Uxmal Excursion

Today we were at Progresso and our excursion was to another ruin called Uxmal (Ush-mal). It was a long bus ride there, but our guide talked a lot about what we were going to see and gave us a history. We got there and walked through the place with our guide. That took about 40 min. then we were on our own for about an hour and were free to explore and go back through the places and look around. We loved this place. Boy was it hot though. On the way in I bought a $3.00 fan and used it as a sun shield. Best $3.00 I ever spent! The structure and buildings and stone work were amazing! Uxmal was once one of the most famous and powerful Mayan cities not only on the Yucatan but in the entire empire. Most of the construction work took places in the classic period between the 7th and 9th century, and in its peak, around 25 000 people lived on the site. The name Uxmal comes from word Oxmal, which means three times built, and it suggests that the place has been rebuilt numerous times during centuries until it got appearance we can more or less see today. Uxmal was a powerful site altogether with Chichen Itza (the importance came from a favorable location on a trading path), but it seems the city lost its power around 1200 because no new building was constructed after that.  Unlike Chichen Itza, Uxmal was inhabited, although not that densely until the arrival of Spaniards in the 16th century. The first thing we saw was this giant pyramid (you couldn't climb it though). It was massive and is called the Pyramid of the Magician.  The acoustics here were pretty cool. We were standing quite far away and Garry would clap and it would make an echo/chirp sound. Our guide showed us a photo...something about when the sun sets, it lines up perfectly and shows cool shadows that look like a snake. The Photo is Chichen Itza, but this one does it too.

We then went inside the Govenor's palace. It was a series of buildings that formed a rectangle with an open field in the middle. It was cool. Garry climbed up to one of the higher buildings. I stayed in the court yard. It had a cool framed tunnel to another part of the ruins. All the buildings had really cool stone carvings in them of heads and snakes and it was fascinating to think of all the work that went into this.

Of course there were other buildings that were fun to see and in various degrees of ruin. You could see fossilized shells in the walls of some buildings.

Of course like most ruins, they had a ball court. This is where they would play a game trying to get a ball through a hoop. The "winner" would then be sacrificed because he was the most worthy.

We headed to the pyramid that you could climb. Garry went up, I stayed down. It was too high for my liking and it was so hot that my phone stopped working and I didn't get a final video of him climbing down, but I got him going up! The highest stairs I did were coming down from the platform of where the pyramid was! Garry took a few photos while he was up there. The last photo of this post is him photographing me a the bottom watching him.  I was so grateful we were able to go on this cruise and experience the ruins. It has been a bucket list item of mine for a long time and it did not disappoint!

Tulum Excursion

Our first excursion was to Tulum. We really wanted to see ruins. That was the main reason we took this particular cruise. We took a bus to the ruins. We stopped at a little rest stop Mercado where we could buy some stuff. We bought some Obsidian. We then arrived at the ruins. These ruins were special because they were the only ruins built along the oceanic coast. There were iguanas everywhere! It was kind of windy and at times a little over cast. It was a beautiful day! Our tour guide talked to us for about 20 minutes then let us have about 20 minutes to walk about on our own. I loved taking photos of the ruins and of the interesting foliage that was abundant

We then drove to an authentic Mayan Village. They speak Mayan and still live like their ancestors.  The first thing we did was zip line across a lake. Then we canoed back across it. That was my first time zip lining. It went quick and was fun.  We then had a few minutes to swim in one of the Mayan's Cenotes. They are natural limestone sinkholes filled with water. That is how the Mayans get their water today.

After the swim, we walked into the Mayan Village. They live in homemade houses still and make their own pottery and are basically self sufficient.  We were able to have an authentic Mayan lunch made by the villagers. It was delicious and basically pork street tacos. The day went by fast and was jam packed with so much to do and see that we were exhausted by the time we got back to the ship.  But it was so fun learning about the ruins and Mayans.