Mayakoba Day 3: Mexican Cooking School

Sigh... just another beautiful day in paradise. Before breakfast, I lounged around in the hammock while Jack played in the water.

Ah... breakfast! Quickly becoming one of my favorite times of the day!

Here were some of the offerings on this gorgeous morning: Seared Ahi Tuna with grapefruit and mint, and a poached egg dish served with green sauce.

I can't get enough of this tropical fruit!

A comparative analysis of the two pools we swam in after breakfast. The main pool, Reflections, vs. our own villa pool. There's no comparison. Both are awesome!

In the early afternoon, we took a complimentary Mexican cooking class, offered by the head chef of the Oriente, the restaurant where we eat our breakfasts. On the menu for today, we learned how to make pico de gallo, guacamole, and grouper ceviche. Not much cooking involved, but when you get to eat what you make, it's always a good time.

We were joined in the class by only one other couple, a really cool husband and wife from New York City, who we actually saw around quite a bit over the next few days.

After the cooking class, more swimming!

Hanging out at the swim up bar, as we awaited our drinks.

Drying out on the rooftop lounge...

... and a view of the mangrove canals.

At 4pm, we had scheduled a walk through the Spa's Rainforest room, basically a set of 8 different stations where we went from Rain-head shower, to eucalyptus steam room, to another tropical rain forest shower room, to a humid sauna, to a dry sauna, to a jungle shower, to an ice scrub, to a salt steam... it was like being in a carwash. Totally fun and rejuvenating, and culminating in a long soak in a huge, indoor whirlpool. The room was beautiful and we tried to sneak back in later to take a picture, but it was locked. We soaked in the whirlpool for so long, that our attendant actually had to come in and, very kindly, kick us out!

Soon enough, it was sunset, and we got ourselves ready to head out to Sands, the restaurant on the beach that was hosting a barbeque that evening. As we waited for a buggy to drive us over, Mariel, the manager of the rooftop lounge, came over and said, "Excuse me, Senor and Senorita Chen, I believe you are signed up for our complimentary tequila tasting, no?"

How could we forget??

So we followed her over to the lounge where she had 5 different tequilas set up and ready for us to taste. I'm not normally a big tequila fan, but as she explained the characteristics of each one, I think I actually gained some respect for a liquor that I associate mostly with crazy college kids and worms. Each one that she poured was so different, and the last one actually had a buttery, velvety finish, very much to my liking.

On our way to the barbeque, we caught this fantastic sunset, a deeply satisfying end to a gem of a day.