we start every morning with a great breakfast usually some kind of egg dish and literally all the fruit you can eat . . . all the guests at the b&b eat together and we have met some interesting folks . . . that is always a nice part of travelling.
we decided to visit the coba ruins today, not just for the ruins but we were told there were some very cool cenotes out that way. the downside is that the area is on the map for every tour bus and tourist in the area . . . damn tourists! well, except for us lol. coba, which means 'waters stirred by the wind' is about 25 minutes from our b&b. after paying our entrance fee we decided to forgo the pay and push bicycle routine from yesterday. it was a beautiful day for a walk . . . the entire site covers about 80 sq. km.s we saw a number of small buildings and then the jungle pathway opened to the pyramid itself . . . very cool sight! i hope some of our pics will upload successfuly when we get to oaxaca. it was about 135 feet tall and still in pretty good shape. nellie, the 'more girlie' as you will remember had to go to the top. all over this site there is evidence of the restoration work that has been done. you can see where a wall has been rebuilt by the row or line of tiny, flat stones that are cleverly inserted by the archeologists to mark the division of the old and the new but so as not to take away from the overall look. it was worth the trip. however, leaving was another thing as we had to run a gauntlet of salespeople hawking 'authentic mayan' souvenirs.
the best part of the day was still ahead. we took a back road to several of the cenotes here. they still put topes on these roads, the mexicans love their speed bumps even on what resembles a poorly repaired logging road. we finally made it to the first cenote and saw a simple hole in the ground which turned out to be a circular stairway winding down about 50 feet to a cave complete with stalactites and tree roots growing into the rocks and some of the clearest water i've ever seen . . . the water was about 50 feet deep. we stood there awestruck. we took tons of pics but i'm not sure a camera can do justice to the size of the cavern and really no camera can replicate what the human eye can see. we travelled a few more miles down the road to the other cenote and after walking down a steep circular stairway (79 steps) we found ourselves in a cavern about 3 times the size of the last one. the water here was also 50 feet deep and we could see every rock on the bottom. no fish in these so the water comes through the limestone rocks from underground rivers.
the yucatan is flat . . . like saskatchewan flat. the nearest mountains are two hours away by plane so there are no rivers above ground as there is no runoff . . . everything happens underground and this area is well known for caving and cave diving. there are cenotes scattered all over the area . . . but of course, not all are as spectacular as what we saw today. knowing what i know now i would consider a trip here just to explore more of the cenotes.
we took the afternoon off to chill in the pool outside our room. then walked into the village of macario gomez for a supper of panuchos and diet coke at what has become our favorite little family run food stand. in canada, we love our dogs and often people will spend mega bucks buying then, feeding them and sending them to obedience school. in mexico they are almost all strays, their tails are down and they are very wary of humans. while we were eating outside, this beautiful little brown dog came close to our table . . . certainly not bothering us or begging . . . just hoping for a few scraps. a small boy of about 4 or 5 yrs old, perhaps the son of the lady who made our supper, throws a rock at the poor mutt and off he ran. the kids learn that early here.
when we were at the ruins at ek balam the other day there were a few strays and one was a bitch in heat. as we sat at the top of the palace we noticed she crawled in under a palapa roof (covering some of the restoration work) to cool down from the midday heat. we were about 30 metres high on the main temple. as we started down we noticed a young male looking for a date and he tried to crawl under the palapa with the female. a few steps past the dogs we heard what sounded like the male dying a slow painful death, obviously the female bit him and he took off down the steps at hyperspeed. i was sure he was going to fall and die but as he skidded past us yelping he started to ski down the steps with of course his hind legs, his butt and attachments hitting every step on the way down. he is a trooper though, as we were leaving the ruins he was back trying his best to get lucky . . .
we decided to visit the coba ruins today, not just for the ruins but we were told there were some very cool cenotes out that way. the downside is that the area is on the map for every tour bus and tourist in the area . . . damn tourists! well, except for us lol. coba, which means 'waters stirred by the wind' is about 25 minutes from our b&b. after paying our entrance fee we decided to forgo the pay and push bicycle routine from yesterday. it was a beautiful day for a walk . . . the entire site covers about 80 sq. km.s we saw a number of small buildings and then the jungle pathway opened to the pyramid itself . . . very cool sight! i hope some of our pics will upload successfuly when we get to oaxaca. it was about 135 feet tall and still in pretty good shape. nellie, the 'more girlie' as you will remember had to go to the top. all over this site there is evidence of the restoration work that has been done. you can see where a wall has been rebuilt by the row or line of tiny, flat stones that are cleverly inserted by the archeologists to mark the division of the old and the new but so as not to take away from the overall look. it was worth the trip. however, leaving was another thing as we had to run a gauntlet of salespeople hawking 'authentic mayan' souvenirs.
the best part of the day was still ahead. we took a back road to several of the cenotes here. they still put topes on these roads, the mexicans love their speed bumps even on what resembles a poorly repaired logging road. we finally made it to the first cenote and saw a simple hole in the ground which turned out to be a circular stairway winding down about 50 feet to a cave complete with stalactites and tree roots growing into the rocks and some of the clearest water i've ever seen . . . the water was about 50 feet deep. we stood there awestruck. we took tons of pics but i'm not sure a camera can do justice to the size of the cavern and really no camera can replicate what the human eye can see. we travelled a few more miles down the road to the other cenote and after walking down a steep circular stairway (79 steps) we found ourselves in a cavern about 3 times the size of the last one. the water here was also 50 feet deep and we could see every rock on the bottom. no fish in these so the water comes through the limestone rocks from underground rivers.
the yucatan is flat . . . like saskatchewan flat. the nearest mountains are two hours away by plane so there are no rivers above ground as there is no runoff . . . everything happens underground and this area is well known for caving and cave diving. there are cenotes scattered all over the area . . . but of course, not all are as spectacular as what we saw today. knowing what i know now i would consider a trip here just to explore more of the cenotes.
we took the afternoon off to chill in the pool outside our room. then walked into the village of macario gomez for a supper of panuchos and diet coke at what has become our favorite little family run food stand. in canada, we love our dogs and often people will spend mega bucks buying then, feeding them and sending them to obedience school. in mexico they are almost all strays, their tails are down and they are very wary of humans. while we were eating outside, this beautiful little brown dog came close to our table . . . certainly not bothering us or begging . . . just hoping for a few scraps. a small boy of about 4 or 5 yrs old, perhaps the son of the lady who made our supper, throws a rock at the poor mutt and off he ran. the kids learn that early here.
when we were at the ruins at ek balam the other day there were a few strays and one was a bitch in heat. as we sat at the top of the palace we noticed she crawled in under a palapa roof (covering some of the restoration work) to cool down from the midday heat. we were about 30 metres high on the main temple. as we started down we noticed a young male looking for a date and he tried to crawl under the palapa with the female. a few steps past the dogs we heard what sounded like the male dying a slow painful death, obviously the female bit him and he took off down the steps at hyperspeed. i was sure he was going to fall and die but as he skidded past us yelping he started to ski down the steps with of course his hind legs, his butt and attachments hitting every step on the way down. he is a trooper though, as we were leaving the ruins he was back trying his best to get lucky . . .
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