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| Ek Balam |
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| Chichen Itza |
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| In the Cenote! |
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| Ben chillin' in Valladolid |
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| Dzibanche, Kinichna, and Kohunlich |
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| The amazing pop drinking, french fry eating spider monkey |
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| Lamani |
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| On top of Lamai |
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| Tulum |
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| Flying men on Vera Cruz? |
Ben & I went to the Yucatan Peninsula in February. We were gone for 9 long days (the 6th - the 14th)! Although we missed the kids a lot we had a blast. They were in good hands with all the grandparents pitching in to watch them. We flew into Cancun late Sunday night. We boarded a bus with our tour group...organized by Brent & Marsha Fieldsted. We then drove a few hours southwest to the beautiful colonial city Valladolid. This was such a cute little city.
The next day, Monday, we went to some nearby ruins called Ek Balam. This is a newly excavated Mayan city with spectacular architecture and beautiful carvings. We then went on to Chichen Itza. This is one of the most excavated sites in the Mesoamerican world. It was the largest or most "touristy" we went to. It had a lot of neat ruins and things to see. We then went to a Cenote...or a cave with a fresh water pool that we swam in. And finally that day we went to a nearby Mayan village. We brought items to donate to these local people. They were in such desperate need for these items. It was a very humbling experience, one I will never forget. We had the opportunity to see inside a home and it was like looking into a one room pioneer home. Very humbling. That night back in Valladolid we enjoyed a delicacy of the Yucatan...penuchos! Delicious! Wish we could get this around here. And to top off our day the fair just happened to be in town. The highlight of this was the double decker party bus with blasting music and strobe lights we traveled on to get there. We definitely arrived in style. The fair itself...not much to see. I've heard this one was very mild compared to most in Mexico. There was only one...how do I put this delicately? Freak show...for lack of a better word. It was a two headed boy, aka, siamese twins. It was sad to see this was their life. But I'm usually all for fairs and that kind of thing, but word to the wise, skip these when in Mexico!
Then on Tuesday we left this little town and headed south to Chetumal. Along the way we stopped at a freshwater lagoon that looked like ocean water, called Lake Bacalar. We spent some time here but unfortunately it down poured like there was no tomorrow. Luckily we were under the restaurant pavilion. So, we mostly just got to know everyone and ate yummy food! We then arrived in Chetumal and stayed at the Holiday Inn. Thank goodness for Holiday Inns in Mexico. This was the best hotel by far on this vacation. It was in this lovely town we experienced another Yucatan delicacy, machucados! It was finely shaved ice, soaked in one of my personal fav's sweetened condensed milk, and then mixed with your flavor of choice. I of course tried coconut and it was good...but surprisingly did not turn out to be my fav. I actually loved the chocolate banana the best. However, coconut ice cream in Mexico is awesome!
On Wednesday we went to three archeological sites called Dzibanche, Kinichna, and Kohunlich. These sites are recently excavated and this area was different than most in the Northern Yucatan with more dense jungle and taller trees. Many LDS archeologists believe these ruins could have been the area of the Land Bountiful, spoken of in the Book of Mormon. They did have a more peaceful, serene feeling to them. We saw a howler monkey which was stressed out by our fearless leader, Marsha, who got him going by howling at him herself. The howler monkey was later outdone by the cute little spider monkey that was a pet to a convenience store. She would drink Pepsi/Coca Cola and preferred one over the other...but I can't remember which. She also chowed down on the french fries one of our tour friends was feeding her. She normally liked Cheetos, but turned her nose up at them when the fries were in the picture. It was quite the site to see. For dinner this night we had super yummy steak and pork tacos.
Then on Thursday we were off to Belize! We had to cross the border and it actually went very smoothly. About an hour south of the border we went to the city of Orange Walk. We then hopped on boats and took what was supposed to be an hour long ride on New River but ended up being much longer b/c one of the boats kept breaking down. Along the way we saw more spider monkeys, bats, the Jesus Christ bird (walked along the lilly pads), and crocodiles. We finally arrived at the ruins of Lamani. This area was also in dense jungle. It had a more "Lamanite" feel to it...for lack of a better word...again. This had the steepest ruin that we were able to climb. It was cool! It had a rope going up the center of it for people to hold onto b/c it was so steep. It reminded me of the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan! I loved this...give you more of an adrenaline rush! On top it was cool. You could see for miles and miles. Finally when we were returning there was another down pour. The whole hour long ride was non-stop rain. Our friends Brian and Raleen were the only ones smart enough and brought ponchos like instructed. Everyone else was soaked! I think they were even wet too. It was a lot of fun!
Friday...finally we were on our way to the coast/beach! On the way we stopped at the ruins of Tulum. Tulum is an ancient seaport situated directly on the crystal clear coast of the Caribbean. Here we had a great LDS tour guide who pointed out many religious significances to this site. After the tour we headed to the beach and swam in the clear blue waters. It was great. There was only two women on the beach going topless. And much to the men's dismay they were leathery old grandmas! I'm sure that was the first time most of them had been to a potentially topless beach...they probably had their hopes up? Haha...serves them right! The rest of the time we stayed in Playa Del Carmen, right on the coast.
Saturday was one of our only free days to enjoy the beach. Everyone was planning on going snorkeling nearby and enjoying the day basking in the sun! Unfortunately from the second we woke up throughout the entire day, it rained!! So, needless to say we had a relaxing day and got a lot of souvenir shopping done. We even managed to find a Domino's with Brian and Raleen...it was great for a change!
Then on Sunday it was finally time to go to the much anticipated X-Caret. I'd heard a lot about this place and knew I wanted to visit if I was ever in the Mayan Riveria. It was a lot of fun. It is an ecological theme park of sorts with a lot of activities and cultural events. We swam in the underground rivers, visited the coral reef aquarium, saw dolphins, huge turtles, got to hold parrots (actually Ben held three at once...one on each arm and one on his head...a site to see), saw a replica of an ancient Mayan village complete with Mayan men dancers (finally some eye candy for the ladies to see), saw a Mexican cemetery, rode in a giant rotating scenic tower, ate our hearts out at a fabulous Mexican buffet, and finally enjoyed a spectacular show that included a replica of an ancient Mayan football game, and saw cultural dances from each state in Mexico. A fun-filled, action-packed day!
Finally on Monday, all fun must come to an end. We spent about an hour on the beach in the morning then headed for the airport. We arrived in SLC at midnight. Ben drove straight home and we arrived around 3 am! What a whirlwind. It was a great vacation. We met some wonderful people, got to know others much better, and had a blast. Can't wait to do something like it again!
