Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Fin
A bit of a misadverture my last full day in Mexico. I was booked to dive with the same shop I did yesterday, but then this morning the other divers cancelled and they didn´t want to send out a boat with just me (understandable). So the guy from that shop got me on another boat. The group wanted to do a more advanced dive (120 feet), which I reluctantly agreed to - big mistake. I was, so to speak, in over my head, couldn´t descend, burned though way too much air, ended up slighly panicking 70 feet under the surface. Not good. I recovered and had an OK second dive but I am all beat up, tired, sore and woozy. Not ideal. Still a great dive (at least the second one) and still a wonderful place to dive (saw a really active sea turtle poking around the reef), but I am happy to be done with diving for the time being.
***
So I will likely add some more photos here in the next week, and perhaps an observation or two but this is probably it. Thanks for ¨coming along¨ with me to Mexico!
***
So I will likely add some more photos here in the next week, and perhaps an observation or two but this is probably it. Thanks for ¨coming along¨ with me to Mexico!
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Enchantment Under the Sea
No photos will explain the experience of drifting under the water, staring at the reef full of intricate corals, colorful little fish, hiding king crabs and the occasional sea turtle. What a really great day under the water. (I had a little trouble with bouyancy control but by the second dive I had it largely managed. Luis from Caribbean Divers offered a great one-day refresher course and served as my personal divemaster for the day - definitely recommended.) One more day of diving and the adventure ends.
Cozumel, if you can avoid the cruise ships, is a nice enough place. Right across the street from my hotel is a great cafe serving coffee from Chiapas and around the corner is Zematt, a great little bakery.
Cozumel, if you can avoid the cruise ships, is a nice enough place. Right across the street from my hotel is a great cafe serving coffee from Chiapas and around the corner is Zematt, a great little bakery.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Cenote snorking and on to the last stop
I woke up early yesterday morning to bike to the ruins at Tulum - and its beach - at the opening at 8 ayem. The ruins themselves are not that impressive, but the location on the Caribbean really is very lovely. Had a quick swim in the Caribbean then biked to town for huevos rancheros, and packed my bags to move on.
From there I grabbed a combi (like a public bus but it is a big white van) to Hidden Worlds Cenote Park for some cave snorkling - very cool. We entered two water-filled underground caves, artificially lit and full of tetras. It is like swimming in an aquarium, but while dodging stalagtites and stalagmites - and the occasional bat! I grabbed another combi up to Playa del Carmen, then got the ferry over to Cozumel - my last stop. I think I have picked out a dive shop. Pretty cool that they are making me dive with a private dive master for a refresher course, then day two I can dive normally. Water is unseasonably cold - last night it was like 15 C in the air, which is really quite cold for the Caribbean. But I am here, and that is why they make wetsuits.
On a culture note, I am really glad I made Cozumel my last stop. Full of cruise ship tourists, moped hawkers and awfully expensive gift shops, it is a rather garish place. People seem really surpised when I speak to them in (admittedly poor) Spanish, but pleased nonetheless. Oh, and paying in US dollars is a total ripoff here, the common conversion rate is 40% less than what you get at a bank.
(Here is a look at the cenote at Hidden Worlds - really a cool place!)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Chichen Itza A Cool Place...and on to Tulum
I decided to take an early morning bus to Chichen Itza, and when I arrived at the main plaza with about 5 other people at 9 am, I knew I had made the right choice - especially when by 11 am the hordes of Cancun day trippers took over the place.
Chichen Itza is especially fascinating because the people who built in were definitely influenced by other local cultures - the main pyramid, for example, just doesn´t really look exactly ¨Mayan.¨ But a fascinating site, really a joy to spend most of a day wondering around it, the nearby cenote and ruins.
From there I made it on to Tulum, and today had a really interesting boat tour of the Sian Ka´an Bioshere - a place where cenote-fed wetlands meet with the sparkling Caribbean, resulting in a series of mangrove-entangled ecosystems rich in birds, fish and crocodiles. There is a small, Mayan ruin where a small, freshwater lake empties into a channel en route to the sea. 
Archaeologists think that this is where the Mayans forced boats to pay tribute who wished to take advantage of this natural outlet to the sea. Here, in the Mexican wetlands, a thousand years ago, dedicated Mayan bureacrats served their countymen by collecting levies on the commerce of the day: here lay the home of the Mayan IRS.
***
Off to see th ruins at Tulum in the morning, then maybe some cenote snorkeling. Off to Playa del Carmen at some point, not sure if I will spend a night or just pass righ through to Cozumel. Scuba awaits.
Chichen Itza is especially fascinating because the people who built in were definitely influenced by other local cultures - the main pyramid, for example, just doesn´t really look exactly ¨Mayan.¨ But a fascinating site, really a joy to spend most of a day wondering around it, the nearby cenote and ruins.
From there I made it on to Tulum, and today had a really interesting boat tour of the Sian Ka´an Bioshere - a place where cenote-fed wetlands meet with the sparkling Caribbean, resulting in a series of mangrove-entangled ecosystems rich in birds, fish and crocodiles. There is a small, Mayan ruin where a small, freshwater lake empties into a channel en route to the sea. Archaeologists think that this is where the Mayans forced boats to pay tribute who wished to take advantage of this natural outlet to the sea. Here, in the Mexican wetlands, a thousand years ago, dedicated Mayan bureacrats served their countymen by collecting levies on the commerce of the day: here lay the home of the Mayan IRS. ***
Off to see th ruins at Tulum in the morning, then maybe some cenote snorkeling. Off to Playa del Carmen at some point, not sure if I will spend a night or just pass righ through to Cozumel. Scuba awaits.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Pre-Chichen Itza
A full posting later but it is actually worthy of the hype. I am at the beach now but it is raining and that sucks. (I know, my life is so awful.) Check back soon.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Mysterious Trike in Parque Central
I was sitting in a plastic chair at a plastic table at a restaurant that sits on the main square in Merida, Yucatan, enjoying a Montejo, about 10 pm the other night when a mysterious vehicle entered the street. It was a giant tricycle, the kind with the cabin in the front. When it approached, I was puzzled by what this vendor could be offering.
The crate on the front of it looked like a cage, wrapped in shrink wrap. It did not appear to be food inside. Rather, it looked like the things inside were moving. I took a look at the sign, and I was pretty sure I knew that it was he was selling, but I still had a hard time believing it. I mean, ¨Venta Perritos,¨ really? I approached the trike and took a closer look at the cage while someone off the street appeared to start a negotiation for what it was he was selling.
But low and behold, Mexico is the kind of place where a person can buy a puppy off a dude in a tricycle at 11 at night downtown. I didn´t think to ask if the vaccinations were included.
***
Tomorrow I am off to the new ¨Seventh Wonder of the World,¨ Chichen Itza, then off to the beachside town of Tulum. Only one week left!
The crate on the front of it looked like a cage, wrapped in shrink wrap. It did not appear to be food inside. Rather, it looked like the things inside were moving. I took a look at the sign, and I was pretty sure I knew that it was he was selling, but I still had a hard time believing it. I mean, ¨Venta Perritos,¨ really? I approached the trike and took a closer look at the cage while someone off the street appeared to start a negotiation for what it was he was selling.
But low and behold, Mexico is the kind of place where a person can buy a puppy off a dude in a tricycle at 11 at night downtown. I didn´t think to ask if the vaccinations were included.
***
Tomorrow I am off to the new ¨Seventh Wonder of the World,¨ Chichen Itza, then off to the beachside town of Tulum. Only one week left!
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