In week three of #52ancestors we were asked to share a favorite photo and the story behind it. I cheated a bit and put up a few taken at the same time but the top one is my favorite.
My family was adventurous. While my friends' families were going on more traditional vacations we would go to places like Mexico and even Guatemala--before all the big hotels and resorts took over. This photo is from our Thanksgiving trip to Cancun in 1978, later, we would share a meal of roasted goat with an indigenous family who lived near the jungle so it's no surprise that I would major in Anthropology later in life! My parents would instill the love of knowledge and never allowed us to be afraid of things that were foreign to us. On this trip we would hike through the jungles where jaguars still roamed and see ruins that had been swallowed up by the dense vines and trees. I often wonder if they are still hidden. Then we swam in cold, clear water (perfectly clear as our guide had to throw a stone down into the cave to prove it to us) in untouched caves in the middle of the jungle.
We even had a bus that we would drive to border towns and Monterey, Mexico.
We were (and still are) a bunch of headstrong individuals who, thanks to both of our parents, have turned out to be some pretty cool grown ups!
The bus as we called it