A Yucatan Yuletide

This was the house my friends and I rented in Mexico over the holidays. It was in a little town called Chicxulub on the Gulf of Mexico, about 30 minutes from Merida. As gorgeous as it looks, I swear the photos can't even do it justice. I knew it was going to be nice, but when we walked in the first night I was absolutely floored. The photo on the left is the back of the house, viewed from the beach. On the right is what you see when you walk in the front door. Welcome home, indeed. There were 10 of us and the place didn't feel one bit crowded. And then there was the pool...



...as viewed from the private balcony in our room. My favorite part of the house though was the front entry, with the interesting play of shadow and light and the white bougainvilla winding its way up the natural tree trunk column.



Of course, the trip wasn't all about serenity and natural beauty...



Since I didn't actually ask any of my friends if they minded being featured on my blog, I'll refrain from posting photos of anyone else here. If you're interested though, the whole trip is chronicled on my Flickr page. I'm not really sure why I feel there's a difference between posting photos there versus here, but somehow it just seems so. I'll share one of my favorite photos though, since you can't tell who anyone is. It features the most sought-after souvenir brought back from Merida, the wrestling mask:



Oh yeah, my friends are a bunch of nuts. And pretty much the most awesome people I could ever imagine spending the holidays with.