The day after we visited Chichén Itzá, we took a boat tour to Isla Mujeres (Island of Women). On past vacations, Nick and I have done boat tours, and we absolutely love them. Visiting the island was merely an added bonus–our favorite part was the boat ride and snorkeling break.
Read more: Getting Away, Part IIWe had an absolutely perfect day, and the water was gorgeous. While there weren’t a ton of fish in our snorkeling area, I did get to see some squid!
The snorkeling area also had large, stone Mayan hand gestures that had been placed on the seabed to encourage coral growth. They were super cool to see. I did my best to dive down and touch the sculptures, but you can only go so far when wearing a lifevest.
Unfortunately, our photos of this excursion are a bit limited, as I left my phone in our room. (Better safe than accidentally dropped to the bottom of the ocean, as I always say…)
One of the main photos we did get comes with a little bit of a backstory:
Early on in our vacation, the hotel concierge had mentioned we could get a free gift if we sat through a presentation on the resort’s travel packages–similar to timeshares. While we knew it wouldn’t be our thing, we were happy to sit through it for a free massage.
The rep who showed us around the resort’s top suites was a very friendly lady name Isuey. We talked about how we were saving money for our infertility journey, and she shared that she and her husband are facing the same battle.
We told her about our plans to visit Chichén Itzá and Isla Mujeres, and she told us there’s a statue of a Mayan goddess, Ixchel, on the island. Ixchel was the goddess of the moon, love, gestation, medicine, and textile arts. (Quite the repertoire!)
Many couples trying to start their families will visit this goddess’ statue and touch her breasts. She recommended we go see it, touch it, and take photos with it. She was sure it would work for us.
When you’re trying to get pregnant and have already spent thousands of dollars in pursuit of that goal, you’ll try just about anything. Your new motto is, “Why the heck not?!”
As soon as our boat docked, we asked our guide how to get to the statue. It was, of course, all the way on the other side of the island, and we didn’t have time to walk or bike there, as it was too far away.
However, the large number of salespeople waiting to accost the tourists trying to sell their wares and services worked to our benefit.
A gentleman offered us a tour of the island in his taxi–this tour included a visit to Ixchel. We told him we didn’t have time for the whole tour, and we negotiated the price down to just visit the statue and come back.
So off to visit Ixchel we went, and we got this gem of a photo…
Who knows if it will work or not, but, again, when you’re desperate, you’re willing to try just about anything.
After visiting the statue, we headed back to the port and beach, relaxed, and grabbed a couple of drinks before setting sail back to mainland Mexico.
All in all, it was a very fun day and a very fun trip. Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head back to the states.
IVF That 