There was a story about the double jaguar throne in Uxmal. It was an important discovery in 1841.
Back at the hotel, we hit the rooftop bar and found this beautiful pool and a helipad on the top of a neighboring building.
Carving, etc. on a round-about in the middle of the city of Merida.
We hit the low-cost pharmacy with this crazy dancing doctor mascot out front. We bought prescription anti-inflammatories, prescription Retin-A and prescription antibiotics/stomach medicine for exceptionally cheap. I bought three things for $8.90.
The antibiotics are for future travels in which I may need it after eating/drinking local (and deadly, for Americans) fare.
We were even warned not to brush our teeth with the tap water!
Views from the streets of Merida.
OSHA is nowhere to be found here. These are plastic covers for electric wires. Many tripping possibilities everywhere.
A shopping frenzy for our group of four, all buying trinkets and souvenirs.
Part of the shopping experience.
Play the video.
Catholic Mass was going on this evening so we stopped in for a visit.
The people on the cross was an eye-opener!
Chichen Itza is one of the 7 wonders of the New World!! I hadn’t realized that by this summer, I will have seen 7 out of the 8 wonders of the world. (The Giza Pyramids are an 8th, added to the first seven.)
I will see the Taj Mahal in India in February and Machu Pichu in Peru in June.
I just have Christ the Redeemer to see in Brazil.
Note the huge buses in the background. This place is a HUGE draw for tourists.
If you clap in front of the steps, a cheeping bird-like sound echoes back to you. (Did the Aztecs calculate it this way? Or did it just happen by happenstance?)
Plus on the equinoxes (Spring and Fall), the sun shines on the pyramid exactly perfectlyl and on the left picture on the left side, it looks like a lit up serpent and at the bottom of the back wall you can see the serpent head on the ground. How did they figure that out without modern measuring instruments??
And on the Fall Equinox, this is what sunset looks like, with the sun in exactly the right spot behind the stone throne. Amazing calculations!
This is where they readied the human sacrifices. I think they were giving psychogenic plants that calmed them and made them complacent. The carvings show depictions of how they sacrificed their own people. And it was supposedly an honor to die as a human sacrifice.
Dad said when he arrived at this spot, it was like he had been here before. Never before in his life had he had this type of feeling. I hope he wasn’t one of the ‘lucky’ ones who was sacrificed, in his past life!!
Lots of stuff to buy along to the way to the cenote.
Cenote (pronounced sen-o’-tay). This certainly is not a spring, since the water is still and grungy. It was a place they threw their human sacrifices into and if they weren’t dead already, they drown.
There was a lot of trinkets and bones found at the bottom of this place from centuries past.
More carvings to show the sacrifices. Lots of snakes. They either decapitated the people, or pulled their hearts out of their chests. UGH!
This is the ball field. The men played a game where they tried to get a ball through this hoop sticking out of the top of the wall. The captain of the winning team GOT TO BE the human sacrifice!
The carvings show the missing heads and blood pouring out and some human hearts — which I can’t really see, myself.
Note: this is the SAME photo. My Google android has a program called Magic Eraser — and it DID erase all the superfluous people. I don’t know why the hat was left on the ground — it’s not a perfect program yet.
Here’s our Tour Guide. The trip seemed a little strenous on him. This was his last tour before retirement. We wish him well!!
Had a lovely lunch at a hacienda. I was so looking forward to fish, since it was mentioned on the bus. …but no, again stringy chicken tacos in a corn tortilla. They don’t have flour tortillas in Mexico. But the ambiance was wonderful.
By this time I was SICK of the formed rice, the crunchy vegetables and the chicken tacos. For all my food bitching, I can’t figure out how I GAINED weight on this trip!
This was part of the women’s bathroom. Cool!
Las tres merjeres!!
This is my disgustingly bad translation of “the three women”!!!
More hacienda. Our last view of a rain forest.
Turtles were swimming in the pond.
At the airport in Cancun. We said goodbye to Tom the evening before. Finally, this was a trip where I got home before Tom did!!
The three girls were up at 3:30 am to catch an 8 AM flight to Atlanta. We had lunch at the food court, went to Jane’s gate to send her off and then Joy and I got on our flight a half hour later.
The parking lot manager at the Daytona Beach Airport was nice enough not to ding us for not being able to find our parking ticket. Joy drove me home before arriving safely to her home and her five kitties.
She found that parking ticket in the bowels of her suitcase.
The trip gets a “10” because of company of my fellows travelers that far outweighed the two creepy hotels and the icky food.
I LOVE this cup!!!
Happy travels to all!!
Feel free to leave me a comment. I am the only one who sees them!!
Linda Jeanne