PART ONE

I’ve traveled with my brother Jason before and we always have such a blast together. He bought a place in Merida that was still being built, but we decided to visit the area in the Yucatán peninsula anyways.

We stayed in Merida most of the time which is where he will be living, but we did visit a lot of surrounding small beach towns including Chelem, Progreso, San Benito, Las Coloradas, and Valladolid. 

In Merida we mostly took in the downtown city life eating out body weight in authentic food and taking in the light shows they do on the buildings there. My favorite local food was the popular desert, marquesitas. 

We ventured over to Chelem to see the pink flamingos as it was flamingo season in the Yucatán. Getting to see thousands of flamingos all together was absolutely incredible and worth it.

We stopped in Progresso on our way to San Benito. We went to the beach, got some food, drank out of coconuts and continued on our way.

We stayed in San Benito right on the beach for two days and spent our time laying in hammocks on the beach and eating at a local woodfire pizza shack. 

We continued on to Las Coloradas to see a pink lake and also hit up Vallodid the same day to see multiple cenotes including Suytun, Xkeken, and Dzitnup.

After Vallodid, we made our way back to Merida to wrap up the trip. I love traveling with my brother as he is always down for adventures and makes everything so much more fun with his sense of humor and bright approach to life! I can’t wait to visit him again in Merida once his place is ready.

PART TWO

I had the joy of visiting my brother in Merida for the second time in one year! He is officially moved there, so we got to stay at his place which was so nice! I also was 7 months pregnant at the time so what we did was a little more limited, but still worth it!

We spent a lot of time at his place laying in the sun reading. We hopped around Merida one night where I was able to get my beloved snack of marquesitas which is basically a waffle cone wrapped up with whatever spread you want on the inside (my go to combos were peanut butter and grape jam or strawberry jam and caramel). 

Since Merida is about an hour from the ocean, we got an ocean side rental for one night in the town of Progreso just to be near the water for a bit. We caught a gorgeous sunset here on the beach.

We hit up a few cenotes in the area on my last day and they were beautiful as usual. I always have such a great time with him and luckily being pregnant didn’t hold me back too much!

PART THREE

When my friend Kayle asked if I wanted to come to Mexico to celebrate her 30th birthday and suggested that it would be a great time to visit my brother as well, I jumped at the opportunity! The plan was to visit the island of Isla Mujeres, which is right off of Cancún.

The trip was absolutely amazing, including an ocean side hotel, catching numerous sunrises and sunsets, and the aqua blue water color alone sent me over the edge!

We spent our days lounging on the beach, drinking from pineapples and the nights singing our hearts out at karaoke. One day we took golf carts around the island stopping at a cliffside walking path along the coast and a reggae bar. Getting to swim in the ocean, lay in the sand, and consuming many smoothie bowls and frozen drinks I was in heaven! My brother joined us for a few days and getting to see him is always a joy! 

I left the island ready to see my baby girl, but with a happy heart knowing I still need adventures of my own.