February 19, 2026

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia

Hola Kat y Rosie!

In January, we flew from Halifax to Mexico, where we spent almost a month. We began Spanish lessons on the app Duolingo. We learned how to say words like hello (hola), yes (sí), and thank you (gracias) in Spanish, which is the language they speak in Mexico, along with Mayan, the Indigenous language of Central America. In fact, approximately 7 million people speak Mayan, and there are at least 73 dialects. We learned a lot about the history of the Mayan people while we were there. We visited a few of the original cities, now ruins, which were inhabited by the Mayan people before the arrival of Columbus and other colonizers. 

We enjoyed so many fresh fruits and vegetables, including papaya, pineapple, avocados, limes, lots of limes, and so many tortillas!! We had to soak all of the fruits and vegetables in iodine water before eating them and we couldn’t drink water out of the tap. One of the best things we ate was strips of corn on the cob, grilled, dusted with lime and salt, and dipped in queso (cheese) and a sauce made from charred corn husks. It may sound strange, but the flavours were heavenly. For dessert, we had the best churros (donuts) ever, coiled into disks and sandwiching homemade chocolate ice cream. Wow! Speaking of ice cream we sampled some very delicious gelatos including one made of corn.

We also loved shopping for food and cooking most of our meals at our rental accommodations. We walked a lot. We walked to the beach, into town, along the coastline, through towns and villages. We swam and swam and swam. In the sea, in pools and in cenotes. You are likely unfamiliar with cenotes. They are natural sinkholes that form when limestone bedrock collapses, and according to one of our guides, there are more than 9,000 of them scattered throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. There are open-air cenotes. Others are underground and accessible by long stairs or ladders. And then there are cenotes, which are in caves, perhaps open to the sky on one side. We swam in all three kinds. The water was warm, similar to the air temperature. The same was true of the Caribbean Sea. We are not accustomed to such warm water living here in Nova Scotia. We loved it. 

As for wildlife, we were fortunate to see a spider monkey and her baby while touring the ruins of Coba. We saw quite a few iguanas and geckos in various sizes, from tiny to about a foot and a half long. While swimming at our first cenote, Gran swam up to what she thought was an iguana. It turned out to be a small alligator!! Haha! The Mexican raccoon (coatimundi) has a very pointy nose and a bushy, bushy tail. The Yucatan Jays are a beautiful blue-black combo, gather in groups of 5 to 25, and are very vocal. They were everywhere. The Common Rail is basically a rainbow on legs. We saw a couple of stingrays in the sea and lots of fish. Our favourites were striped and coloured like bees or bright blue with big, happy smiles. We saw a baby sea turtle being released into the sea. A young woman stumbled across the egg three months earlier and incubated it at home. She told us that her co-workers were so excited that they closed their office and joined her in releasing the turtle into the sea. We all wished it good luck as a giant wave swept it out to sea. On the beach at Akumal we saw children playing with a small parrot, a group of pelicans keeping a close eye on the fishing boats and in the tide pools, hermit crabs and moon snails surrounded by tiny colourful fish.

Akumal is a town on the Caribbean coast, home to the second-largest coral reef in the world after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Bits of coral dot the beaches, and we are sending you examples of our coral finds. You probably remember that we are beachcombers and love collecting rocks, shells, and now coral. 

Everything in Mexico is very colourful, including the crafts. We thought you might like these hanging ornaments, which can be found in most souvenir shops and from vendors throughout Quintana Roo and the Yucatan. 

Crossing from Big Bend National Park in Texas to Boquillas, Mexico in 2014 by rowboat across the Rio Grande River:

Crossing by foot from California to Tijuana, Mexico in 2014:

Crossing from Nogales, Arizona to Nogales, Mexico in our Campervan in 2015:

This was our first time flying to Mexico. We have previously walked across the border from California into Tijuana, been rowed across the Rio Grande in a boat between Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas and the village of Boquillas, and driven our old VW campervan from Nogales, Arizona, to the Sea of Cortez in the province of Sonora. We are continuing with our Spanish lessons, as we would love to return to Mexico next winter. Perhaps you’d like to join us?!

Adios (goodbye) or hasta luego (which means ‘see you later’)

Grampy and Gran

Abrazos (hugs)