Day Four- Tuesday, May 15th
We generally took it easy after our big excursion to Coba just the day before. We took a taxi to Playa Del Carmen to do a bit of shopping. It is a bigger town north of Puerto Aventuras that also has a lovely beach. Lovely beach in background and unnecessary shopping items and silliness shown. :-)
When we got back to our hotel, Daddy and Grama went out snorkeling in the protected reef just off the hotel beach.
YaYa and Mommy stayed with Miss Jenna while she napped. Then we took our little cutie down to the pool. Isn't she sweet in her pink polka dot bikini?
That night, there were local artisans at the hotel and we had some cool stuff made for us. I believe I have a shot of this tile finished to post, too. I think I'm going to hang it outside our front door. I'm posting this picture of a stranger because I'm not kidding when I say I made him change this tile like 15 times till I was happy with it. He was more than accommodating. But I love the tile and it is exactly what I wanted.
DayFive - Wednesday, May 16th
Off we headed with Ariel (our driver) to Chichen Itza. This is, by far, the most famous ruins down there so we went really early to beat the crowds (and the heat.) J and I had gone there before, and many things have changed in just 2 years. Now they have almost everything roped off so you cannot climb on the pyramids. Understandable for preservation, sad for adventure.
Above, El Castillo impressive and glorious...notice the extreme lack of tourists. (Except for the obvious ones pictured...meaning us.) And on the right is an absolutely HUGE ball court. I believe it is the biggest one in the Yucatan.
Us hanging in the temple of the warriors and then looking back on the columns and another structure.
The observatory close up on the left. (This was the only thing they actually let you climb now.) Absolutely amazing structure, and the Mayans were amazing people. They were great astronomers and had a 365 day a year calendar, plus they invented the zero. How cool is that? Ornate carvings on the building on the right.
And lastly, a sweaty but happy Jenna excercising her legs with Grama. She climbed up a rock while Yaya and Daddy were climbing the observatory.
Keep in mind, between the 3 families, we took hundreds of pictures but am only posting a few here for brevity. :-)
*****
And from here, we left to go to our second set of ruins called Ek Balam.
None of us had ever heard of it before, but J found it scouring through a book about the Yucatan. This is going to sound more than corny, but when we got there, an indescribable sense of calm and spirituality surrounded us. We all felt it and discussed it while there and later. It was amazing. This ruin is by far even more rustic than even Coba and the jungle has only been cleared from part of this once great community.
This may be my favorite photo from the trip, taken by Grama. Daddy and the girl hiking down the trail to get to Ek Balam. Isn't that a "Kodak moment?"
On the right above, Miss Jenna and Mommy in the archway going into Ek Balam.
Below, the biggest pyramid here (again I believe called El Castillo) was impressive to say the least. It was the widest we've seen with lots of little rooms flanking the main center stairs. (Left and ride side accounted for in the 2 photos.)
Just because it was wide, doesn't mean it wasn't exceptionally tall. Daddy would know, he climbed this one, too. Here he is half way up and then looking back from the top.
Also, as in other ruins, here is the ball court below. Oh, and there we reptiles everywhere!
Mommy and Grama climbed another structure at the opposite end from the big pyramid. We're the tiny specs at the top acting like a Mayan version of Vanna White. On the right, ducking into a cool doorway to explore.
Daddy climbed this other pyramid, too and we have a cool picture of the compound behind us, which is also one of my trip favorites.
Miss Jenna is awake, so I'm going to go. Will continue my update for the remainder of our trip as soon as I can.
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