And then there were three....

So how did it get to be Christmas Eve already? In Mexico you just don't notice the onset of Christmas at all, just a few lights on a smattering of houses, so with it being hot and no one really making a big fuss we now have to pinch ourselves that a whole year has passed since the last one!

So the last blog was 2 weeks ago when we visited Playa, and since then 2 bible studies have been started, we said goodbye to Cancun and our little appartment and the lovely cong who we really miss, said hello to Mallika and started our descent down the Coast.

First stop... Cozumel - a lovely island which attracts cruise ships and tourists like bees to honey, but still manages to maintain its rugedness, with one side of the island barely developed. We stayed with the lovely Ash and Joanna who we were the perfect hosts and who we had lots of fun with - including their hugely entrtaining dogs - Cokies and Freckles. Cozumel is a 45 min boat ride from Playa del Carmen. The weather when we arrived was fair, but once we'd boarded Luke's bug and we went to the beach it was actually quite cloudy and cold! There will be a picture of Luke's bug and the hole in the floor which made us all slightly nervous as we could see the road through it as he was driving!
In the evening we saw AVATAR - brilliant! Brett's talk went really well again and we had a lovely lunch at a family's place after the meeting. They have about 30 in the cong, but Sunday there were brothers from 8 different countries, as many were visiting while holidaying on the Island so it was great to meet those from all over once again.

The next day was RAINING - lightly in the morning as we navigated our way to the nearest square to find desayuno (breakfast - our favourite Spanish word!) at about 11.45 to which most looked at us as if we were crazy - 'desayuno, noooo its lunchtime' - its never to late for desayuno we thought and so plopped ourselves down at a cute place with umbrellas... desayuno was followed by a beer and a chocolate crepe as the rain got harder and faster and we really weren't dressed for walking in the rain. Enough was enough and as it lightened we ran to a corner shop, stocked up on Hersheys chocolate, crisps, M&Ms, and yoghurt for Mallika - and we caught a taxi to go home for an afternoon of movies. Literally the rain just went on and on and in the end there was lots of flooding and both Joanna and Ash's cars were flooded the next day as well as the Kingdom Hall - when the girls got to the ministry group the following morning there was frantic mopping going on!

Tuesday we went on field service which was really nice to spend some time with the brothers there and I met a lovely lady who wants to study which was a lovely experience. She gave me her email address and I took a photo of her an her little boy so I'm defininitely going to keep in touch with her. I love the Mexican people, they are just so humble and happy and always happy to talk. The day went so quickly and in the evening we decided as the weather had cleared up that we'd have a bbq - but first - we hired a VW Beetle...

As most of you will know these are my favourite cars, but alas I had never driven one! So knowing that they hired them out thanks to Lonely Planet, I asked Brett if we could hire one! So as the boys drove off into the distance to a Bible Study, us girls were left with hiring the car and then going shopping for food! Once we'd got to the rental place and agreed that yes we'd hire one without a roof (i mean completely no roof, no even a soft top), negotiated a price, I then had the fun of driving this thing on the right side of the road on an island with lots of narrow and one way streets and strange right of way rules... well they were foreign to me! So we had some fun, some scrapes, but lots of laughs and everyone stayed in tact (including the stationary cars I passed). It was great, and my first experience was a happy one :)

The next day we got up early, boarded a boat and went snorkelling & diving to 3 sites on Palancaar reef which is one of the best spots on the island. Mallika and i snorkelled and Brett dived. It was hilarious as we had a guide who was with us and he had a lifesaver ring in the water which we asumed we should hold onto... otherwise why would we have it - so we're all (Mallika, me & the guide) hanging onto this thing and doing our thing. Anyway, the 2nd time that we go out, they gave us these life belts to wear... so we thought ah maybe they're abandoning the life saver ring... no, they had that as well, so we basically looked like 5 year olds hanging on to the ring and with these lifebelts tied round us we were bobbing up in the water like bobbing seals - i wondered if on the 3rd snorkel they'd give us arm bands too! But it was a lot of fun, and the highlight was as we were sailing along on our way to pick up 2 people from a resort, a pod of dolphins came into view, so we rushed to the front of the boat and they were jumping in and out of the water and swimming under the boat, and giving us quite a show, it was amazing, i've seen dolphins before but not up close like that - the trip was worth it just for that!

We later took a ride to the other side of the island in the bug - by now I couldn't even see out of the wind screen it was so dirty! The scenery was more rugged, with rainforest and a long beach with some decent surf, reminded me of the north shore in hawaii but smaller waves! We stopped at a fab restaurant called coconuts which is set up on the cliff overlooking the sea and beach which you can see for miles.... it was fab.

So Cozumel was great, the food, the company, the sea life, it was sad to leave - like everywhere we've been and made friends. But now we have come back to Tulum and staying with a lovely Canadian couple from Playa del carmen Cong, until Saturday when we leave for Belize.

Mallika is making some dinner - food awaits :)
We are all well and missing you all.
Lots of love... x