Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Yucatan area, I would highly recommend a visit to this beautiful peninsula within Mexico.  Not only is it a stunning beach location on what is known as the Mayan Riviera, it is also a region full of so much culture and geological wonder.  While a large number of Americans fly to Cancun and never leave their fancy resort and explore, we departed Cancun as quickly as we could and based ourselves out of a small fishing village called Puerto Morelos for the first week of our visit.  Puerto Morelos was recommended to us by friends and it was exactly what we had hoped for, muy tranquilo, more local than not, and lots of overall ambience. ​

While the Mayan Riviera is known for its calm turquoise sea, we were reminded again that this is an El Niño year which resulted in some windy and rainy weather this spring.  Having just spent six weeks in sunny Nicaragua we welcomed the clouds and cooler weather and headed inland to explore some different cenotes (definitely read Grant’s Powerpoint on ‘Cenotes and Mayans’ to give you a better overall description of this geological phenomena).  ​

On our first day visiting a cenote, it didn’t take long to notice the absolutely crystal clear water we were swimming in and the many scuba divers moving around underneath us exploring and then disappearing.  What we soon found out was that all of the 10,000 different cenote entrances in this region are linked underground through different waterways. And if that’s not crazy enough, the fact was that I soon signed up to go scuba diving with Grant in one.  That it had been more than twenty years since my PADI course (and the last time I had actually gone scuba diving) did not stop me from taking advantage of this amazing opportunity.  With awesome support from my husband, some quick review online of PADI rules, and very reassuring encouragement from Grant, off we went to scuba dive in the Dos Ojos Cavern and Cenote.  I am thrilled to say that it was just as amazing as I thought it would be, really just like the photos in National Geographic.  Grant and I were gliding along in the dark waters with our guide in an underwater cavern full of stalactites and stalagmites illuminated by our flashlights that were allowing us to see up to 200 feet in front uninterrupted.  This was a world of wonder that I am so very happy I was able to experience with Grant.  Luckily two days later, all four of us had an equally cool experience exploring a different cenote Rio Secreto, which was  a river running through a dry cave completely underground. Equipped with headlamps, wetsuits, and helmets, Ryan, Grant, Ethan and I forged our way through yet another spectacular geological location.

Our amazing exploratory field trips during the day were followed by an evening of browsing the boutique shopping stalls at the town plaza, discovering a delicious restaurant, taking a salsa dance class, or listening to some live music in Puerto Morelos.  One evening we found an amazing jazz trio and our wise son Grant suggested we “get a drink and listen to some music.”  So, banana milk shakes and sweet jazz it was, and some very fond memories of our amazing week in Puerto Morelos.  

In week number two we headed westward across the Yucatan exploring Mayan temples and visiting beautiful colonial towns and cities along the way (Grant also included a great blog on Mayan temples that is worth checking out),  Whether taking a tour of the highly renovated Mayan temple of Chichen Itza or biking around the ancient city of Coba, the grandeur, beauty, and complexity of the Mayan temples and former cities never failed to amaze me.   Similarly,  the colonial town of Valladolid, the cultural center of Merida, and the old fortress town of Campeche all offered different insight into the rich and varied history of this region.  From stories of warding off pirates at the forts of Campeche to learning about the uprisings and caste wars that existed between the Mayans and the Spanish colonists, the history is so much more complex and complicated then what I learned growing up, and, especially, what many of us know today about the country that shares our southern border.  ​

I would be hard pressed to try to capture all of our wonderful moments of this trip into one blog so instead will give you an insight into one evening in Vallodolid…..  We finished eating our delicious dinner consisting of locally seasoned cerdo (pork) on freshly-made corn tortillas with pickled onions while looking out over the main town square.  The lights capturing the beautifully built Cathedral de San Gervasi completed in 1570 and the sounds of a band, reminding me of childhood days listening to Desi Arnez’s band featured on “I love Lucy”, radiated from the town plaza.  It was Sunday night in Valladolid, the night they close off the main street to car traffic and open it up to dancers.  On our walk home, we couldn’t help but join the slowly growing number of dancers in the streets.  While we didn’t have quite the same smooth dance moves as the Mexican couples, Ryan, Grant, Ethan and I practiced our salsa moves under the stars.  ​

It’s moments like these that make me realize time and again how fortunate I am in life.  I have an amazing husband and two wonderful boys who all are enjoying this year of travel and the crazy cacophony of diverse experiences we are sharing together as much as I am.  We have many fantastic moments combined with some very average ones, a few scary experiences here and there, and lots of good conversation and quality time together that have given us memories that will last a life time.    ​