Beaches and Mayan ruins

After a rainy day yesterday we were treated on a nice sunny morning today (with rain storm again in the late afternoon). We climbed on our rental bikes and explored part of the beaches of Tulum. We stopped for a delicious brunch in this place which offers "cabanas" on the beach and has lovely health food options.

On our bikes we then traveled to the site of one of the regions Mayan city ruins located along the beach. I will let the photos speak for themselves...

The small beach above is where the fishers from the Mayan population 500 years saw the ships of the Spanish explorers arrive. Hard to imagine...

Back in our small apartment we relaxed in the hot tub of our mini-backyard....; what a nice day!

Arrived in Tulum

After the week in Isla Mujeres we took the ferry back again, dropped Hilary off at the airport (for her flights back to Vancouver through Dallas) and drove an hour and half to Tulum, a city Hilary had recommended to us after she visited there in July 2018. We arrived in our apartment, called "Mi Querido Tulum". At least we thought it was ours. But it turns out that there are two places with that name. So after confusion about this and meeting some folks in the "wrong" place who worked for MSF (I was wearing an MSF shirt), we ended up in a cozy apartment in a quiet part of town. We rented bikes and explored "downtown".

A nice meal and a good rest. Hopefully this week will bring us a bit more sunshine....

Hilary visiting in Mexico

Our daughter Hilary joined us a few days in Isla Mujeres from Vancouver where she lives and works since October 2018. We visited together the island's turtle sanctuary and the southern point of the island and had several nice lunches and dinners together. So good to catch up with her in person!

Tomorrow Hilary flies back to Vancouver. Mary and I will move for the second week of this vacation in Mexico to a city two hours from Cancun called Tulum. We'll see how it is there. Signing off for now in fine holiday mood....

Walking over the island

Our first full day at Isla Mujeres and we must have walked some 10 kilometers. We started out where we went yesterday at the main town square where the Sunday mass was taking place. Then we went a long way along the coast line, and see what we found: our new boat!

We had lunch a nice local place called "Verdegreen" (which is "greengreen"). We spoiled ourselves with a sweet banana desert...

A week in Isla Mujeres

Yesterday Mary and I arrived in a cozy rental apartment on Isla Mujeres, a short ferry ride away from Cancun. Lovely setting. Ready for a week of relax! And...away from the -30 degrees in southern Ontario today. Sorry for the folks at home....

Professional development

Today we start three days of training with our team of international business development managers of Seneca International. This team covers our international student recruitment and contract training acquisition around the world (divided in three regional teams: East & South-East Asia, South Asia and the Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa). The first day has a focus on wide values such as: "the consultative selling mindset", "developing a buyer perspective", "creating value & understanding needs", "creating shared success" and "negotiating & closing". The second day will focus on better understanding some of our "products/services" such as several of our diploma & degree programs and some of our post-graduate certificate specialization programs. The third day we will review some of our practical tools such as our annual budget, our new access to data on our international students at Seneca and the need for specific "niche marketing" in some of our markets.

Back at it....

Back at it.... another year started today leading the Seneca International team. I think 2019 will be an interesting year for all of us. Yesterday Mary and I started the new year with a good healthy dinner and today I had left-overs....

And while Hilary is enjoying the life in British Columbia + makes many long shifts in the ERs of several hospitals, our son Mark (here pictured with Karlee) is travelling for 5 weeks in Thailand....

Life is good....