Christmas Break

First off, it rocks to have a three week vacation from work over Christmas and the New Year. Yay, teaching! I spent the holidays lounging on a beach in Mexico, which for most people is the perfect vacation. But I won't lie, at first I thought this plan was going to be BORING. Lounging on the beach is not my idea of Christmas vacation...non-stop powder trees or long nordic treks are more my bailiwick. Not wanting to be the stick in the mud, I prepped myself to enjoy the trip. Lots of "when in Rome" kind of thoughts. And what do you know.....I had a great time. Largely because of the awesome company, but also, there was a profusion of really awesome dead things that washed ashore. It took us three days to figure out that the thing that looked like an unholy union of a head of cabbage, a horse heart, a jellyfish and some chicken livers was in actuality a sea slug. YUM!

Trips into the nearest town/village were both exciting and exhausting. Simple interactions like buying groceries turned into epic struggles to find the right words for chicken breast, shrimp, and coconuts. We almost bought a roll of polenta before we realized it was actually one huge tube of lard...wow. More pictures to follow.