Happy New Year!

[emily_in_nc]

Happy New Year! We had a nice Italian dinner I cooked at home, a couple of glasses of wine, a walk after dinner, and hit the hay around 10:30. Heard some fireworks through my earplugs (along with the neighbor's backyard festivities) but nothing too bad. It was great to wake up bright eyed and go for a pleasant walk/run around the city and down to the beach while others were continuing to party or straggling home from the night before, still in their NY's finery! Lots of young folks here (Playa del Carmen, Mexico), and DH and I are not quite in that demographic!

[azfiddle]

We invited my son to dinner and made broiled lobster tail with a fresh mango salsa and a salad. Then off to the annual New Year's eve contra dance- where I was one of at least 5 fiddlers, along with 2 mandolins, 2 guitars, a harp, an accordion, a bass and several other miscellaneous instruments (concertina, bodhran, harmonica, tin whistle etc). Maybe 20 musicians all crammed in to a tiny stage with up to 3 lines of dancers in a festively decorated hall. Around 9:45 there was a very diverse potluck of mostly finger foods- savory and sweet. At 11:45 we have a tradition of singing a round with these words: Ring it in, ring in the new year. Bells are ringing, bells are ringing. Peace and joy, throughout the new year. Joy, joy, joy. (all of these lines repeat). Then a martinelli's toast at midnight, followed by the Auld Lang Syne played and sung both slow and up tempo, and a final contra dance.

A storm blew in from California and dropped a little rain, but to the delight of the us southern Arizonans, transformed into a brief snow shower, which actually stayed on the ground into the morning hours. A rare treat to see the cacti with a dusting of white.

This morning I stayed home and warm until 11:00- then ventured out on the route of the New Year's "Ride the bike loop around Tucson"- but since I got out well after the 9 am start time, I only saw a handful of people out there. It was in the low-mid 40's all day - comfortable when the sun was out but chilly with some increasing cloud cover. I ended up with about 39 miles- a good way to start the new year. I should have taken pictures of the little patches of snow that were still out until after noon, but I was too lazy/cold to take my gloves off to get pictures.

Happy New Year everyone.

[Helene2013]

Happy New Year everyone. Hoping you get just the good stuff. We don't want the bad one. hihi

Nothing special for us (hubby and I).

Yesterday I had a bone density test to be done. Then we headed to a hardware store where I needed to purchase a few things. I had to paint 2 walls in my living room. So I started yesterday late afternoon with 1st coat. Had a light dinner. Then we watched some festivities on tv and I was in bed reading at 10:30pm and lights out by 11:30pm.

Today finished my painting and then napped and took the dogs out for an hour walk. There was a light snow falling. Just to wet the roads. When we came back I did an hour of bike trainer and my physiotherapy. Hubby is doing 2hrs on trainer and then we'll have meatpie, small roasted potatoes and a salad. For dessert we have sugar pie with ice cream.

Nothing extravagant as you can see.

While walking in the neighbourhood I could not help noticing that there were no parties anywhere. Surprising. hummm.

Off to shower and then it will be a relaxing nightgown evening in front of tv.

[Owlie]

We invited my son to dinner and made broiled lobster tail with a fresh mango salsa and a salad. Then off to the annual New Year's eve contra dance- where I was one of at least 5 fiddlers, along with 2 mandolins, 2 guitars, a harp, an accordion, a bass and several other miscellaneous instruments (concertina, bodhran, harmonica, tin whistle etc). Maybe 20 musicians all crammed in to a tiny stage with up to 3 lines of dancers in a festively decorated hall. Around 9:45 there was a very diverse potluck of mostly finger foods- savory and sweet. At 11:45 we have a tradition of singing a round with these words: Ring it in, ring in the new year. Bells are ringing, bells are ringing. Peace and joy, throughout the new year. Joy, joy, joy. (all of these lines repeat). Then a martinelli's toast at midnight, followed by the Auld Lang Syne played and sung both slow and up tempo, and a final contra dance.

A storm blew in from California and dropped a little rain, but to the delight of the us southern Arizonans, transformed into a brief snow shower, which actually stayed on the ground into the morning hours. A rare treat to see the cacti with a dusting of white.

This morning I stayed home and warm until 11:00- then ventured out on the route of the New Year's "Ride the bike loop around Tucson"- but since I got out well after the 9 am start time, I only saw a handful of people out there. It was in the low-mid 40's all day - comfortable when the sun was out but chilly with some increasing cloud cover. I ended up with about 39 miles- a good way to start the new year. I should have taken pictures of the little patches of snow that were still out until after noon, but I was too lazy/cold to take my gloves off to get pictures.

Happy New Year everyone.

I miss all the fun. The temperatures are a little colder here, but no snow! I was just lamenting the fact that I never get to wear my winter clothing down there. (Now, if it would stay snow-free here for a bit longer, that would be nice...)

I spent NYE at home with my parents and a partial bottle of alcoholic ginger beer. I spent the early hours of New Year's Day with a migraine...

[lph]

Happy New Year! We had a nice Italian dinner I cooked at home, a couple of glasses of wine, a walk after dinner, and hit the hay around 10:30. Heard some fireworks through my earplugs (along with the neighbor's backyard festivities) but nothing too bad. It was great to wake up bright eyed and go for a pleasant walk/run around the city and down to the beach while others were continuing to party or straggling home from the night before, still in their NY's finery! Lots of young folks here (Playa del Carmen, Mexico), and DH and I are not quite in that demographic!

Emily! Is this Playa del Carmen on the Yucatan peninsula? My BIL is getting married there in April, to the lovely Mexican woman he met a little over a year ago :-) So we're just starting to plan our trip there for the wedding. Tell us what not to miss!

[emily_in_nc]

Emily! Is this Playa del Carmen on the Yucatan peninsula? My BIL is getting married there in April, to the lovely Mexican woman he met a little over a year ago :-) So we're just starting to plan our trip there for the wedding. Tell us what not to miss!

Yes, that's where we are! It's lovely, but I am afraid we are pretty averse to doing the usual "touristy" things (especially my DH, he HATES crowds), so we haven't been to any of the big parks (Xcarat, Xplorer, and others) that people usually visit when here, the cenotes, etc. We've mostly been enjoying riding our cruiser bikes on the bike path, taking tons of walks all over, buying interesting food, restaurants, learning Spanish, and the local track for jogging. The beach is pretty but quite eroded and very narrow compared to what I am used to in eastern NC. Beaches in Tulum south of here are MUCH wider and nicer, so that's been a bit of a disappointment.

Check out our blog as we have found some excellent restaurants you might want to check out while you're here:

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com.

We've been told that April is VERY hot, and I believe it since it was also very hot in Belize. It will probably feel pretty good to you after a Norway winter. Bring lots of sunscreen!

[Crankin]

Emily, those desserts look unbelievably delicious, as does the other food. I for one, love Mexico, although I have not been there for years. If you can believe it, I went on a 7 day exploration of the Yucatan for my senior trip, in high school. I went to a very small private school in Miami, and our history teacher had done research down there. We raised a lot of $ and my parents paid for the rest of the trip as my graduation present. Realize, I had never traveled anywhere except in New England at this point in time. We stayed in Merída for most of the week; what a beautiful colonial type city. Then we actually stayed in a very small village with one bathroom, where we slept in hammocks and ate our meals at a farmer's home. Went exploring in a bunch of caves there, as I remember. We also went to Tulum; you are right, the beach there is gorgeous.
We had some wonderful camping trips in Puerto Penasco, too, when I lived in Phoenix. Of course, now it's more built up, but it was like a private spot of ocean for Arizonans when I lived there. I've also been to Puerto Vallarta, but I found that very touristy. I'd really love to go to the Mexican wine country, next. It would be easy to combine with a trip to see our son, so maybe in the next year.

[emily_in_nc]

Very cool, Crankin! We've been drinking some of that wine from Mexican wine country!

We haven't been anywhere on the west coast of Mexico but enjoyed Merida and San Cristobal de las Casas very much as inland locations. Playa del Carmen is very touristy too, but if you stay out of the tourist zone, it's still very much Mexico, with mostly Spanish spoken, and plenty of local restaurants and businesses. Merida might actually be a better "fit" for us as a winter location, but it was easier to get here with a dog, so that is why we are here rather than there. And I'm really glad we got to check it out since we hadn't been here before, and it's been loads of fun.

Your senior trip sounds great!

[lph]

Yes, that's where we are! It's lovely, but I am afraid we are pretty averse to doing the usual "touristy" things (especially my DH, he HATES crowds), so we haven't been to any of the big parks (Xcarat, Xplorer, and others) that people usually visit when here, the cenotes, etc. We've mostly been enjoying riding our cruiser bikes on the bike path, taking tons of walks all over, buying interesting food, restaurants, learning Spanish, and the local track for jogging. The beach is pretty but quite eroded and very narrow compared to what I am used to in eastern NC. Beaches in Tulum south of here are MUCH wider and nicer, so that's been a bit of a disappointment.

Check out our blog as we have found some excellent restaurants you might want to check out while you're here:

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com.

We've been told that April is VERY hot, and I believe it since it was also very hot in Belize. It will probably feel pretty good to you after a Norway winter. Bring lots of sunscreen!

Checking in to say, thanks for the tip. We just got back from two weeks in Mexico. One week spent at a huge, all-inclusive 5 star resort outside of Playa del Carmen (Occidental Grand Xcaret), which is probably fine as big resorts go, but drove introverted me quietly up the wall. Beautifu grounds, lots of animals, jungle and Mayan ruins on the premises, but also people and staff and music and entertainment everywhere. But the wedding reception was fun. All the Mexican women were in gorgeous long dresses in brilliant colours, perfectly coiffed and made-up, so after the church I swapped the pretty knee-length dress I was wearing with my best long copper-coloured gown and slathered on the make-up. And still felt like a small wood-dove in a group of flamingoes and peacocks and parrots :-D Lots of dancing, and lots of props - fans and toy veils for the women, aprons for the men!, masks and glow-sticks and paper flowers and funny hats.

The next week we went to Tulum and stayed on the beach, in a cabana at an incredibly romantic spot called Playa de Esperanza. No AC, no fan, sapling walls with big gaps, thatched roof, bathroom and shower with no roof, everything very laidback and barefoot, on white sand under palm trees and a literal stone's throw from the Caribbean Sea. A bit hot and sticky at night, but just PERFECT for us. It was sweltering, though, so apart from riding our rental bikes (very slowly) around and snorkeling we didn't get any exercise. Visited cenotes, the local ruins, went to Akumal, took a guided trip into the Sian Ka'an reserve and saw dolphins and manatees and turtles and loads of birds. I stayed in the shade as much as possible and used spf 20-40, and still came home with a tan.

The food was either terrible or really good. Mexico was fun! I'm sure we'll be back, since I now have in-laws there. Or rather - my in-laws have in-laws there :-)