After drying off, we decided to check out some ruins. We had a map with the names of the ruins & locations, but no other information. We waved down a taxista & asked him which ruins he's recommend. Of the 2 sites closest to us he said that San Gervasio was best, there was lots to see, about an hour's worth. He asked a fairly steep price to take us there, wait, then bring us back to the city, so we were going to keep looking, but then he said that he'd take us for less & if we liked his service & agreed with his advice that we could give him a tip (which would put him back to the original amount). Knowing that he'd have to work to earn it, we went along & he didn't disappoint. He answered our questions as we drove along, he was right about the ruins, & he even stayed more than an hour since we did the full hike & saw everything. I'd so recommend going there - beautiful trails, lots of ruins (with plaques so you don't have to pay for the guide if you don't want to), & huge lizards!
Me, getting my archaeology nerd on!
"Small house" thought to be a place of offerings.
The manicured trails around the main areas, but if you want to get to the good stuff, you've got to go off road!
The pre-hispanic entrance to San Gervasio. The little alter in the middle was for giving offerings to the Goddess Ixchel. The ancient road still stretches out from there in both directions.
Josh: "What does pozo mean again?" Me: "Isn't that the word for well?" Booyah! I was right:
See what I mean about the lizards? They were everywhere! We joked that since the Mayans believed in reincarnation, it's them guarding their ruins from stupid tourists.
Big house structure which used to be entirely stuccoed with red, blue & ocher colors. It's first construction was just as a platform, but later its alter was covered with this house:
More jungle hiking! So many lizards, but at least no mosquitoes this time. : )
Murcielagos - the home of the overlord & considered the most important structure since it was the center of the complex in ancient times:
In front of the overlord's house was this "Round House." All of its levels and alter were round making it rather mysterious:
This one's called the Alamo - a couple of San Antonians couldn't pass it by. It used to have a roof like an inverted staircase & the interior was stuccoed & painted with swirls, designs, even hand prints.
Josh at the palace - the columns marked the structure as special - it had a flat, wooden roof & a throne in its original state.
Me in the Ossuary... didn't read the plaque first, might not have jumped in that little hole if I'd known about the human remains that had been all over that place.
On our last hike we found this awesome cave:
Look at this! This is when my archaeology nerd exploded:
Most likely the sanctuary of Ixchel, said to have no interior space. Is decorated with carved human faces, and look, some of the original paint! Eeee! (In our day it was also decorated with lizards sunning themselves.)
Back stairwell:
Josh's tummy was done after that, so our taxi driver took us to Cafe Denis (sounds like Denny's in a Spanish accent, so we were glad to not be there at the end of our drive) for some yummy Mexican food that was a little secluded from more tourists. Felt like the places we went on our honeymoon.
The view from the patio leading over to their mercado area:
Josh's sampler platter lunch - oh boy!
So we did the real mercado, but from our geocaching that morning we also knew there was a MEGA (grocery store) not far away. We loved going there on our honeymoon - it's like a mall & grocery store combined - so we went for old times sake. There we saw something truly curious, an escalator without stairs, just a ramp, so people can go up & down with grocery carts.
That was also where we got Caleb's souvenir. Throughout the trip I got some jewelry, we got a sundress for Elise, magnets, & little gifts for Tamara's kids, but finding something for Caleb was near impossible. He likes what he knows & we didn't want more clutter in our house or something Elise could choke on. In the grocery store it hit me - cereal! Mexican chocolate cereal to be exact. Caleb LOVES his present & eats it every morning. He knows it came from Mexico, so he can't have more when it's gone, but it was the most appreciated gift we got by far!
It was time to head back to the ship. Our cruise director announced that all of us needed to get up on deck when we launched so we could prove to the
Allure of the Seas that while they're the biggest, our ship had the best passengers:
On the count of 3 we shouted "You're on the wrong boat!" Then we broke into line dances. It was SO fun! Like being in a flash mob with no practice. The other passengers cheered for us & some even danced along - oh yeah, we were on the right ship.
Leaving beautiful Cozumel:
That night was the last formal night - I wore my "cruise dress" that cost the entirety of my Kohl's gift card from Christmas, but it was worth it to feel so swishy:
I know why I'M doing the super-model arm pose, but why Josh is doing it...? Hmm... maybe to show off that his belt has no phones on it for once?
On the top floor of the dining room - our trick was to sneak in on that floor then come down the grand staircase & avoid the line on the main floor.
After dinner that night, the entertainment crew threw a 70's dance party on the Promenade:
It was pretty funny, and dancing in the street is a hoot....
Until during the Village People medley our big-fat-pasty-tattooed-British cruise director comes out in a loin cloth & Indian headdress (no pics of that). It was horrifying, but good natured in the moment.
That was a seriously long day - luckily we had another day at sea to relax & pack before heading home. If we'd gone from this one night to Galveston in the morning it would have been so hard.
One post to go!
0 comments:
Post a Comment