We started out with a road trip that is becoming all too familiar these days, Sunny Las Vegas to Frigid Salt Lase City. On Saturday, April 18th, after Will's t-ball game and Taylor's soccer game, we load up the cruiser and hit the open road. We got out of town just after 12:15 in the afternoon (1:15 SLC time), and raced to make it to Cydnee's mom's birthday party that evening at 6:00. We may not have been exactly on time, but arriving at 7:45 (a mere six and a half hours after we left) was a personal best with three children.
We spent the weekend and the first couple of days the next week hanging out with family. Eric had to work from his company's Salt Lake City office, and Cydnee had a wardrobe to complete before setting out on our adventure.
We started out Wednesday, April 22nd getting up at 3:00 AM, and getting to the airport just before 4:00 for a 6:00 flight (three hours advance arrival for international flights was recommended, what were we thinking). It turns out the ticket counters don't officially open until 4:00AM, and the workers didn't actually arrive until 4:07. Having checked our bags, we went to find airport screening closed. After waiting around for about 20 minutes, the TSA folks started screening passengers, and we were off. We flew to Cancun via Dallas/Fort Worth. While Eric was deeply engrossed in "The Perfect Heresy", Cydnee watched sitcoms and tried to get some much needed rest.
We landed in Cancun, and drove about 40 kilometers south to Playacar, immediately south of Playa del Carmen. We were staying at Playacar Palace, the edge of which was on the border of Playa del Carmen on the tourist haven of 5th avenue.
The resort was very nice, and we had one of the nicest rooms we have ever stayed in. We had a jetted tub with a view out to the ocean, and a phenomenal ocean view from our small balcony. The resort was also an all inclusive, so we started out testing out the room service, followed shortly by one of many visits to the buffet and restaurants, with some mandatory relaxing in between. While Cydnee slept, Eric remained enthralled with the mystical Cathars of southern France.
After a hard day of eating and relaxing, we finished out the day having Sushi with Brandon and Jen, and calling it a night.The next morning we relaxed a little waiting for our friends Dan and Michelle, whom we were sharing a rental car with. They had opted to take a side vacation in Detroit en route to Cancun the previous day with Glen and Leslie after being offered $600 in Delta travel vouchers each to help resolve on overbooked flight. While waiting we toured the tourist trap 5th avenue in Playa del Carmen.
It was a horrific flea market with everyone trying to sell their wares, most of them making claims like 99% off. We did however find that talking about Las Vegas was very distracting for most of them, and many wondered why anyone would ever want to leave someplace like Vegas. After greeting out weary friends once they found the hotel, we left them to rest and set off to see Cozumel. Since the ferry to Cozumel was about a hundred yards from our resort, and we'd been watching the boats come and go for well over a day now, the excursion seemed mandatory.
Because we were staying at a Palace Resort, we were able to travel to any of the Palace Resorts and enjoy our all inclusive benefits, and usually were able to check out a "hospitality suite", a room at the resort we could use to change, shower, etc. We headed out on the ferry from Playa del Carmen, with the Playacar Palace in the background. Aside from some seasickness from the rockiest boat ride we had ever been on, and looking like fools trying to walk around and really getting thrown around, we passed the time talking to Reed and Suzie who were headed for a snorkeling adventure. We got to the Cozumel Palace, donned our swimsuits, and had a very relaxing afternoon swimming and reading by the ocean. On the boat ride back, which was supposedly a rougher ride than the one out, we were distracted by a Mexican band performing that was quite entertaining.Friday we slept in a little, and then headed out to the eco-park Xcaret. We had been to Xel-Ha previously, so we wanted to experience the other eco-park in the area. While the two have some overlap, they were very different parks. While Xel-Ha had a much larger variety of fish to see while snorkeling, Xcaret had two underground rivers to explore, enough animals exhibits to count as a zoo, and many fascinating shows.
We chose to explore the underground rivers first. They were very fascinating, especially considering the amount of water that was traveling through the area underground.
They had a lot of shows throughout the day. One show we watched was the rain ritual the ancient Mayans used to perform. Four men would tied themselves to ropes, and then descend from a tower upside down like raindrops while twirling in a circle.
After that show we took a break and headed back to the resort for lunch. After lunch, Dan and Eric engaged in what would become a very large distraction during the trip.
After mingling with co-workers at the Friday night reception, we headed back to Xcaret for the Mexican Spectacular show, which showcased many of the traditions of the area. They reenacted the Mayan ball sport from the Arenas we would see at Coba, a Mayan game that looked like hockey with a ball of fire, and many dances from the early Spanish settlers.
Saturday morning we got up early to head to Coba at 7:30AM. Coba is a set of ruins that are primarily from 600AD, but date back as far as 300BC. The ruins cover over 40 square miles, and less than 5% of the ruins have been excavated. They estimate there are over 20,000 home site foundations, and over 2,000 larger structures. We headed out early so we could beat all of the tour buses to the ruins and enjoy a little time before the crowds. Dan and Michelle, Glen and Leslie, and Brandon and Jen joined us for an hour and a half drive through the jungle into the Yucatan.We hired a tour guide, and upon entering the archeological site, we saw the second largest temple unearthed at Coba. The tour guide talked about the Mayan culture, how the temples were built (they added a level to the temple every fifty years based on the Mayan calendar), the Mayan culture in the city and past times, and how gave us a feel for what had been excavated so far, and how vast the ruins really were.
After an hour long introduction to the site, our tour guide left us on our own to explore the vast set of ruins. Because the site was so large, we rented bicycles to get around.
We saw a lot of ruins during our visit. Most of them appeared to be memorials to powerful people or religious buildings. There were also a few sports arenas for the ancient Mayan ball games they played. The debri you can see in the jungle is what the ruins all looked like before the excavation and restoration began. About the only thing to indicate a ruin lie underneath was the hill itself it what was otherwise pretty flat terrain.
The big attraction at Coba was the temple at the Nohoch Mul group of ruins. This is the tallest temple in the Yucatan peninsula. Only one side of the temple has been unearthed, and it was an impressive view from the top. There was a single room at the top, with three carvings on the front. While there were pagan Mayan guesses at what the three figures were, from an LDS point of view, the first figure was a man upright (God the Father), the second was a figure upside down (Jesus Christ, upside down to represent his descending to the Nephite people), and the third box was empty (representing The Holy Ghost). These figures were similar to ones on other temples, and this explanation was provided to us two years prior at Tulum.
After leaving Coba, we stopped at the Xpu-Ha Palace resort on the way back to Playa del Carmen. It was very different as it was setup more as an eco-park, with huts tucked away for people to stay in, a lot of animals to see, and private lagoon for kayaking and snorkling. Everything was built with thatched roofs. It looked like a great place to relax.
Upon returning to the resort, cleaning up, and relaxing a bit, we set out on our last attempt to find some souvenirs worth bringing home. We first stopped at the small ruins in the front of our resort, and then strolled 5th avenue, unable to find anything we were willing to make suitcase space for.
Saturday evening was big club dinner with all of Eric's coworkers who made it to club. It was good to mingle with everyone, catch up, and talk about life in an atmosphere outside of work. After dinner many of the group joined the Karaoke party at the Luna Bar. While Cydnee missed out on any recorded evidence, Cydnee gave the best performance of the evening singing "Playing with the Queen of Hearts," while Eric, Dan and Glen embarred themselves singing "Friends in Low Places," after which Eric sank to new depths when Amy talked him into singing Achy Breaky Heart.Sunday morning we slept in, lounged around, and headed to a noon sacrament meeting in Playa del Carmen. Cydnee tried to snap a picture of the church building, but a van sped by at exactly the wrong moment.
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, reading, swiming, and of course, a bunch of freindly chess games with Dan and Steve.
We had dinner Sunday night at the Italian restaurant at the resort with Dan and Michelle, Glen and Leslie, and Steve and Lalonnie. We saw just about everyone in the company that night at the restaurant, including Daron and Jennifer who arrived Sunday afternoon.On Monday it was finally time to leave paradise and make the long journey home. We left the resort at 9:15AM, only to arrive at the airport and discover our flight was delayed over two hours due to weather at DFW. Once we got to DFW late, we sat mere feet from our gate for around a half an hour waiting. This delay proved critical when we missed our connecting flight by about 20 minutes, finally arriving in SLC at 11:20. Little had we known that while we were in Mexico, the Swine Flu had broken out in Mexico City, and there were concerns of a world-wide pandemic. We thought this might slow us down coming into the US since we had flown back from Mexico. All that happened was they handed us a paper apprising us of the Swine Flu, and telling us to see our doctor if we got sick.
The next morning the kids were very excited to see their parents, and we headed out bright and early for Las Vegas. The kids had a great time with Grandma and Granpa, then Nana and Papa, and we had a very nice and relaxing break in paradise.
