Mexico Days 5 & 6

Sunday October 14th our previous tour guide Arni and Miguel (a newly returned missionary from Arizona just 3 weeks earlier) picked us up for church. We enjoyed going to a Playa del Carmen ward and the members were so welcoming and loving.  That day there were 8 new confirmations that took most of the sacrament meeting. It was such a neat experience to be there.

The rest of our Sunday was spent relaxing at the resort. Lots of time on the beach and delicious food!

The kids loved all the animals around the resort. Including cats, raccoon, turtles and parrots.

For dinner we had reservations at a Brazilian grill (similar to Rodizio but much much better). The food and atmosphere were divine. The wild cats were sure friendly and Rachael loved it.  From dinner the kids participated in the kids disco night. What a riot it was to watch them dance on stage.

Monday October 15th was my favorite day there. We started the day at Coba, It was beautiful and only 1.5 hours from our resort (a nice quick drive compared to our previous days there).

After learning some neat things around the entrance we literally took bikes into the jungle. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! Aaron rode his own bike with Joseph in the backpack carrier (a little risky, I know...) and I rode on a bike taxi with Josh and Rach. We were all giggly the whole time, it was amazing.

Once we reached Coba we were in awe. This long bike ride through the dense thick jungle and we couldn't see anything, but then all of a sudden there was this beauty right in front of us. The main Coba temple is the tallest in the Yucatan and was built around 600 AD. It was 120 steps (about 42 meters) high.

I was a little nervous about climbing it with the kids but Josh and Rach started the climb without a second to spare. They did amazingly well climbing to the top on their own, it was very steep.

Once we reached the top we could see for miles, it was breath taking. It was so hot that Josh and Rachael were scrambling to find shade, they were exhausted. Joseph didn't make a single noise the whole time.
They were the only kids there and a lot of people couldn't believe that they actually climbed to the top.

The scariest part was yet to come, the climb down! Josh was the first one down with Arni, they were speedy. I was most worried about Aaron with Joseph in the big backpack carrier. He went steadily and slowly with sweat literally dripping down his arms. Rachael followed with me one step at a time. The key was to not look down and keep taking one step at a time. If you took one wrong step, there was no turning back.

Josh and Rachael looking exhausted ready for our taxi bike ride back to the car.

The two pictures below are of some unique things we saw. First the tree has rubber leaves, yes rubber. They used these trees to make the balls they used for their games. The tree leaves almost felt fake they were so thick and rubbery. The second picture is of the bee's they would get their honey from. Coba was known for the honey and is what they would trade to other lands. The bee's were actually too small and fast to get pictures of but the hole in the tree is where they were entering and exiting. They made their honey in these hollow trees. These bee's have no stinger and are native from Australia.

From Coba we took a quick drive to a Cenote. Cenotes are underground fresh water inlets where they would get their fresh water for drinking.
It was an interesting experience as we continued to descend deeper and deeper into the earth.

It was so quiet and calm down there it was almost too creepy to go in the water. Other then a few drops of water here and there, it was dead silent. The water was a turquoise blue, crystal clear and you could see the bottom (it was really deep). Josh was the first to get in, I then followed. The water was pretty cold.

I took Rachael and Joseph back up to the top while Aaron and Josh jumped in a few more times. There was a high jump that Josh recorded Aaron jumping off.

From the cenote we ate at an outdoor Mexican buffet overlooking a crocodile infested lake. Minutes after sitting down to eat a heavy rain storm came over us, what a site. A couple minutes passed, the rain was gone, sun out and more humid then before.

After a yummy lunch Arni was kind enough to take us to see the crocks.
The guy seen below had taken over this little dock and charged a small amount to feed the crocks some chicken. Aaron called him the crocodile hunter :)

Our last stop of the day was at a true Maya Village. What a truly humbling experience to see them in their actual hand build homes cooking and farming.

This one particular family had 8 girls and 6 boys. All the older boys were out hunting and the girls were cooking and making jewelry. Above is a picture of the mom making and cooking tortilla's for dinner. They started having a lot of tourists so by making jewelry to sell they made some extra money. One interesting thing was how they valued US dollars. We didn't have enough Peso's but when we pulled out our US dollars their eyes lit up and they were happy to take whatever we had. This happened on numerous occasions during our trip.

The girls were all fascinated with Joseph, at one point he felt a little overwhelmed and started to cry. They had kids our kids ages and their youngest was the same age as Joseph and had the same name (but in Mayan).
There were lots of cages with wild animals they had caught for food etc. This particular family raised wild pig that they would trade other families for chicken etc. 


We got back to the resort with enough time to eat and relax before ending our day. Josh and Rachael went off to the kids club at the resort. I was nervous about it but they had a really good lock down and secure system. We had a buzzer at all times so they could contact us. They loved it there and didn't want to leave. With so much to do and getting their faces painted who wouldn't want to stay :)
Joseph stayed with us while we watched these mischievous raccoons run around.