July 15 ❤ Candy's last day in Cancun

We all got up a bit late on Friday since we were all tired.  We made it to 100% Natural for breakfast and then headed off to wander around Mercado 28.  I bargained some really good prices and Juan said he thought he'd created a monster, that he thought I might barter better than Blenda's husband did in Peru.  ;)  We made a stop at Wal Mart to pick up things for lunch and so Candy could get some more chicharrones.  ;)

Juan made Peruvian ceviche for lunch, which was yummy as always.  Candy made herself a plate of chicharrones with different salsas for a snack while we watched a movie on TV.  I asked her if she wanted to relax or go look around Plaza Las Americas.  We rallied and walked around the mall for a few hours before going back to the house to get ready for dinner.  Juan had told us that we had a reservation at his restaurant at 10.  He wasn't supposed to be at the teppanyaki table, but he arranged it so he could cook for us.

Once we made it to Silk at ME by Melia, we kept our eye out for Juan.  He asked us if it was okay that he just brought us some sushi and prepared us something from the teppanyaki table that he thought we would like.  We agreed and got ourselves a drink: a mojito for Candy and a piña colada for me.  Juan got us some thinly-sliced sashimi with a yummy dressing.  The combination melted in our mouths.  It was absolutely amazing.  He cooked a bit of fried rice for us, vegetables, scallops, and steak on the teppanyaki.  Needless to say the food was unbelievable since he's the best chef ever.  ;)  They brought out a dessert tray with a banana tiramisu, a chocolate cake, and tres leches cake.  He made the tres leches cake.  They were yummy!!!  I love that the portions aren't to big so that you get lots of different yummy food, but don't feel like you're rolling out the door!!!

Our dessert!!!

After dinner we hung out in the lobby in an oversized chair until Juan was done with work.  We met him outside and took the bus home.

July 14 ❤ Izamal

Candy and I woke up in time to eat the breakfast that was included with our stay.  The owners are American and the wife suggested some things we should do in our short time in Izamal.  We packed up our stuff and stored our bags before heading out to explore.

First, we went back to the Franciscan monastery to check out the inside. 

The grounds outside the Franciscan monastery.

Part of the inside of the Franciscan monastery.

After we left the monastery, we bought our bus tickets to go back to Cancun and then went in search of the small museum in the middle of the town.  We had the map from our bed and breakfast, but it didn't help us out much.  We ended up relying more on asking people around the town.  Fortunately, we found the museum quickly since the town is very small.  They had beautiful pieces of art from around the Yucatan.

An art exhibit in the museum in Izamal.

Jesus at the wheel.

After we left the museum, we made our way to Kinich Kak Mo, the largest pyramid in Izamal.  It is much more deteriorated than many of the other Mayan ruins I've been to, which may also be the reason that there was no entrance fee, only a suggestion to make a donation.  The view from the top was absolutely amazing, though.

On our way up to the top of the pyramid Kinich Kak Mo.  Looks like we're walking up into the clouds!!!

The beautiful view from the top of the pyramid.

After our hike up the pyramid, we were melting from the heat and hungry.  We made our way to Kinich, the nearby restaurant that our bed and breakfast recommended.  I ordered queso relleno and Candy got relleno negro.  The food was amazingly good and we slurped down two drinks (tamarindo and horchata) since we were dying of thirst.  The restaurant was beautifully decorated.

Queso relleno (stuffed cheese) and tamarindo.  You can see the tortilla warmer with Izamal carved into it.  They served home-made tortillas.  Yum!!!

The view inside the restaurant Kinich.

After eating, we made our way back to the center of Izamal to get a taxi.  We wanted to cab it to each of the five talleres (workshops) scattered on the outskirts of downtown Izamal.  Each of the workshops was the artisan's home, making the visits much more special.  We worked out a price for a couple hours of the taxista's time and were off to our first stop: the papier-mache workshop.  Unfortunately I was a bit shy on our first stop and didn't get a picture with the artist.  I did buy a couple of papier-mache people, a man and woman that hang together, one hanging onto the other's foot.  They were really unique and special.  Most of the display room was covered in papier-mache butterflies, but I liked the people better.

After that we went to the Don Aurelio's miniature workshop.  I bought a pair of people sitting on a bench and took a picture with the artist.  He was very charming and gave Candy all kinds of information about the prints she bought.  You can read a bit about him in this link...well, if you can read in Spanish :).  Izamal Artist Aureliano Pool

Aureliano Pool, posing with me and his artwork that I bought.  Such a sweet man!!!

Next up was the hammock workshop.  The couple was there and unfolded a couple hammocks for me to look at.  They were very kind and told me that the material used to make the hammocks would soften up considerably with use until it was very soft.  There was a loom with a hammock in the works in the middle of the room and a baby in the hammock on the far end of the room.  Candy wanted to know if that hammock was like the other ones and they said no, that it was made of silk.  I was debating over a natural color or a multicolored hammock and decided on the multicolored one.  It's a matrimonial hammock, so it fits two people.  They also had singles and mini ones for sale.  The mini ones they said could be for a baby, a doll, or decoration.

The couple at the hammock workshop packing up the hammock I bought.

The hammock in process and if you look closely you can see the baby squirming in the hammock in the far end of the room.

Next we went to the woodworker, Don Gabriel's workshop.  He had some amazing pieces of art, but I liked the wooden jaguars the best.  Candy ended up buying a wooden box with a bull carved into the top.  He signed both of our purchases before packaging them for us.

Don Gabriel with the carved jaguar I bought.

A few more pieces of carved wood in Don Gabriel's workshop.   My mom would love the owl!!!

The woman at the bed and breakfast had suggested we spend the most time at the jewelry maker, Don Esteban, because he talks the most out of all the artisans.  She was right.  They showed us around the whole workshop, including which plants produced the items they used to make the jewelry and how they prepared them for the jewelry.  They used thorns at the end of the leaves of henequen plants and cocoyol seeds to make their jewelry.  

They cut the henequen thorn into parts, getting one to two parts that they are able to use for the jewelry.   He said they would use the middle two pieces of this thorn that he cut in front of us.

Candy with Don Esteban, who is wearing a traditional Mayan hat.  He was excited that Candy was wearing traditional Mexican dress.  She bought this shirt in front of Chichen Itza.

In front of the henequen plant in back of the workshop.

The cocoyol seed that he had partially polished for us so we could see the before and after.

The man who was acting as our guide (I think his name was Javier), told us that people always ask how many workers work for them and he tells them 6,000.  The reason is that they drill holes in the cocoyol seeds and then set them on the ground for ants to clean out the nut inside.  If you look closely at the polished seed in the front, you can see a cluster of ants around the hole drilled into the seed.

The hard-working ants cleaning out the nut inside the cocoyol seed.

Javier told us that one of the bracelets made of the henequen thorns needed thousands of thorns and a month and a half of work to complete.  So crazy!!!  Each piece of jewelry was a masterpiece!!!  Candy and I bought some of the jewelry and Don Esteban sang us a song in Mayan and then in Spanish.  He was quite a character.  Such a happy man.  Candy asked about the fruit on the tree that was outside of the front of the workshop.  They said the fruit was called nance.  I remembered I had eaten nance ice cream in Merida.  They gave us a cup of the fruit to munch on before we left.  They were nice and sweet.

The nance fruit tree in front of the jeweler's workshop.

The taxi driver returned us to the city center.  We stopped by a store selling guayaberas and also stopped to get some snacks at Super Willy's for the bus ride home.  We got a taxi to take us back to Macan Che to pay and get our bags before we waited for the bus to take us back to Cancun.

The bus came at 4:30 and we didn't get into Cancun until 10:30.  After a pit stop in Valladolid, Candy got a bag of chicharrones with a spicy sauce on top.  She thought that was the best part of the trip.  A couple of teenage boys next to us was staring at us, especially after she bought the chicharrones.  ;)  We were exhausted by the long bus ride and were frozen by the end since they crank up the air conditioning.    I was proud that we made it back to Cancun without a hitch after using all different types of transportation.

July 13 ❤ Chichen Itza, Ik Kil, Hoctun, and Izamal

There was only one bus going from Playa del Carmen to Chichen Itza at 8 AM, so Candy and I rolled out of bed in order to catch that bus.  Unfortunately it didn't land us at Chichen Itza until after 11 AM.  There were tons more people there by that time than when Juan and I went.  Not sure if it was just the time of day or the time of year...  We waited in line to get tickets (there are two lines because you have to get two tickets...) and then dropped off our backpacks at the free locker service.  It was blazing hot walking around the ruins, so Candy and I made our way around quickly.  I got a few souvenirs for Juan since we hadn't want to carry around some of the things he had wanted for the rest of our trip.  I got him a wood-carved drum and a fancy jaguar-head (it makes a sound like a jaguar.)  

The drum (called a Tuk-Kul in Mayan) and the jaguar head I got in Chichen Itza for Juan.

We asked for more information on the buses going to Izamal before setting off in a taxi to the cenote of Ik Kil.  The taxi driver was really nice and was teaching us some words in Mayan.  He told us how to say Candy's name in Mayan.  Manuel, the taxi driver, agreed to wait for us for two hours while we ate lunch and swam in the cenote.  He also accompanied us as far as the restaurant before he left us to ourselves.  We decided to eat at the buffet and had a long table all to ourselves.  The selection of Yucatecan food at the buffet wasn't the best, but since we had eaten a quick breakfast on the bus, it tasted pretty good.

After we ate, we put our stuff in a locker and rinsed off in the showers before heading down to the cenote.  There were a lot of people there compared to the other cenotes that Juan and I had visited.  In that way it didn't have the same intimate feel as the others.  The hole at the top of the cave is also larger, so more light streams into the cenote.  There was a waterfall, but the taxi driver had already told us it was artificial.  He said you need rivers to create waterfalls and there aren't any rivers in that area.  They also had steps up to a couple platforms where people were jumping into the cenote.  I jumped off of the top platform twice despite my heart beating in my ears.  :)  No time like the present to face fears!!!

The view of the cenote on the walk down.  I jumped off of the top platform where you can see a man in shorts.

View from the top of the cenote.

After we swam around a bit, we got ourselves cleaned up and found our taxi driver.  Back at Chichen Itza, we made a few purchases from the vendors selling artesenia around the entrance to Chichen Itza and then got our bags.  The guy at the bus ticket office had told us that we could buy our tickets to Hoctun on the bus.  He told us where to wait and which bus we needed to look for.  Once we had boarded the right bus, it immediately started to pour down rain.  So lucky!!!

I kept asking if we were getting closer to Hoctun, since we had no idea what we were looking for.  When we got there, the bus driver looked right at us and told us we were there.  It was deserted except for a few people and we were happy that at least there was a ticket office.  We bought our tickets, found a bathroom, and were stared at and/or whistled at by every man that was in the plaza, including the policemen.  There were probably women who were staring at us too since we looked majorly out of place in this one-horse town.  And when I say one-horse town, I literally mean it.  We saw a guy on a horse in the plaza.

Hoctun.  The yellow Oriente sign is the bus station.

Hoctun.  See the one horse in the back of the picture.  Not the most beautiful plaza...  ;)

We got on the bus to Izamal and there was only standing room.  Good thing the ride was only about half and hour.  For the last handful of minutes we got to sit.  They were playing electronic dance music on the bus, which made the experience all the more unique.  When we arrived at the bus station in Izamal, the beauty of the city totally made up for having to hang out in a nowhere town to get there.  Most of the buildings are yellow, which gives it a very unique feel.  Its motto is the city of 3 cultures: Mayan, colonial, and modern.  There are Mayan pyramids, horse-drawn carriages for rent, and taxis all within the the city of Izamal.  We checked out the outside of the Franciscan monastery before catching a taxi to the Macan Che cabañas.

Izamal: Franciscan monastery.  Gotta love the yellow!!!

We got the Frida cabaña.  :)

We showered, ate at the hotel restaurant, and got a good night's rest under our mosquito netted beds.  :)

My mosquito-netted bed.  Our cabaña was quite spacious although the water pressure in the shower was WEAK!!!  ;)

July 12 ❤ Playa del Carmen with Candy and Juan

Juan, Candy and I woke up early-ish since we wanted to get to Playa del Carmen at a decent hour.  Candy got in after midnight though, so we didn't want to wake up too early.  :)  Juan made chilaquiles for breakfast and after we ate, we set off on our mini journey of the Yucatan.  I got a little lazy with the picture-taking since I'd been to some of the places before, including Playa del Carmen, and because Candy was snapping lots of pictures.

Juan and I with a bronze statue in Playa del Carmen.

We walked around, drank micheladas, and Candy smoked a Cuban cigar.  After checking into a hotel, we rented some lounge chairs under an umbrella on the beach and relaxed there for a few hours.  There was this funny man tanning himself in a speedo in front of us.  He had his arms bent at his side so he looked sort of like a roasting chicken.  Candy got a picture...priceless.

We cleaned up a bit after the beach and then went to a bar to watch the Peru vs Chile game.  Unfortunately they lost.  :(  We cheered Juan up by taking him to dinner.  We went to the same restaurant we had gone to in April.  After that, Juan left to go back to Cancun and Candy and I explored some more of the shops in Playa del Carmen before turning in for the night.

July 6 ❤ Rio Lagartos, Ek Balam, and Valladolid

Juan and I woke up early to go on a tour to Rio Lagartos, Ek Balam, and Valladolid.  We were finally on our bus waiting for some more people to show up for the tour when it started to rain.  I hoped that it wouldn't be raining in the places we were traveling to.  We ate the breakfast they gave us on the bus and then fell asleep until we got to Rio Lagartos.

At Rio Lagartos everyone slathered on sunscreen and bug spray and then we separated into groups to get onto boats.  We toured the Ria Lagartos biosphere reserve looking for various species of birds in the mangroves.  We saw cormorants, white herons, gray herons, a scissor-tailed bird, a black hawk, a peregrine falcon, and flamingos.  There may have been more, but these were the main ones that we saw. My favorites were the peregrine falcon and the flamingos.  The other cool thing we saw was a crocodile.  Our boat driver fed it a fish and I got a video of it eating the fish.  It was pretty cool.  Juan touched its tail, which sort of freaked me out, but made the kid sitting behind us pretty happy.  He said it felt like a rock.  The only bad thing about the crocodile was that we got really close to the mangroves and a ton of mosquitos.  They didn't care that I was covered in bug spray and I got eaten alive.  :(

Ria Lagartos Bird List - not sure if all my labels are accurate, so maybe you can match the bird up better with the list.  ;)

Right after we pushed off the docks in Ria Lagartos.  I love the bright colors of the houses!!!

Cormorant in Ria Lagartos.

This is a termite home.  Yikes!!!

Mangroves.

They said this was a black eagle, but it looks like a black hawk from the list of birds found in Ria Lagartos.

Peregrine falcon.

Peregrine falcon.  He was so cool!!!

Gray heron.

Crocodile!!!

Flamingo!!!

Flamingos!!!

I loved the flamingos!!!

I thought this was a cormorant, but now I don't...hmmm...what is he???

Coming back to shore...

After Ria Lagartos, we got back into the bus to head to the Mayan ruins of Ek Balam.  In Mayan, Ek Balam means jaguar star.  These ruins were well-preserved.  We got to walk up different parts of the ruins, including many steps up to an amazing view.  We saw the grounds where they played the ball game.  She gave us more information about the ball game, saying that the ball was more than 3 kilos, about as much as a bowling ball or more.  She said they would wear protective gear and could only touch the ball with their shoulders, hips and knees.  A player would situate themselves seated near the hoop that was further up on the wall to be able to knock the ball through the hoop.  It was so hard to score a point that one point was all they needed to win the game.  She said that it wasn't clear whether the winners or losers had to sacrifice their blood, but she said it was only the team captain and that they just had to cut themselves and pour blood onto a sacrificial fire.  She didn't say anything about death.  My mom asked me what the stones were held together with.  We asked our guide and she said it was probably cement.  There were beautifully preserved carvings on the final structure we walked up.  They were surrounding the place where people had found the king's sarcophagus.  It was beautiful.  It looked like the opened mouth of a jaguar or snake.  There were several small carvings of people.  They said that there were a lot of similarities between the Maya and Hindu cultures as seen in some of the carvings.  There was one carved person that was pointing to the sky, indicating that this was where the king would go.  In Palenque, they buried the king in the ground, thinking that he had to go through underground passages before going to the heavens.  In most of the other Mayan ruins, they put the dead up higher, on their way to the heavens.

The place where they found a sarcophagus in Ek Balam.  Can you see that it looks like the mouth of a snake or jaguar?

The view of other buildings at Ek Balam after climbing the steps of the highest building in the ruins.

Me at Ek Balam.

Juan going back down the steps.

After Ek Balam, we headed down to Valladolid to eat dinner at La Casona.  It was a buffet of all different kinds of Yucatecan food.  I wasn't that impressed with the food since we'd eaten better at other restaurants.  I did like the black bean soup, the fresh guacamole, and the coconut ice cream though.  It started to rain when we got there, so instead of walking around the plaza, we went directly to the bus.  It didn't matter too much to us since we'd already gone there on our trip.

On the way back to Cancun from Valladolid, we saw a beautiful rainbow that extended from the front window of the bus to the side windows.  A nice way to end the day.

Rainbow seen from the bus on the way home.

Tour of the Yucatan: June 29 ❤ Palenque Ruins and Jungle

We set the alarm for 6:30 AM, but ended up getting up after 7 because it sounded like it was raining and we were still sort of sleepy.  Juan went to get more water and said it wasn't raining, that it was just the leaves dropping water on the roof.  We ate some granola bars and went in a collectivo bus to the ruins.  We were happy we got there early since there weren't many people around yet.  We got a guide named Pablo and he explained everything in minute detail.  I liked Palenque the best of all the ruins we've seen because the jungle setting is dramatic plus we got to walk up, in, and around the buildings in the ruins.  It wasn't too hot, but after awhile it got really humid.  We took a lot of pictures.  We got pictures of a sarcophagus, stone beds, and a stone toilet too.

Palenque ruins.  So cool with the mist in the jungle.

The skull on the front of the Skull Palace.

Overlooking the Palenque ruins.

The sarcophagus of a king inside the tunnels in the Palenque ruins.

The Palenque Ruins.

Palenque Ruins.

We're sitting underneath the carving of the king and his wife dancing.  She is holding a snake, which symbolizes fertility.

Overlooking the Palenque ruins.

In front of one of the false arches.  They are false arches since they are not rounded.  They had this type of architecture in all of the Mayan ruins we saw.

Our guide told us that these were portraits before, but the faces were stolen by explorers.  They might have had gold on them.  The explorers also carved their names into the stone around this area.  Ancient graffiti to say, "I was here!"

These were stone carvings of prisoners of war.  Most have their hands on their chests, a sign of submission.

Juan pretending to use the stone toilet.  You could see underneath where the water would run through.

Palenque ruins.

Juan's in front of a stone Mayan bed.

In front of an acueduct.

Beautiful Palenque panorama.

More Palenque panorama.

Palenque ruins.  You can see some stones piled on the top of the building.  This was to extend the roof up further.  They thought it made the buildings look more regal and important.

After the Palenque ruins, Pablo took us into the jungle.  We saw some Saraguato (or Aulladores) monkeys.  They were really high up in the trees but they made a lot of noise, sort of like a barking dog.  I felt like we were on a Universal City tour and the noise was an impending surprise.  We walked all around and I was thoroughly exhausted at the end, but we still looked around the shops outside the entrance and I got a few things.  

Into the jungle near Palenque.  Look at the size of this tree!!!  Our guide said it would fall soon because the termites were working on it.

Check out the spines on this tree in the jungle!!!

Can you see the saraguato monkey in the middle of this picture???  Juan said he could only see the monkey's white balls.  He's sort of right.

A white spider just outside of the jungle.

A funky looking bug just outside of the jungle.

We got a collectivo back to El Panchan and ate at Don Mucho's again.  We changed our plans to go to San Cristobal instead of Villahermosa afer hearing such bad things about it.  One guide in the jungle called it the city of dos mentiras (two lies) because there's no villa and it's not hermosa (beautiful).  The collectivo driver had said you could get robbed easily there.  After looking into San Cristobal, we realized we wouldn't have much time there and it would be a 17 - 18 hour trip back to Cancun.  So we ended up deciding just to go back to Cancun a day early since we were exhausted.  That way we could have a day to rest.