The Best Two Years Part Tres: Chichen Itza

Part Tres

We left early Tuesday morning to drive to Chichen Itza. We had a 10 am appointment to meet an LDS tour guide named Helaman. There is basically one road to Chichen Itza. There is jungle all around you. We even saw a tarantula crawl across the road. We arrived shortly after 10; we parked and began the search for Helaman. We did not see him in the parking lot so we decided to go into the site. As we walk towards the main building we saw a BYU hat in the distance. Helaman was leading a tour of two newlywed couples. We joined the group. It was nice to have an LDS perspective. The Castillo (Kukulkan Pyramid) was amazing. It was surreal to be there. Tonio really enjoyed the Observatory and Chichen Itza in general. He had wanted to go to that place for many years and was very excited to be there (see pic below). We toured around until 1pm then, we followed Helaman to another Cenote.

Kukulcan Pyramid and Tonio

Mayan Rain God

Mayan Ball Game Court

Mayan Observatory

This Cenote is next to a hotel. It is probably the most popular and well visited one in the area. There were multiple tour buses in the parking lot. As part of our tour Helaman took us to the hotel’s restaurant for a buffet followed by an entrance to the Cenote Ikil. This Cenote had steps on one side that led to diving platforms. Perhaps the most characteristic feature of the Cenote was the multiple plants and roots cascading from the surface. The water was clear and inhabited by a plethora of catfish. There was a sea of orange life jackets filled with tourists. We stayed for a couple of ours so we witnessed many wild swarms of tourists coming and going. This was by far the busiest Cenote. Katrina braved the crowd and from multiple parts of the staircase she dove gracefully and sometimes not so gracefully. We took some pictures underwater with the help of our trusty water camera and our snorkels. Given the amount of people that were there we believe this was the place where Katrina might have acquired her exquisitely painful ear infection.

Cenote Ikil

Diving Platforms

Katrina Getting her Ear Infection

After we turned into prunes were ventured off to find our hotel. We stayed in the Villas Arqueologicas Chichen Itza Inn. This hotel was conveniently located only a five minute walk from the back side of the ruins. As we checked in we noticed an advertisement for an Authentic Mayan Massage. It indicated that the Mayan masseuse received her techniques through her dreams. We finally found our crazy Mayan Lady Massage! She scheduled an appointment for the following day. After we checked in we went to the pool (probably aggravating Katrina’s unknown ear condition).

Seats outside our Hotel in Chichen Itza

Interior of Villas Arqueologicas Chichen Itza

That night we went back to Chichen Itza for the evening show which consisted of colored lights on the ruins and a loud narration in Spanish about the Mayan history. Tonio translated part of it but he thought it was too dull to translate. He was disappointed by the show since he thought it would be more like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Rock Concert (with we attended on Nov. 18).

Chichen Itza Night, Disappointing Show

The next morning we woke up early and made our way back to Chichen Itza. We want to beat the crowd and the heat. We visited some portions of the ruins that we were unable to visit with Helaman. Among the places that we visited were the Sacred Cenote where Mayan would perform sacrifices to the Rain God. It was a very hot day. We went back to the hotel to get ready for our Mayan massage. The masseuse was accommodated in the hotel room next to ours. Tonio went first in nothing but his swim trunks. He came back drenched in oil but very satisfied. Next, Katrina went in her swimsuit and had a unique experience (yada, yada, yada, that is all I have to say about that).

Champion!

Where is my Katrina?

There she is!

Katrina at the Cenote Sagrado (sacred Cenote) -I see dead People

Feeling refreshed we drove to the nearby town of Valladolid. The town was a charming colonial style place with its typical church and main square. Unfortunately, it began to downpour so we had to take shelter in a local leather shop. There Tonio bought some honey. Why they were selling honey in a leather shop we will never know. Tonio was happy. When the rain let up we went to a restaurant that someone recommended. The restaurant was located next to a….yes you guessed it another Cenote. The food was fair the Cenote was scary so we just ate. On the way back we saw a beauty salon. Even though Katrina was about to turn 31 she had never experienced a pedicure. Tonio encouraged her to get one there. After all the walking, swimming, and sweating Katrina’s feet were due for some service. The poor worker filed and filed away. Perhaps the most incredible thing of all was that it only cost $5. Of course we tipped her greatly for all her hard work. Katrina walked away with sassy pink toenails.

Church at Valladolid Main Square

Pink Toenails

That night the pain began. Katrina woke up at 2 a.m. with a very acute ear pain. She woke up Tonio and asked him for a blessing and some medicine. After taking some Tylenol we went back to sleep but Katrina had a very rough night. The next morning we got the number for a doctor in the village. Tonio called and made an appointment. After checking out from our hotel we went to town and found the doctor’s office. He quickly examined Katrina and determined that she had an infection in her right ear. He prescribed some antibiotics and some pain medicine. It was the cheapest doctor’s appointment in Katrina’s history only $20. As we drove away we saw the Mayan masseuse riding her bike. We left the town and made our way to Playa del Carmen. Our AC decided not to come on for our two hour driving making Katrina’s pain even more unbearable.

The Best Two Years Thus Far. Part Dos: Cancun

Part Dos

We left Puerto Morelos on Sunday morning and traveled to Cancun. Tonio has a friend who lives in Cancun so we planned on attending his ward so that we could meet each other. Finding the church in Cancun was very challenging because the streets had no names! We had looked up the address on line and we even wrote directions, however, once we needed to make a right turn on a particular street we realized that not only did the streets lacked names, not even the locals knew where the street was. We became like Nephi of old, going without by faith knowing where to go. Eventually Tonio felt like he needed to make a right turn and lo and behold we arrived to the chapel and on time. Talk about miracles!

Cancun Chapel

That Sunday Tonio met with his friend Gabriel. They grew up together in the same ward in Mexico City. Gabriel is now married (his wife’s name is Zuemia) and has one child and one more on the way. After church, Gabriel’s in-laws invited us to come over to their house for dinner. We ate carnitas (roasted pork) with tortillas, guacamole and salsa. It was truly delicious. After dinner we visited for a little bit with the family. We talked about how we met each other. Gabriel and Zuemia also talked about how they met and their adventures in Cancun. Zuemia’s mother gave Katrina a little purse she made with the little things at the top of soda cans used to push them open. She is very talented and loves making all kinds of crafts like that one. Before leaving, they invited us to come over the next day to see Zuemia’s father play softball. He and some co workers played in a small local league and the final game was being played on Monday.

Gabriel y Tonio

We accepted the invitation and we took off to our hotel over the Hotel Zone in Cancun. Zuemia’s parents insisted on coming with us to help us get there (considering the difficulty that it is to navigate without road signs). They were very kind to us.

We stayed at the J W Marriott Resort in Cancun. It was a very elegant and fancy place. Given Tonio’s Platinum status our room was upgraded to the 12^th floor. The view was so incredible we could not believe our eyes. We took lots of pictures from our balcony. We thought we could see Cuba from our room!

Care for a swim?

Room with a view

That evening, we celebrated our anniversary by going out for dinner at Lorenzillos (a high-end lobster and seafood restaurant). We went there because Gabriel and his family recommended the place as one of the nicest in the Cancun strip. It was certainly nice, and pricey. However, we decided to indulge ourselves in an expensive place this one time since it was our anniversary. At the end of our meal, we were surprised by the waiters when they brought us a little dessert with a little caramel legend that said “Feliz Anniversario”. That was a nice little detail.

Happy 2nd Anniversary

Upon returning to our hotel from the restaurant we went for a little swim in the hotel’s pool. It was a really nice pool with several sections and bridges. Since it was late at night, very few people were present which made it a very romantic night.

The next morning we went down to the hotel beach. Our beach’s section had lots of chairs and umbrellas made out of “palapas” (palm tree leaves). Summer time is the slow season in Cancun, hence, the beach was quite empty. This was really nice. Katrina was working on a tan for her legs while Tonio read her a biography on Thomas Jefferson. Eventually we made it to the water and stayed a little too long. We put our snorkels to a good use and played getting “beached” (just like the whales get beached at the seashore) a couple of times. Unfortunately, the sand was not as soft as we would have liked it.

Should I be on a postcard or what?

Donde esta el salvavidas?

You might wonder how many other exciting things we did in Cancun. Well, we decided to go to a mall and watch two movies in a row. That is right. Cancun is a lot like Vegas so we did not feel so inclined to experience the party lifestyle of the city. We did, however, have a lot of fun at the mall. We ate at a restaurant called “Chocolate City”. Katrina was very happy to be there. We not only got good food for lunch but a delicious caramel brownie and a dozen chocolate covered strawberries (courtesy of the house).

Since movies are less expensive down there, we decided to watch the movies “Salt” and “Inception” (for the second time). After the movies we made our way back to town to meet up with Gabriel’s in-laws for dinner and the softball game. We had a lot of fun at the game. Prior to the beginning of the game we were told that a lady would normally come to sell her home-made tamales. When the tamal lady arrived a swarm of hungry fans surrounded her. Gabriel braved the crowd at the request of his mother-in-law in order to get a couple pieces of the precious food.

Pre-game dinner

Champion of the Tamales

The game was pretty quiet for most of the time. However, as we approached the final innings the excitement picked up quickly. Katrina was yelling at the top of her lungs (I cannot write the things she said for decency’s sake). It was very cool to see our team win the championship.

After the game we said good-bye to Gabriel and his family and headed back to our hotel. Our stay in Cancun was very short but we did not mind it. Our hotel was so luxurious that we felt a little guilty for staying there. There is a huge gap between the hotel zone and the real Cancun that makes you come to the realization of the poverty of that area.

The next day we made our way to Chichen Itza but that is another story full of joy and pain…