Mexico 🇲🇽

Getting to beautiful Mérida was a mission: Hfx- TO- Mexico City - Mérida. We had that Amazing Race feeling in the massive Mexico City airport as we took a train to Terminal 2 to catch our plane to Merida, but once we settled into Hotel Luz en Yucatan, it was all worth it. We met some great people — long-horn cattle ranchers from Texas who bonded with Mike over football. We also met a French family from Bretagne. Their daughter played with our girls, and one of their sons is a history buff who knows all about Acadians. 😊 The plazas in town are vibrant with music, vendors, food stalls, and we watched a simulation of the ancient Mayan “ball game” pelote.

A few days later we caught the comfy ADO bus to Valladolid, another colourful town with a lot of character. From there we booked a taxi guide to take us to Chichen Itza — a huge archeological site with the big pyramid, as well as other temples and the big field for the infamous aforementioned ball game pelote, which required players to knock a ball through a ring high up on the walls (knees, hips, forearms only!). We picked it up instantly and shut out every family we challenged, beast mode. Hahaha imagine.

After our morning at Chichen Itza our taxi driver, Luis Arceo, took us to two cenotes: Ik-Kil and Suytun. Ik-Kil was busier than Mic Mac Mall on Christmas Eve, except with everyone in bathing suits taking selfies, GoPro selfies, and action shots. I must be in the background of several thousand pics. Dios mio. It really was beautiful and a refreshing dip. Chloe and Mike took brave jumps from quite high. 

Suytun Cenote was very different. It is closer to Valladolid and a much more rustic park. We didn’t know what to expect when we paid our entrance fee. They handed us life vests and pointed to a stone staircase going underground. Ok... eerie vibe, couple of bats, careful walking down stairs, then wow! An enormous cavern filled with stalactites (or are they stalagmites? maybe both?), a skylight illuminating the water below, with a walkway towards the center, and what made it even better was that there were only three other people there, total. The water was cool and a little murky, and there were quite a few little black catfish around but after some hesitation, we waded in and swam around. Muy refresca. 

We went back to Valladolid and after a bit of research decided to go to Rio Lagartos overnight to do an early morning boat tour with a naturalist. There were pelicans and frigate birds close to the dock, and when we ventured out into the mangroves we saw many birds, notably great blue herons, osprey, egrets, hawks, and large flocks of stunning flamingos. We were lucky enough to get close to two very mellow crocodiles. 

From Rio Lagartos we took three buses and two taxis to Tulum, where we are relaxing for a while. That’s all for now.  Oh my... the food has been exceptional: tacos for days, panuchos, ceviche, guacamole, Venezuelan arepa, churros, marquesitas! Next blog post might be all food. 

— K