When you're here, you're family

The Olive Garden has nothing on Mexico. This week was the first time that I'd see my family since starting Remote Year! (Well, my parents. Hey Justin and Brandon, WHERE U AT?) A short work week followed by a long weekend in Riviera Maya was both welcomed and a little tiring. But it was really nice to bicker with the 'rents in person once again. This week I:

• attended Tinder Ball! (which you may have read a little about in my previous post) Since I suck at Tinder, I opted for a date that Paulina, our city manager, had in mind for me. A bunch of us did this and it seemed like a nice mix between "I really want to meet locals!" and "What happens if I hate them and don't wanna hang out with them all night?" because they were all friends - excellent. However, the guys were very nice and it seemed that this was ultimately a great decision. We had small bites and lots of tequila. Success!

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Check out my tinder post here. 

• got a bunch of work done early so that I could meet the rents in Cancun! Their layover happened to be in CDMX, which was perfect, since my shiny new priority pass had come in the mail to them. We met outside of the lounge and enjoyed a few welcome micheladas before hopping on the plane.
• Made it Cancun pretty late, drove in and got to the hotel around midnight. The only place open for food was the Snack Bar which had some sad excuses for pizza and burgers, but it had to suffice. 
• Woke up and laid out all day on the beach - I love the beach. I'm pretty sure wherever I end up living may need one very near by. I've talked about this before in my Prague post. 

Not a bad dinna view.

• went to dinner at the Hibachi place, of course, where we met a really fun group of drunks. Just kidding. Kind of. 4 couples all from Minnesota joined us at the table as the chef threw eggs into our mouths. Somehow the conversation turned into engagement stories - and I pretty much just sat there like, "I'm married to the world!" Then we had dessert and they made me sing at the table because my parents can never cease to tell people that I sing. This was one of the reasons that I did though: THIS GIRL SHOWED ME HER BUTT TO SING! I had to. 

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The undies say it all. 

• went to the clerb with my parents where we basically shut it down (and opened it up). When we got there, we were pretty much the only people there. So we took advantage. I mean c'mon. Free, open club! Some would call this dead. I call it "parental guidance encouraged". 

• went to the beach and pool again and did all the resort-y stuff. It's weird - traveling for this long and to such different places made me feel really awkward in an all-inclusive resort. The food's not amazing, the beach was just okay (unless you left, which we did), and the pools are cool with the swim up bars and what not, but there's only so many pina coladas I can handle before I start to lose my shit over the fact that none of this is "local" enough. (Yeah, I've become that person. I'm not about spending $25 on sunscreen. And YES, we DID THIS. AND ALSO BOUGHT $20 ALOE VERA WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU RIVIERA MAYA.)
• convinced my rents that we needed to go to Tulum because I've always wanted to and also they have some of the nicest beaches I've ever seen and I had to get some great insta pics. It was amazing and I already want to go back. We laid out at a beach club all day and I drank coconuts filled with rum and never wanted to leave. 

• Def got run over by waves trying to get this pic above ^^
• went into town for drinks and just chilllllled with the rents. Found a cute mojito bar in a car, grabbed spring rolls at some random Thai restaurant, danced with a skeleton, and had a great beer at this super cool bar. All around, best day of vacay. 

• went back to the resort where we went to the Mexican place and it was just okay - and then went to bed super early because I am a grandma. 
• got up and lounged a bit in the sun before realizing that part of my stomach was super burnt and I was slowly crisping up like bacon. Soooo...
• headed into Playa del Carmen for the day and to meet up with RACHEL! I met Rachel while at my ex's brother's wedding about three years ago in Cancun! She's good friends with Jaime (my ex's brother's now wife) and we kept in touch via Facebook. When she said I was in Mexico she messaged me and let me know that she was in Playa del Carmen for the month, which. was. awesome. We met up, had beers, and talked about how incredibly different our lives are now. Also I forgot to take a picture of us so I suck.
• got back and went to the Japanese place again for dinner because it was the best, of course. Andddd then bed. Because I am a grandma. And also because my parents had to be on their shuttle to the airport at 2 AM. Mine was at 6 AM so I got a few extra hours of sleep. I worked at the airport lounge with my shiny new priority pass (god bless that thing) and then got back to "reality" in CDMX.

The week flew by and it was super great to see my parents. Also, I may book another flight back to Tulum before I leave - that place is heaven on earf.

COMING UP! Pyramids, rooftops, dancing, and the first horrible case of food poisoning that I've had on Remote Year. WOOoOoOoo! *still feels nauseated writing about it because it's so fresh in my mind*