7 days in Paradise- Day 5

Day 5 (Thursday Aug. 6th)

We had a snorkeling trip scheduled for 1pm and decided to do as much sleeping and laying by the pool as possible. We accomplished both and wandered down to meet our boat by the beach around 1pm. We signed in, tried on our gear, and waited a Mexican minute to our boat, the "Moby Dick". Mexican minute was a term that was used often by the crew of the ship and it ranged anywhere from 1 min to 15 mins. :-)

Waiting for our boat

Ready to take on the ocean

A view from the beach

Some scary looking clouds

The plan was to hit two snorkeling spots on the local reef and then kick back at a private beach before we headed back to the resort. As our boat headed for the first spot, a HUGE storm was brewing over the peninsula. Looking inland we could see lightening striking every few seconds and the thunder would echo all around us. I kept telling myself "I won't get electrocuted.. I won't get electrocuted". The storm was heading the opposite direction of us and I didn't die a horrible shocking death. We spent 45 minutes in the water and saw a handful of fish. We took plenty of underwater pictures that I will share once I develop them... Who knows when that will be.

Heading out to sea
The pier from the water

Our resort

A beach

Milling about in the water

The second spot had fewer fish than the first; however, it was nice floating around seeing all the coral. The current was pushing us North so rather than resist it we went with it and the boat moved to a spot where we would meet up with it. We loaded up and headed for the private beach. A handful of us spent the time in the water relaxing while 20 or so people spent the next hour playing soccer on the beach. Once the game concluded, we loaded up once more and headed back to the resort. The crew of the ship were very nice and let us know that it was O.K. to tip them if we enjoyed the trip (What a relief). Once the members did his version of the dance "On the catwalk" and had people shoving money in his shorts. You can tell he did this for a living and he walked away with a pretty good chunk of dough.

Heading to the 2nd snorkeling hole

AArggg!!! A pirate ship

Pulling into the private beach

...And I do my little dance on the catwalk

Once on land, we went back to the room showered and headed back into Playa Del Carmen for dinner and more shopping (YEAH!!!). :-|

The best Mexican food EVER!!

Enjoying our authentic Mexican meal

We spent the remainder of the night in the pool and then crashed out after enjoying our nightly Hershey's Kiss.

Tomorrow we do NOTHING... O.K., we lay by the pool, swim, walk on the beach and eat at the buffet.

Bill and Traci

7 days in Paradise- Day 4

Day 4 (Wednesday Aug. 5th)

We started off this day at 5:30am and kept going for next 16+ hours. We jumped in the car a little after 6am and headed for the Mayan Ruins of Chichen Itza. We were able to take a toll roll for 99% of the trip and maintain a pretty good rate of speed. The only time we had to slow down was for the toll booths, people riding bikes in the wrong direction on the road, and a few stray cows. After 2 1/2 hrs. of driving across the Yucatan Peninsula, we arrived at our destination.

The toll road

The toll booth

Traci enjoying the ride. The Jolly Ranchers - not-so-happy after sitting in the sun

We we were approached by several of the locals offering their services as a tour guide. Based on the research that Michael conducted, it was recommended that we wait until we get inside as we could find one cheaper. The plan was to walk around until we heard a "PSST" and then we would get the deal of a lifetime. As we wandered around looking for our deal, we were accosted by several people trying to sell us their wares and were approached by an older man with a cane who waved a newspaper at us and said something in Spanish. We ignored him and continued to look around like lost puppies. Finally, we made a decision to go back to the main entrance and grab a guide. As we were leaving, the paper wielding man said "You need a guide?". And so the negotiations began. He offered to take us around the old and new sections and spend no more than 2 1/2 hours with us for $500 pesos (about $40 U.S. dollars). We agreed and our tour began.

We made it

Ernesto our tour guide

The High Priest Temple

Bill and Traci in front of the temple

In front of the observatory

There were lots of Iguanas around

Incredible

Seated in one of the ruins

See the snake head at the top?

The Tiger and the Eagle

The temple of the Warriors

See the face in the mouth of the snake?

The Rain Gods

The Castle

A Cenote

Skulls everywhere

The Great Ball Court

Put a rubber ball through the hole, you win and you die... Congratulations!

A distant view of the Castle

Enjoying the view

One last photo on our way out

Our guide, Ernesto, had been in the touring business for 48 years and did a great job explaining the history of the Mayan people. He stopped at every pile of rock, wall and temple and explained the significance of the structure and pointed out details that would definitely have gone unnoticed. 4+ hours later, our tour wrapped up and Ernesto went on his way to find another group of tourists to show around. If you make it to Chichen Itza, I recommend going early before the sun or crowds show up.

Our next stop was about an hour away and it was a restaurant that was recommend by a fellow traveller on line. There is a restaurant that overlooks Cenote Zaci that is in Valladolid. The ambiance of the restaurant was pretty cool but the food was average at best.

Unfortunately, we were unable to climb any of the ruins at Chichen Itza as someone slipped and died a few years ago. Coba was on our drive home and we could climb to our hearts content. In order for us to get to Coba, we had to take a different route that was a single lane highway and wound through several small towns. As luck would have it, it began to rain very hard and we wound up behind several slow vehicles. There were several signs that indicated that you should not pass; however, being in Mexico, is was more of a recommendation. Needless to say, we started passing a truck and Michael stepped on the gas to ensure we made it around the truck and not into the dashboard of the oncoming traffic. The second he applied the gas, the tires spun and my life started to pass before my eyes. NOTE: Never ever try to pass a truck in the rain with bald tires on a two lane highway where people do not obey traffic laws. :-)

After another hour of driving, the rain let up and we reached the ruins of Coba. We paid the entrance fee and were notified that they closed at 5:30. We had about an hour to get to our ruin, climb it and get back to the main gate... how hard could that be? We tried to rent a bike but they said it had to be in 30 minutes before closing time and they knew we wouldn't make it. So, we started on our speed walking journey. We found a sign that pointed to the "Grande Temple" and indicated that it was 2 Kilometers away. As we neared the temple, Michael agreed to stay at the bottom and take pictures as we all raced to the top and then I would take some when he started his climb. We spent a few minutes enjoying the view and then descended to begin our 2 Kilometer walk to the front gate. We made it with time to spare and were completely wiped out from the walk and climb.

Map of Coba

The ruins

We begin our ascent

Almost there

Michael and Catherine at the top

We made it too :-)

Going down

Traci and Bill

A gorgeous walk back

We arrived back at our resort about the time it was getting dark and were ready to relax. It was a full moon and we couldn't think of a better way to enjoy it than to chill out in the pool.

Day 5, we go snorkeling

Bill and Traci

7 days in Paradise- Day 3

Day 3 (Tuesday Aug. 4th)

Day 3 was to be the "Day -O- Shopping" and not the normal shopping that most of you are used to but Traci Vega style. That means you go into every shop, turn over every item, and you don't leave until all the shopping money has been spent. :-)

Shopping of course means we need shopping money. Unfortunately, I had been unsuccessful at withdrawing any money from the local ATMs and received a message on each machine that indicated that there was an error and I should try again later. Rather than make any more attempts at the same ATM, we went to the resort next to ours and tried their machine. Everyone who approached the machine was able to pull out some dough except for us... I spoke with the concierge and asked if he had ever seen this problem before. He mentioned that sometimes a bank would put a card on hold if they saw charges from a foreign country. He asked for the international number on the back of the card and made a collect call to BofA for us.

I spent the next 1.5 hours on the phone waiting for someone to pick up. I was afraid that I might have ended up on a line that would never be picked up and asked Traci to call the number on another line. Within 10 minutes we had a live person on the other phone discussing my problem. I learned that there were two levels of "Mass Compromise" that morning and that my card was at the level where it needed to be inactivated. The person on the phone explained that someone had made several attempts to take out money. I told her that every one of the attempts was me trying to get cash. She said she understood but that my card still needed to be inactivated. At this point I was yelling into the phone "DO NOT INACTIVATE MY CARD" and asking for a manager. She put me on hold while she searched for her manager and came back about a minute later to let me know that she could not find her manager and that she was going to inactivate my card and get a new one out to me. Again, I started with the yelling and told her to get her manager's manager and if she couldn't find them to keep looking until she found one. I finally got a manager on the phone and with a click of a mouse we were able to take out some money. YESSS!!!

On hold with BofA

We rode the shuttle into town and had lunch while Traci strategized her afternoon attack on the stores. We had 5 different cups of chili to choose from that ranged from tomato sauce to fire in your mouth. I tried the whole range and paid for it in sweat. After finishing up our meal, we were ready to hit the shops.

A tasty lunch

yummy cow

We spent the next 4+ hours going in and out of every shop looking for that ever elusive "perfect item". For those of you who have been to Tijuana and know how aggressive the shop people are, this was no different. I was accosted by every shop keeper wanting to know if the happy honeymooners wanted a necklace, t-shirt or wooden mask. The only thing I wanted from our day of shopping were postcards and a picture of me with a parrot. We never found the parrot; however, were able to find a monkey named Lola who was willing to take a photo with me.

I settled for a picture with the monkey

Lola liked Traci more than she liked me

Traci, Lola, and Bill

We then spent some time at the beach watching the locals and enjoying the ocean breeze.

The shops near the beach in Playa Del Carmen

The terminal to Cozumel

We walked back to meet our shuttle and headed back to the resort. Once at the resort, we went to the pool and swam until our fingers shrivelled up.

The plan was to turn in early as Day 4 was going to be a long day and would start at 5:30am. As we were getting ready to head to bed, there was a knock at the door. It was the maid with four Hershey's kisses in her hands. I took them from her and we enjoyed the chocolate before turning in.

On day 4, we explore the Mayan ruins.

Bill and Traci