Cancun: The final wrap up

There was only about one day that we didn't spend our touring the sites or at the resort.  We made sure to enjoy our time though. 

The big to-do was going snorkeling and hanging out at the beach.  The weather was pretty nice, until late afternoon when a storm came in.  We saw a crazy funnel out in the water and got caught in a 5 minute down pour.  But the rain was something we were used to.  (It rained most nights while we were in Cancun.) We took a picture of the storm coming and the rain out in the ocean.

 Brett and I made it into Playa Del Carmen for some good ole shopping.  We got some fun things including a hammock that we have yet to use, some Christmas gifts for my family and some small souvenirs for my coworkers.  My boss asked that I bring him back something "inappropriate" and once we saw it, we knew we had to get it for him.  They has pipes all over!  Not your typical tobacco pipes, more like the drug paraphernalia kind.  Since we are always investigating drug use at work I though it would be perfect.  So I picked him out one that was carved to look like a lazy man laying down and said mexico on the side.  He loved it. 

While in Playa we saw the ocean again, but didn't go in.  The Caribbean Sea is so beautiful and nothing like the Oregon coast that I'm used to. 

I forgot to mention that we also went to some "shows" at the resort.  This pictures are awful, but they give you the idea of one of the shows we saw.  It was like Cirque de Soleil.  The other nights we went was cultural dancing.

We were also there for Thanksgiving day.  The resort was catering to us Americans and had a display with a turkey and all.  We decided not to pay for the ridiculously overpriced Thanksgiving dinner and instead ate at one of the other restaurants with Brett's parents.  I got pizza and Brett got Asian food.  The rest of the family went into Cancun for the afternoon, but we decided to just relax and enjoy the last of our time at the resort.

Overall it was a GREAT trip.  We loved relaxing from work and school and getting out of cold Utah for a while.  We came back to a lovely storm, but what can ya do.  I was grateful that Brett could speak Spanish while we were down there and it was fun watching him use one of his talents that I rarely get to see.  We struggled a little bit at first with the idea of the Peso, but soon caught on that a meal for 150 pesos did not mean it was 150 dollars! We were so grateful for everyone who helped make it possible and enjoyed spending time with that whole side of the family.

Phew... we are finally done with the Cancun posts!  hip hip hooray!   Eventually I'll get caught up with everything else.  :) 

Cancun: Seeing the sights, part 2

I know, I know.... this is taking forever.  I apologize for yet another Cancun post.  I just really want to make sure it is documented and I'm horrible at writing in our family journal.  I promise we are almost done and then I'll catch up on Christmas, Valentines and all the adventures in between.

If you've missed the first parts of the trip feel free to go back and read them, starting here.  If you've read it all and aren't interested in anymore details (I wouldn't blame you) feel free to skip the remainder of the post. 

Our second day with Helaman, from Helaman Tours, was just as great as the first!  Our first stop was Ek Balam.

There were two large structures at this site.  The first, shown below, I believe was a smaller temple.  I honestly don't really remember.  One thing I like about the pictures though is that you can see the piles of rocks that they were using to rebuild it with but apparently had to stop due to budget.  There really are so many ruins down in this part of the world that haven't even been touched yet because they don't have the money.  

The second large structure was definitely a Temple.   This was one of the more memorable stops because of all the interesting things about it.  Lots of symbolism that related back to our LDS Temples today!  There were also paintings on the walls that just could not have been coincidences.  It seemed clear to me that the people who built these structures did have parts of the true gospel.  It also appeared like they might have become apostate because of the size and grandeur of the temples.  We were told that when the people fell into apostasy they began building large building due to their pride and there was evidence of human sacrifices.

Our next stop was the famous Chichen Itza.  We started with lunch and had amazing fajitas! Yum.  Chichen Itza was one of the largest and most touristy places we visited.  There were vendors all around in the grounds selling stuff.  We got some fun things as souvenirs.

This temple is one of the better known images when people think of Mayan Ruins.  It also has lots of symbolism and was built in such a way that a serpent appears on the side (due to shadows) at certain times of the year.  The best day to see the serpent is April 6th.  Coincidence, I think not.  (I know the shadows on our faces are awful, my camera battery died so I didn't get to take as many pictures and I guess this is the only one I got of the temple and the whole group.)

There were lots of other structures at this location.  Including another ball court.  This one though was the court of all courts.  The walls were perpendicular to the ground and super high, the hoops were like 21 feet off the ground.  Brett said he could dunk on it. 

And an observatory.  The Mayan people had amazing knowledge about astronomy.  At the equinoxes the sun would rise (or set) right in the window of the observatory. 

Any many other structures with symbolism and ornate carvings.  We learned all about Helaman's "friend" Chaac the Rain God and many other cultural tidbits.

After some shopping at the vendors we left Chichen Itza and began the long drive back to our resort.  We took a pit stop in a small town and saw some sweet murals before finally crashing back in our room.  It was a great day.

I know I just barely touched on the places we visited, but I hope I did them justice.  They were all truly amazing and beautiful!

Like I promised at the beginning.  We are almost done with Cancun.  Up next  Cancun: The final wrap up.

Happy Valentines Day

Love can carry you away.

Words to live by:

Cancun: Seeing the Sights, Part one

Welcome to the next installment of our trip to Cancun!

Two full days in Cancun were spent touring some of the local Ancient Mayan ruins.  Brett's Aunt scheduled them through Helaman Tours and they were a definite highlight of the trip.  Our tour guide, Helaman, specializes in LDS tours which connect the Mayan history to the history told in the Book of Mormon.  He was very knowledgeable but what I appreciate most was he didn't try to speculate about what we were seeing.  He told us lots about the Mayan ruins, Mayan culture and then let us make the connections. We learned so much that it was hard to capture everything in pictures and now looking back its hard to remember everything but I'll give you a little taste of what we experienced, hopefully I don't say anything incorrect.   

Our first stop was Coba.

Coba is an ancient Mayan city nestled in the Jungle.  It was a great first stop because we learned many of the basics to look for and recognize in the other locations.

 

The picture below is the ball court where they played this crazy game.  Basically they had a 7-9 pound medicine ball and the goal was the get it through the sideways "hoop" only using their hips.

We also learned about a species of Bee found in the jungle that has no stinger!  That sure would make it easier to travel across the ocean with, if ya know what I mean.

There were lots of stone tablet thingies.  This picture shows the original stone with a picture version showing what it represents.  I believe this one told the story of the High Priest who lived nearby.

There was one large temple (?)  that we got to climb up.  It was a steep climb up the stairs but the view was worth it.  We could see forever in each direction and we could even see other "bumps" that were other ruins.

After a hot humid hike/bike ride in the Jungle we went to a local Cenote where we cooled off by swimming in the fresh water.  The cenote was amazing; you climbed down into it and then it was like swimming in an underground pool.

After we cooled off Helaman took us to delicious buffet lunch.  Nothing beats good authentic Mexican food in Mexico.   Then we drove to the next stop:  Tulum.

Tulum is another city, this time by the coast.  You can see in the map below that it was complete with an inner wall and outer wall and everything in the city focused around the Temple.  There were approximately 50 homes within the outer wall and there were approximately 50 priests at the time.  All of the houses also faced east towards the temple.  Lots of cool parallels. 

 The temple itself was quite the structure and had some really interesting details. Above the temple there were 3 spots.  One held a carving of the "God of Gods", the next was the "Descending God" and the last one was blank representing the Holy Ghost. 

On the back half of the temple there was a lighthouse type deal with two windows.  The water surrounding Tulum is full of reefs that made it difficult to navigate.  There was only one spot that was passable and a secret trick make it through.  If you didn't know the trick, you couldn't get in.  Looking toward the temple would guide them through the reef.  Pretty good self defense huh! 

In addition to being full of history and meaning, the whole place was absolutely beautiful!

It helped that it was right on the ocean.  

Tulum was amazing and a great way to end the day.

Up next: Part 2 of the ruins, Ek Balam and Chichen Itza

Be Kind

I read this quote recently and its really stuck with me.  A good reminder.