The Best Day in Mexico-Part 3

We slip into plastic chairs at the roadside restaurant we visited this morning.  

There are no novel length Cheesecake Factory menus; in fact, there are no menus at all. We are never told the name of the restaurant, but to the locals it is the place with the pork. If you come here, you are coming for one thing, yummy pork tacos.

A server sets down a bowl of salsa, and a plate of chopped red onions and lime wedges for the table to share.  

A basket of fresh warm tortillas are set down. We each get a large bowl of slow cooked black beans and a plate of pork. 

Then the assembling begins. 

I’m not exactly sure if the black beans are meant to be a side dish, or if they go on the tacos, but after watching our tour companions assemble their tacos and then dip them in the beans, I decide to follow suit. 

The food is delicious, as only fresh food that you witnessed being made by careful loving hands could be. The salsa is particularly good. It is milder than I expected. The slow roasting gives it a deep, warm, smoky flavor with a slightly creamy texture. I clear my plate and then use a spoon to gobble up the remaining black beans.  The portion size was perfect. I’m satisfied but not stuffed.

Our next stop is the most touristy part of the tour. It is a stop at a tequila distillery complete with a  tequila tasting.  

I’m sure this is a highlight for the spring breaker college kids, but we’re not big tequila drinkers. Since it seems like some kind of Mexican law that all tourists must have at least one embarrassing wearing a sombrero picture, we feel the need to oblige with the tour guide’s insistence that we wear sombreros for the duration of the tour.  

Our tour guide from the distillery is quite the character and continues to encourage the taking of silly pictures as we learn how agave plants are turned into the main ingredient for margaritas.

Our final tour stop is the town of Valladolid. 

I love Spanish Colonial towns. Their brightly painted buildings and delicate architecture makes me want to take a million pictures.  

We consider going to the ATM to extract some money, but the ATM line is wrapped around the building, so we content ourselves with walking around the closest town plaza. 

  I have an affinity for town/city squares and plazas, they make my heart happy.  

On this day there happens to be some sort of event going on so there are extra vendors and things to look at. 

While walking around the plaza, we are approached by a young girl with a guitar.  

She strums a few chords, then launches into a song.  She is quickly joined by a young man with an accordion and an older man with a guitar. I assume they are family, but it is clear that the girl is the star of the show.  Her voice is beautiful. She is not merely singing a song, she is singing her soul.  

For a moment time stands still as I take it all in, the lovely colonial plaza, the passion etched on this little girl’s face as she serenades us, the smell of the vendors’ food wafting through the air, the moment buries itself into my brain, never to be forgotten.

We give the girl something for her song and she moves on. Before it's time to leave, we take one last lap around the plaza and purchase some coconut ice cream from a jovial vendor. 

Like the van ride on the way there, the van ride back is quiet.  I don’t mind. I take time to begin organizing the experiences of the day into future words. 

Celio drops us off at the ferry and we bid him farewell.  It seems more like days, not hours since we were here last.  The air is pleasant and cooling so we take seats on the outside benches at the top of the ferry.  

As the ferry skims across the water to Holbox island, the daytime sky melts into the most beautiful mixture of purples, oranges, and pinks. Not only did we just have the best day, but we are graced with a gorgeous sunset at the end…though it really isn’t quite the end…yet. 

The Best Day in Mexico-Part 2

We leave Chichen Itza as the sun starts to bake our skin.  It wasn’t very hot when we arrived this morning, but it is certainly hot by the time we exit.  A swim would be refreshing just about now. We’re in luck because we’re headed to cenote Ik Kil.

A cenote (see-no-tay) is a large sink hole. They were one of the reasons the region was so valued by the Mayans and conquer worthy for the Aztecs. Water was an important commodity.  

There are many cenotes in Mexico that have been turned into tourist attractions/swimming holes.  Different tour companies take guests to different cenotes. One of the reasons I chose Holbox Adventures was because they take guests to cenote Ik Kil. 

As soon as the van parks, we know that we are in for something special.  The grounds are lovely. Palm leaves dangle lazily from trees. Delicate pink and red flowers pop out from well manicured bushes.

One of the pluses of cenote Ik Kil is their facilities; clean and ample.  We split up and head into changing rooms to put on our swimsuits.  For a few dollars we rent a locker to ensure that our clothes stay dry. 

At the request of the cenote, we rinse off to remove anything (sunscreen, hairspray, etc) on our bodies that might contaminate the cenote’s ecosystem. 

We make our way down the stone tunneled stairs 

stopping for a moment to gawk at the view below.  The sight is magical. Pictures really can’t convey how cool it is to see the hanging vines reaching down to the greenish-blue water.

At the bottom, steps carved into stone advance to the jumping/diving ledges.  

I’m not feeling the call to the challenge, so I make my way to one of the ladders.  

The water is chilly but I waste no time and submerge my whole body.  It was the right thing to do because the water quickly transitions from icy to refreshing.  I splash around. I swim back and forth under the waterfall because it’s super fun. It makes me giggle.

Little grey fish skillfully dart around my body, never coming into contact with my skin. When you are in a pool you always have the ability to find an area where you can touch down/stand, but not in the cenote. It's deep, deep, deep. I imagine that it could be a little disconcerting for those who are not experienced swimmers. 

Shannon and I switch spots for a moment so we can get pictures, then we tuck our stuff in a safe corner and swim together until it seems like it must be time to go.  

This is the best day. I take it all in for one last moment. I’m sad that I must leave this beautiful place and I wish that it wasn't so far away. How nice it would be to hop over to the cenote on any old Saturday for a nice refreshing swim. 

We change back into our dry clothes and make our way to the van. I suddenly hear a rumbling sound in my stomach. Swimming really works up an appetite and as fortune would have it, lunch is our very next stop. 

Neil Gaiman Gives me Arm Tingles

There are three writers who inspire me the most to write, Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, and Aaron Starmer.  I love their vast, bizarre, crazy imaginations. If you are a writer you might be familiar with the feeling.  You read something by a writer or you hear a writer speak and it begins, an effervescent feeling in your brain like a glass of newly poured soda.  The feeling moves from your head, down your neck, then into your shoulder.  From your shoulder it rests briefly in your elbow before swirling its way to your wrist. Finally the tingles seep into your hand, to your very finger tips. You know that if you cannot find a pen, or a keyboard, a hammer and chisel, your arm will explode .  That is how the above mentioned writers make me feel.

Now unless I encounter him in zombie or ghost form, there is no possibility of meeting Roald Dahl. I've not only met Aaron Starmer, but I have had the extreme fortune of having him as a teacher for a writing class. Then there is Neil Gaiman. It seemed that every time there was a chance to hear him speak, something would happen, and the opportunity would slip through my fingers.  The more missed chances, the higher Neil Gaiman rose on my bucket list, so as you can imagine, I practically sprained my fingers to acquire tickets when I saw that he would be speaking at The Tower Theater in Pennsylvania. 

During the evening Neil worked back and forth between answering audience questions (written on note cards prior to the show's start), and reading from his works.  He is a marvelous storyteller, which is what makes him such a marvelous writer.  Every question that he answered elicited a beautifully crafted story, from his first encounter with Terry Pratchett to meeting Benedict Cumberbatch (if only you could have seen the joy on my face during that one).  

Some of my favorites from the evening-

Favorite personal life story- Neil explained that when he was 11, he dreamed about finding a parallel universe where he existed, but J.R.R Tolkien did not. He would bring Lord of the Rings with him to that universe, commit a robbery, then use the money to hire an adult to re-type Lord of the Rings. He would then have to kill that adult, and then he could pass off the Lord of the Rings manuscript as his own.  This is when he had second thoughts about being a writer, because it seemed like rather bloody work.

Favorite story about his own writing- He explained how Coraline was inspired by a story his  daughter used to tell him when she was five.

Favorite piece of writing advice- An 11 year old asked what advice did Neil have for an 11 year old who wants to be an author.  Neil first stated, read everything. He then went on to say that built up in your arm are about 100,000 rubbish words. What you have to do is write them out.  You must write, and write, and write, and write so that all of those rubbish words can move down your arm and out. Eventually  when all of the rubbish words have moved out of your arm, the good words will work their way down and onto your page.

Things to be excited about- Something that sounds like a show or mini-series that will air on BBC (he couldn't give details yet), working with Bryan Fuller on the American Gods television series, and another episode of Doctor Who because he promised Peter Capaldi he would write an episode for him (though not this season).  

I could have listened to Neil Gaiman speak all night, and not just because of his cool accent or his kind of Alan Rickmanish melodic tone. Everything that he said was smart, funny, and inspiring. Hopefully my writing tingles from experiencing this incredible evening will last far into the future.  

The Best Day in Mexico - Part 1

Bring-bring-brinnnnnnnning

I jolt awake. My arm flails around the nightstand searching for the phone.

"Hello."

"Mumble, mumble, mumble."

"Um....okay, thanks." I have no idea what the person on the other line said, but since we requested the wake up call, I imagine it was something like, wake up sleepy gringos.  

We tumble out of bed, dress, then head outside.

The sky is still dark, the resort paths are guest free. In the lobby we are greeted by a representative from Holbox Adventure. We climb into a vehicle that reminds me of the vehicles at the Dinosaur ride in Disney's Animal Kingdom.  The driver drops us off at the ferry. Ferry tickets are placed in our hands along with an envelope. We are instructed to hand the envelope over to Celio who will be waiting for us on the other side.

The ferry is a happening place at the crack of dawn. Before we can board we must wait for the ferry to be unloaded. Boxes brimming with avocados, bags filled with tortillas, and cases of soda are carried off the boat then stacked into organized piles. Local island businesses arrive and load up their golf carts with their needed goods. 

We are finally given the all clear to board.

On the other side we diligently hand the envelope over to the young man who introduces himself as Celio. He escorts us to a large comfortable van. We take the seats in the very back.  There is another couple from the United States joining us on the tour. They are not chatty, and seem interested in keeping to themselves, so the long van ride passes quietly.

Just before reaching our destination, the van stops. A gregarious man, who introduces himself as Jose, climbs into the passenger seat.  Jose will be our tour guide for the day. He wastes no time and plunges into disseminating information about the area.

Jose announces that he wants us to see our lunch being made, so we stop by a little roadside restaurant. Inside a wooden building a woman is using a long spoon to stir a huge metal pan of slowly roasting tomatoes. Three little girls, the oldest looks no older than eight, sit around a low table. A mountain of dough looms on the table's center. The girls use their small hands to pat down  balls of dough, then they use wooden dowels to transform the dough into flat tortillas. When we enter, the girls erupt into giggles, quiet, cast glances at us, and dissolve into giggles again.  I wish I had taken a photo, but in the moment it seemed too intrusive.

We load back into the van and finally arrive at Chichen Itza.

It's still early. We have arrived ahead of the larger tour groups/buses. Jose encourages us to hustle so we can remain well ahead of the soon to arrive crowds.

Our first stop is the main temple.

Like all of the other tour guides, Jose claps his  hands to demonstrate the echo. The temple was built so that when someone stood at the top, their voice could be amplified for all the people to hear. We hear the other guides clapping throughout the morning.

One of the best things about having a tour guide is having someone to take your picture

Jose was an amazing guide. Not only did he posses a wealth of Mayan information, you could feel his passion for Mayan history and culture oozing out of him with every word.

Jose

Mayan Fun Facts

- Some of the Mayans were very smart and figured out things like how solar/lunar eclipses worked and when they would happen. They kept this information to themselves, then when an eclipse happened they gathered all of the people together and pretended that they were the ones who made the moon or the sun disappear. The people thought that they were awesome magical gods instead of mere mortals and both feared and revered them. Super clever. 

The Observatory

- There was once a Mayan Queen named Fire Macaw (that would be my name too if I was a Mayan Queen). We got to see her office.

The office of Fire Macaw

-The Mayans played a game that involved putting a ball through a high hoop without using their hands. The players of the game would dress up like their favorite fierce animal. Some would be eagles, or leopards, or snakes. Sometimes instead of going to war, disputes were settled by playing the game. 

Game hoop

Ball Court

- The Mayans practiced human sacrifice. Instead of sacrificing weak virgins like other cultures, the Mayans sacrificed the best athlete or the strongest warrior. It was a great honor to be sacrificed. The sacrifice would be placed on an alter in front of everyone. A very skilled person would then use a knife to remove the still beating heart from the sacrifice and hold it up for everyone to see. The sacrifice was supposed to ensure that the sun continued to burn.

-The Mayans enjoyed their theatrics. There would be ceremonies and parties that included a lot of dressing in costumes, dancing, and pyrotechnics. They figured out a way to make the building's carved snakes breath actual fire. 

Our visit to Chichen Itza was great. Even when we had to walk through the pathways of vendors selling trinkets and souvenirs. 

I would suggest hiring a guide or going on a tour as Jose was able to tell us information, like interpreting the carvings on the buildings, that we would not have known if we just casually visited on our own. I'm glad we booked with Holbox Adventure. With only four of us on the tour, we were able to see everything at the site before it got too crowed. 

The carvings on the walls were used to record and tell the story of epic city evens

Some people might argue that Chichen Itza is a bit touristy, but that is no reason not to see it.  It's not the Mayan's fault that they built something truly spectacular. I'm sure they didn't think that someday people from all over the world would arrive in buses and vans to marvel at their history and architecture. I'm forever grateful that the ruins site is something we got to experience and  see with our eyeballs in person.

 As we boarded the van we had to exclaim,

"This is the best day!"