Yesterday we did Isle Mujeras. We took the city bus to Puerto Juarez, boared the high speed turbine powered catamaran, and hung out at the beach. This pic pretty much sums it up.

(click for more pics)

Today we took a tour to the coastal Mayan ruins at Tulum and the Xel-Ha eco-park.

We got up at 6:30 to catch our air conditioned bus, and it took about two ahoras to get to Tulum. It was already hot. We weren’t allowed to enter any of the buildings except one very small guard building (you can see the picture). The guide gave us a brief explanation of how, at the solstices & equinoxes, little holes in the temples light up paintings inside that we weren’t allowed to look at. The ruins are about 1600 years old, but were abandoned long ago when the serfs rebelled and killed the ruling priests. I guess they were fed up with not being allowed to see the paintings either.

An hour of walking among the ruins proved plenty in the heat, and we headed to Xel-Ha. It’s basically a big lagoon fed by a river you can snorkel in with all inclusive food, drinks and equipment. I’ll chronologically list our activities:

• A bit of Mexican Buffet and drink
• Get snorkel equipment Put on sun block, get locker
• Wait for sun block to dry while drinking more beer at bar
• Snorkel across the lagoon. See fish, big and small. Also see rocks and sand
• Get tired
• Walk across floating bridge, feel like on Survivor
• Rest at shaded chair
• Get water from bar
• Short snorkel with less fish and quickly cold Cynthia
• Put snorkel equipment in locker
• Go to international restaurant, decide food looks uninteresting, go to other Mexican restaurant, not as good as first restaurant. Have ice cream.
• Return snorkel equipment
• Explore botanical garden plastered with corny eco-slogans, see many iguanas
• Stop at bar to grab rum and coke
• Walk back across wonky floating bridge
• Walk through jungle, enjoy drink, see more iguanas.
• End up at river entrance, grab bikes and ride back to park entrance.
• Enjoy ride so much, decide to ride back.
• Get double inter-tube plus mandatory life jackets
• Get in river at crazy mangrove tunnel with land crabs everywhere
• Cynthia decides tube is dumb, suggest I just leave it
• I’m irrationally compelled not to leave the tube behind, even though they are everywhere and drag it along
• Ditch tube on swim platform near end.
• Get foot cramp
• Get to end, get out of water
• Pull chain shower
• Get our money’s worth with pork with red sauce reprise at first Mexican restaurant
• Get on bus
• Sleep our way back to Cancun

A full day, no?

At nine, we went to the sports/karaoke bar at the resort and had drinks and nachos (no singing for us).

Right now, a 12 year old kid is sitting next to me in the one hallway where they have wireless at this resort (ridiculous right?, it also features upload speeds approaching those of a 33.6 modem), playing crappy music out of his tinny laptop speakers.  I beleive I will start playing music out of my own laptop not five feet away so he will turn it off.  If this kicks off a fight, I can take him and his two smaller brothers.

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