Video: Swimming with Endangered Green Sea Turtles
2014 Akumal Endangered Green Sea Turtle from Deena Gainor on Vimeo. Our family of six is taking a year to travel around the world. Our first stop is Playa del Carmen and we are here until November, 2014. We are exploring as much of the area as we can. This weekend, we traveled to Akumal, famous for snorkeling with Endangered Green Sea Turtles. We were more than excited but didn’t know what to expect. Akumal did not disappoint. Here is video we captured of these gentle giants. We were able to enjoy… Read More
Day 41: Swimming with Endangered Green Sea Turtles
This past Friday, we visited Akumal, famous as a playground for Endangered Green Sea Turtles. We weren’t sure what to expect, and though hopeful about coming face to face with these gentle giants, we tried to remain realistic, understanding that no one can control nature, except God. We got an early start from Playa del Carmen, choosing to have Isidro, our faithful taxi driver of six, transport us there, since we were loaded down with towels, food, a huge, heavy jug of water, and snorkeling equipment. Yes, perhaps we should have taken… Read More
Mexico Financials
Destinations Akumal: Akumal is a quaint beach town with white, powdery-soft, sandy beaches, calm waters, and swaying palm trees. Over the years, this community has added restaurants, bars, gift shops, snorkeling tours, a small grocery store, and even a small library. It is, however, most famous for its resident community of Endangered Green Sea Turtles. If the thought of swimming with these giant, gentle creatures excites you, then be sure to spend some time at Akumal. Getting to Akumal from Playa del Carmen is quite easy and there are several different options…. Read More
Day 36: Relational Plates Too Full To Care?
We are thankful for new friends here in Playa. They have warmly embraced us as family and that always means so much but even more so now because we are temporarily wandering as Nomads for the next year. To feel connected to others in a ‘strange land’ is truly a gift. The very first evening we arrived at the Lighthouse Church, we were greeted by almost every single member – hugged, kissed, embraced. At the end of the evening, our new friends refused to let us take a taxi back home. Instead, Eduardo González (aka… Read More
Day 31: Discovering Cozumel
Cozumel is not what I expected. I feared it would be crowded, commercial, and pushy. And while it may be that at times, especially when more than one cruise ship is docked, we found it to be a lovely island with friendly people, gorgeous beaches, and beautiful sea life. It is very easy to reach Cozumel. You can either fly directly onto the island or you can take a ferry from Playa del Carmen. At the time this was written, the ferry cost $162 pesos (about $13-14 USD) for those 12 years old and… Read More
Day 27: A Cozumel Sunset
We enjoyed our first Cozumel nightfall yesterday! Being on the “West” side of the island, we were treated to a spectacular sunset over the water. The colors emerged slowly as the sun disappeared behind clouds. For a moment, we feared the clouds would obscure our view. Moments later, however, the sun peeked through the bottom of the clouds and the sky burst into colors…red, orange, purple, yellow. It was brilliant and though I wasn’t able to capture the full beauty of what we experienced, I just wanted to share this captivating moment with you. God’s glory… Read More
Exploring Cozumel with Kathryn
A little while ago we went to Cozumel and had a blast. We walked quite a long way to get to our ferry, but missed it by a few minutes because the closer ferry terminal was closed. We had to buy tickets to the next ferry and it only left at 8:00am, which shortened our visit by an hour. After the 45 minute ferry ride, we arrived in Cozumel and enjoyed the day at a resort called: Sunscape Sabor. We loved the food. We snorkeled for a little while, and saw tons of fish. When… Read More
Spanish Lessons and Theft!
Day 25: We’re well into our second week of Spanish lessons and they are going really well. We have the kindest teachers, one from Mexico, the other from Guatemala. They patiently take time to explain everything to us, making it fun along the way. We’ve separated into three groups. Danny and Katie are in one group and here they are below, laughing with Annabela as she teaches them. Ryan, Mikayla, and Ryan Thomas are in the second group. You’ll see them below, working with Isabel. We are extremely thankful for our teachers…. Read More
Isabel’s Story
Introducing Isabel, our first Spanish teacher. We have so much more to learn about who sweet and gentle Isabel is and look forward to getting to know her better over the next four month. I thought, however, that it would be neat to share a difficult experience she recently went through, as it gave me a chance to glean a bit of insight into the life of people who live and work hard here in Playa. Isabel woke up on Monday morning, ready to start her job. As she sat up in bed, she realized something… Read More
Day 22: Taco Treasures in Playa!
Day 22: Walking home last evening, we stumbled upon this new Taqueria and tried their Tacos al Pastor (one of our quickly growing menu favorites). They were only 10 pesos each, the equivalent of about $.77 each…even less than the price of the street stand tacos we fell in love with two weeks ago! And they were just as tasty. Tacos al Pastor, spicy pork tacos, are similar to gyros in that they are cooked on a spit-grill, rotating during the day until the savory pork is sliced away onto corn (maiz)… Read More
Deena Gainor
Six Hearts One Journey 
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