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May 22, 2003
Blog go bewm! and... I'm BAAACK
It seems that my auto-rebuild to keep my side-rail current made the blog go boom because there hasn't been any new content put up. Oh well, there's a bunch of quirky CRAP that needs to be repaired that I'm learning about.
I'm BACK! from our honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico. Overall we had a great stay that lasted 5 nights. Before we left and just as we arrived there, both my wife and I got colds which drained us a bit. I decided not to take the laptop but it was cool to learn that the Ritz-Carlton Cancun has in-room wifi connections for those who desire to stay connected.
Day 1 - 5/16:
We arrived in the afternoon and got bombarded by people offering free tickets to outings as long as you went to a 2 hour time-sharing sales pitch. We declined, took the shuttle to the Ritz and layed down for a couple of hours. After that we got up ate at the casual restaurant which happened to be having a seafood buffet. The food was ok but pricey.
Between the nap and food we met with a representative from the tour company, Best Day which Continental was using for the free shuttle service. We organized 2 tours, one of which was at the nature park XCaret and the other at the archeological site Chichen Itza.
Day 2 - 5/17:
We spent Saturday relaxing. We woke up late, ate breakfast in the room and then went around 2pm to lay on the beach under a little cabana. The weather was very hot but at least it wasn't raining. Our goal was to lay low and try to fend off the cold.
Day 3 - 5/18:
The day started with an early (6:45am) wake-up call and breakfast at 7am. We were to be picked up at around 8am by the tour bus for XCaret. We took swim suits but of course forgot towels and flipflops which we packed in a new North Face lumbar pack we picked up on one of the outlet mall trips we made with my family. XCaret has a really neat underground river that you can rent snorkel gear and swim through. I don't remember the length of it but it takes approximately 30 minutes with snorkel gear and 45 minutes to an hour without. The bad thing is that you end up fighting past large groups of people in the water who are either taking their time or just sitting there splashing eachother and talking. The 62 degree water could've been considered cold but to us it was pure heaven since it was at least 90-95 degrees out. After the river we spent some time roaming around looking at the butterfly area, a jaguar, orchids, and mushroom exhibits.
The real treat was at 7pm when we got to watch the Mayan ball game of "Pok Ta Pok." It's a little bit like basketball but you use your hip, knees, and shoulders to hit the ball through a hoop that's on an embankment. That's a gross oversimplification but it's the gist of it. Following that we got to watch some re-enactments of Mayan warriors and chiefs doing different ceremonies. It was excruciatingly hot and the tour guide who spoke severely broken English didn't wait for the 50-75 people in our group to catch up and so we caught *none* of the narration.
After that we got to enjoy a 1hr show in an stadium area that was packed. We got to watch a lot of traditional Mexican dancing and songs. The natives in the crowd were so into the show and it was definitely the gem of the whole XCaret experience. The show was a huge dose of Mexican culture for us. They don't have the show every evening and you have to take a late bus back to Cancun because the normal buses leave at 5pm, however it was worth every minute of it.
Day's 4-6 to follow tomorrow
Posted by beamz at May 22, 2003 1:32 AM
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