Hacienda Xcanatun

The amazing Memo turned 32 on Sunday. To honor this momentous occasion, we celebrated in style at Hacienda Xcanatun lounging by the pools, drinking mojitos, and eating delicious food.  We left Carmen Saturday morning on our first road trip across the Yucatan to Merida. The drive was gorgeous. At least half of it was along the coast with only sand between us and the Gulf. We were excited to see how beautiful the beaches are right outside of town!

Hacienda Xcanatun was one of the nicest places either of us has ever stayed. In fact, it was voted one of the top boutique hotels in Mexico.  Once you enter the gates, you feel like you’re in a different world. It has 9 acres of beautiful, exotic gardens complete with Mayan statues for your viewing pleasure. We arrived and someone immediately took our bags. At the reception area, we were offered “welcome drinks”, their version of a margarita with a special Mayan ingredient, Xtabentún. They were so fresh and delicious. Here is the recipe, although I’m not sure where one would find the secret ingredient.

Xcanatún Margarita recipe:
1 1/2 oz. silver tequila (100% agave please, we love Fortaleza and Siete Leguas)
1 1/2 oz. lime juice (fresh please, and preferably from our trees)
1 oz. Xtabentún
½ oz. simple syrup

After walking through the gardens with our margaritas, we decided to visit the bar, which is beautiful and looked like it belonged in New Orleans. We decided to try the mojitos, and Billy was shown the cigar menu. The birthday boy informed me that from now on, the Landreneau’s only smoke Cuban cigars. We took our mojitos and Cuban cigar “para llevar” and lounged around the pool until the sun was hidden by the beautiful palm trees.

Dinner Saturday night at Casa de Piedra was exquisite. In Carmen, the restaurants are almost all American chain food, Chili’s, Applebees, Boston’s, oh my! Needless to say, our mature palettes have been missing delectable food. We started with the shrimp ceviche. So wonderful! Followed by plantain and cumin soup for Billy and their version of Caprese salad which had goat cheese instead of mozzarella and added prosciutto... genius! Finally I had filet mignon with garlic whipped mashed potatoes, and Billy had the rack of lamb special. Dessert was a special birthday treat for Memo. What a wonderful night.

Sunday morning I scheduled a couple’s massage in our suite, the romance package. A man arrived with a massage table, and Billy silently freaked out as he imagined a guy giving him a massage. Two ladies arrived at our suite shortly after to actually give us the 60 minute massages. Once the tables were set up, the ladies immediately suggested we get undressed. I had to ask in Spanish if they wanted us to get undressed right then (with them in the room) followed by “How will you not see me naked?!”  They politely decided to step into the other room of our suite while we covered ourselves appropriately with towels. When they came back into the room, they told us about Mayan history and explained that they would be putting flowers on our chests to join our spirits. I guess I didn’t understand the gravity of this explanation until mid-massage, when my towel was pulled down to my belly button, K and a bouquet of flowers was laid on my chest between the girls. For those of you who know me well, I’m more modest than most. My mouth was trying to reveal an embarrassed smile as I told myself that it was ok that two more people in the world just saw my goods because I’d never see these women again. Keep in mind that my eyes were closed the whole time. I was basically thinking… “Did she just…?” “Noooo!” “Yep, definitely putting flowers there.” I opened my eyes when they left the room for a moment to take a peek at the new arrangement of exotic flowers lying on my chest. Memo had flowers too. Once I got past the bashfulness of it all, the massage was wonderful. They even poured a bath with flowers around the edge of the tub, incense burning, and two shots of honey liquor for us to make a toast. I can now say that I’ve experienced Mayan tradition :p.

 After our massages, we packed up and headed 20 minutes down the road to Progreso. On the way, we saw signs for Dzibilchaltun, Mayan ruins, not far off of the highway and decided to stop. It was our first time seeing Mayan ruins. It was about noon and very hot when we arrived. We walked around the different museums and finally found our way to the actual ruins. The first one we saw was called “The Seven Dolls” and it was breathtaking. We enjoyed seeing the ruins from such an ancient culture and imagining what went on there when the area was thriving. As we climbed up one of the ruins, we heard laughing and splashing. Here I must note that I was wearing my swimsuit and a cover up during the whole tour and felt completely inappropriately dressed. We walked over on the top of the ruin and saw what I would have thought was a mirage in that heat. It was actually a beautiful lake in the middle of the ruins. We quickly ventured over to the water, and I jumped in. They had little fish swimming around, and I realized everyone was in their swimsuits. Duh, of course they have a lake at the ruins go to swimming in… why else would I be wearing my swimsuit on a public tour? It was so refreshing. We soon noticed the time and headed back to the car to make our way to Progreso.



Journal entry in the museum :)



Progreso was bustling with locals and tourists. Vendors filled the streets with handmade goods and treats. We didn’t have much time if we were going to get home before dark, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and head home. While it was great to see a different place, Progreso was not for us. It was overwhelming with the amount of people that were at the beach, making it difficult to lounge in one spot. We decided to ditch the beach and settled in at a patio restaurant where we people watched from a distance. We would definitely take the quiet, desolate beaches on Isla del Carmen over Progreso, any day of the week.

It was a 5 hour drive from Progreso to Carmen.  The drive home was just as beautiful as the drive there. We really love Carmen and traveling around. We got home as the sun was setting over the Gulf of Mexico, not a bad view. J It’s funny that we consider a hotel “home” right now. We were so happy to be in our hotel bed after fitting so much fun into two days. It was a really great adventure!





Love yall!



Bienvenidos

I have two BIG loves in life: Billy and the Spanish language. Until now, they were two different worlds, two different parts of who I am.

Somewhere around high school, I developed a passion for the Spanish language and learning about Hispanic cultures. The language came easily to me, and the music made me want to dance. I developed a girl crush on Shakira and had all but convinced myself I was supposed to be born LATINA! I studied abroad in Spain and always imagined I’d move back there or to a Latin American country. My plan was to settle down into some exotic lifestyle, teach English, and probably marry a guy named Jose or Felipe (sorry, Bill haha.)

When I met Billy, life started to make sense. How lucky to have the greatest guy I’ve ever met as my partner in crime for all of life’s adventures? I pictured us settling down in the suburbs and having kids one day. I’m not saying we won’t still do those things, just not yet. I knew we’d travel and enjoy the finer things in life… I just never imagined we’d be travelling so soon. :P

Arriving in Carmen, a former rural fishing village turned oil city, one quickly notices they are in a different world. Decaying buildings dot the streets and the people here drive like bats out of hell. When you stop at a red light, the less fortunate are always hustling for a peso by selling fresh fruit, washing your windshield, or dancing in a clown outfit. Despite the fact that I should feel completely out of my comfort zone, since we have arrived, my heart feels happy. That’s the only way I can explain it. Something happened by moving here that I never imagined would happen… my two loves became one reality.

I know it’s only Thursday, but Billy and I are both really proud of ourselves with how well we are doing with navigating the city and our new life together. We don’t feel as out of place as we expected to feel. We take advantage of the two hour lunch break (not too shabby) by eating a quick lunch in the hotel room, working out, and then take an AMAZING dip in the pool (best part of the day.) We will be living in this hotel until the house we found becomes available.

This weekend is Billy’s birthday, and knowing we would be away from friends and family, I had to come up with something that would make it just as sweet. After speaking with my friend Richard who lives in Monterrey, we came up with the brilliant plan to venture over to Progreso and Merida, a 4-5 hour drive. We will stay at Hacienda Xcanatun which is on the outskirts of Merida, closer to the beach and Mayan ruins. I’m not sure what all we will fit in, but if our past vacations are any indication, I know we will have a wonderful time.