Monday was excursion day. That meant we got up early to be picked up by the luxury tour van and our tour guide Oscar. Oscar was friendly and enthusiastic. He also spoke slow and clear in Spanish so I understood almost everything he said. He translated into English for us and referred to us constantly as La Familia de San Jose, Californai.
Our first stop was the ruins in Tulum. Tom and I visited Tulum 15 years ago when we were in this area with my dad and stepmom. See...Frida everywhere.
Tour guide Oscar pointed out some of the features of archaeological site. He tried to keep us in the shade because it was really hot.
After about 30 minutes, Oscar set us off on our own. I asked him to snap our picture before we went exploring.
Did I mention it was hot?
So miserably hot. You can see their perseveranc is fading fast. Like a flower wilting in the blazing Mexican sun.
There came a point where they had to just give up and seek out shade. I have a vivid childhood memory of being similarly tortured at
Chichen Itza (Mayan Ruins also located in the Yucatan).
The kids found some fun in the shade.
Tom and I took turns exploring more and taking selfies.
I convinced them to brave the sun a little more but it was quickly back to the shade.
Of course Serafina can't resist a gymnastic photo op.
Ah, sweet sweet shade.
Final torture before heading back to the wonderfully air-conditioned tour van.
Seaweed.
Our next stop was a
cenote, which is an underground river. There are several in the Yucatan Peninsula and they are very popular, but this one was operated by the tour company so it was just our group in the water for our visit. Of course the tour had their own photographer for this part of the trip and of course we had to get the pictures.
Here we are walking down the path to the cenote.
Near the opening to the cenote, a Mayan performed a blessing in his native tongue to protect us in the cenote.
Here we are listening intently even though we don't speak Mayan.
He sprinkled some water in our hands and we had to touch it to our foreheads, hearts and knees.
Then we needed to breath in the smoke created from burning amber.
La familia de San Jose, California.
We had the option to jump in or walk into the cenote. Leo chose to jump and he went first out of the group.
Tom was right behind him.
Cenotes are cold, usually around 72 degrees, especially compared to the warm ocean and pool water we were spoiled with all trip.
They are also extremely dark. Oscar lead the group with a flashlight and we were close behind him so it didn't get too dark for us.
I still was a little spooked since I'm not a fan of enclosed spaces.
After the cenote, we had lunch in the jungle and then loaded back into the van for some snorkeling in Yal-Ku lagoon near Akumal beach. Fresh cenote water mixes with ocean water and lots of fish hang out. It was a good spot for snorkeling. By the time we were returned to our hotel we were pretty beat. It was a great day though.
