Friends and Isla Mujeres

Our friends, Peggy and Denny, came to visit last week bringing Christmas in February. We had loaded them up, as we tend to do, with things that we just can't get down here like an oven stone to bake bread. Peggy, as she tends to do, totally surprised us with a bread machine to go with the stone. Ed has already given it a try and the result a perfect loaf of truly whole wheat bread - a truly wonderful thing in the land of bleached white flour.
After a day out on Rita's boat snorkelling, the four of us took a "road" trip. We took thef erry to Playa Del Carmen, a bus to Cancun, a taxi to Puerto Juarez and another ferry to Isla Mujeres (the Women Island). What a fun place to spend a few days if you like beaches of perfectly white powdery sand, brilliantly turquoise water and fantastic fresh fish dinners.
We stayed in an immaculate hotel a short walk from the ferry with walls of glass and big balconies overlooking the channel between Cancun and "Isla". Outside the front door to our room, we saw the open ocean just about 25 yards away and 100 yards the other way. Now that's a skinny island! We rented a golf cart to check out the sights. The passenger couple sat facing backwards and got to fully experience the "topes" (speed bumps). Translation: some of our backs won't be the same!
We apologize in advance if you don't like pictures of blue, blue ocean and white sandy beaches!

A short break from our golf cart tour.

Peggy going for her second swim of the day at about 9:00 AM.

View from our room.

Can you believe the color of this water?

After we returned to Cozumel, Peggy and Denny joined our "Trashy Little Group" for one of our official beach clean-ups. Our group of 20 or so picked up 32 bags of trash and then had a delicious potluck brunch at our fearless leader's house. Later in the afternoon we went to a beach down south that our friends George and Merrill had recommended. Great swimming and an interesting menangerie of animals including peacocks, chickens and even some crocodiles! We took some pics of the crocs but thankfully we didn't get as close and personal as we did with the peacocks!

Thanks for coming, Peggy and Denny, treating us to delicious meals and all of our Christmas presents!

Iguana Honeymoon

The other day Ed looked down from our roof to the vacant lot next door. Low and behold in the tree beside our house were 2 good sized iguanas. One was orange/yellow and the other, much larger one, green. They were resting on parallel limbs and were pretty wary of us watching them. They were probably 4 feet away. Peggy ran to get the camera. Several times they moved down and then to other limbs. The last photo shows them as we first saw them. We can't seem to download photos to this blog in the correct order! Oh, well.

Today, while hanging up laundry on the roof, Peggy saw them again. And, being bothered, they moved to the top of our back wall. They lined up in the sun. Just soaking up a few rays? Well, no. Little did we know that they had other things on their minds. And, little did we know that we were to witness their honeymoon! Ed wanted to leave the couple alone, but Peggy ran for the camera to capture the conjugal event! Then, Peggy researched "mating iquanuas" on the internet and now is an expert on their eating habits, mating, egg laying, and lifestyle. Got an inguana question? Ask Peggy.

The arch on the right is not a branch. It's the female's tail.

In the tree below us where we first saw them.

Later we saw them scamper across the street to the large vacants lots there. Plenty of grass for cover. Plenty of trees to climb. And plenty of walls for climbing and..........

Another grandbaby on the way!

The Hirsts' big announcement today!

Another one of a kind grandchild to love.

Much love to you all!

Old Friends

I've known Debbie since elementary school. Debbie had the lead in every school play I can remember. She started dating her husband, Mark, when we were in high school. Hard to believe that they have been together for 45 years. We can't possibly be that old, can we?

It was a treat to have them plan a trip down here. We had a great time on a few boat snorkel trips we did and they were great sports about trying out our local "cuisine". Mark was all over the fish tacos and the ceviche. They seemed pretty happy with the strawberry margueritas too!

Both Debbie and Mark took Latin in high school. Wow, did they pick up Spanish quickly. They were talking easily with locals by the end of their few days here.

We look just about the same as we did in our Brownie troop picture. Tee hee!

Some more Valladolid

After we dropped our bags at the hotel we went to see the oldest Spanish-built structures in the Yucatan, the Church of San Bernardino de Siena and the Convent of the Sisal built in 1552. After paying a small admission fee, we got to see the rose colored unimaginably thick walls (8 feet?), courtyards, doors to the nun's cells, oops, rooms.

This dome-shaped building covers a cenote first used by the Mayans and then by the Spanish for fresh water. In the 1990's, a dive team dove down and recovered some rifles used by the Spanish to defend themselves in the Caste War around 1850 together with some 10,000 year old bones of a mammal without incisors.

This is the cobblestone street known as the Calzada de los Frailes (Road of the Friars). It was built to connect the city of Valladolid to the Mayan town of Sisal where the church was built. Gradually the towns grew together.Now it provides a beautiful walk to the church.

This is the interior of the San Servacio Cathedral that is on the main square in Valladolid. It was built in 1545. The Spanish, in true conqueror style, used some of the stones from a Mayan temple (built on the same site) to construct it. The church was torn down and re-oriented in 1706 so that it would face the square.

A view of the cathedral from across the square.

Valladolid & Ek Balam, part II

This is William, a guide we hired. He's been working at Ek Balam since he was 9 years old! A local who speaks Mayan (his parents speak only Mayan), Spanish, English and wants to learn Chinese and Russian. Good guide. Very informative. He was well worth his fee of 350 pesos This is a partially reconstructed stairway to the top of the main building, called The Acropolis. The building is about 160 meters long and 32 meters tall. It's actually taller than the pyramid at Chichen Itza. The kings lived here. Probably the queens too! The steps were good size so going up and down was a lot easier to climb up and down than other Mayan temples/pyramids. Peggy made it about 2/3's up to the main facade. Ed went to the top. What a view! You can actually see the pyramid at Coba, 30 miles away.

This is part of the main facade. It is a huge carving of a jaguar's mouth (opening from the underworld), surrounded by the jaguar's teeth. A carving of the king sits on the Jaguar's nose. To the right are "Mayan Angels" (see below), probably gods or kings with wings. Ed thought one of them looked exactly like him. Peggy disagreed. The entire carving was actually behind a wall and backfilled with dirt. When the archeologists broke through this is what they found. It is perfectly preserved. They discovered a burial chamber which contained over 7,000 actifacts. Most of those artifacts have been moved to Merida for security reasons. The stucco and carvings are intact and unblemished.
Here are two of the "Angels". The ruins were discovered in 1987 and excavated and partially reconstructed in 1999. No work is being done now because of the lack of funding. There are several mounds of rubble that are unexcavated builings. The city, which probably had a population of 18,000 at its peak, was enclosed by 2 walls- both pretty low (1 1/2 meters tall?).

Here's the view from the very top, looking out over the other Ek Balam ruins.

Our road trip to Valladolid

We just got back from our first road trip to the mainland. It now holds the same attraction that diving has always held for us. The sights that we saw over the last three days were amazing. We loved the combination of the natural wonders and the man made creations. We just couldn't cut down the hundreds of pictures we took any farther than those contained in the next several posts!


We visited a Mayan ruin called Ek Balam. It was at its peak between 600 and 900 AD. This is a cenote called X'Canche that is about 2 kilometers away. It is one of the thousands of sinkholes in the limestone located in the Yucatan.



Tree roots reach down over 40 feet into the beautifully clear, cool water.

Another cenote, Zaci, is right in the middle of Valladolid, the third largest town in the Yucatan. You can see the stalactites "dripping" from the overhang. The amphitheaters created by the overhangs reminded us of Lake Powell.

There are lines in the water for swimmers to use to rest. The depth of the water is about 90 feet so there is no standing up to catch a break!

As we we were walking in the city, I just glanced over a crumbled wall and saw this piece of paradise. A sign around the corner said this is a fault area and the surrounding area naturally drains into it.

Our hotel was built as a home in the 1600's. The courtyard was a wonderful place for breakfast while we wrote in our makeshift journal (the backs of copied pages from our tour book!).

Pics of Lilliana's Animal Rescue

Peggy checks out (or she's being checked out) by the farm's newest member. Sexy go-go boots, no?

The ducks and chickens are happily protected in a fenced area.

The dachsund below is the herd dog!

Waiting for the dinner bell!

My buddy!

Lilliana hitting just the right spot!

Friday has become our regular day (Regular? Two times now!) out with Lilliana and her animals in the jungle. The horses are getting to be old friends. Could it be the carrots we bring? Today was especially fine because Lilliana has been able to get some more hay for the horses. The grain supply is pretty reliable but hay is another story. Last week the horses did without it. They are able to forage, but the jungle does not contain much grass. In the past they have been able to go for a month without hay but it resulted in some unhealthy weight loss. Lilliana suffers as much as they do if the food supply is disrupted.