Mexico: Woowoo! Despite an ominous start (loss of sunny part of day 1 thanks to 5.5 hour delay at Pearson resulting from TOILET MALFUNCTION on plane), the trip was fantastic, with lots of guacamole and culture (well, as much as was possible from the day trips) consumed. Here is us at Pearson. Notice that its light outside - it's not supposed to be.
Dad and I were graced with wonderful weather (every day was sunny, nights were cool but clear) and lucked out with the resort. I'd recommend it highly. Pretty:
Since I'm not a huge fan of doing nothing for an entire week, we decided on three day trips to balance out three lazy beach days (and to hopefully counterbalance the excessive quantities of food available to us). Our first full day started with a breakfast buffet in a beautiful restaurant near the beach, where I satisfied the chorizo sausage craving that I've had since Cuba. The restaurant:
We soon realized that as good as this little place was, it had the downside of not having a serve-yourself station for 'champagne' and orange juice like the larger buffet. Did I mention that the resort was excessive? We then went to the obligatory 'meet your rep' meeting, where we met our rep and realized that she was a complete puddinghead, followed by a realization that she'd not be of much use. We did, however learn about the cheap taxis we'd find on the highway as opposed to the expensive ones to be found at the lobby. The rest of the day was spent wandering around on foot, and later on bikes. We had a late dinner at one of the a la carte restaurants (our first of four), and a fairly early night.
Saturday was our first excursion. We took the highway taxi into a town called Playa del Carmen, 30 minutes or so from the resort. It's a touristy beach town, with lots of little souvenir shops and many people trying to tempt you into buying timeshare property. Here's us after the animal guy stopped to ask us if we were from Canada:
It didn't take long to figure out that they're not actually interested in finding out where you're from, or if you're having a good time, but it's hard to just ignore them and keep walking. I think I would go insane living in a place as hectic as that, and I don't know if I would just develop a shell against the constant barrage of vendor appeals or if I'd become a complete shut-in. We did, however, manage to have a nice day once we found a spot on the beach.
Sunday was a resort day, full of snorkelling and reading and sipping pina coladas (beer for dad) on the beach. It was really cool to have actual reefs available to explore, and I managed to see a lot of fish. Dinner was at the seafood restaurant, where dad ate something called a hogsnapper.
On Monday, we went to Xel-Ha, a place that pretty much anyone who'd ever been to Mexico recommended to us. Paula especially recommended it, surprising because she is absolutely terrified by fish and by bridges, and there were many of each. Its name translates to 'place where the waters are born,' and is a lagoon that is fed both by the Caribbean sea and by three underground rivers emerging into it. It's become famous as a large, natural aquarium, where you can snorkel around and apparently see up to 100 species of fish. We meant to only spend a couple of hours there, and ended up spending the entire day snorkeling, walking around, and swimming in the (not-so) lazy river. It was absolutely beautiful.
Fish!
Hammock!
Courage!
Caves!
Tuesday was the Big Trip, to the Mayan ruins of Coba. On this trip, we learned that Cancun, in Mayan, means snake nest, that to 'wish' is to go to the bathroom, and malokine (sp?) means hello. We also explored some of the oldest ruins in the Yucatan, dating back to the first century. It was completely spectacular to see the immensity of the pyramids and structures, like the start of a road built perfectly level for 60 miles to a trading centre at a city near the later site of Chichen Itza. Here is the start of the road:
The ball courts were really interesting - they were ritual arenas where, in pre-colombian times relevant to Coba, political matters were settled peacefully by teams representing different cities (and later, not so peacefully).
From the top of the Nohoch Mul pyramid (tallest in the Yucatan peninsula), another large earth mound is visible, and our guide informed us that this is the site of another pyramid that could be even taller than the one that has been restored. To date, I think only 5% of the buildings have been unearthed from the jungle.
From the bottom:
At the top:
Inside the structure at the top (where the gods make the descent into heaven):
Looking down:
After the ruins, we went to a Mayan co-op, where each family sells their art to bring money into their village. We had lunch there, and I picked up a couple little things to bring home. Miriam, our tour guide, let me wear her beetles. They're real, but sacred, and have been adorned with gold and jewels - apparently their 'jackets' don't affect their lifespan.
Next we went to a Mayan village where we got to hang out with the little kids and give them school supplies. Here's a Mayan home, and garden (the most beautiful Mayan garden is the one which produces the most food):
A close up of the tree on the left - a monkey swinging!
A Mayan girl, with her pet badger:
After the village, we stopped at a cenote. Cenotes are caves/sinkholes, and are really common since the entire Yucatan peninsula is over underground river systems. This one was warm, and the water was clear, deep and beautiful. I jumped off an insanely high platform, since I knew it would make Mark proud. I ended up with the biggest wedgie ever. Here's my splash, unfortunately there are no photos of the jump itself:
Here's us with Angie, a really fun girl from Pennsylvania who was convinced to come swimming. This was after we gave up on our race to the far side of the cave:
The last day was the official 'relax' day, and we did nothing but lie on the beach, read, eat, and drink tropical drinks. Here's the sunrise:
The sunset:
And the coffee (so cool!):
Coming home:
It was a wonderful trip, one that I'll remember for the rest of my life, and hopefully I'll be able to visit again someday.
Coming home was really nice, as I missed Mark greatly. I have to send out a huge thank you to Mark and to my friends and family for the amazing birthday present. You guys are awesome and I will be appreciating you every single day (not that I wouldn't anyways). Hearts and hugs all around.
2 comments:
Clearly NO - I don't have anything more important to do.... but thank you very much for the post - I'm pleased to know more details of your adventures, and am thoroughly impressed with your cliff jumping - I never would have guessed, and I hope Mark is proud.
hooray for the mexico post! my favourite part was the monkey. or... maybe the kid with the badger. it's so hard to decide!!!
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