Cancun - Part 2

One of the days that we were in Cancun, we went to X-Caret.  It is a type of theme park similar to Marine World before Marine World had rides, but with some "experiences" you can pay extra money for:  swimming with the dolphins, snuba, sea trek, and various snorkeling outings.  There is also a "river walk" and lots of other animals and sea creatures to see.  There is a museum/house furnished as it might have been in colonial times and various entertainments.

We first went up in a tower-type ride that gave you a 360 degree view of the park:

The brightly colored buildings housed a museum that had rooms made up with antiques from the Spanish Colonial period

There was a greenhouse with some exotic flowers:

A butterfly pavilion:

We saw wild boar

and exotic birds:

There were cougars,

interesting entertainment, re-enacting Mayan traditional dances & ceremonies,

and caballeros.

This horse actually posed for me!

The surroundings were beautiful:

This was a traditional cemetery and looked so brightly colored that I thought it was just a model, but there were actual names and dates on the plots....

We went on a sea trek to a depth of 20' and looked really goofy:

In the evening there was a program in a huge arena that was like a mini opening ceremonies of the Olympics with songs and dances, costumes and pageantry that illustrated the history of the Mayan people.  It was difficult to get good pictures, but here are a few:

 These musicians could really play the bottles!  It sounded like a lot of marimbas.

 One of the performers

Dancers wearing some traditional costumes

The day before we came home, I went for a walk on the beach early in the morning.  I was hoping to see the pelican that I had seen the first morning that I had walked on the beach.  It had been about a mile down the beach, but I hadn't had my camera with me.  This time I was prepared.  And the pelican was considerate, because there he was right on the beach in front of our hotel.  Not long after I got out there, more pelicans joined him and at one time there were four of them.  They would soar high into the air and then turn and dive swiftly down into the water.

 These two did a synchronized dive, wingtip to wingtip.  I gave them a 10!

These next two pictures were taken as the pelican lifted off the water to start the dive again.

I felt like they were putting on a show just for my camera!

Cancun - Part 1

When I told my kids that we were going to Cancun for 6 days, Rebecca was correct when she said, "That sounds so not like you!"  I mean, we really aren't lay-in-the-sun type people.  Melanoma will do that to you.  But my brother and his wife had invited us to join them, and since we like spending time with THEM, we figured that it didn't matter where we went!

In brief, it was not what I expected.... not sure what I was expecting.  When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted with "Welcome to Paradise!"  Now, I had been in Mexico two times as part of two different cruises, but we were either on a beach or visiting Tulum on a bus, driving through some of the poorest towns.  So my vision of Mexico was not Paradise.

I was unprepared for the miles of resort hotels.  Our accommodations were delightful:

Stained glass window in the lobby

We had decided that we would make the 2 1/2 hour drive to see Chichen Itza via a van (that took the toll roads and was much quicker) we had hired through USA Transports.  They were awesome.  We beat most of the busses and as we were leaving the site we were glad we weren't in the long entrance lines.

It was totally worth the drive.  The site was amazing.  You can no longer climb the pyramids since about 7 years ago someone climbed to the top and marked one of them with graffiti.  Idiots.

 Carved Mayan masks - there were so many vendors it was hard to see how any one vendor could make a living.

 This iguana was just sunning himself near the ruins

Mark and I at the observatory

We had an adorable guide that was of Mayan descent.  He was short!  My brother, Morrie and Mark towered over him.  BTW, he said that the Mayan calendar didn't end in 2012, it was just mapped out that far and then it was supposed to start over.  Something about different rotating, intersecting discs. I couldn't quite understand him.

After leaving Chichen Itza, we drove to a cenote and lunch.

 Dawn, Morrie, Mark & I get a picture with one of the servers.

These women worked at our lunch stop.

Cenote

Mark had scouted out information about another Mayan archaeological site called Ek Balam that was sort of on the way back to Cancun, so we stopped there as well.  One can still climb the steps of the pyramids.  They are SO steep.  It is scarier going down than going up.

 Morrie was freaking me out by standing close to the edge!

 Mark & I not quite so close to the edge.

Morrie & Dawn

Our last stop was Valladolid, a very early Spanish settlement that had a beautiful church.

Every night we felt the need to visit the little convenience store at the resort so we could get a Magnum Bar.  Delicious!

Morrie and Dawn with their Magnum Bars