We interrupt this series of post filled with pictures from Mexico to bring you — a post filled with pictures from Mexico.
Since I took about 500 pictures this week (literally! Thank goodness we’re not shooting film anymore!), and since everything about the resort was all-inclusive and ridiculously decadent, about my toughest decision every day was which photo was going to make the cut as the photo of the day. It’s a rough life, I tell ya.
The week actually started in Ottawa, although that now seems like a hundred years ago. Is it just me or are we being overrun by Queen Anne’s Lace flowers this year? They’re the dandelions of August, but they’re really quite lovely, especially on the shores of the St Lawrence river.
Phew, managed to squeeze in one picture of at least one of the kids this week. 😉
And then, suddenly, I was in Mexico! This is a little fishing village called Puerto Morales. The lighthouse in the foreground was damaged by a hurricane in 1967 and has been leaning like that ever since. You can see the new(er) lighthouse they built to replace it in the background.
Each morning I was in the Mayan Riviera, I woke up before the sun was up and stalked the sunrise on the beach with my camera. There was rarely anyone else on the beach, and it was blessedly cooler first thing in the morning (only 40C with the humidex, instead of the 45C and higher it would feel like later in the day. (I loved the weather forecast for the week I was there: daily highs of 32C with 100% humidity, nightly lows of 30C with 100% humidity.) Anyway, of the 500 pictures I took, probably more than half were a variation of the sun rising out of the Caribbean Sea.
On the last full day we were in Mexico, we went on a tour of the Mayan ruins at Tulum. I’ll write a full blog post about it later, because it was truly one of my favourite parts of the trip. This 3000 year old temple perches on top of a limestone cliff overlooking the crashing waves of the azure Caribbean sea. It is absolutely breathtaking. This photo made the cut as “photo of the day” because I took it with my iPhone and I hadn’t gotten around to uploading any of the Nikon pictures by the end of the day.
And then, just like that, four days were past and it was done. I took this one on my last morning on the beach, because I was feeling silly. It totally sums up the week, though!
Can you believe that after landing in Ottawa at 11 pm on Thursday, I was at my desk for 7 am on Friday? Talk about culture shock! I had eaten so! much! food! during the week that I thought a walk at lunch time might be a good idea. I was actually wondering whether I’d even bother trying to find a new picture for Friday or would just use one of the travel photos when I crossed the Corktown Bridge over the Rideau Canal and thought a shot down the Canal toward downtown would make a nice, quick photo. As I was leaning on the rail, I noticed first one, then a handful, then dozen and dozens of padlocks. I was so curious that I googled it on the spot, and found out locks on bridges is a “thing” now. They’re called Lover’s Locks:
“The tradition wherein lovers fasten a padlock to a bridge or other permanent structure and then dispose of the key, representing an everlasting commitment, is believed to have originated in China. But the practice gained renown in Rome in recent years after Italian novelist Federico Moccia wrote in his 2006 book I Need You about a couple attaching a lock to the third lamp post of Milvian Bridge. The “love locks†have become a common sight on bridges, fences, and poles in cities across Europe, North America and Asia — and now they are here in Ottawa, as well.”
How sweet is that?
There is endless beauty to be captured on white sandy beaches beside azure seas, but there is a different kind of beauty right here at home. 🙂
