The French artist Paul Gauguin said, “Civilization is what makes you sick.”  Montezuma II was Emperor of Mexico from 1502 to 1520 and in power when the Spanish began their “conquest” of the Aztec Empire.  “Montezuma’s Revenge” (traveler’s diarrhea) is a sickness that is usually caused by drinking the local water or eating foods to which visitors are unaccustomed.  The illness is bacterial and can occasionally be serious; mostly it is caused by E. coli.  On this day we set out for Coba, an ancient Mayan city on the Yucatan Peninsula.  The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways in the ancient Mayan world.  Pictured here is another pyramid on the site only this one had steps that were still intact.  As I understood it, Coba had been covered by jungle and not rediscovered until much later.  The main pyramid is still open for the public to climb and to my surprise I learned it is 40 feet taller than the one I had always heard about in Chichen Itza.  As our guide took us into the dense, humid jungle we passed lizards sunbathing and saw a monkey dozing in a tree.  At last we’d made our way to the pyramid and Burk and I decided we would climb it.  I must confess to having a fear of heights and/or at least vertigo.  There was a single rope running down half of the pyramid, tethered by metal rings that had been drilled into the stone.  If someone wished to use it they must bend over double, as the rope could barely be lifted above the stairs.  Those wanting to climb or descend without any aid were left to pick their way over well worn steps that were nerve-wracking at best.  I found the ascent to be OK.  Burk and I had our picture taken on the very top but it is difficult to tell just how high up it really was.  I am so glad I did it and I had a feeling of elation.  Normally, I would say I am always way cooler than my husband.  But in this instance I have to admit he had me beat.  I watched him walk casually down that pyramid like he was descending steps at the mall.  I, on the other hand, was slightly petrified by the perilously steep steps smoothed by time, traverse, and weather.  Many were going down on their rumps, and I could see why.  After our journey we ate at the local restaurant.  It was no hardship drinking Mexican beer and we had quesadillas with guacamole.  Of course the baby had a bottled water.  Later that evening around midnight I was awakened by my husband hollering, “I’M SICK!”  Immediately popping out of bed, I asked what I could do.  I barely got him to the bathroom before he projectile vomited like a spewing volcano absolutely everywhere.  He was so ill he was lying on the marble floor in a pool of his own vomit, too weak to even get up.  I was terrified and a doctor came first thing the next morning.  He said my husband had gotten so dehydrated that he really should be hospitalized.  However, he gave him several injections and proclaimed we should not eat anything outside our hotel “not cooked by the fire.”  With horror I realized it had to have been the guacamole from the day before.  I’m sure the tomatoes had been washed locally.  The irony is no one else in our family got sick — and we all had eaten the EXACT same thing.  I was so incredibly grateful the baby was OK!  She has a cast iron stomach like her Mama.  Maybe Montezuma also knew we have Choctaw blood and so we escaped his wrath.  My poor husband … he had to stay in bed for the next couple of days and mostly slept.  He had fallen victim to Montezuma’s Revenge.

This day would be our first full day and we started it off at the water’s edge.  Seeing all the boats docked reminded me of a telenovela I got hooked on when the baby was first born.  They would cut from a big ranch to a little beach side town filled with small, colored fishing boats like the ones here bobbing gently against their moorings.  I searched and searched for shells but was only able to turn up a handful of tiny ones.  Around noon we ventured out over the little bridge of our hotel’s koi pond to hit the city’s famous Quinta avenida (Fifth avenue.)  We saw people sitting in spas with their feet in neon lit water while little fish came to eat the dead skin off them.  (Yick!)  I saw hundreds of drying tobacco leaves hanging from an outdoor store’s ceiling like bats from a cave and I went over to watch as a man sat outside methodically hand rolling cigars.  Of course I could not resist buying a few.  I love getting pictures of Burk in silly hats or next to different “people.”  It’s a fun tradition we started on our first trip together.  As we walked along the bricked street lined with shops on either side we found a bench with a life-size bronze statue of Pancho Villa sitting on it.  He was wearing crisscrossed strands of bullets around his neck and above him was a sign that read “Viva Mexico!”  As Burk sat next to him and put his arm around him I found myself thinking the live Pancho Villa would probably not have been too pleased.  That night we ate at a really cool outdoor restaurant called La Cueva del Chango.  They had toy monkeys hanging from the trees and the whole thing was set in an enchanting, soothing little grove.  Their food was delicious, as was the Mexican wine.  But the atmosphere really made it.  Old growth vegetation and huge trees mingled with art work for sale, saints next to candles, and turtles in a little “creek” that ran through the restaurant.  It was my favorite place that we would eat on this trip.  We capped off the evening by visiting a high end jewelry store where we got my little one a beautiful tiny sterling silver cuff bracelet with a delicate blue and white floral inlay.  Seeing her wear it brings this trip back to me.  We knew we’d been out a long time when even the gatos were making their way home, disappearing through wrought iron bars into various courtyards.  Our whole family held up, from our three year old to her 88 year old great grandmother.  Maria Grazia Cucinotta, the Italian actress and “Cigar Girl” in the James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough,” said, “I am curious.  I love making discoveries, traveling, speaking with people, go(ing) shopping.”  I am the same way and I got to enjoy all of those things on this day, strolling along Fifth Avenue.

This would be my first time on the Caribbean Sea; my other beach trips were always on the gulf side.  I had wanted to go to Mexico ever since I was a kid and watched “The Love Boat” on TV each week with my folks.  Playa del Carmen is a coastal resort town located within the Mayan Rivera, which runs south of Cancun to Tulum and the Sian Ka’an biosphere preserve.  We would be staying at a beautiful oceanfront hotel which had condominiums right on the beach.  We arrived toward late afternoon and decided to take it easy and enjoy getting settled in.  The hotel had spacious rooms and suites and my husband, baby, and I were on the first floor just steps away from the ocean.  My mother-in-law and step-father-in-law, who took us, were staying with my grandmother-in-law on the third floor, which was the highest view one could have from one of their two top luxury condos.  This picture is part of the panoramic view we got to enjoy from their two story suite’s rounded balcony.  We all stayed in together the first night and had room service bring us dinner.  I drank in the tranquility of the waves lapping rhythmically at the shore.  Our view below revealed what I always thought Mexico would have … a bar lit with lively lanterns swaying delicately in the breeze and palm trees wrapped cheerfully with strands of white lights.  There were also cool multicolored orbs in the sand that lent their alfresco dining a glowing touch.  I could not WAIT to get out to the ocean (I think I was the only one) to look for shells!  It was the first thing about which I inquired upon our arrival, but I was told there were really none to be found.  I was still thrilled to be exploring some ruins, venturing out to eat, and doing a little shopping.  Something with which I particularly agree after having gotten to spend a little time at the beach is this quote by the English actress Cherie Lunghi:

“I enjoy art, architecture, museums, churches and temples; anything that gives me insight into the history and soul of the place I’m in.  I can also be a beach bum – I like to laze in the shade of a palm tree with a good book or float in a warm sea at sundown.”

I was hoping to get to do some of all of those things during our time in Playa del Carmen.

Today was our last day and hotels now kick you out earlier and earlier.  So we researched an activity that would help us pass some time in a worthwhile manner before waiting at the airport for our flight home.  It turns out there was a National Audubon Society sanctuary close by.  It was established to protect one of the largest remaining stands of bald cypress and pond cypress in North America.  We parked our car at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and were thrilled to discover there was a boardwalk extending two and a half miles over pine flatwoods, wet prairie, and march ecosystems in addition to the magnificent cypress — some of which were around 600 years old.  We learned the sanctuary is a “gateway” for the Great Florida Birding Trail and is an important breeding area for the endangered wood stork as well as other wetland fowl.  We saw all kinds of birds wading in the swampy water:  several species of herons and egrets casually mingling with unseen American alligators and cottonmouth snakes.  It occurred to me that the boardwalk allowed for parents with strollers but also for folks in wheelchairs, so everyone could enjoy it.  Of course being elevated above the swamp was also essential; I am content to see Mr. Alligator from a discreet distance, thank you very much.  Our visit to the sanctuary was a journey into the heart of the Everglades ecosystem.  Its other inhabitants are said to include otters, white-tailed deer, and red-bellied turtles.  Between the wading birds, the songbirds, the raptors, and the beautiful Painted Bunting it was a bird lover’s paradise and photographer’s delight.  The natural biological systems expand over 14,000 acres.  Botanically, the most intriguing plant we discovered was the Ghost Orchid.  Apparently it only blooms several months a year (so we were lucky.)  It has gained attention worldwide as the largest Ghost Orchid ever discovered.  We found it (thanks to signage) about 50 feet up in an old growth bald cypress tree and, once the bud opens, it remains in bloom for one to two weeks.  Going around despite the humidity I was able to let go and not feel rushed.  The Irish actor Pierce Brosnan said, “My family is my sanctuary.”  I am so grateful and so blessed to have my own precious family.  Standing there enjoying the serenity of nature’s age-old beauty with them I realized I did not feel so swamped.

Well I should have known my little one would become enamored with the beach, given the surroundings that we had.  As far as the eye could see it was dark blue sky and stark white sand.  This year we got fortuitously upgraded and our hotel room overlooked the sea.  When our little one woke up she made her way to the window and started pressing her little hands against the glass, eager to feel the froth of the tides underneath her tiny toes.  As I prepared to slather us up for a day at the beach the hubs asked if he could be released to go visit historical places.  “Sure,” I said, “I’m not the vacation police.”  And so, after a delightful buffet breakfast of soft scrambled eggs, grits smothered with Tabasco sauce, and stoneground oatmeal heavily powdered with brown sugar, the baby and I made our way back down to the beach.  Burk departed off on his own adventure.  I could never understand why people thought she was a boy until I revisited this picture.  I was essentially bald until I was three and so was she.  Only my red-headed mother became IRATE whenever someone called me a boy.  Apparently she dressed me all in pink with ruffles and they still thought I was a boy.  It had never bothered me why some well-meaning person thought my baby was a boy until about this time.  Looking back, I can sort of understand why they still did.  Nevertheless, my little one and I passed a delightful early afternoon floating on the alligator raft which some older boy wanted but the cute cabana boys gave to my girl.  After a few hours along came my beloved, looking awkward with his swimsuit and rumpled newspaper, wanting to join us.  Of course we were delighted!  We all had lunch at the hotel beachside cafe located up several layers of wooden floating steps.  I had a veggie burger, the hubs had a hamburger, and our little one had applesauce.  It was the first time she’d ever had it and — wait for it — she remembers it to this day!  When I told her this year we would be going back to Naples (after a two year hiatus) the first thing she asked was if she could have applesauce.  WOW.  The American chef Homaro Cantu said:

“Most of us have fond memories of food from our childhood.  Whether it was our mom’s homemade lasagna or a memorable chocolate birthday cake, food has a way of transporting us back to the past.”

I thought it was crazy that my little one associated applesauce with the beach.  But nevertheless she did.  And I was so grateful to associate the beach with my baby.

This day would mark our second year in a row to return to Sanibel Island.  Our first priority was to collect seashells.  It just occurred to me that THIS is the only type of hunting which I support.  This year I’d bought us net bags that could be slipped on and worn while wading through the water.  They were designed so that the shells remain but the sand goes right through the mesh enclosure.  Among my under the sea discoveries was a pen shell.  It still had its occupant residing in it so I returned it to its rightful home.  The more I researched different types of shells the more fascinated I became … and the more ignorant I realized I was.  Next we visited the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge where I got to hold a sea star (formally known as a starfish.)  Established in 1976, it contains 5200 acres as part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge system, named for the cartoonist Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling.  Protecting one of the country’s largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystems, the refuge is well known for its migratory bird populations.  I took a picture of this guy, a local I’m guessing, as we made our way onto the boat that would take us around the wildlife sanctuary.  I just loved him; he reminded me of a dignified butler allowing us passage into a grand estate from sometime long ago.  During our boat ride we had the joy of seeing a pair of dolphins frolicking and playing for quite awhile alongside us.  It’s like they knew they were safe and rose from the water to be seen without fear.  What a thrill.  The captain, who conducts daily excursions, even said this was a rare treat.  There are over 245 different species of birds here.  It is a refuge to turtles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates.  This was the sanctity of nature at its finest.  Mammals ranging from manatees to raccoons also inhabit the island.  The place was established to help protect endangered and threatened species.  Located within an estuary, it creates some of the most nutritionally rich habitat for these thousands of species of plants and animals which call this refuge home.  The mangrove forests and the seagrass beds provide the basis of their intricate food web.  Jim Fowler, the American zoologist and host of the Emmy Award-winning television show “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” said, “The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”  For me, wildlife and wilderness for their own sake remain reason enough for going wild.

Until this day, my husband and I were one of those couples that went hard on vacation.  By that I mean we didn’t waste any time or not plan things out.  I think he had not often really relaxed very well, and I have had a perpetual sense of urgency to try and see and do it all since I had not had the privilege of traveling extensively until we met.  Before Florida I had not been a beach person so I never found a ton of appeal in just sitting there reading a book.  I LOVE to read and relax when I can, but either in bed with air-conditioning or snuggled up on the sofa next to the fireplace.  I have passed the stage in my life where I can just “lay out” and frankly rough ocean waves scare me.  Asking my husband to relax is like trying to calm a squirrel on crack.  Suffice it to say, he’s not a lounger.  But it was not just us anymore or even us with a tiny little baby who would simply go wherever we brought her.  Our little one was a toddler now and longing to play in sand.  I asked my husband if we could REALLY spend some time at the beach.  Like, heaven forbid, more than an hour.  I could actually hear him grinding his teeth and inwardly cringed.  Finally he relented and said he supposed we could could go down for awhile.  I could practically see his mind whirling with all the random historical places we had not yet visited.  He also detests sunscreen and generally eschews any form of it.  Getting ready I tried to tell him about all the things we would do the next day, hoping that would hold him.  The three minute ride on the back of the golf cart over the estuary and through the mangrove trees was absolute heaven.  We reached our stop and visited the cabana stocked with the requisite amount of cute young men who immediately gave our little one the alligator raft she was attempting to reach.  I knew then she was going to be a conqueror of many hearts … what young guys really like babies?  So we rented two beach chairs and an umbrella and started unloading our provisions.  We had cold water, snacks, sunscreen, bug spray (I learned quickly after the “no-see-um” incident from the night before,) sunglasses, molds for sand castles, and Burk’s sacrosanct, ever-present rumpled newspaper.  Our little one was already trying to get in the water.  I thought again how fitting it was that her name in Latin means “of the sea.”  Daddy actually got into the spirit of things and entertained our baby girl by going upside down under water and sticking his feet in the air.  This earned him unbridled shrieks of sheer delight.  Firmly entranced under her mermaid spell, she would clap her little hands together and splash, prompting him to go back under and do it again.  As for me, I was content to listen to the lull of the ocean waves and watch my little family.  At some point during our time, my shell hunting exploration uncovered a surprising discovery.  Apparently one of them was still occupied.  At first I sort of freaked out until it slowly made its way out of its shell and I realized it must be a sea snail.  Of course I had never encountered one before but I DID know a snail when I saw it.  I sat in my beach chair shaded by our big umbrella and contemplated the gentle creature in my hand.  She didn’t seem afraid and so I held her and studied her for awhile.  I also did not believe her being out of the water for such a brief time caused her any duress.  The Russian writer Ivan Turgenev said:

“Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but a man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly.”

I gazed up and saw the birds soaring swiftly overhead and then looked down in my hand at this treasure from the sea which I knew I could not keep.  Of course I had to get her picture before I returned her to her ocean home.  And I realized, it is OK when time flies like a bird — but for me, I would prefer a slow savoring of the joy and happiness and have it linger … at a snail’s pace.

I have been attempting to write our travels in chronological order, so if you see our little one bald or with very little hair we did not have another baby.  God blessed us with one miracle more than we deserved.  So this was our second trip back to Naples, Florida and Sanibel Island and it was in June of 2013.  It was our sixth wedding anniversary and we chose to celebrate it with our 18 month old back at the first beach to which we had gone as a family.  I wanted to make it a yearly tradition.  At the very least I wanted to visit a beach each year, as our little one’s name means “star of the sea.”  I had not had the privilege of visiting a beach until I was about 24 and in the Miss Texas USA pageant.  I love Texas, but our beaches simply cannot compare with Florida.  It’s like being in another country (not that I’d had much experience with that either.)  Looking back through our pictures apparently we’d gotten there on the day of our anniversary.  I remember quite well our dinner because it was in a fancy golf resort overlooking the ocean.  We ate unfashionably early but we had a stunning panoramaic view of the ocean and there was another unfashionably early family there with two young children.  I am VERY proud to say our child was a saint and did not fuss, cry, or act up in any way.  (Thank you Lord.)  I was past nursing and I was grateful our server wasn’t judging me for my 7 & 7’s.  We had a lovely dinner and we could see the ocean’s waves right outside our windows.  They folded them open and we could even smell the tangy salt in the air.  It turns out there were tiki torches because a wedding was taking place right outside on the beach.  After our meal we wandered out and I snapped this stunning picture.  I also encountered the shocking discovery of “No-See-Ums.”  We’re from Texas where, much like Australia I’m told, everything can get you.  But I had never before encountered these horrid invisible bugs that attack before you know what hit you!  I was red and completely broken out!  So we went back to our hotel room at the Waldorf Astoria and were greeted by chocolate covered strawberries.  I happen to detest them so I fed them to the hubs and the baby.  However — I LOVE a good quote, as surely anyone who has ever read one of my posts can attest.  With the white chocolate covered strawberries came a card which contained a quotation by the Victorian Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson.  It read:  “Love is the only gold.”  And as I looked at the picture I had captured of the setting sun over the ocean, and gazed upon my husband and daughter, I realized its truth:  love is the only gold.

This would be our last day in London and we raced to squeeze in two final sights.  Burk really wanted to visit Hampton Court, as he had memories of visiting as a child.  I do not mean to keep drawing parallels between England and France, but again, this in no way could compete with the incomparable beauty of Versailles.  It was raining but I still wanted to go through the hedge maze.  It reminded me of the hay mazes they make in Texas in autumn (even better when they use tall rows of corn.)  Our little one looked very British in her tiny floral raincoat as we tried to dodge muddy puddles and make our way to the center.  Someone was good enough to take our picture so we have this as a memory.  As I have often said, my husband and I are true museum junkies.  The one exhibit he missed when we were kids and I got to see has always been my favorite:  Pompeii.  It was haunting and fascinating and has remained ingrained in my memory for almost all of my life.  My parents and I went to see it when it came to Fair Park in Dallas in the seventies.  I had always wanted to visit the Museum of London, which contains the largest urban history collection in the world.  It houses more than six million artifacts.  We already knew we could not possibly do it all and planned ahead of time what we each wanted to see most.  Choosing was exceedingly difficult.  When I discovered the Pompeii exhibit was currently on display, I told Burk we HAD to see it!  I saw the same images frozen three dimensionally in time that I remembered from so long ago plus there were new artifacts they have unearthed in the last almost thirty years.  Between the jaunt out to the palace and combing the museum, we were exhausted.  The English novelist Sarah Hall said, “You can’t see all of a place until you look at it from a distance.”  Of course we did not get to cover everything, but we gave it a good go, as they say.  Taking off on the jet the next day we looked out and got to see it all … from a distance.

This next day was how I always imagined London to be.  It was rainy and grey as we made our way to the Tower Bridge.  We entered through a small side door to begin our morning tour.  King Edward II opened the majestic bridge in 1894.  It contains two massive towers linked together over the River Thames and the middle part of the bridge can be lifted to allow for the passing of huge ships.  The massive bridge stands at over 196 feet tall and 869 feet long.  It took 11,000 tons of steel to build the now famous framework.  The public is allowed to purchase tickets to tour it from the top to the bottom.  Burk and I found the exhibits interesting and informative as we crossed over the river from the inside of the bridge.  As we worked our way down to the bottom, I found the Victorian Engine Rooms to be particularly fascinating.  Huge steam engines and furnaces were once used to power the raising of the Tower Bridge’s “bascules” — the moveable roadways at the bridge’s center.  It was like stepping back in time to the early years of the Industrial Revolution.  After we left we caught a boat tour down the Thames, as rivulets of raindrops slid their way down the sides of the glassed in dome.  It occurred to me that Paris was like a beautiful woman and London like a rough man; for me there is no comparison between the exquisite delicacy of the Seine and the industrial barges of the Thames.  On our tour we saw The Shard, a 95 story skyscraper that is the tallest in the United Kingdom.  We disembarked at the London Eye, Europe’s tallest Ferris wheel.  There was a three hour wait, thanks to a group full of giggling teenagers on spring break, so we elected to skip it.  To my great delight we discovered an old carousel nearby.  They gave plastic “golden tickets” as admission and it was truly a treasure.  After that we crossed back over the Thames on the Millennium Bridge, a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians.  It was disconcerting, though, as the whole thing dipped and swayed as we crossed.  Londoners have nicknamed it the “Wobbly Bridge” because of the unexpected motion.  Our family called and asked what we were doing.  As fate would have it, we were within walking distance of their stunning hotel, which has been called London’s most famous, and they invited us to tea!  Everything was so elegant and the marble floors gleamed.  I was so proud my baby was a doll at her first proper high tea and we had a lovely time.  Afterward we went shopping in Piccadilly Circus, another place I had always read about.  It turned out to be a round open space that had different vendors and it was fun wandering in and out of the different stalls to see what they were selling.  The Academy Award-winning American actress Mary Steenburgen summed up my feelings exactly with this quote:

“My family didn’t have money to travel, so reading was how I knew about the world.  It made me hungry to have more experiences than just what I could possibly experience in Arkansas.”

This trip to London was allowing me to experience all of the things this Texan had read about for so long:  tea time, the Tower, and the London bridges.