Went to the Reserva Natural Atitlan yesterday afternoon, and it ended up being a really fun place! We all loved the cable bridge hike, seeing spider monkeys, the butterfly dome, and the kids playground with a zipline.

Our tourist visa in Mexico was up, so we headed to Guatemala! We found a lovely old cottage with hammocks and a trampoline and 50 different types of plants everywhere, and it’s absolutely lovely. The first 24 hours were a bit rough, with finding scorpions, biting ants, power and water outages. But the quiet calm, beautiful views, and kind people completely made up for it.

Cenote Ik Kil, one of those gorgeous places on earth that has been ruined by tourism. Which I get, because I saw a picture and said to myself, “I want to go THERE”. But to access the cenote water you either have to jump off the edge 8 feet or climb down one of two wooden ladders. And there were about 150 people down in this cave that smelled like wet people (we should’ve ran when we saw all the tour busses in the parking lot), and the little kids wouldn’t or couldn’t get in safely and let us know how they felt about it. Sooo, all of those big enough to do so took a jump or two in, and off we went to drive home to the pool.

At least my picture is gorgeous and serene ?
-Jill

At Akumal monkey sanctuary, we got to have monkeys climb on our heads, shoulders, and into our laps. The kids loved it and it was so fun to see how they reacted (adults too). No phones and other stuff allowed in the monkey cages, so no pictures. It was cool to hold parrots too. – Tevya

Chichen Itza was a bit underwhelming, especially for all the hype it gets in the area. The pyramid is impressive for it’s symmetry and aural qualities. The ball court is massive with hoops so high and small they must’ve been throwing the ball… Either that or there were less goals scored than in your typical futbol game. It was worth seeing for sure. But if you have to choose between there and one of the other “big” Mesoamerican ruins like Palenque, Teotihuicahn, Tikal, Copan, Monte Alban, etc; definitely choose the other option. Even between it and Ek Balam (not far away), we enjoyed the overall experience of climbing on and exploring at Ek Balam much more despite no pyramids of this symmetry being there (or at least not uncovered). – Tevya

#mexico #travelfamily #chichenitza

Ek Balam was the bomb! ?
I really loved being able to climb up every structure and walk through the jungle to find more unearthed ruins. Ezzy loved walking and climbing all over as well, all in all it was a great visit!

You know what’s fantastic when you travel? Visitors! We love having the Southwicks here to visit old favorites and discover new places with.

You can see how much we love this beach club in Ezzy’s face. 2nd is a video of the boys playing “Ezzy ball” on the table. They have beach beds! ? ⛱️ ? ?️ …with shade over them. It’s gorgeous and the water is tame. Usually you buy food at these as your fee to use the beach. The same is true here, but unlike the others, the food is muy bueno! This was last Sat. I’m excited to go back tomorrow. -Tevya

Just a couple of Mer-babies enjoying the pool ?‍♀️ It’s been warmer lately and perfect for a refreshing dip in the pool!

After being sick for a few weeks, we finally got everyone out the door for a beach day. It was windy enough that the sand was blowing, but we managed to convince the kids it was fine and enjoy the afternoon out. Being at the beach is so grounding, everything feels better after a trip to the sea ?