The Truth Of My Day

More lizards in the parking lot than cars. Awesome. The site was impressive enough. How do I compare? The smallest site is probably Coba. It has a lot of square footage, but not much uncovered. Ek Balam is also small, but everything is close together, unlike Coba where renting a bike is a good idea. The biggest site is Uxmal followed by Edzna, in my humble opinion. My husband says Chichen Itza is big too, but that's not the impression I got.  The tallest pyramid on record is Coba, and it's fantastic to climb and a memorable view. The next tallest might be Chichen Itza, but there is zero climbing there.  There is no climbing at Chichen Itza or Tulum. If I were to take family to visit sites: Chichen Itza wouldn't even make my list. Tulum would, it has an amazing view of the gorgeous Caribbean Sea with all it's splendid variations of blue-greens. Being on the edge of cliff is a pretty cool thing to see. This site just felt different to me for a few reasons, including...

Oh the things you will see.  We drove from Puerto Morelos to Merida, to Campeche, across east to Chetumal, and back over to Puerto Morelos on the first 5 day road trip. We visited ancient sites along the way, Uxmal then Edzna then Becan and lake Bacalar was amazing before heading home. The next day was Coba. It was one place after another, which is why it took me so long to write about it. Plus the next week was another road trip back to Merida and Campeche, adding in a drive-by of Progreso. Going back almost 2 weeks later to Merida was more fun than the last time because in mid May there is this one tree that blooms brilliant red and it's all over. The first time I didn't realize how big Merida was, it was just a pit stop. This time I had the odd joy of going to a Vietnamese restaurant in Mexico so that I could have some Pho for lunch.  (But my heart belongs to Campeche) Except for the part where of all our travels it wasn't until the last trip to Campeche that we were...

Becan rocked. It's close to the road, the walk isn't too long, and the buildings are impressively quiet. No vendors. Few visitors to compete with. Enough buildings to climb and admire. Under $5 USD to get in. Places like Chichen Itza cost four times as much. We only had an hour to check things out before the place closed, and we did not climb everything there was to climb.  Maybe this site has a special place in my heart because it wasn't disastrously hot. I'm trying to write about these adventures, but then I get home and put my feet up and review the hundreds of pictures. Then by the time I'm ready to write, I'm also making detailed lists of where I want to go next. For example, right now I still have 3 more blogs to write about my May adventures with 2 road trips. It has been so epic! And May isn't over yet. See the tiny person up there? That gives you a scale with how tall this building was. This is my happy face after climbing a ...

This place is in the State of Campeche, not far from the Gulf of Mexico. Uxmul kicked my butt. It was so hot. I thought I was prepared for the heat, but I wasn't. This place is also huge. Bigger than Chichen Itza. The very first pyramid is roped off, but none of the others are. This first grand pyramid is only a few feet smaller than the big one at Chichen Itza, so it makes a great first impression. Walk around it and an entire complex of buildings comes into view. Where to start? It's so exciting. I hear they have a night show here, which sounds pretty awesome. Maybe I will go back for that some time. I have a few months left. Uxmal was excellent, we were there for three sweaty hours right in between two school groups. One was leaving as we arrived and the other arrived as we walked out. Perfect timing. The place was mostly deserted, and that lends to the mystic-ness of it. Unlike Chichen Itza with it's double crowds. Too many visitors, too many vendors. Uxmal only h...

Guess what I did today? I went swimming in another cenote.  It was cool, it was full of amazing things. I laughed really hard for two reasons. One is that the fish 1,2, and 3 inch fish like to nibble on my feet. The other is that it's really funny when I am snorkeling and I can hear nothing but the sound of my own breath, and then I unexpectedly burp into the tube. Trust me, it sounds hilarious. We went to Cenote Azul. A cenote is a sinkhole that leads to an underground river. Some cenotes are enclosed underground, some are partially enclosed, some open into the ocean, and this one is mostly open, unlike the others I've seen. This means it also has a greater variety of fish to admire while swimming with them. It's like swimming in an aquarium. This place is fabulous right from the parking lot. It has the crazy designed trees, plants with huge green tropical leaves, iguanas posing here and there, and fossils in the rocks. The parking lot and trails are lined with ...