I am grateful! Why?
I am thankful for tour guides with extra time and a group of people with nothing but time on their hands.
Day 3 brought surprises and enlightenment to us that our lives are just too good.
The six of us booked a private tour through Alma's Tours to see the land of the Mayan's. Little did we know as we were winding through the jungle what else our eyes would soon behold. When our tour guide asked us if we would like to see something not listed as an "actual part of the tour," we jumped at the chance. An opportunity to see a remote Mayan Village was too good to pass up.
The road out to the Mayan village was narrow and overgrown on both sides with jungle. Posts would appear out of nowhere marking a trail to one of the little communities. Our tour guide had befriended this family and their 14 daughters all named Maria! (not all pictured)
I would like you to observe how much taller I am than these little Mayans, I felt like a tall, lurking white person to these very sweet girls!
Let me give you a glimpse of what else we saw in this little village.
Upon arrival we witnessed this wild pig nursing it's little baby wild pig. Little does the poor mother know that it soon would be providing itself as a main course for a little Mayan mouth!
Live animals trapped in cages were surrounding the little huts. Rand informed me that this was indeed the way they kept their food fresh while lacking a refrigerator. Nothing better than slaying the caged animal and cooking it up for dinner. One positive is that their food was really fresh containing no preservatives and secondly you probably have quite a few people enjoying every meal together. On another note, I bet they don't hear complaining from their husbands about leftover's seeing as there is no fridge to put them in anyway!
Another positive about living "Mayan style" no pots to scrub!
A simple lifestyle takes away unnecessary worries, no walls, no decor. I really think this might be the ideal way to live. Many homes I walk through in America have the plaque hanging with the word, "Simplify" we don't even know the meaning!
Do you think these rugged men could make it in the jungle?
This monkey laughs at the sight of them!
Rand's favorite moment of the whole trip came from this experience. He enjoyed it more watching the video back and realizing that he was still alive. Let's preface this video with some explanation. As we were exploring caged animals Zach calmly stated, that a snake had just dropped out of the tree behind me. I acted calmly by screaming only once and then Rand took over with the video camera. Pay special attention to the snake as it jumps the length of his body towards Rand and the camera. Rand thought it was charging him but later we saw that the snake had caught a frog out of mid air for his afternoon snack. At this point in our Mayan Extravaganza I realized how fortunate I am that I don't live in the jungle.
Back on the jungle road we soon found ourselves in the little town of Chichen Itza. HOT, HOT, HOT.
Before becoming intellectually stimulated we participated in some Mayan culture and dancing.
Balancing a beer bottle on your head just screams culture, doesn't it???
Next stop.....Cenote!
Huge sink holes brimming with fresh blue water dot the lands of Central Mexico. The locals have found a way to capture the beauty and capture the tourists by allowing them to swim for a small fee. Definitely worth the money just to see the jungle vines reaching out to the water down below.
I will have you know that this was also the place I gave in to peer pressure. After the men jumped from the ledges, plunging happily into the crisp cold underground water. Us women felt that we too should remember our youth and forget the 9 children that could possibly be motherless if their mom's were killed by a freak ledge jumping accident. Jamie the courageous one jumped without thinking first. I, after much persuasion jumped next. The only reason for me jumping was that I didn't want Rand to be claimed as the husband with the sissy wife. Lara jumped next and I think we were all happy we faced our fear and inhibitions at least once. Lara needed to face them twice because she was brave and did it again. I think it was just her competitive nature trying to show us up. What do you think???
There was no leaving the Cenote before having an ice cream.... it is the Mayan way!
Onward and upward!
Chichen Itza!
This place was amazing! Our tour guide was a full-blooded Mayan who happened to have converted recently to the LDS church. We spent hours with him exploring ancient ruins of temples and towers. His perspective as a Mayan and also a Mormon was very interesting. When he first heard the gospel, he recognized similarities in what his people, the ancient Mayans, believed and the stories and teachings from the Book of Mormon.
There were plenty of murals of a "Great White Bearded God" and hieroglyphs of Lamanites living with the Nephites. He also showed us a temple dedicated to the "2000 warriors." And many, many more!
This was one of the main reasons we wanted to go back to the Riviera Maya and it did not disappoint. We highly recommend a trip and tour like this to anyone.
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