Hola Mexico

As winter still lingers in Seattle in April, hubby and I had a warm break in the “sunny always” Yucatan Peninsula. We had a wonderful time trekking through Mayan ruins, snorkeling in caves, sampling tortillas, sipping margaritas …We also discovered a sad fact that Yucatan isn’t sunny all the time. It was supposed to be dry season now, but it seemed to rain more than Seattle when we were there. But we were glad that most of the rain dropped while we were in the car, in the resort or at a restaurant. We even got a pretty good tan in the less than ideal sunny condition.

We flew in Cancun and stayed in Playa Del Carmon (Playa means: beach in Spanish). All the signs along the road shifted to Spanish from English right away. I was in a total loss. It was a miracle yet a bless that my hubby figured out everything even though he never took a day of Spanish. Some locals even complimented his pronunciation. LOL.

We visited three ruins: Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza. All of them are truly impressive, but we seemed to like Chichen Itza the most, then Coba and then Tulum.

Chichen Itza is in the inland of Yucatan. It was a good 3 hour drive from Playa Del Carmen if you are lucky about finding the entrance to the highway. The roads in Mexico are not well marked and the few marked ones are in Spanish, which doesn't help either. But if you have a husband who has a GPS built in, finding where you need to go is a piece of cake.  My hubby is certainly a road hero! Chichen Itza welcomed us with beatufiul sunshine and amazing classic Mayan architectures. We were blown away by how well preserved and restored most of the ruins are. We were also impressed by the variety of buildings at Chichen Itza - a gorgeous pyramid, two beautiful ball courts, an intricate observatory, a huge nunnery,  a stunning warrior temple with 1000 columns, an astonishing platform carved with countless skulls, a sacred cenote (sink hole) used to scarifice people for the god, and many other smaller-scale buildings. It's a shame that all the buildings are closed for visitors, so we can't climb or go inside of any of them any more. Our guide told us that The inside of some of the buildings is covered with beautiful colorful carvings just like their surface. The carvings tell the story of how Mayan played their brutal ball game, how they made their offering to the god, etc. Our guide was very knowledgeable in Mayan culture and history. He even featured in NatGeo Maya program. He is a native Mayan who can speak Spanish, English, Mayan and Italian. He nicely explained to us how the Mayan calendar works and cleared our doubts on whether 2012 was the end of the world like some Hollywood movie depicted. Just to you know Mayans never said that 2012 is the end of the World! Never! Have a long and good plan for your life.

Our #2 favorite is Coba. Coba is less recommended by travel books, because it is the least reconstructed major ruin site and some stone sculptures have worn off and have become impossible to make out. We actually found Coba especially interesting because of its rustic look and thick surrounding jungle. The site of Coba is large and spread out. The best way to visit them is to ride a bicycle like what we did. Coba holds three beautiful pyramids and two almost intact ball courts. We fell love with Coba the moment we set our feet on the hundreds of year old staircases of the pyramids. Nohuch Mul pyramid is the tallest one in the Yucatan Peninsula (58 feet).  Using both hands and feet, stepping on the narrow and worn out staircase, we climbed all the way up to the top of Nohuch Mul pyramid. The entire Yucantan Peninsula was below us. We saw jungle covered pyramid poking up through the thick forest canopy all around, which was a highlight of our day.

Our # 3 favorite, #1 favorite to many other travelers, is Tulum. It's a stunning small site that perches on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean. Tulum doesn't hold any pyramids, but its structures have their own beauty. Quite a few of them are covered with stucco. We really liked the Temple of Frescoes,  which contains interesting colorful wall paintings. We started our visit to Tulum in the rain, but half way into the trip, the sun broke the clouds and came out. Every stone seemed to shine in the sun. There is a stretch of white sandy beach nearby. Although we didn't bring swimming suit, we still jumped in and got our feet wet.

In Yucatan, you can swim not only in the ocean, but also in cenotes - fresh water sink holes. Just imagine swimming in water-eroded caves. We were amazed by how clear and blue the water is. We snorkeled at Dos Oojs (Two eyes) - two cenotes with connected underground water channel. The water temperature stays 24/72 degrees all year long. It might be a bit chilly when you first dip in. but once you put your head in the water, you will be distracted by beautiful underground stone pillars and swarms of little fishes. The water was so blue that I almost forgot I was snorkeling in the fresh water not in the ocean. My skin felt soft and smooth after the swim, because cenote water is very rich in minerals. I just love it!




Mexico is still fairly poor in economy. It reminds me of the China when I was a child, kids playing in the dirt, parents working in the fields, police men manually control traffic lights in the middle of the roads... But Mexico is certainly rich in culture - its Mayan heritage and Spanish influence. Walking in the street of Mexico is like walking in colors, cars are of all kinds of colors, so are the buildings. Food is rich in flavor. Shredded pork with tortilla was our favorite! A must try! Beer is the most successful Mexican export. Mexico is the hometown to Corona, Sol, Superior and Dos Equis. We found time to sample them all.

We loved every bit of our trip. If you are interested in going and looking for travel tip, shoot us an email and let us know. For more pics, click here.