Mexi photos

the link contains very disorganized photos of the mexico trip, and Mattan. not sure how the disorde occured..

 

enjoy

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5969136558182985169?authkey=CLjcpIbI5omXHA

 

 

on jumping, elements and rice water

for our last full day in Cancun, we took a Cenote tour. Cenote means cave with water in Mayan. since we saw a cenote the previous day (and loved it) we didn't know what this day would bring. but this tour had 4 cenotes with activities. the tour bus comes on time and leaves with no delay, and after the delay of the other company the previous day, we already like this tour. the guide explains everything in English and Spanish and after not so long we reach the 1st cenote. each Cenote here is dedicated to an element and we begin with the earth one i think. we disembark the van , put on life preservers, helmets and rappel gear, climb stairs to a platform on a big tree and soon we rappel down to the cave. I try the hands free approach and move away just before my head hits some edge and descend down to the water which is cool but not cold. we climbed out of the water and take our rappel gear off and jump back in. this cave has stalactites , but no visible stalagmites (since there is 10 meters of water...) and massive roots from the jungle above drink from the cenote as well. bats live in the cave and we swim over to see them, while they were not happy for the wake up call. the cat fish in the water was probably not pleased and went to find a mice fish to chase. we got out of the water and used the platform to dive back in close to ten times, i just love it. we cant stay there for very long but we get a warm up snack of bananas, unique hot chocolate made of corn and some other things which is thick and warming and rice water, which is exactly what it sounds but has sugar so it is quite good. we hop on the van and move to the next Cenote. this one is already a collapsed one, this an old one, thin of a medium size pond with jungle all around, water lilies and bright blue skies. just beautiful. and from edge to edge, the edges are about 8 meters higher then the water, a zip line is connected. this place would not be possible in the US, a zip line without being tide. you get on the zip fly across the cenote and choose to jump when ever you want! we do it 3 times, the water here are warmer then the last with no visible fish (they went after the mice fish). Alla also jumps in with no fear. at the end we can jump of the platform directly in, this is high but awesome.

for the next cenote, we walk down a shot man made cave and get to a channel with kayaks. this is a man made channel , but we don't notice it at first since it is so pretty. we kayak in this channel for 20-30 minutes and enjoy the sights, splash the other kayaks and have fun. this channel connects to the Cenotes' and uses their water. this place feels like a movie Scene. we leave the kayaks at the end, put snorkels on and dive to a cenote. this is not seawater so we don't have corrals, but lots of under water lilies, snails and plant life.

 

we leave the 3rd cenote and get a nice buffet lunch, go to the bathroom for the eight time today. the cold water activate my kidneys. and we had for the last cenote that begins with a smaller zip line, followed by a channel that we swim for fifteen minutes and a platfrom, high one to jump in at the end. i must jump 10 times, and this is a high one. i do get some bruises but it is worth it. we have another family with us that participated in everything and the high jump the young kid, age 9, jumps and lands poorly on his back. no damage just pain, if you ever landed badly on water you know how it feels. 

 

we finished this exiting amazingly pretty cenote tour and returned to the hotel.its the after noon and we rested  bit then went to the Italian place which seems fancy but was very snotty with stuck up waiters. then we joined the main crowd for more dancing and soon the night was over.

 

morning came too quickly and we headed for the airport and arrived 3 hours ahead and did a shopping tour of the airport (and got nothing!!! achievement). this time the pilot was there but an hour delay.

 

usually when you fly to Cleveland from outside the US, you stop at new york or some other big city, do immigration there and proceed, i never done it here. we get to this external terminal and wait forever for our bags. mine comes right away but Alla's refuses to come at some point i see it , it fell from the conveyor belt, on the other side of those little curtains. but it is close, i can almost reach it. the person next to me also waiting forever hands me the cane and i reach through the curtains and rescue the bag. then some employee (who wasn't there to help a second ago) comes out of nowhere and tells me that i met get in trouble. the delay caused us to be last in the customs line with 1 agent and its been over an hour since we deplaned and when i get to the agent, he asks me if i am looking for a way to escape next time i am here. lucky he accepts the explanation and i am not placed on any flight black list, and now we have to put the suite cases on another conveyor belt, get on a shuttle bus ,and pick the cases again from the main building, very strange process , but finally over and we are home where Mattan gives alla a face and wants to come only to me :) so adorable. i don't know how i will get Alla to go on another vacation with this reception, but he soon comes around.

 

 

enjoy some cenote photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5968125489700403985?authkey=CNqp8Oji-Me1EA

 

 

 

on pilots, wonders and vines

it was an average cold day when we drove off and headed to Mexico:)

 

we left Mattanchuck with savta lipstick and went to the airport. we checked in, passed security, go on the plane and then... no pilot!!! yes, no pilot. due to some strange new restrictive regulations, the flight crew and the pilot are no on the same team any more, we boarded , ready to go, just lacking a pilot. we deplaned and waited for some time for a volunteer pilot to come in from somewhere, he got a classic airport hand clapping and soon we boarded again and were on our way.

 

in Cancun airport we waited in line and tried to count how many times a passport is stamped, since we are both competitive, we both guessed and Alla got it wrong (well, so did i), its 3 per passport, very use full information i am sure. then at customs, this woman checks my declaration that i have no booze, drugs, plants etc.. and now i have to press a button. she doesn't say why, and i imagine the floor can open up under me, who knows. i press and a red light opens up and i am pointed to the , "lets open all your luggage and rummage through" line, which they do in a thorough fashion.

and finally we are out the door, now we wait for our transportation and finally we are out of the airport. we left at 7 am, it is now after 2 pm , with no lunch so we are both cranky , but soon we reach the Cancun strip and discover that our hotel is on the far side, but its a new place, so we watch the so many hotels there , while they drop off the other passengers and finally we reach our hotel , pass go  and avoid the people trying to sell us times share and reach a nice looking room.

 

we don't waste time and head for the a late lunch , i tried some fish and some buffet items, the fish is good. then the not warm but not cold gulf of Mexico water, we take a short nap and go to dinner which at a Chinese place within the temptations resort. the fish here too is very good.

 

we decided to go to the evening show- called anything goes and get there late, there is some game going on the room is split in to 3 groups and they have to perform all sort of funny assignments, as we arrive they want guys to skip all over the stage, then guys to do the warm. one guy actually walked on all fours instead of doing the warm and his pants open up, quite embarrassing. but its an adult only hotel, perfect for drunk people so who cares. few more tasks and i didn't have a chance to participate and then the last task arrive. they want a guy dress like a girl. well, i have no choice but to answer the challenge. i lift up by cargo pants all the way up, some woman from the groups hands me her dress and remains in underclothes while i try somehow to put her dress on, i put her high hills on, i apply lipstick in the worse possible way and get alla's bag for show. i can barely stand on these hills, how do women do it, i keep thinking i will hurt my ankle. with 3 guys on stage now , one from each group, they want us to dance, i am the last to go and start with a dance number, not sure what i am doing and i can barely stand so i use my accessories, the bag , twirl it around and then throw it up and .... it gets stuck on the ceiling!!! the content, including alla's phone falls out. i win the last challenge, the group wins the whole event and our captain gets a champagne bottle. and gives it to me, despite that i only participated in 1 event. i have to take it:). it took them a while to find a ladder to get the back down, and i became a celebrity for a few days ans the guy who trough the bag. staff members repeated my stupid bag throwing move. but the sad thing... no photos!!!!!!!!!! Alla's excuse is that the phone was in the bag...

 

next morning begins with, ok buffet breakfast, no more, then its beach time. we swim a bit, then take a kayak for a while and relax. some times after we get picked up and head for the dolphins.

 

what an awesome experience. we get to this man made lagoon and quickly these majestic creatures go all around us performing tricks(well i know they were trained for that) but still wow. they clap their fins, talk to us, splash us, swim fast, kiss us, let us pet them, i didn't know they were so power full. for the main trick, we are asked to keep our ands to the side, legs straight and feet down then one or two dolphins (2 in my big case) push at my legs and i am flying on the water, simply amazing. the dolphin, Kaan, ends the show by jumping over our heads. we purchased the very expensive video, but i think it was worth it. we returned to the hotel and got some ehhh, not so great lunch buffet and made it just a bit late to the Mr temptation competition at the pool. 3 guys volunteered and they had to dance sexy, one guy got naked, i don't think it was sexy. than do more think i cant mention in a PG blog and in the end collect as many swim suit pieces from the guests as possible..they collected a lot. the lucky woman volunteer had to dance (without the missing pieces... for the right to get their bathing suits back... now, in this adults only hotel, clothes are optional, but those who coose not to wear them don't always ask permission from those who are there. some people should remain with clothes.

right after i signed up for a wind surfing lesson, lucky no one else joined so i got a private lesson. got on the board, fell in, got up, fell in, repeat 10 times, got up, managed to stand, tried to raise the sail, fall down, repeat 10 times and finally it started to get easier, i got the sail higher and higher before falling to the water again. after 20 minutes i finely got the sail over from side to side and 10 minutes later i was riding it, though very slowly there and back a few times, so now i know how to wind surf, i just need to find a place here to practice in the summer, really fun sport. tired and bruised from sailing and failing i went to rest in a valley ball game. i love volley ball, just not very good, but still made a few points, mostly for the other side. we rested a bit and went to the Chinese place again for more good fish.

 

the next morning we woke up early and waited for the tour at 7 am, the bus was late and took us for some souvenir store where we got off the bus. in this place, people from the over 100 hotels on this strip come for tours in this company then mixed and go on other buses. all this fun resorting took almost 2 hours, no wonder this is a day trip. finally we left Cancun and headed south. stop 1 was valladolid, a world heritage site with a a church from the year 15 something, or as the guide said, the 15th century.... they gave us 10!!! minutes only to view this church in the middle of a lovely park. we took 4 minutes in the church, but the big square was lovely and seems so nice all around, why only 10 minutes? we left the city and got to another souvenir store, this time for an hour and 45 minutes, shopping for lunch, why so much at this shop, so annoying, we would love to be more in the city, but the food was good at least. we got to see a real Mayan house. after this massive time waste we finally got to chichen itza- the pyramids of the Maya and a new world wonder, #3 for me :) .

after all this waiting, I had no patience to listen to the tour guide and we decided to explore the site on our own. the pyramid is impressive , but we were not allowed to climb it, the site is very large, several other smaller pyramids and hundred of pillars with interesting carvings on them, most warn out but some still remain very clearly. there are many souvenir stands here, each an every one of them is a descended of the high priest, each sell"unique" items that all look the same, and they use the "almost free" as a trap for us silly gringos. we spend interesting few hours before we have to leave and the rain comes in warm buckets but slows down quickly. last stop of the tour was a cenote. a cenote is a cave with water in Mayan. there are hundreds of them in central America, but this one was incredible. think of a giant well in the rain forest - 20-30 meters from edge to edge and 40 meters down in an almost perfect circle.vines descend from the edges and reach to the water below, we descended 91 stairs after taking a shower to keep the cenote water fresh. and this paradise is revealed, a pretty darkish pond, with lots of fish and many stairs for us to dive into the water. pure heaven. with very pleasant feeling water. we jumped in many times and swam in this amazing pool.

on the way back we watched the movie on the Maya apocalyptic and after a dinner of fried shrimps...mmmmm it was bed time.

 

 photos and the rest of the trip will come in a few days