun people don't know actual addresses. You just have to tell them the name of the place and they will know where to go. By giving the driver the address, he had no idea where to take us and we had no internet or reception to pull up the confirmation of the Airbnb to try to figure it out. So, here we were, late at night with our little one trying to figure out where we were going. Joe was able to eventually get a hotspot with the driver's phone and pull up his emails and decipher enough to show the driver where to go. That was stressful and we were even asking our driver if there would be a hotel, he could take us to for at least the night.
But, against all odds, we landed at our Airbnb. We were all tired and ready for bed, well Joe and I were but Quincey just would NOT go to sleep that first night. I was so frustrated and overtired. Finally, our little bugger went to sleep, and we all crashed while hearing the sound of the ocean.
The next day was my birthday, but the celebration would have to wait because we spent the day trying to figure out how to get to a grocery store and navigate the local bus stop etc. Finally, once we had all logistics taken care of, it was time to relax! Joe still had loose ends at work to tie up for the next couple days but we slowly all started to really unwind and relax.
Quincey absolutely loved the sandy beach. She spent hours playing in the sand. She just loved the beach and would ask to go first thing in the morning. Joe and I enjoyed taking turns venturing into the ocean and he found some amazing seashells. That was the other thing, Quincey loved finding all the seashells.
There was one restaurant that we went to a couple times. I really wanted to go to an authentic Mexican restaurant which was actually hard to find when you are staying on the Hotel Zone in Cancun. Everything is overpriced and americanized there but there was this one place that didn't even have a sign to show it was there. We only knew it was there because we walked by it daily to go to the local convenience store. So, we decided to give it a try and it did NOT disappoint. The menu only had like four options on it, and they were all fish options. So, we got fish tacos each time that had this amazing sauce on the side with fish oil in it that was absolutely phenomenal. We were the only people there that weren't local. It was just a quick walk from our airbnb and perfect. The last time that we were there, Joe ordered the catch of the day. We didn't realize it would have the head on it and all but Joe said it was the most amazing fish!
So, we spent our days lounging at the beach and the pool and doing not much else. Our airbnb had an amazing view from the roof that also had lounge chairs etc. Although it was super windy up there, we enjoyed our time watching the sunsets.
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