The shopping side of my yoga retreat

Happy Tuesday, blog friends!

♥

I missed my regular weekend recap yesterday, but you sure didn't miss anything from my weekend. I woke up really early Saturday morning with a terrible stomach flu that lasted three full days. I'm still rough around the edges this morning, but feeling so much better! I can tell because I woke up this morning and thought, "Oooh...I should blog my Mexico shopping photos today..." Hooray for a healthy body that rebounds and heals!

During breakfast on day two of our yoga retreat in Tulum, Mexico, my new friends from Alaska mentioned that they planned to walk down the road to a small shopping area later that morning and they invited me to come along. I gladly accepted the invite!

These shops were about a 10 minute walk up the road from the resort where we were staying, and oh how I loved all the beautiful vibrant colors! 

I purchased a small metal turtle, and some incense for Carrie that day, but I held off on doing much shopping because it was still so early in the week.

We did find a small grocery/convenience store in the mix and my new friend Kat went in to purchase some wine to keep in her room. Brilliant idea since a whole bottle of wine from the grocery store cost less than a glass of wine from the restaurant at our resort. I'd purchased a glass of wine the past two nights to take back to my room, and had cringed when I signed the ticket to charge it to my final room bill.

I did quick math in my head and counted five more evenings of one glass of wine from the restaurant and it made perfect sense to be like Kat. "But we'll need to buy a corkscrew," I innocently mused. To which Kat replied, "Oh, I travel with a corkscrew, Deb!" Man I love when soul sisters unite. :o)

Looking at these photos reminds me how hot I was that day. The temps were in the mid-80's, and the humidity was the same. I'm used to our desert dry heat, so the humidity got to me a bit. We also bought cold bottled water with our wine bottles. :o)

I found a necklace that I loved and it was pricey. I went back and forth, back and forth, and finally convinced myself to wait. "I'll walk back down here later in the week if I decide to purchase it," I thought.

And I did. On day five a solo walk to the shops sounded good and I really wanted to buy that necklace. The only decision to be made by then was what color I wanted, and I chose the one with turquoise beads because it looked teal and reminded me of my mom. {Not to be a bummer in the middle of this fun shopping post, but I wore my new necklace to work at the beginning of last week and the main charm broke off by mid-day. Sigh.}

I walked along, taking in the scenery, sweating like crazy and finishing up the cold bottled water I'd purchased from the store where we'd found wine a few days before.

And then I saw this place and thought, "Hm..."

An inviting restaurant/bar on the beach...

My Instagram caption was, "Escape from yoga camp..." Oh man, that was a good cold beer on such a hot day, sitting by the ocean wearing my new, unbroken necklace, feeling so happy and grateful for a vacation like this! I missed Doug a whole bunch right here.

I sauntered back to the resort. In fact, that reminds me. One thing I noticed about my week in Mexico was that I would set out to walk somewhere - from my room to the restaurant for morning coffee, or over to the yoga hall, or wherever - and I'd take a few quick strides before intentionally slowing down my pace. I never realized what a quick gait I have, and it was so nice to slow down the pace and really be mindful of my steps. I didn't have to be in a hurry for the entire week. So awesome!

That's one of the things I love about yoga, and it's something I teach in my classes - the novel idea of slowing down. The reminder to be present and to take our time. I brought back so many sweet lessons learned from this week-long yoga retreat.

Slow it down, be spontaneous, take your time, travel with a corkscrew...

♥