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

 

 

Swimming with dolphins

details later.... for now photos...

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5962158396510356369?authkey=CPr1lrDn0av01gE

 

on Tukey, poop and friday

for a while i was looking forward to Mattanchuk crawling, for home to become funcationable and now that he is its awesome. there are scary moments when he goes up the stairs and will crash without me to stop him, but its amazing to see him discovering new things. we finally have a new game, hide and seek, he started going around the corner and peeking, see us and go around the corner again. he even did it to himself, by peeking in the mirror from the side, so adorable. Now i go around the island and "spot" him, then go to the other side and repeat, he loves it.

 

but there are bad sides to crawling, he doesn't like to sit still during diaper change. one time (at band camp) i was changing a usual poo and he turned around quickly and certain materials landed on my arm. without many options i keep going, since a diaper less baby is a danger to furniture and carpets everywhere and then i go to clean my arm and, surprise, it is not there!, i have seen poop fly, but never walk, where did it go, i do a proper search on mattan the the change table and my clothes, but nothing., the poop mystery continues.

 

I probably spent more time with movies then with higher education along the years, i refer to my self as movie educated on several issues. one experience I've seen but never felt was thanks giving. despite this being my 6th year here.

 

i did eat Turkey before on thanks giving, but it wasn't the movie experience.

the classics as i see it involves- going out of town, home feeling away from home, turkey meal with all the trimmings, playing games (usually football, wowowoooooo football) in the back yard. when i was invited to go to thanks giving with a friends family, i was really looking forward to it. we left at 10 am , planning to return that evening, therefore we packed for 3 days, placed Mattan in the car seat and left town (and state) to Eire, Pennsylvania.

 

Cleveland is not what you might call the desired cities of America, the snow has much to do with it, but Erie is even smaller and much more snowy and we hoped the car wouldn't slide as we drove on the back roads without even seeing them. lucky the GPS knew what it was talking about and we reached the house. P.T, actually i don't know what his name is , so i will assume P.T is Papa Travis, comes out to help with a very warm demeanor and we feel right at home, already double check on the classic list. His wife Sharon is also very welcoming and even Mattan feels it and tries to grab P.Ts beard. they have a very large property, all knee deep in snow and the forest behind has almost no leaves. Travis and his wife Pam arrive withe their daughter heleina arrived shortly after. soon after its turkey time. my problem is the trimmings, i didn't even know what trimmings are! i knew you're suppose to eat Turkey with cranberry (sounds bad), and stuffing which sounds suspicious for a picky eater. the Turkey is nice and moist and goes well with the cranberries- its kind of a cranberry jam, the mash potatoes and the gravy are also done well, with a side of my non traditional chilly and sparkling grapefruit, great meal. some things are advanced for me, like broccoli. my list of edible foods increased lately with blood oranges. as a kid i tried a blood something- grapefruit or pomela and didn't like it, and have not tried since, ill now and its survivable, but broccoli, way to advanced. i avoided some roll with something, bread i like, but i tried not to over do it. for deserts they served some melted chocolates with pecans which i cant resits and pecan pie (my favorite pie) and pumpkin pie which i am not a big fan and didn't try. the meal came with pleasant conversation, and we really felt at home, 3rd check on the list.

 

football is a problem, we didn't watch nor play, how have the movies deceived me! but instead we took a walk in the wood taking turns holding Mattan. the snow was deep at parts, and deer track are all around, and the dog was running back and forth trying to catch snow balls that break on impact. later we saw photos of a hibernating bear in the area we just walked a few years before.

once in a while we heard gun shots as near by hunter get ready for deer season.  i found that carrying mattan and hiking is a tiring work, i need to get a carrier if i want to enjoy the trails this winter. time flew by real quick and soon it was getting dark and we didn't want to be on those roads at night and returned home, with an invite to return next year. I like that idea.

 

to complete an Americanized holiday, it was time for black Friday. as with thanks giving, i never went black Friday shopping. strange since i am both cheap and an impulsive shopper. the images of people trampled was enough of a deterrent. i spent some times in the last few days researching what to buy and found that i don't really need anything, which is good, but they have such good deals on items that are hard to resist. but i can get stuff for Mattnsuh. this morning i went exploring in an area of several adjacent big stores, the 1st target was target where i tried to find toys that will help make Mattan an engineers, and was surprised to find the store with the usual crowds and none of the cahos, but this stories is by itself, the other stores on the other side of the roads were much crowded and full of Amish shoppers. i got some shirts for me and mattan and few more toys and then i had an idea based on an article i saw recently to make a home gymbory. i got a big box and a bunch of those balls they they have in a gimbory and , mattan likes it so much. i am now resting from my difficult shopping day before batch #2, this time taking him with me to toys are us, probably a mistake, but he might like something i will not be able to resist to get.

 

happy Hanuka , thanks giving, black Friday and ciber Monday everyone

 

some photos are in the link

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5951782203338605153?authkey=COD6-v2qj7C8Aw

 

 

 

on pumpkins and wrong food choices

last weekend we took a break from studying and took a trip to Amish country. There is an extensive Amish community around here. one farm was having a fall festival. we went we a few Israeli families from work, all with kids. it was a grand fall morning , blue skies and warm. as we entered the farm, an Amish person was handing out pamphlets and saying they have a fall festival, this was at the entrance and i don't see a reason to tell us that there is a festival! but no big deal, it took quite a long time to get in with the car, it seems each person at the line had some kind of delay while paying, finally it was out turn and the person asked us if we wanted to get in only or so the ride, we chose enter only and then paid with a check and caused the line to delay a bit more. and then we were inside passed the welcome sign made of pumpkins and pass the huge floor sign saying FARM , also made of pumpkins. this was about 20X 10 meters , so they do have quite a lot of pumpkins. we tried some chicken and roasted corn, then walked around the farm. if you like this farm on Facebook you get 1$ worth of food for the animals, we didn't  but we got the big basket any way, so as we walk the farm we enjoy feeding geese, goats and  sheep. they have this strange geese with a humped beak, horses, ponies, donkeys, and i think some sort of pony donkey. Amish kids are driving around in pony dragged cart. most Amish families we see are dressed the same, though each family is different, this is a festival for other Amish as well. the goats we feed fight each other for the food actually ramming each other. they make apple butter, never heard of this before and after we try a little sample , we get a small jar of this apple jam (this jar is now empty), we watch cows being milked and get to feed the calves. we watch a poor goat being sheered out of the wool, this species of goat was freaky, they had 4 horns! each- they do look like a devil, didn't know Amish were devil worshipers.

no festival is complete without something adrenalinish. they had pumping launchers, you get a pumpkin  put it on this giant rubber band tied to two big posts and pull, when you let go it flies of to the small lake where a bigger pumpkin stands on a barrel as the target. I've made 5 attempts and was very close to the far target but no direct hit, lots of fun tough. after 3-4 hours we took the car for a ride in the little safari they have there. in a large area they have animals you will not expect to see on a farm.  many types of deer, wild boars, some sort or strange cow with huge horns that point sideways, buffalo, bulls, ostriches, zebras, giraffes. we use the same food for the goats and feed the rest of the animals. a big cow pushes a huge head into the car to feed from the box and i couldn't push it away, lucky for windows, feeding a big ostrich is scary, it seems they want to take revenge for all the chickens you ever ate. after an hours in this fun unexpected safari we left the farm. this area is very busy in October with many farms and activities for the fall, and after 30 minutes in a huge traffic jam, we turned around to try to find another road. and stumbled on an Amish restaurant with a large fully packed parking lot. it was evening ad we were hungry, but this place had the longest line i ever seen at a restaurant. this place, Der Dutchman also has a little shop that has carry out, lucky. i ordered simple noodles over mash potatoes and it was sooo good, mash potatoes in restaurants here is reasonable at best, but this was very good. we returned home after a very enjoyable day.

today Mattanush discovered new functions and abilities. for a while, he could sit when we sat it and lay backwards to a kind of side seating, but today it happened, he sat all by himself, so sweet. the day of discovery continues when he took the downward dog yoga position, that was not new, but he actually leaped once, usually he does one thing one day and then repeats in the next few days, so we may expects more leaps and bounds. the best new feature so far is eating related. they have food in a bag form, drinkable, these bags have fruits or vegetable. till now we took the semi solid liquid out of the bag, put it on a spoon and fed him, but now he learned to drink from the bag, such a great feature, i can't wait for him to actually hold the bottle, we are approaching that day. now that he is more mobile and more alert, though not crawling yet, he has a knack to enter small spaces, like a cat. today he decided to go into the closet, this is not something a father wants his son to be, so i got him out of the closet.

he is also very mobile now when we put his diaper on, making it a challenge to put on right. and when its not right, poop has a technique of reaching everywhere!!! on the last one today it was all over the place and when i took his clothes off and tried to de-poop him, i saw his was messier then usual and got his hands dirty as well, and i wasn't fast enough. I really dislike the baby food, but i can only imagine how horrible that tasted. quickly washed his mouth off, but he only cried for a second.

cant wait for the new features to continue

enjoy Amish Photos and baby ones

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5937001288371734225?authkey=CN-24JKRsL6DvwE

on hot dogs good byes and standing

SHay left early in the morning, took the air port shuttle. i work up in regular early time, and went to get the car from its location in the city since the roads were blockes the previous night, check out, good bye breakfast with amit, he ate i didnt and then i had to go. on the way to the airport i stopped at the gas station for a good by hot dog and some gas, i also purchased some hot dogs to go... i finished my book on the flight in so i purchased a book and after Iceland was below me. will I ever return?  tough question...so many more places to see- but country #54 was well worth the trip.

 

for now enjoy photos of day 8-9

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5931070092353514865?authkey=CIu12Jz_89m7FQ

 

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5931076523999139745?authkey=CP6Z582RptWJ4gE

 

p.s- today is Mattan 6 months birthday and he stod for the 1st time!!! well with some assitance he can stand by himself for a second or two, but when he is holding something , he actualt stod ofr over a minute... what a great birthday

 

iceland day 6-7 photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5929969589040737745?authkey=CNbC4Mv5s5T6Ng

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5929974064206035889?authkey=CKLgh7LhyNKfeQ

 

 

some photos contains mature content....avert your eyes