Early Monday morning (3:45 am) Ben and I left to drive to Dulles International Airport in D.C. there we caught a direct flight to Cancun, Mexico on Mexicana Airways. The flight was actually really quick, only about 3 1/2 hours. I already felt relaxed. There we picked up our rental car and we drove down toward Playa del Carmen. The hotel that we stayed at was an all-inclusive resort, which was amazing. I didn't take very many pictures of us at the resort because a lot of the time we were at the beach or pool and I didn't want to leave my camera unattended while we were swimming. But I did get a few. This one is of us on the way out to the beach. When the sun was out, so were the iguanas.
We especially loved to look for the iguanas as we floated along the lazy river in our tubes. There were also all sorts of activities and classes scheduled all of the time at the resort. We didn't attend many . . . we were way to busy relaxing . . . but this is Ben eating a habanero chili during our cooking class on the beach.
There was also just ridiculous amounts of food, and of course it is all included. We ate and snacked a lot. We decided it would be a perfect place to bring our kids who need to eat all of the time. But, this is a picture of one of our dinners at one of the themed restaurants at the resort (this was the Mexico Restaurant).
I think one of my favorite afternoons we spent at the resort included sitting on a raised lounge chair in the pool, listening to Ben and the crowd play music trivia while sipping a strawberry banana smoothy from the swim-up bar. It was pretty awesome!
We also spent time away from the resort. One day we went to Chichen Itza. The drive there was a lot of fun. We got to go through a lot of small towns on the way, and I got to hear a lot of stories from Ben about his mission or just the people of the Yucatan in general. There were hundreds of these rock walls all over. Ben said that these people could put one of these walls up in a few hours, and it was strong and perfect. They are brilliant with rocks and cement.
When we got to Chichen we hired a personal tour guide to take us around. He was awesome, he had grown up at Chichen with his father selling his goods to tourists and had since gone to college to study archeology.
The place was fascinating. The Mayan people were amazing scientists, observers, and a very religious people. They have recently (within the last eight months) unearthed even more ruins underneath the others that date back to 300 B.C.
The acoustics there were amazing. Abel, our guide did a demonstration for us.
Every building there was so amazing.
When we looked at the Temple of 1000 Warriors (which actually has closer to 2000 columns) it brought tears to my eyes as I thought about the Two Thousand Stripling Warriors.
On our way home we stopped in a town called Valladolid were we did some souvenir shopping. It rained on us, but it was a warm rain and very beautiful.
Another morning we drove to a Cenote (which means "well" is a sinkhole with rocky sides and a pool at the bottom) to swim.
We were the only ones there and it was so peaceful and serene.
The entire trip was amazing. The day we left, as we were checking out, we got to see the most breathtaking rainstorm.
Ben planned the perfect vacation! We started discussing our return trip to the Yucatan with the kids before we got on the plane to come home.
4 comments:
That rain was intease. Looks like a lot of fun.
How awesome! These are great pictures!
So fun Betz! Isn't a little fab getaway like some sort of Heaven!!! Tim and I decided we should do it more often. We will totally double with you. Love you, can't wait to see you this summer!
I love your pictures and need to see more. I am still a little sick that we couldn't figure out a way to go with you, but promise that we won't miss out on the next trip. We love Cancun and the cenotes were one of my favorite things. The ruins.... amazing! So much to talk about when you are here this summer. Maybe we can find a great cruise for the next adventure. Carribean anyone!?
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