The Ancient Mayans

Beckett really limited the excursions we could take while in Mexico. No zip lines, scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming with dolphins or in cenotes for us--all of which sounded awesome. Luckily taking Beckett to see the Mayan ruins was no more difficult than hanging out with him at the hotel, and seeing these impressive structures would have been at the top of our to do list even without a 15-month-old in tow. Having Beckett along did force us to forgo the official hotel sponsored tours. The tour for Chichen Itza, for instance, left at 7am and didn't return until 10pm so there was no way we were doing that. Instead we rented a car, and it was great to have the freedom to come and go as we pleased.

On Sunday we went to visit Tulum, located about an hour south of our hotel on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. A port city for the Mayans, now Tulum is basically an absolutely gorgeous beach with some impressive ruins. The locals were all there to swim.
We didn't take a tour at Tulum because of The Little B and written information was rather sparse with poor English translations. About all I know is that Tulum's heyday was from 1200-1581 AD and that Tulum was a major link in the Mayan's extensive trade network which transporting items to and from the inland Mayan cities to locations as far south as Guatemala.
Beckett runs through the jungle.
We saw lots of lizards. This one out distanced Beckett in a thrice.
The iguana was much slower. Beckett probably could have caught him if I had allowed it.
This was the wheel chair ramp. Steep and threatened by the encroaching flora.
Tulum's castillo or light house. Blue sky and blue ocean.
The next morning we left at 6:30am for Chichen Itza. For once we weren't too sad that Beckett got up at 5:20am. The drive to Chichen Itza from our hotel took almost 3 hours, but the roads were nice, the traffic was sparse, and we beat the tour buses.

We took a tour at Chichen Itza from a local who spoke great English and was willing to be flexible with our limitations (read: a demanding toddler). Here's our tour guide talking about the Observatory.
The Observatory is in the older section of Chichen Itza, which Nate and I really liked. Chichen Itza rose to prominence around 600 AD and fell around 1000 AD. It's considerable older than Tulum and Nate and I decided that these were some of the oldest, if not the oldest, structures we had ever seen.

I think that Nate is standing in front of the Temple of the Priest--named such because archeologists thought that's where the priests lived, although now we know that was probably not the case.
Also in the older section of the city stands this building that was one of my favorites.
Luckily when we got to Chichen Itza Beckett was asleep and for the first 20 minutes or so of the tour he lounged in his stroller not sure he was ready to wake up. Then he woke up for good resulting in the following shots which I like to call: baby wanders through ruins (and pulls everything out from under the stroller).
Beckett had a great time at Chichen Itza. It doesn't take much to entertain this kid, just some water and a bench. It was so hot that we didn't make him wear his shorts.
In the newest section of the city we saw the Temple of Warriors. Each pillar is meant to symbolize a soldier.
We also saw the ball court.
Here the Mayans played an intense game where two teams had to get balls through these hoops. The games ended with a human sacrifice, but we don't know if it was the losers or the victors who became the sacrificial victims. Because Mayans believed in reincarnation, some scholars think that being sacrificed was actually an honor worth competing for.
We also saw the famous temple to Kukulcan or Queztalcoatl, the feathered serpent.
At the base of each staircase are two serpent heads.
During the equinox shadows form on the staircases making it appear as if the feathered snakes are undulating. It was actually the fall equinox while we were there, but we didn't stick around for the light show. And we were happy not to.
Here's the troops in front of the pyramid.
We spent about two hours at Chichen Itza before we got back in the car. Beckett slept most of the way home after devouring a hot dog, and we were back to the hotel in time to spend two hours at the ocean before heading to our dinner reservation. Chichen Itza was well worth the effort it took to get there.

PS. Although everyone (including all the locals) told us it was extraordinarily hot at Chichen Itza, we thought, and our tour guide agreed, that Tulum was hotter.

Swimming in Mexico

Nate, Beckett, and I took a trip to Cancun this September. Nate's brother, Aaron, and his wife, Brooke, and the two kids, Keontay and Daysha, met us there.

I had never stayed at an all-inclusive resort before, and, for me, it was great because finding food on vacations stresses me out. Everyone is hungry, you are in unfamiliar territory, you are trying to pack in as many sites as possible, you can't find a decent place to eat. On this vacation that was never a problem. Another benefit of the buffet was that there was always something that Beckett would eat, even if the only thing he'd put in his mouth that night was french fries.

Our room overlooked the pool. We had a second floor balcony. The first floor room walked right out into the pool.
From our balcony, one afternoon, we looked out and saw Aaron and Brooke and the kids swimming away. They performed some tricks for us.

Keontay made a new friend named Sam.
Beckett loves swimming so he had a great time in Mexico. Here he is in the baby pool.
And playing on the steps in the big pool.
The boys enjoyed their strawberry and pineapple slushes.
I shared mine with Beckett.
The hotel had a beautiful courtyard with lots of fountains (yes we had to practice constant vigilance everywhere we went).
Beckett loved this fountain best. He washed a bunch of the rocks.
In our room, after a full day, Beckett read himself a book.
Here's a coatimundi strolling through the hotel grounds. We also saw an iguana near this same spot, a couple of frogs, lots of interesting birds, and a huge red crab who was lost and in the swimming pool.
The ocean was just a short walk, and the beach was gorgeous--beautiful, white sand and shallow, warm water.

Keontay snagged this pumice that was floating in the waves.
The big kids built several sand castles.
Beckett loved the ocean. He would run into the waves laughing and laughing. It was a good workout for everyone.
Every once in a while Beckett would take a welcome break from all the running and swimming to play in the sand.
After all that hard work Beckett was worn out. On the day this picture was taken Beckett fell asleep in his high chair at dinner. Certainly not a normal occurrence for him.
Every morning while we were in Mexico Beckett woke up between 5 and 6am. We weren't always too pleased with the early morning schedule (especially since breakfast didn't open until 7am), but on our last morning in Mexico we took advantage of the early wake up call and went down to the beach for the sunrise.


This little device may deserve the MVP award for the trip. We had three Super Why episodes and Beckett watched them over and over again--on the airplane, when he was ready to leave the dining hall but we were still eating, when he wanted to get out the stroller but we still had a long walk ahead of us. Hip, hip hooray the iPod Nano saves the day!
The trip was a lovely end-of-the-summer hoorah. We came back to fall and cooler temperatures.

Next time: Our day trips to the Mayan ruins.