fly away once more..

i never thought i'd travel to a place like this, but i also never thought i'd travel to the southern states or willingly get on an airplane, and all of the above have happened this year. even as the plane approached the island and we could see the coastline and the jungle and the mountains it was still hard to believe. like traveling to another world.. even the clouds looked different, beautiful.. i couldn't get enough of the view from the little window.

when you arrive at the airport, you step out of the plane right into the open air and it hits you in the face.. the humidity is intense and the heat was almost overwhelming, until i was suddenly distracted by the fact that the airport looks like nothing more than a village of palm leaf huts and a strip of asphalt in the middle of the jungle. there isn't much for walls, and you can smoke tobacco and crack open a cold beer just about anywhere.

the heat didn't much matter after a little while. everyone quickly accepted that a constant layer of sweat comes with the territory. the first thing i am taken by is the vegetation.. i was that weirdo walking around checking out all the plants, touching the leaves, sniffing the flowers.. it took a couple days to get used to the fact that the plants we buy for indoors and greenhouses are their garden plants and shrubs here on the island.

it was so refreshing to walk around and check out all the gardens. coconuts, bananas, passionfruit.. so many different amazing things growing right on the resort! and the wildlife was interesting too. instead of squirrels and flies there are big fuzzy spiders and lizards everywhere. the maintenance staff squishes them like bugs! we were much happier to befriend them than to swat them with a sandal. they're so cute!

i have hundreds and hundreds of photos to sort through, everything was so vibrant and beautiful it was hard not to snap it all up. my mind is still buzzing with how amazing the journey was and we've already been home for a week, every time i sit down to sort through my files and pick a few more to upload, i feel as though i'm back there closer to the sun.

i'm far too exhausted now to write anymore, i have neglected my blogger account since a week before the trip. i suppose i just wanted to stop in and get the ball rolling, 2013 was such an incredible year, i should have tons to write about throughout the winter to keep me warm.