Thursday, April 4, 2013

Mexico - Chichen Itza

 The sun shadow showing the snake climb down the tower. Snake head pictured below.

 2000 stripping warriors? Tower of warriors.

 Our hotel on the Chichen Itza property. It was pretty cute - old Mexican style.


 Hanging out at night. Checking out a page from the hotel book of the area we were visiting.

Our guide from Chichen Itza was from Alma Tours - and LDS tour company. We took our guide and his family out to eat. Or should I say he showed us a very "local" place. It was fun to meet his wife and 4 year old son while eating dinner among his friends/extended family. The restaurant was so local it didn't have a sign up at all. It was on a residential street and only known to locals. The meal cost was a true Mexican rate - not some jacked up price because foreigners were eating there. Our meal for 6 people with 3 entrees each (yes, we tried many things) cost just under $30 (large tip included). $5 each! That's what I'm talking about. I had the best lime soup I've ever tried. I do have to say the "local" food might have caused some minor stomach issues with all of us. It's probably the fresh lettuce on the top? I think we could have been more cautions, but it wasn't too bad. Definitely noticeable though and no doubt from this meal.

Mexico - Coba

I don't have pictures of our week day activities (all on my sisters camera), but I did manage to take a few at Coba and Chicken Itza. We left the coast to travel midland for the weekend before we flew home. I was worried about leaving the cool coast air to 90's and humid weather of midland. It ended up being beautiful!!  It was low 70's with no humidity. Couldn't have asked for anything better. At night we were actually a bit cold - can you believe it?


(Logan above) Enjoying the beautiful weather and sites at Coba!
 The Ball court where the chosen athletes played.
The boys rented bikes to check out the sites. Beth and I got to ride on of the bike carts (pictured on the left). We had a nice relaxing ride.
The main tower in Coba where you can still climb to the top. Beth and I stayed at the bottom while the guys climbed up. I sure didn't want to miss a step and topple down with a 8 month pregnant belly. We were sitting on a bench on the lower left.


Mexico - Arrival and Tulum

Logan and I had planned a trip back in August with Beth and Jared. We wanted to #1 travel somewhere we had never been and #2 use our passports. Europe was out of the question because of cost and time needed (if we're flying that far away we want to be there for at least 2 weeks). We had originally thought of Guatemala, but our accommodations were booked (ie there were no more spots for us where we were going to book). we then thought Mexico. At first we thought Cancun might be too cliche, but the more we looked into it we figured it was a popular destination for a reason. We found a great place to stay just south of the city and figured we would rent a car and drive to all the surrounding places we wanted to visit (not the stay at the hotel/beach type vacation I think of when I think of Cancun).

Back in August I hoped I would be pregnant, but didn't know how pregnant I might be when planning Logan's time off and coordinating trip times with Beth and Jared. Ideally this trip 8 months pregnant would have been avoided, but it ended up being totally fine. My doctor wasn't worried at all and I felt great.  Logan's mom was able to fly up from Idaho and watch our boys along with Jana, my sister. It was so nice of both of them to give up their time to help us out.

I did have a cold? sinus/allergy outbreak the week we flew out - I have NEVER felt so much pain in my sinuses than these flights. My doctor told me to take Sudafed for the flight, but it did nothing. Nothing! I had to hold my right eyebrow for over 30 minutes as we were descending because it felt like I was having an aneurism or something. The pressure was so bad. Despite the fact I couldn't really breathe out of either nostril the entire week, the week was still wonderful and I'm so glad we were able to go.


At the airport waiting for my Beth and Jared to pick us up. It was hot and humid! Wow. We were delayed one day in NY because of the storm that came through and dumped snow on the east coast. We left 7 degree weather at 3am to 85+ humid weather in Cancun (I'll say it felt like 100). Logan and my belly!


Tulum - 
 We loved seeing these iguanas everywhere. They're like the park squirrel of US. 
 Ruins. I didn't take many pictures on my camera - My sister has most of them on her camera and I haven't gotten a DVD from her yet :(
 Logan and I (8 months pregnant - 30 weeks).
 The beach at Tulum. It was beautiful! Too crowded for the small portion that was open at the Tulum Ruins. We ate lunch/dinner in town and then swam at a public beach. Beautiful colors!

 I liked Logan in this picture, but didn't take the time to crop out miss yellow tank top.
 Our little trail crosser. His back right leg was also injured (along with the tail growing back).

 Beth and I.

 Heading out of the ruins.

 Lunch in Tulum.