If you know me, you know I love to travel. 

  Anywhere and everywhere is fine with me. 

  I am the person that would be more than happy to go on a spontaneous day trip to somewhere new, even if it was just up the road or around the corner.

  Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to visit many states and countries all over the world.

  Many people that I have encountered advise me to travel while I’m still unattached. I get the logic of that, as it is easier to have only yourself to worry about. But, I also enjoy traveling with close friends, people I know that I will get along with and will tolerate my passion for photography too. 

  I recently took a cruise with one of my best friends,  Ashlyn Brown, to Mexico and boy, was it an experience. 

  I had never been to Mexico before but was intrigued by the country and its culture. 

  We both wanted to make the most of the experience and planned out our excursions months in advance. 

  Our cruise took us to Cozumel and Progresso and we found amazing things to do in both places.

  In Cozumel, we went on a tour of the island, stopped at the beach for photos and a local drink called ‘Coco Loco.’ 

  On the beach, we had the opportunity to hold a rescue iguana named Guacamole which was something I never thought I would do, as animals with scales freak me out but, I thought, ‘We’re here. Why not?’

  Later in the day, we stopped at the San Gervasio Mayan archeological site and learned about its history. A smaller-scale complex, the buildings were constructed in worship of Ix Chel, the goddess of childbirth, fertility, medicine, and weaving. 

  On the way out, we had the chance to take a photo with an extremely sweet parrot named Maria. 

  After that, we ate a traditional Mayan lunch and sampled locally made chocolate while watching a traditional dance performance.

  The next day, we stopped in Progresso. We had a seven hour tour scheduled that day- whew! 

  First, we visited the Mayapan Ruins, also known as ‘The Little Chichen Itza.’ 

  This site looks like you would expect Mayan ruins to look- all grand staircases and large structures.

  One of the most interesting parts of this location was that guests are still allowed to walk on the ruins. Visitors could climb all the way to the top of the main temple and look out over the rest of the compound. 

  The site is still being excavated, so it was interesting to look into the surrounding forest and find ruins still covered in vegetation, just waiting to be uncovered.

  After visiting the Mayapan Ruins, we were driven to Hacienda Mucuyché, a location that has two cenotes, for a cavern swim. A cenote is a cavern or hole that collects groundwater. The water in the cenotes is clear and is deposited by dripping through the hollow stalactites hanging all throughout the caverns. For Mayans that lived in the area long ago, cenotes were their only source of clean drinking water. 

  After taking a quick ‘shower’ (which roughly translates from Spanish to ‘a really cold rinse’) to wash off all of our hair product and/or makeup to avoid polluting the clean water, we were cleared to get into the water. 

  We entered the first cenote in its partially covered section, swam through the uncovered section and were then led out of the water and into a cave that contained the fully covered cenote. 

  When flashlights were shined in the fully covered cenote to lead the guests around the cave, the water shimmered pure blue on the wall. When you put your head underwater, you could see the stalactites meeting the stalagmites and continuing on to the bottom of the cave, which was about 11 feet deep. It was absolutely beautiful! 

  We ended our day with another traditional Mayan lunch and a cold cane sugar Coca Cola, after taking many photos with and of the beautiful ruins of the hacienda. 

  My advice: travel all you can while you can! Traveling is great alone but even better with a close friend or family member. If you step out of your comfort zone and try something new, you’ll be amazed at how much fun you’ll have. 

  Erin Lopez recently graduated from Georgia College & State University with a Mass Communication major and too many minors. She loves to read, binge Netflix shows, and spend lots of time with her five cats.