The End

The End

Shout Outs

All the Cuban people!
Mikey and his family for a wonderful meal and friendship
Our guide William in Tulum
Kris Hart for being a good sport
Those of you who follow the blog a big shout out.

Sarah last thoughts....

My hat grew. If a wide brimmed white hat with a lovely provocative lilt is a great accessory a bigger one must be better. So when I saw it I had to have it. Thus the battle of the hats began. It is difficult posing for pictures with John when our hats are crashing into one another. Neither of us is given an inch when it comes to the girth of our hats.

I won! If there was the battle of the hats I was battling the sun. How to arrive back in New York as pale as I left it was my goal and I did it. Not one bit of sun tan. Not even a wrist watch mark. Now that takes work while traveling in the sun drenched islands and Cancun Mexico. SPF 30 helps. The hat, especially the really wide one made a big difference.

Room without a View

Here is our supposed Ocean Front Room. If you are tall enough, or if you crane your neck, you get to see a sliver of the ocean but of course no one can be out in the pool or bar area.
I made enough noise that they will reimburse Us Category downgrade. Stay tune for what that means in terms of. dollars and cents.

Hotel Reviews:

Hotel Nacional:

My favorite hotel in the world. The one con it has is that the Wi-Fi is expensive an slow.

Iberostar Jamaica:

Pros:
Excellent food and drinks

Cons:
Too big
No Wi-Fi in rooms

Dreams Resort:

Pros:
Great Wi-Fi
Near wonderful ruins

Cons:
Too noisy
Lousy, watered own drinks
Unhelpful staff

What makes a Great Traveller?

I have been thinking about this issue. I have boiled it down to 5 things that make up a great traveller. Please add you own in comments.

1). No whining! That means no matter what goes wrong, how lousy the hotel, the view or food is, whether first class or no class you deal with it.

2). Spontaneity! A great traveller can change plans at the drop of a hat. A Great traveller does not treat a trip like a military campaign

3). Active! A great traveller wants and loves to do everything and see everything yet is smart enough to build in rest days when he/she travels.

4). Compromise! A great traveller takes into consideration his/her travel partner's needs.

5). Packing Light! Only carry on luggage. 'Nuff said

Tulum IV

Just chillin'

After a nice lunch, Sarah buys a beach bag

And the look on my face for having to stop and shop again

Tulum III

Notice the rope where you cannot trespass.

Tulum II

The side of the hat

Sarah in deep reflection...

Tulum I

Tulum is the most beautiful of the Mayan cities. Located right on the water with its main temple overlooking the harbor. Did I mention we had a great guide.

Tulum: History

The earliest date lifted from the site is A.D. 564 (the inscription on a stele) This places Tulum within the Classic period, though we know that its heyday was much later (1200 - 1521 A.D.) during the Late Post-classic period. Tulum was a major link in the Maya's extensive trade network. Both maritime and land routes converged here. Artifacts found in or near the site testify to contacts that ranged from Central Mexico to Central America and every place in between: copper rattles and rings from the Mexican highlands; flint and ceramics from all over the Yucatán jade and obsidian from Guatemala and more. The first Europeans to see Tulum were probably Juan de Grijalva and his men as they sailed reconnaissance along the Eastern coast of Yucatán in 1518. The Spaniards later returned to conquer the Peninsula unwittingly bringing Old World diseases which decimated the native population. And so Tulum, like so many cities before it, was abandoned to the elements.

Coba III

Coba Ruins II

Our awesome guide William

Hamming it up while the guide lectures.

Coba Ruins: I

Another day, but today we wake up tired from Chichen Itza. We have another "ruined" day ahead of us. Today we visit the Coba and Tulum ruins.
Coba is enormous! An area of 30 square miles with only 20 percent of the 6500 structures excavated. Coba was fantastic like the ruins in Central America. You could climb, walk up into the temples. You had access! The road was unpaved leaving an authentic feeling to this Mayan city. I loved walking the uneven, unpaved walking ways. Sarah mentioned how the Mayan walkways/roads that lead from Coba to Chichen Itza, Tulum some stretching 60 miles were like the Roman roads. It was much less commercial than Chichen Itza which was a plus. Coba was never found by the Spanish invades.

The Mayan archways an amazing architectural achievement for its time.

Coba: History

Cobá Ruins:

Cobá is a Pre-Columbia Mayan archeological site located in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, around 27 miles northwest of Tulum. The name translates from the Mayan to mean "water stirred (or ruffled) by the wind."

The site is thought to have been first settled between 100 BC and 100 AD, and abandoned around 1550, when the Spanish conquistadors first arrived on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The height of the city’s power and influence was during the Classical and Post Classical period of Mayan history, during which time the site is estimated by historians to have contained around 6500 temples and housed around 50,000 inhabitants.

Along with Chichen Itza and Tulum, Cobá is one of the Yucatan Peninsula’s most picturesque and popular archeological ruins. The site is around 30 square miles in size and is swathed in jungle. There is a system of around 45 ceremonial roads – known as sacbé in Mayan – radiating out from the main temples. Cobá contains the second highest temple in the Mayan world (the highest

Chichen Itza IV: Thousand Columns

Sarah on the move.

Sarah impatiently waiting for me to catch up.

Chichen Itza III: Main Temple

A happy homage to Bill

Chichen Itza II: Ball Court and Necropolis

The ring where the ball had to go through.

The Court