We rented someone's condo for a pretty cheap rate, and it actually turned out to be perfect for what we wanted. We weren't surrounded by all the big resorts, but rather quieter, smaller condos and hotels. Because we weren't by everything, it meant we were limited to the places we could eat. There were really only two places by the condo, and so for the first night we went to one of them and it was decent. The scenery made it great though.
For our first adventure, we went to the ruins of Coba. This ended up being a longer drive than I anticipated, but it all worked out. We got the tour through Xcaret, which is a tour company that my coworker had used, and it's really the main tour guide business in the area. We wanted to do Coba because it's one of the remaining ruins that you can climb on. It was pretty steep, but we made it to the top pretty quick. I also forgot to mention that it was crazy hot and humid. Don't go to Mexico in the middle of the summer.
The way down you had to be a little more careful.
We were then taken to the ball court, where apparently according to some researchers the captain of the winning team is decapitated and sacrificed. I know I wouldn't have a problem riding a long losing streak.
As you can tell in this picture, the heat is starting to get to us, and Emily is really forcing those smiles now.
And this is the point where she decided she was done.
To save us from the heat we were taken to Xel-Ha, which is a water park where you can float down a lazy river, jump from cliffs, zip-line into the water, or pay extra and swim with dolphins. There are no pictures with dolphins, so it should be obvious that we didn't pay the extra $100 to do it.
Our room was right on the ocean, and everyday we made the walk down to the beach and relaxed in the water. Some days there were a lot of waves, and other days there weren't so many. The waves were fun.
We took a day to go into what's considered the downtown of Cancun and walked through their market, and then over to Wal-Mart for the real stuff. We stopped off for lunch at a little restaurant that said it was supposedly 100% Mexican. It really wasn't, but still good.
Saturday we went on another excursion through Xcaret, this time to Chichen-Itza. This was the one I was really excited about. I took a couple mesoamerican history classes in college as part of my major, and this site was one of the main focuses of those classes. It was pretty impressive.
The heat really got to us again during this tour.
When they found the pyramid, a lot of the parts had been missing, mostly taken by people to build their houses. So they've only been able to restore about half of it. This picture shows what it looked like when it was discovered (left-side) and what it looks like after restoration (right-side).
Again with the forced smiles.
The heat and humidity got to the point where we had to sit in the shade for a while to regroup. I haggled with one of the vendors and bought this kickin' fan for Emily. It saved her life.
After Chichen-Itza we were taken to a small town called Valladolid, which has a lot of colonial influence from the Spaniards. Here we were treated to another buffet. By this point Emily was all taco'd out, and had a plate of potato wedges.
To finish off the trip, we were taken to a cenote in the middle of another town close by. With the package that we got, we couldn't swim, and they said it was mostly because they didn't think it was clean enough. That didn't stop a lot of people from getting in though.
The other place to eat by our condo was a little taco shack right on the water. They pretty much only had fish tacos. I'm not one for seafood or fish tacos, but these were pretty awesome. Probably because they were fried.
That pretty much wraps up our trip. It was definitely fun, heat and all. Felt like we packed a lot of stuff in the few days we were there, but felt accomplished as we flew away.
Glad you were able to have a good trip while she is still willing to humor you. Take advantage of it while it lasts, because it doesn't last long.
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