Today was Tulum! The Palace Resort hotels have everything set up so incredibly well: you sign up for an excursion, you wait outside of the hotel on the designated day, a bus comes to pick you, they feed you along the way, and then take you back. No worries!
The entire excursion was supposed to be about a two-hour drive. But because we went to an "authentic" Mayan village, then to a little shop to buy highly over-priced souvenirs, then to a cenote (a sinkhole containing groundwater used for drinking & bathing), and then stopped to eat lunch, it took us a little over four hours to actually reach Tulum.
A water well at the "authentic" Mayan village.
Inside of a classroom
Thier medical hut.
We "just happened" to arrive when a religious ceremony was being performed. GASP! Really?? The "authentic" Mayans then proceded to go around our group blowing some stinky smoke at us and slapping our legs with some wet leaves. I don't know if this is an actual tradition or not but I was getting to the point where I wanted to slap our tour guide with some wet leaves. Maybe a branch...
The altar
Who knew that Spongebob had been around for so long?? Is he a god to them??
Some random "authentic" building.
The tortilla-making hut.
This is also where Josh and I almost threw rocks at some little jerk of a kid. The kid had a slingshot and thought it was funny to pelt one of the dogs that was walking around there. The dog yelped and our heads whipped toward the kid. His smile immediately disappeared when he saw us, and so did he. Not that we were threatening him or anything, I think he just knew that we were slightly irritated at that...
Okay, now here is where is started to get lame: we went to a hut where all of the children were. They all had some sort of Mayan instrument and were going to play a song for us. Look how enthusiastic they are!!
Their song sounded like a group of toddlers banging on pieces of wood. No joke. There was a guy with a slide whistle that would chime in at random times. And the whole thing was bad. Seriously, I want to go to Tulum, NOW, Mr. Tour Guide.
We had to stop at the cenote first. We were all able to swim in it (remember the drinking and bathing part...) but I didn't want to sit in my wet bathing suit for the rest of the day. Josh really enjoyed the water though.
The bottom of the wooden, spiral staircase we had to go down to get to the cenote.
Swimming Josh!
After leaving the cenote, we went to eat some lunch. We were taken to a building with more trinket-y stuff and a pretty big buffet set up for us. After that, on to Tulum!!
This guy was in our tour group and was very....interesting....to say the least. This was the second of his two outfits. The first, he was wearing a white, fish-net shirt.... And lemme just say that his back was much less offensive than his front.
And here is the barrage of pictures of Tulum.
The little structure to the left of the big structure was used as a calendar, of sorts. Twice a year, the sun would come directly thru it, hitting on this stone across the courtyard.
Those two days were the two equinoxes.
There were lizards everywhere!!
Face on the side of the building. Don't know what it was for though...
If you look closely, you might be able to see the ladies without their tops!
The ride back to the hotel took much less time and I was able to get a nap in because Josh had met a friend on the bus and was talking politics. Once we got back to the hotel, we had to hustle to get ready for our honeymoon dinner. It was at an Italian restaurant in the hotel called La Tratto. By far, this was the best dinner that we had while in Cancun!
This was waiting for us in our room. At least we could make out what the animal is supposed to be!
When we bustled in to the restaurant, we were shown to our table. Josh wasn't too happy about being known as Mr. Aldama for the entire trip. Which got me thinking: why didn't HE take MY last name?? HA!
Appetizers were a Mediterranean salad of sorts served in a shell, on a bed of a cream cheese mix. There were bits of seafood mixed in with all of the salad. If I could eat that every day for the rest of my life, I think I would die a happy woman...
Soup was a cream of asparagus with a spinach infusion. Again, happy woman.
My main dish was a baked, stuffed chicken breast with rice pilaf and veggies on the side.
Josh got the surf and turf. I wish I'd gotten that!!
My dessert was pears marinated in a wine sauce with THE BEST vanilla ice cream that I've every had!
Josh's was a cheesecake with a very special message...
Here's us! And no, we're not on a cruise.
We're really loving Cancun at this point and enjoying the relaxation. One thing that we're wishing though is that we could see the babies. We missed them!!
Tomorrow: Isla Mujeres!
The entire excursion was supposed to be about a two-hour drive. But because we went to an "authentic" Mayan village, then to a little shop to buy highly over-priced souvenirs, then to a cenote (a sinkhole containing groundwater used for drinking & bathing), and then stopped to eat lunch, it took us a little over four hours to actually reach Tulum.
A water well at the "authentic" Mayan village.
Inside of a classroom
Thier medical hut.
We "just happened" to arrive when a religious ceremony was being performed. GASP! Really?? The "authentic" Mayans then proceded to go around our group blowing some stinky smoke at us and slapping our legs with some wet leaves. I don't know if this is an actual tradition or not but I was getting to the point where I wanted to slap our tour guide with some wet leaves. Maybe a branch...
The altar
Who knew that Spongebob had been around for so long?? Is he a god to them??
Some random "authentic" building.
The tortilla-making hut.
This is also where Josh and I almost threw rocks at some little jerk of a kid. The kid had a slingshot and thought it was funny to pelt one of the dogs that was walking around there. The dog yelped and our heads whipped toward the kid. His smile immediately disappeared when he saw us, and so did he. Not that we were threatening him or anything, I think he just knew that we were slightly irritated at that...
Okay, now here is where is started to get lame: we went to a hut where all of the children were. They all had some sort of Mayan instrument and were going to play a song for us. Look how enthusiastic they are!!
Their song sounded like a group of toddlers banging on pieces of wood. No joke. There was a guy with a slide whistle that would chime in at random times. And the whole thing was bad. Seriously, I want to go to Tulum, NOW, Mr. Tour Guide.
We had to stop at the cenote first. We were all able to swim in it (remember the drinking and bathing part...) but I didn't want to sit in my wet bathing suit for the rest of the day. Josh really enjoyed the water though.
The bottom of the wooden, spiral staircase we had to go down to get to the cenote.
Swimming Josh!
After leaving the cenote, we went to eat some lunch. We were taken to a building with more trinket-y stuff and a pretty big buffet set up for us. After that, on to Tulum!!
This guy was in our tour group and was very....interesting....to say the least. This was the second of his two outfits. The first, he was wearing a white, fish-net shirt.... And lemme just say that his back was much less offensive than his front.
And here is the barrage of pictures of Tulum.
The little structure to the left of the big structure was used as a calendar, of sorts. Twice a year, the sun would come directly thru it, hitting on this stone across the courtyard.
Those two days were the two equinoxes.
There were lizards everywhere!!
Face on the side of the building. Don't know what it was for though...
If you look closely, you might be able to see the ladies without their tops!
The ride back to the hotel took much less time and I was able to get a nap in because Josh had met a friend on the bus and was talking politics. Once we got back to the hotel, we had to hustle to get ready for our honeymoon dinner. It was at an Italian restaurant in the hotel called La Tratto. By far, this was the best dinner that we had while in Cancun!
This was waiting for us in our room. At least we could make out what the animal is supposed to be!
When we bustled in to the restaurant, we were shown to our table. Josh wasn't too happy about being known as Mr. Aldama for the entire trip. Which got me thinking: why didn't HE take MY last name?? HA!
Appetizers were a Mediterranean salad of sorts served in a shell, on a bed of a cream cheese mix. There were bits of seafood mixed in with all of the salad. If I could eat that every day for the rest of my life, I think I would die a happy woman...
Soup was a cream of asparagus with a spinach infusion. Again, happy woman.
My main dish was a baked, stuffed chicken breast with rice pilaf and veggies on the side.
Josh got the surf and turf. I wish I'd gotten that!!
My dessert was pears marinated in a wine sauce with THE BEST vanilla ice cream that I've every had!
Josh's was a cheesecake with a very special message...
Here's us! And no, we're not on a cruise.
We're really loving Cancun at this point and enjoying the relaxation. One thing that we're wishing though is that we could see the babies. We missed them!!
Tomorrow: Isla Mujeres!
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