21st December – Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

This morning we walked up the street to a collectivo which is basically a van. You pay around 20 pesos and get dropped off at the side of the road at your destination. First stop for us was the Cenote Azul. A very different cenote from the other ones we have visited in that it was quite shallow because of the number of limestone rocks in the cenote and also because it was open with only a very time section in a cave. It was also full of fish where as every other cenote we had been in had only a few fish. Again the water was very clear. Progress into the water was a little slower as the water in this cenote was colder. We finally made it in and then warmed up by perching on a limestone rock and basking in the sun. You could dive in this cenote in a particular spot about three metres high. Dan did it a couple of times (not big bombies though – too shallow). After swimming around for a while we all hopped out and lazed on the decking in the sun next to the cenote. We finally decided to move on to the next cenote and walked about 100 metres down the road to the next one. This cenote was again different. It perched under a limestone overhang and again had lots of catfish mainly. It was colder than the last cenote. It also had a small section that had could hang onto a rope and swing over the top of the cenote. Dan gave that a shot. Again, we lazed in the sun for a while and finally headed out onto the highway (in bathers and thongs) to flag down the next passing Collectivo to our next destination, Akumal where we could snorkel amongst the corals, fish and turtles!!

Dan decided to purchase a snorkel and mask set to take to Costa Rica and to use for our additional week in Playa Del Carmen. The rest of us hired a set and off we went. We swam a total of around 400m out from the shore in varying water depth’s from 2 to 6 metres depth. I saw one huge turtle swim by (Dan missed it) and we saw lots of smaller fish and coral, although we had been spoilt in Belize and this spot whilst nice, did not compare.
Dan’s highlight (since he didn’t see any turtles) was to swim with a large school (30) of bonefish, 2 foot in length for about 10 minutes. With the sun setting over the water, we called it an afternoon and headed back on the highway to flag down our collectivo again. A short wait and we were off. He dropped us at a different spot and we walked through the town, in bathers, for around 15 minutes back to the hotel. It was good to see a different side of Playa Del Carmen.

We went back to Babes Noodle House for our final group dinner (without Ania who we had said goodbye to this morning) and another enormous daiquiri.

On the way home we found some ukuleles and sombreros.

2nd December – Cancun - Merida, Mexico

One of the new seven Wonders of the World is Chichen Itza, a UNESCO world heritage site, and one of the best examples of Mayan-Toltec ceremonial centre with its amazing time temples. This is on our list to see and today is all about our road trip to Merida via Chichen Itza.

Breakfast involved meeting all the members of the group, nine in total including our tour leader. Three aussies, two Danes, two Italians and a Londoner – a great mix. At breakfast we had to try the “anti cholesterol” juice. A mix of pineapple, celery, some other fillers and CACTUS – no spines. All I can say is that I won’t be trying this again.

The tour is via public buses and the ADO buses in Mexico are really good. Movies, good comfy seats, toilet and speed controlled via GPS. Very impressive. After 3 hours we made it to Chichen Itza we dumped our bags and headed to a cenote (pronounced see-not-ee). They are large limestone sink holes and often used for human sacrifice. We squashed into the taxi and traveled 5km up the road to Ik Kil cenote. The sink hole had dark blue water and tree roots dangling 20m from the lime stone overhang into the water. Water from a hose also created local water falls as added touch.
With bathers on, we hit the fresh water (only 50m deep) and went swimming. It was a great way to refresh after the bus ride. Floating on your back staring up the limestone walls complete with stalactites, dangling tree roots and blue sky with water spraying was pretty special.

I had to do a bombie in the cenote too!

Another squashy taxi ride and Felipe, our guide, was waiting eagerly for us. The Mayan, with convergence of Toltec influences, were very smart. The time temples, such as the great El Castillo, act as calendars and also designed to create serpent god shadows falling and rising from the ground on the equinoxes. An illusion to convince the masses.
The Juego del Pelota, or ball playing stadium was another set of buildings, with great acoustics. We learnt about the interpretation of the game and how the winning captain was taken by decapitation as a willing sacrifice to the gods. It’s hard to believe this was buried under jungle and not found until the early 1900’s by New York lawyer.
At this stage my camera decided it wasn’t time to work which brought back the horror of Luxor, Egypt, in the Great hypostyle hall when my batteries run out!

We observed some pre-Classical period ruins and were amazed at how smart the construction and engraved messages were! A quick group shot at the observatory (el caracol) and we hit the road to Merida, a 2 hour journey. On arrival at Hotel Trinidad, an English fellow come from across the road. The first thing I asked for was free beer (jokingly) and said “Once Melanee is here you can have a free cervesa!”. Sweet!

Our room is a belter with high ceilings, on the second floor with views of the courtyard. A old traditional Mexican house restored and converted to a hotel.

Sunday night is party night and Calle 60 was closed off to traffic and live bands were playing music with lots of dancing in the street. We sat outside in a nice restaurant with traditional Mexican food, tacos (not old El Paso style) with a soft tortillas. Tan had Sangria and I had a local beer. The beer was poured into a 1/3 full glass of lemon juice with salt on the rim. It took a while to finish!!
It was unfortunate that the trees above had birds that weren’t keen on gringos, so I got a hit twice. When Tan got poohed on, the waiter brought out anti-poop protection devices aka sombreros! They were effective too!

Tan finished her night dancing in the street with Pedro.