Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Mexican Riviera

Here is my first post - finally!! I started this almost a month ago when Tiffany was here. Today - she said - get it posted - or else - and when a pregnant woman says that - you better get it done! It's a long one - but it was a great trip.

Hope you enjoy - and hope there are many more to come.

We recently spent 6 days in Playa del Carmem - about 1 hour south of Cancun, Mexico. We had a splendid time in the sun and warmth. Courtney went with us and had her first experience with snorkeling. I think she was nervous about trying, but it didn't take her long to become a "fish"! Our first full day there we went to and Ecopark called Xcaret. We had a great time snorkeling in an underground river, visiting a butterfly habitat, going in a bat cave, walking through a replica Mayan village, and watching a fantastic entertainment production about the Mayan people and the Mexican history.




The next day, we went to two different Mayan Ruins - Tulum (0n the ocean), and Chichen Itza (about 2.5 hrs inland). We had our own personal LDS tour guide. What a facinating day. It is incredible to think about how long ago these buildings were made and how advanced this culture was.

First we went to Tulum. There were a lot of lizards hanging around. This was a major port and trading city, with walls built all around.


After driving a couple of hours, we stopped to eat at a Mayan buffet. They had a bit of live entertainment and we especially enjoyed the homemake tortillas!!

These dancers danced with bottles on their heads - several of them!!!



Then on to Chichen Itza. What an amazing place this is. It is incredible what the Myan people did and created. Their civilization was so advanced. This is the main pyramid.


Many of the walls had elaborate carvings.





This is the "temple of 1000 columns - can you gues why?




They even had a planetarium!





We loved our resort -Allegro Playacar in Playa del Carmen. One of the fun things were the oragami towel decorations left on our bed every day.




Here are a few pictures of the resort. There were some huge sand bags on the beaches because of a hurricaine a couple of years ago. We did go snorkeling at some pictures that were picture perfect - but no pictures!!




I told you it was a long posting! Hope you enjoyed it. At least I finally got it!