Mon 8/30/10 sinkholes

After a full day in the heat of Chichen Itza (93F, 65% humidity) we headed to take a dip in the cenotes. The Mayans built their cities in close proximity to these sinkholes. Turns out, Mayan culture is centered around water & rain. Kind of a no-brainer. They danced for it, sacrificed to the gods to get more of it, built cities near it, fought other cities for control of it. The cenote is a natural well, massive clean water. We were allowed to swim in one - after a small fee(which we didnt pay) and a shower to wash off who knows what (which we didnt take). And once down there, you must absolutely never touch the dangling roots (which I did). Im predicting that we will be captured Apacolypto-style from our hotel room and be scarificed.  Water was clean and cool, really incredible thing to see. You can see the roots from the plants above, they grow down all the way to the water (150ft?). They build bungalos and restaurants at the top of these things. We were actualy guests at this particular resort. Kelly is there jumping with full faith into the "bath of Mayan gods".

Sidenote: the busride over there were about 13 of us. A family of 7 chinese (grandad, grandma, grandkids, you get it). The kids were annoying from the start, we were stuck in the back with the brats. well, at the first chance we got on a stop, we took seats near the front and left our bag to hold the seats. On the next stopover after that, the chinese mother jumps into the van ahead of us, grabs all our stuff,and throws it across the van onto the floor. Im not fluffing the story here, she THREW our stuff across the bus. Well, Kel was all over her "why you throwing my bag bee-otch?". OK, thats fluffing. There was an all-out, name-calling, shouting match between Kel and this chinese lady. It ended with the chinese lady calling Kel a piece-of-sh*&$! Well, actually it didnt end there. Grandma starts in on Kel and Kelly is pulling the universal "zip it" hand sign. You know the one, the hand clasp one. I thought Kel was going to knock out a old chinese lady - bad PR for the tour company Im sure. Anyway, good times.

Mon 8/30/10 - chicken pizza

Dinner last night at tapas was forgettable. Service is great, food was....meh. The restaurant itself was beautiful, clean, decorated nicely. Maybe Im just a food snob.

Anyway, early breakfast (awesome again), sneakers on, backpack....well, packed. We're headed to Chichen Itza - its one of the many ancient Mayan cities here in the area. Well, why Chichen then? We're told that Chichen Itza was the pinnacale of Mayan society. Mayan astronomy, art, mathematics, sport were all at their peak at Chichen (as I explain this now, Kelly is bored to death! Snoring, I think). Sidenote: Kelly is not easily impressed. We went to the Grand Canyon a few months ago, and she was like "its OK. No biggie". What?!?! One of the earths natural wonders. Some pix below. We had an incredible tour guide, tons of info on the 2 hour bus ride to and fro (Kel wearing ipod).  I couldnt even begin to summarize, but I learned that the size and dimesions, and alignment to the sun, were not by accident. There are all kinds of formulas for how many steps, how many layers, 'add this many layers to that side and it equals some significant Mayan number'. Clearly, the solstice and equinox played a BIG part in the culture. 

                                                                                

Structure below was a temple of human sacrifice. Performed by religious clergy, you can see the top of the building has two sort of turned up "forks" - mauch blood spilled there.

       

An outcropping structure of a snakes head on the building of human sacrifice. The ultimate god was a combination of snake, bird, human figure - I forget his name. Turtles are also very prominant (longevity) as well as jaguars.  

                                                                                                                                                                              

There are still Mayan people living all round the city. They are slightly different from Mexican as we know them. Mayan are very short and thier beauty is based on (in thier culture) the "eagles nose" - a large shaped nose like that of an eagle beak, egg-shaped head, cross-eyes (no kidding). We can clearly see some locals that fit this description more than others.  At one point, two little Mayan girls sing to us and want to sell us a little Mayan cloth for $1. We cant resist, as I suspect most cant.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

One pic here I hope you can see is a short structure with skulls carved in the stone. Here is where Mayan warriors would stake the heads of defeated foes for the whole city to see - awesome!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Two other pics here are from the 'stadium'. One pic you'll see a stone ring high above the ground, its part of a larger field of sorts. Maya produced rubber products from rubber plants long before it was widely accepted. They made a 2lb rubber ball that they threw around this massive stadium. It would take days, literally, to score one point. Then the game was over. I cant imagine throwing a 2lb rubber ball 20ft in the air through a concrete ring - it would bounce all over. So the best player of the tournament gets what? Rest? women? Riches? Fame? Nope...death!!!  The Mayans believe the gods deserve the best players. That just sucks on many levels.We have a really great lunch, some authentic Mayan foods, local breads cooked over a fire.

So, were super-hot. Sweating more than we ever have - we head off to take a swim in the Cenotes (sinkholes), and a barfight to finish the day off.

 

So, we took a llittle shuttle and met

Sun 8/29/10

Another lazy day. I think this trip will be a pretty quiet one - which is fine by us. Breakfast here is great, the buffett has all the standard fair, but a bunch of Mexican dishes too. The fruit selection is great. Cactus fruit? Mango, passion fruit, kiwi, grapes, papaya, etc. Breakfast is turning out so far to be the best meal of the day. Headed to Chichen Itza tomorrow - its an all day trip in crazy heat. Kel is not excited, and Im not too excited of a whole day in the heat, but I gotta see it. Here are a couple pix of the resort. In one you can see Isla Muejeres - the island in the distance. Its a big tourist spot. Headed off to tapas for dinner.

Sat 8/28/10 - salsita!

We had dinner at the french restaurant. I had beef tenderloin, Kel had the shrimps. After dinner we headed to the martini bar. Its made out of this thin yellow stone, and at night when they add light behind it, the whole bar lights up. Its really nice. Anyway, we go have a drink and notice the bartender making something odd. Hes adding a lot of different ingredients and its taking him a long time. So I ask and he wants me to try one. "OK" I say, a little one". It was a salsita. Two shots, the first shot is tequilla, hold in your mouth, then a shot that has a mixture of tobasco, clam juice, tomato juice, mexican spices, steak sauce (and anything else they can throw in there). Yowza, IAy caramba! That will put hair on your toes. the last pic as an agave plant in the guest garden, these bright white globes are all over the garden

Sat 8/28/10

We've noticed all around the property some really cool abstract art - very modern. I snapped a couple pix and attached them here. That bust of a women is made out of old lightbulbs.

Saturday was another quiet slow day. The ocean here is very warm, it has to be 75F or more - very nice. We're looking into the Chichin-Itza Mayan ruins tour for monday. There service so far has been great, everyone has been very friendly. They take drink (and food) orders at your seats. No need to ever get up. Also, they have a LOT of seating near the pools,everywhere really. They dont have umbrellas, each pair of lounge chairs has a grass hut. they have them on the beach as well. Around the property they have these daybed things under the huts - like ounge beds. They are all over and no extra cost, and no problem getting one. That is one big plus for this place, no problem getting seating anywhere you want. We actually saw people with two sets of lounge chairs - one under the hut and one in the sun for tanning.

Sat 8/28/10 random pix

random artwork and pictures from the property. There is a guest garden. Former guests plant agave, cactus and such. Its a really artistic 'garden' with sculptures.

Sat 8/28/10 wildlife

roaming the grounds we saw some wildlife

Fri 8/27/10 nightlife

We had Mexican festival night. There was a authentic Mexican buffet, with a mariachi band (pandering for $) but very cool. We missed the mexican tribal dance, but I could see and hear it from the room and it was awesome. Kel and I were getting ready and couldnt make it in time, but I think its a 'dont miss' next time. You can see the pix, there was a self serve tequllia table! Dangerous. One of me enjoying a
cadillac margarhita' - need I say more.  Also, a couple more pix from the beatiful hotel lobby.

Fri 8/27/10 Monkey drinks!!

Friday was a slow day, Ken is still catching up on sleep. Gotta say, Mexico in Aug is f%$#-ing hot!! The thermostat says like 95-100F, but with the humidity it feels like 120F. We're drinking lots of water, sweating like dogs, and cooling off in the pools. One daily ritual here are the 'monkey drinks'. Carved out of a pineapple, and filled with a sweet alcoholic elixor, these things are great. They only pass out like 30 a day, so you have to line up at the Sol bar. You can tell all the newbies, they are walking around with these stupid monkey drinks made out of pineapple! Sidenote: bathrrooms are not easy to find. Another sidenote: the chez lounges are beautiful, made out of wood, but there are not very comfortable.

Thurs 8/26/10

Dinner and a show. We had dinner at Toscana, good, but not great. Then we saw the premier show here - Micheal Jackson. I am not a MJ fan, but this show was pretty good. It was a mix of video archive of MJ, a bunch of lip-sync songs and some great dancers. Here are a couple pix of the auditorium during the day, check the tribal masks.