Since our last post, we have made our way down to the Yucatan Peninsula. On our way down here, we stopped off at the massive ruins at Chichen-itza to catch a somewhat underwhelming light show for all of us except Ray who of course loved it. The next day we woke up early to storm the ruins before the swarm of tourists arrived, and to see what there was to see. Once the sun lit that place up the next day, all of us were truly blown away at the size and beauty of the ruins. Despite the massive amount of human beings all over the place by the time we left, we all agreed it was a great welcome to the Yucatan.
After the ruins, we were all looking for some serious sun, snorkeling, and our authentic Caribbean beach vacation that we all dreamed about. While many of our families and friends were enduring -40 in Northern New England we were all comfortably relaxing with margaritas on the beach and 90 degrees. Jenny still seems to be cold which is probably a result of her extended stay in New Hampshire, but hopefully we can get her de thawed before we have to head back. We stayed at this beach called Xpu-ha (Pronunced ipu-ha and is 80 miles south of CanCun) for four nights and met some pretty interesting campers some who had been there for as long as 12 years. Needless to stay it was a charming little spot with great snorkeling and nice company.
One of the highlights of the past week was our trip to Grand Cenote outside of Tulum. A cenote is a freshwater cave system that is as clear as a freshly polished Anderson window. There were beautiful fish all around us, and seemingly endless caves that could only be truly appreciated with a good light, which we had, thanks to Courtney. There were these beautiful tree roots that hung down like the hands of witches. A wonderfully eerie experience for everyone. It felt really great to jump into a fresh water swimming hole that was warm and clear.
During this same day we also headed out to the somewhat unexcavated ruins at Coba. This place was by far the best set of ruins that we had seen. We went to Tulum earlier which was beautiful but was also packed to the gills with tourists, busses, and heat. At Coba, they still let you climb up the massive temple which gave us an amazing perspective of the entire Yucatan, which is dramatically flat and filled with endless jungle. Except for meeting the king of Cancun on top of the temple who decided to yell that there was no beer on top, (what a steak head?) it was amazing to climb to the top of the temple. We have been hanging out the past few days with some great new friends that we met at the last campsite named Kerry and Sherry from Alabama. They have been making Courtney and I coffee ever morning and have been great friends to bounce ideas off of. As of today, we are staying in this quintessential Caribbean town called Mahuahal that was virtually flattened during hurricane Dean two years ago. The hurricane took out the large ship port, which is a shame but it has also made the town really low key and intimate. We plan on heading to a large fresh water lake this afternoon and then we are off to visit with the king of Mexico, Rod Alfonso, in San Cristobal de las Casas. Hope that all is well with our families and friends.
Robin at Coba ruins Robin and Ray at Coba Courtney at Gran Cenote
Gran Cenote Coba Ruins
Gran Centoe xpu-ha camp site Chichen-itza
Robin taking a big gulp Jenny in Gran Cenote Ray in Gran Cenote
Gran Cenote
Tulum Ruins mangrove lagoon Ray getting after the Poi
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