A day off

What a treat after the difficult driving days. We're back to bananas, coconuts and quaso (cheese) territory. It is very hot and humid again. Can't imagine how the poor people live in these conditions. I guess they are totally acclimatized, not like us. We passed all the vendors on the road with beautiful fruit as we drove in.
I grabbed a ride down the road to
The Italian Coffee Company, which appears to be building these little coffee houses at every Pemex, just like Tim Hortons added theirs to all the Esso stations in B.C. Great idea. Free internet all over Mexico.
We spent a great afternoon sitting on the beach and wading in the whitecaps coming in on the Caribbean Sea and walking the shore looking for shells. A beautiful afternoon. Tonight we had a lovely buffet up at the palapa. As usual, delicious food.

to Costa Esmerelda - 175 miles - 9 hours

What a day! Woke to 42 degrees and damp. thought we were back in B.C. after the jungle heat.
We saw a farmer plowing his field with a wood plow pulled by 2 horses and another man in front pulling them. Such a different environment! This is a very industrious area today. there is cane or corn stooked in the fields and then its baled. Here it is going to market, totally overloaded as usual. There are pottery, truck parts, bricks and nuts all for sale at the roadside. We summitted at 8000' and after a grueling downgrade got to sea level and into Clare and Juri's on the beach. Dave got stuck trying to park and John had to pull him out after he was unhooked. There are now 9 members in the 'stuck in the mud' club, but Ron was voted President because he got stuck on pavement while all the others got stuck in mud! go figure.
Pity that our drivers never get to see the scenery. I say, oh Ron, look at that, and he says, can't I'm driving. It's so true. We both have our eyes glued to the road, the Mexicans drive like mad idiots. Ended our day with a great ice cream social from all the fines we paid for forgetting to wear our name tags and the sheriff got us. It's been a laugh.

Very spanish town

Puebla is a very Colonial town permeated with Spanish influence and stays true to its roots. It boasts 365+ churches and the local hand painted tiles for which it is famous. It also was the site of a famous battle where the Mexicans defeated the French when they were trying to capture this jewel, on May 5, hence Cinco de Mayo. this city is also where mole originated ( cooked turkey meat in a dark sauce of chillies, spices, nuts and chocolate ).
We did a tour of the ruins, only partly uncovered in this remote and poorer district, then the city, saw the volcano Popocatepetl spew out some smoke and finished up at at dish and tile showroom. Very interesting products. Bussed down to the main plaza where we lunched. The squares are magnificent and there were dozens of balloon sellers everywhere. this was at 12 noon on a Tuesday. They shut down noon to 4 p.m. and then the action begins. The city is so Colonial and the architechure is a delight to see. The doors and windows are all different and very pretty.

to Puebla - 221 miles, 7 hours

We were so fortunate to have had Eugene as our guide for the 3 days in Oaxaca. He answered all our questions about politics, the strong teachers union with a strike every year, local conditions and the water shortage. When he was a boy, the local river was 200' wide and once flooded into their house 2 blocks away, floating all the furniture out the doors and windows. We crossed over it yesterday and it is a 5' wide stream in the middle of this huge grassy bank. He says the water has really dried up over the past 28 years. He pays $23 per month for water which is supplied by the city and stored in a tank up on the roof. They have a wood grate on the shower floor over a tin catching pan. the water is then used for dishes, garden or to wash floors. Every drop is recycled. This is not potable water, they buy bottled water for drinking and cooking.
We put another 1/2 gallon of water in our radiator reservoir and off we went for another mountain day. We went through dry hills looking just like the Okanagon, pine trees, red clay, then white and up to 7960' to reach a long downgrade of 25 km. This was on the narrowest, twistiest roads with about 400 switchbacks. Jim and Adele lost their brakes and stopped halfway to recoup, Cecil and Nat both had flats and smoked down. This is Cecil on our lunch break using the winch on top of his bus to raise the flat after changing it. Loyola never made it out of town, had to be towed back to the campground. Went through a cactus forest, then chicken houses and cactus fields and green veggies in the valley when we got down. People peel the cactus and eat the 'green' in salads or as a vegetable.

Local Artisans

Villages back in the country/ jungle areas all seem to specialize in one craft, handed down through the ages. Today we went off the wood carvers. The men hack at a limb of wood with their machete, ending with the most incredible figures of animals and birds. These are from 2' to 6', and are then painted by the women in the most minute and amazing designs and colours. While there, we saw a framer irrigating his field, row by row, with water from a well on the field.
Then we bussed off to another village to see Alfareria Dona Rosa's black pottery at the oldest and most famous shop in San Bartoloa Coyotepec. She invented this world renowned 'black pottery' by accident in 1952, as plastics were becoming a popular kitchen and storage item, costing less than handmade pottery. She polishes the pottery with a stone of onyx giving it a shine when it is baked and becomes a beautiful shiny black piece of art. Her son and grandchildren carry on the tradition using two concave plates, one upside down supporting the other, as the turning post, without a wheel.
This afternoon, we visited another village Teotitlan del Valle historically know for its beautiful textiles and weavings. These master craftsmen have gained world recognition for the wool rugs handwoven on large wooden looms using the same techniques passed down through the centuries. Next cultural experience was the mescal factory and store, an important part of life here. Each district has different dress and customs. Most things are carried on their heads.
This has been a most informative and astounding day.

Mont Alban and city tour

Off to the ruins meaning 'white mountain' because the pyramid is covered with trees that have white blossoms in the spring. This ruin is high on the hill with a beautiful domed church on top. As the Spanish conquered the natives, they tore down the native pyramids/cities and erected churches to convert the people to have them under the Spanish control. Everywhere you look, there are mounds under vegetation that are uncovered ruins. This site has partially excavated ruins in many spots to show the different types of structures. Not enough money to do the whole thing. In fact, the whole city of Oaxaca is built on top of the old ones. Mexico has approximately 10,000 ruins and only about 900 have had some excavations done. The archaeologists burrowed a 1200' tunnel under this with an example of the construction of the building. Very interesting.
Next we went to the Temple of Santo Domingo, a church that had to to seen to be believed. Every single inch is covered is gold and painted decorations. The ceiling is breathtaking. There are thousands of faces, each one different, representing the people that have done the decorations since the 1600's. Outside the church was the old main town square from the 1500's. To my shock, cemented in the stone blocks covering the ground, were hundreds of cast iron rings, which used to be used for the slave trade at that time. Today, vendors use these to tie down their tarps covering their wares.
Back at the campsite, we walked up to the town plaza, very beautiful with red and fuchsia azaleas, bougainvillea and purple jacarinda trees, to the local church. In front of it , is the famous Tule tree, here on the left, for which the town is named, which is over 2000 years old and gigantic. It is 140' high, has a diameter of 138' and is larger than the church.

Off to Oaxaca pronounced ( wa hawk a )

A hard day's drive today. We went 133 miles and it took 7 hours. When we see these figures you just can't get it, but up mountain ranges on very narrow roads to 4200" will do it every time. Now we're in desert with saguaro and beavertail cactus. We're passing through Mescal country. This a liqour similar to tequila. There are many fields of these cactus which look like the blue agave plant, planted up and down the mountains. I just can't imagine doing the work on these moutains. We see little productions plants along the way. These are actually a horse or three walking around in circles to grind the plants into liquid. We finally reached the 6000' summit after many switchbacks and a hard climb. The engine heated up but not enough to concern us.
Pulled into Tule, the neighbouring town in which we'll stay and delightful it is. More dry camping although it has a 5 x 12 cement block structure that features 2 toilets with no seats and 2 showers.
Loyola's truck broke down on the mountains so Dave unhooked his 5th wheel and went back an brought him in. We are having such a wonderful time with our caravan, a fabulous group of people. It's a privilege to be with them and a ton of fun.

Trek to Tehuantepec

Pronounced ( ta want a pec ) don't ask me why, we just can't figure out the language. 168 miles - 5 hours
Saw the ordinary village scenes as we went along. There was a load of clean pigs going to market, bridge construction which was 20 men with pick-axes, 2 men in the river, one washing his shorts.
We went through 25 small villages, and about 120 topes, vibradores or reductors however you want to call their speed bumps. There are no stoplights and believe me, they don't need them as you come to a complete stop or shake the dickens out of your rig ( home). This is why it takes 5 hours for 168 miles. We have never appreciated decent roads until we got here.
It amused us when we saw a man riding a burro, leading another. Just like us, not a tow car, but a tow burro. Into a more civilized area today and most houses are made of concrete, painted in every color of the rainbow, very pretty; with rebar sticking out of the top of course. We were told that if you house isn't finished, you don't have to pay taxes, but one of our guides corrected that and said that most people can only afford a small structure and the rebar will give them something to attach a second floor to, when they can afford it in 5+ years.
We dry camped in grounds of a deserted hacienda and had dinner outside under lights, hosted by the 5th generation son of the original owner grandmother. We sat in front of the original building, bullet holes and all, from one of the revolutions. As we sat down, 2 women sprinkled confetti on our heads as we enjoyed tortilla soup and an excellent fish dinner. They then showed 12 models with different native costumes and explained what all of them meant. Next they stole Jeff and Susan from our group and returned them in wedding dress and enacted a Mexican wedding celebration, even down to all the women dancing around them, giving them pesos and breaking our clay pots at their feet. A wonderful evening.
Before we left in the morning, I looked in a field and saw a man plowing the field with a team of oxen with a wood plow and another sowing the corn by hand. You'll see 2 crops of corn, the third being sown now. The village mode of transportation is the ox cart in the foreground, wood planks on basically wooden wheels with those little sticks at the sides. I thought I was in another century.

past Villahermosa to Cecil's surprise

A 200 mile trip took 7 hours. We voted to go right through VH where the dry campground was anything but and 2 people got stuck on the way there. VH has a 1/2 million people and the traffic at 10:45 on a Tuesday stunned me. Women are still in dresses here. A lot of culture here and it's an oil rich area.
We motored on to the Suspension bridge, and camped in the circle at the bottom around the large gold statue of 2 young men. They are to commemorate the workers who were killed during the building of this structure. Had a pleasant afternoon relaxing in the sun. It struck me, here we are retired and now here we are, sleeping under a bridge!!!

Misol-ha and Aqua Azul

Today we went off to two very different waterfalls. Misol-ha is 200' high and what you think of as a waterfall. We walked down the path and behind the falls where it was a bit misty and a unique view through the falls to spectators above us. Aqua Azul was totally different. On the road there we had our first surprise. The Indians living here were forceful and even pulled ropes across the road to have us buy their wares or demanded money to allow us to pass. We did neither.
The falls were from 3' to 30' high, 50' to 150' across and flowed down in different sizes along a 2 mile trek with their village along the way. There were about 30 vendors with their restaurants and stalls of souvenirs set up the entire way. I saw 2 young women hauling their laundry out to the falls to do the wash. There was a woman, wielding her machete chopping the husks off the coconuts to make the drink and sell. One was roasting corn black on a grill and others were making empanadas ( like east Indian samosas ). This is a very remote area and all the women wore skirts and you'd see everyone carrying huge loads of corn or wood on their back held by a strap across their forehead. You'll notice, this man is carrying his machete by his side. We drove 30 miles into the jungle to see these falls, so you have to appreciate, these people are walking along this narrow road with their lo9ads and we didn't have a clue as to where they lived - some little path into a clearing where their hut was?

Palenque Ruins in Chiapas

We are continually amazed by how different all these ruins are. This site evolved from a small village of farmers and hunters into the capital of a powerful dynasty that dominated an extensive region. There was a lively trade that provided such goods as jadeite, obsidian, cinnabar and ornaments of marine origin. There were even 2 female rulers here. Palenque flourished between 615 - 783 AD and by 800 AD, it had a population of 8000. The notable buildings were the Main Plaza, The Temple of the Inscriptions, a funeral area of the Maya Classic Period. We climbed up and into the Temple of the Red Queen, named because when her bones were discovered, they were totally covered in cinnibar, indicating a select group for the elite. She was approximately 45 years old and buried inside a stone sarcophagus with much jewelrey and artifacts, along with her 2 servants in their separate tombs. I haven't been able to go down stairs since my onset of Mennierres in Dec 2002 but have progressed to climbing up the 2' steps and going down with 2 'stair companions'. A tall man in front of me blocks the view down so I don't feel I'll go head over heels and someone holds my arm as I go stepping down behind them, hanging on to the side wall. A new accomplishment and added bonus from this trip. The Palace was astounding. It was a personal residence but also used for political, administrative and religious purposes. It even had a sauna and indoor plumbing - a square hole you squatted over ( just like Japan ) and this emptied into a pipe-like pathway carved from the stone, running down into the village fields. there was an aqueduct running around the structures for the water needs. the museum below showed all the artifacts recovered from this site and was truly amazing. this afternoon we had a ' parking party'. We gathered our chairs and a beverage and snacks at 4 p.m. as Tracks, another Caravan group came in to park. There's been so much rain down here, it's a miracle not to get thoroughly stuck. We keep running into them and many chuckles were had.

Another Mexican adventure

To Palenque - 305 miles: 9 - 10 hours. Today we're going due west through cane fields and cattle country. We pass through 41 little villages with population of 59 - 86. The tires hanging in the trees indicate bus stops. We stopped at a Pemex for a potty break and as we drove to park, we stopped dead. We kept sinking and were buried to the undercarriage. Some sand on their pavement was actually a 3' hole covered over. After 5 men digging, a broken tow strap, pulling from front then back, we were out. Mud to our eyeballs and throughout the coach. On some roads, they were so narrow, we came to a complete stop to let trucks roar by with centimeters to spare the mirrors. Never again. In the road construction, we saw men hand painting the yellow line ( there are very few). Through some hills and saw cowboys and furniture vendors. Stopped in a very water soaked RV Park. There is no choice on where to stay, you take what you can get. When you do something goofy, you get Goofy, so guess what Ron was awarded at our social.

to Bacalar 159 miles - 4 1/2 hours

We drove through dense jungle, leaving the Caribbean ocean. Later, we had some good road. This man has gone miles collecting wood for his home. Tires hanging in the trees, indicate a bus stop. Bacalar is a small town founded by the Spanish with a 17 century, Forte San Felipe to protect from pirates. Our dry camping RV Park is on a beautiful blue lagoon. We were treated to a spaghetti dinner tonight at the palapa .

Mexico Spectacular

Last night we went back to Xcaret for their 2 hour evening show. 260 performers show the history, tradition and mysticism created with joy, color, nostalgia and folklore to reenact history.
The first part is Old Mexico, starting with Lol-beh (flower on the road) a Mayan girl singing about the roots of Mexico. Then the Great Lords (leaders) gather at the court and proceed with the Ball Game, called Pok ta pok. It was fascinating as the 4 kilogram rubber ball must be in constant motion and is hit only with shoulders, elbows, knees and hips. This sport goes back 1000 years BC and is becoming extinct.Tributes were offered according to what villages harvested, produced and possessed and were taken by the winners at the end. Then they played 'Uarhukua' with hockey-like sticks, and a burning wood ball representing the sun. This game is 3000 years old.
Next came the Spaniards, and the merger of 2 cultures. The second half showed Metizo Mexico, the descendants of the European and natives comprising Mexico today. There were many dances and musicians, all easily understood as the Pineapple Flower Dance, Snadunga, Feather Dance, The Old Men's Dance, typical Mexican Stamping Dance, Veracruz Carnival Dance, Mariachi, polka with cowboys and Ribbon Dance. This is just like the kids did around the
Maypole. There even had horses and rope tricks. The Grand Finale reflected the Mexican essence through it's people, places, flavours, scents, songs and traditions and even had a parrot fly through. The costumes and entire program were astounding.
Today we went to the Pedestren Mall in Playa del Carmen. It's a tourist shopping area, higher priced that the little native places where we've been shopping and who do we run into?
Elska from Kitimat. What a pleasant surprise. Then back to the beach where I snorkeling out to the reef and saw amazing fish in all colours and stripes. Dinner at the palapa tonight and the food here is delicouos.

Xcaret Water Park - underground river

This huge park was created to promote love and respect for nature and Mexico's cultural heritage and it is magnificent. Xcaret (ish ca ret) means 'small inlet' in Maya and for over a thousand years it was a very important port and ceremonial center in the Yucatan Peninsula.
We looked at parrots, flamingos, manatees, Jaguar island and walked to the river entrance. Here we donned our bright pink life jackets and walked through a long winding staircase and cave to an open cenote and stepped into the river. We floated along on the current, about a mile, taking an hour or so. There were 7 of us floating together. We went through narrow high walled canyons, small openings to the park and viewers above, under the future insect house which had an amazing 30 x 30' stained glass roof way above us of hundreds of butterflies, made from 102,000 pieces of lead crystal, under waterfalls, through caves, short and long, with and without light, through a mangrove growth and finally into a lagoon by the ocean where it ended. You can see the tunnel where we came out. It was just a blast.
This complex is huge and it would take a week to explore it all. We through a Maya village, with
St. Francis of Assisi Church where mass is celebrated every Sunday overlooking the ocean, and
a Mayan Village Mexican Cemetery . These are very colorful here with ornate gravestones. It has a cave grotto on the walk where there were hundreds of lit votive candles and the shelves were comletely covered with white wax. There was a woman weaving, a man making baskets, a candlemaker in a shop and more. We passed the ball court, swung in hammocks be the sea and had a wonderful day.

Xel-Ha Water Park

Our Fantasy staff treated us to an early Valentine's treat today because we're busy tomorrow. So off to the palapa for a 'boil in a bag breakfast'. Joan and Barry will understand this! I, the egg hater, had pancakes of course with fresh fruit but it was a great breakfast.
Then off we went to Xel-ha,
(shell ha) a sustainable develpment water park and what a wonderful place. We explored a bit and then took a bus up river where we put our stuff in a bag, put on life jackets, picked up our inner tube, went down stairs into the mangrove plants and sat on the inner tube and off we went down the river. It took us about 1 1/2 hours as the river current moved us in the sunshine. As luck would have it at the end, the wind came up and we had to paddle with our arms like mad to get ourselves to the landing area because it started to push us back up the river. Took about an hour. It was so much fun, just loved it. Sure worked up an appetite.
I'm trying up keep up to date with our blog and there is absolutely nothing here. However, our wagonmasters Cecil and Brenda have friends in this park that used to be Fantasy Wagonmasters for caravans and they have satellite Internet, so he has opened his for all of us to use. However - I can blog my text and do email but so far I can't upload pictures, so we'll see.
I have gone to 'The Great Italian Coffee House' in Cancun, delicious iced coffee, walked up the street to a hotel that we'd parked in their parking lot on the beach In Veracruz - no hookups, and to an Internet cafe in a small town. It is really catch as you can. We didn't bring our tow car so I am dependant on others for rides so don't wish to impose. We're happy with that decision, it is bad enough driving here in a 40 foot without having a car behind.

Tulum Ruins

Woke to a thundering downpour so I was at Cecil and Brenda's bus at 7:15 a.m. as arranged, with a garbage bag over me and an umbrella. As people gathered, the rain stopped and we decided to go ahead, so we arrived at the ruins before the tour buses got there. What a pleasure. These are the most viewed ruins in the Yucatan and we had the place to ourselves and it was still cool. It was the site of 4 Maya cities, constructed in the 10th century. It is a totally walled city and dramatic, as it is the only one situated on the coast. These Mayas captured 19 shipwrecked sailors off Cosumel in the 1500's and all were sacrificed except the priest and 1 sailor because they were too skinny.
This sailor, Guerrero married an Indian princess and their children were the start of the 'metizos', todays descendants of European and Indian. Lots of great stone work ruins, iguanas basking in the sun, beautiful birds and great coastline.

Off to Paamul

A nice short drive today and here we are parked across from the beach and restaurant looking at the Caribbean sea. We spent the afternoon snorkeling in the bay and saw pale royal blue fish with 4 yellow lines on them, a school of translucent yellow and white ones and some pale green with pink lines on them. Clouds came in and we moved to the palapa for Cecil's Lo Country Boil - in the pot go potatoes, corn, sausages, and shrimp. Very good and very good company. Had a torrential downpour into the night. Here's our motorhome. I was on the beach in front of the restaurant by the swimming pool. Great food at the palapa restaurant. We had avocado stuffed with shrimp and a beef fajita which were excellent. You can see our motorhome. I took the picture from the beach, beside the restaurant and the swimming pool. Guess where we spend all our spare time!

Isla Mujeres

Off at 9 a.m. for a 25 minute ferry ride to the Island of Women. Never have heard why it's called this. We rented a golf cart for the day and circumnavigated the island which took about 1 1/2 hours. It seemed 1/2 mile wide and 10 miles long. We stopped at Hacienda Mundaca, a property constructed by Fermin Mucdada who was a pirate and slave trader in 1860. He acquired his fortune by trafficking slaves to Cuba to work in the sugar fields. He hid out from the British Navy and became enamoured with the Island, when he fell in love with an 18 year old island girl and established this hacienda and retired.
We saw many beautiful homes that Caucasians lived in and next door was the very poor slum hut area of the natives. These were no more that 200 sq. ft. This whitr house was actually bult as a conch shell but it was so bright it doesn't really show up well.
Stopped at Playa Norte at Bob's Beach for lunch out in the sand overlooking the blue azure ocean. Jackie and I swam in the crystal clear water which was warm and you could walk out for a half a mile. Out for a great dinner tonight at a seafood specialty buffet, where 2 birthday cakes arrived and Ron and Rudy were honored. Lots of fun.

Ron's 61st

Absolutely our worst driving day. We took the libre (free) road because the toll was $100 US and it took us 5 1/2 hours to go 132 miles. We went through 18 little villages which were interesting but they all had topes (speedbumps) one had 14. The children lined up at every tope and I threw pencils and pens out to them. this was greeted with Gracias and many smile. We saw the typical hut in this area. It's made of 2' tree sticks with a thatched roof. The government is trying to get the peasants out of these huts into concrete houses so we saw many people building their new houses.
We went through Mexican Cancun in a torrential downpour, which at least helped with the humidity but masked the potholes and topes. Much clashing of dishes.
got settled in our campground and went with Jackie and Bailey for a tour of Zona Hotela, the main drag of tourist Cancun. What a difference, all neat and sparkly filled with Caucasians in shorts.
Then we went for a lovely birthday dinner on the beach. Beautiful place and sunset and good time.

Guided Ruins Tour

Spent 3 hours touring the site. The Mayas and Toltec eventually shared this settlement so the Rain God and the Toltec's god were honored. This was a serpent to go down to the underworld, the eagle to rise up to paradise and the jaguar for wisdom. This site was originally 25 square Km. so many buildings are still being restored. The Ball Court was the biggest one in the Yucatan and is beautifully preserved. You can see the hoop on the right side where it must go through to win the game. Remember, only shoulders, elbows, hips and here feet are used. It was dated 864 A.D.
The acoustics were amazing. In the central plaza below the tallest, Castle of Kukulcan, 30 meters high, if you clap your hands, you hear the call of a certain bird. On the ball court, when you clap or shout a noise, it comes back to you 5 times. These structures were constructed so that the peasants wood believe the priests were magical or had power. There were many pictures carved on the stones that depicted activities of those days. We walked out the original main road, rough as anything, to the cenote used by these people. It was as big as the one we swam in yesterday.
The Maya descendants are the only people allowed to sell their wares on the site and there are many of them. They have to carry baskets of their goods on their backs about 1/2 mile to where they display them. They are a small people even today. They used to be about 4 1/2 feet and lived until about 38 years.
We go back tonight for the Night Light Show.

Chichen Itza

Drove here today and then went out to a cenote (cee no tay) for a swim. This area of the Yucatan peninsula has no rivers, lagoons or water systems, just underground. the Mayas had to seek out these underground caves or pools and divert the years supply of water there, during the rainy season. Their main god is Chac - the Rain God. Now this was a cenote. Yesterdays was about 12 x 30 feet and 3 feet deep. This one had 2 viewing platforms, then 92 steps down to the pool. It was about 100 ft. round and 150 ft up to the opening in the ground. Vegetation hangs down into the water where you weren't allowed to touch the water roots. It was cool, but pleasant and the sun shone down in one half. There are 5' fish swimming around which eat the algae and are the natural cleaning system. Some of the local people even have little fish in their water systems to keep it purified. We all went in and paddled around on our noodles for about 45 minutes. then back to camp. cool for the first time in days, for Margaritas and a fabulous Louisiana gumbo on rice that one tailgunner, Randy had made for us.

Banos

e

On the way into town, we passed the local bullfight ring. Doesn't look that secure to me.
I wish I'd taken a few pictures of the banos (bathrooms) on this trip. they started up north with no toilet seats and no tissue. You always carry your own and place it in the basket, never flush. We've been charged 2 - 5 pesos (pennies) to use facilities at Museums and they provide 8 squares of tissue for you. Then we got seats, even royal blue complete toilets in the old Club Med but to flush, you had to turn a knob on the pipe behind, hoping you get the right amount of water for the job. This is the bano provided for all at a cenote (underground pool) we went to outside of town.
The water is crystal clear and warmer than the ocean and pools have been.

Touring the Hammock Factory

Imagine our surprise when it turned out the the factory was Jose's living room. It is a family tradition going back to his great grandfather and we got to see the whole house and yard. The lot was 50 x 100 feet. The LR floor was shiny green and white tile, the rest concrete. Jose makes 5 strand hammocks and they would support 600 lbs, plus single ones and chairs. The bedroom had a mattress on the floor with no sheets and 1 hammock. There was a fridge and stove with a wooden door inside and cooking fire out. A woman was doing the wash out back, in cold water and the clothes were pushed through a twined rope. They must have incredible soap down here because the clothes are as clean as they can get.

to Merida

Founded in 1542 by the Spanish on the ruins of a large Maya settelment, this is the largest city in the Yucatan Peninsula today. It was patterned after Paris, France and is amazing, wide 8 lane roads with tree lined medians. It is famous for the Panama Hat, which is woven from palm leaves in caves because humid conditions keep the leaves pliable to weave. The economic boom happened because of the sisal (pronouced seesal) grown locally and usual for rope making. By 1976 other materials started taking over. It looks just like the blue agave plant.
We went on a guided city tour in a decorated bus with no windows and holes in the floor. The houses have influences of Spanish, French and even Moorish. We stopped at the Park of the Americas with a huge band stand with incredible acoustics, and lots if sculptures, even all the bushes. We toured the rich and poor areas. Quite a difference.
There was a large cathedral and Mass was going on with music soaring to the ceilings. This lady was begging at the massive door of the church across from the central square.
We had dinner at La Pappilion starting with tortilla soup with a tomato flavour this time. Dinner was grilled chicken,beef and pork with vegetables including cactus which tasted somewhat like green peppers. The finale was Mexican coffees starting with the 2 waiters dipping the glass in licorice liquor, sugar and burned that on, the coffee, ice cream and blue burning coffee liquor poured from 6 gravy boats into one another and into the glasses. Very spectacular.
Returned home in the windowless bus in a light rain, despite no windshield wipers on the bus.

Edzna Ruins

We spent 4 hours today at these ruins with a guide. The Mayan civilization was so advances and skilled it's continuously amazing. They were peaceful people so no warlike symbols. Everything is decorated with serpents, birds, jaguar etc, everything having a meaning. The site was established between 600 -300 BC and there are 17 large buildings here today on display. the Great Acropolis is a 5 storey building with huge steps up overlooking the whole valley. The buildings surround the main plaza and across from the Acropolis is the Nohochna or The Big House probably used for adminisrative tasks with rooms separated by columns. The wide steps go down to the ground and would have served as seats for event in the central plaza. We went to the Night Light Show and the funniest thing happened. We sat on the top of the 2nd storey, surrounded by 3 storey buildings and listened to an explanation of the history with a chant of 'Chac, chac" sounds like chaalk while different buildings were lit. It was a prayer to the Rain God because the crops were dying. Gently a mist started to fall and we thought, what theatrics until we had to run for home in the heaviest downpour. Soaked to our skins.