Ruined

Hey, hey! Another two days under our belts now from this trip and, goodness, do I have a lot I want to tell you. So many memories created that I want to be sure to remember, so I’m giving myself thirty minutes to do my best to share our first excursion day. And…go!

We arrived at our first port, Costa Maya, late Tuesday morning. The boat originally planned to arrive by 10 am, but had some delay. We hung around on deck for a bit waiting to see the arrival.

Side note: This random lady sitting behind us as we were looking out to sea insisted she get a picture of us together like that since it “was just too cute”. I love the picture! Gotta love kind strangers.

Moving on. After disembarking, we easily found our way to the meeting spot for our excursion.

We booked a Mayan ruins tour through The Native Choice and are so glad we went that route. We did have to wait ten minutes or so for our group’s van, but the crew made the wait very bearable by passing out ice cold water to help with the heat. Not too much longer and we were in the van and on our way. The ride took an hour, but had one fun stop along the way. Our guides bought some fresh pineapple from a road side stand and had us try it with their traditional way of eating it – with chili powder.

I loved the spicy sweet flavor combo. In fact, I loved it so much I asked for a much heavier dousing of chili powder after that picture. I suggest giving it a try sometime!

Not much longer after that stop we reached Chacchoben – which means “place of the red corn” and is a Mayan ruins site with over sixty buildings and temples under excavation.

Just one of the many tidbits we learned from our very knowledgeable and kind tour guide, Joel.

He shared the history of the discovery of Chacchoben. Apparently, an archaeologist discovered it in the early 1970s and reported it to authorities, but the locals had known of it for many years before then. The temples originally were all under lots of grass and dirt and looked like big mounds. Finally in the 1990s, they started excavating the area and are still working on it to this day. They have uncovered some of the larger temples, however, such as Venus and to the Sun and Moon.

We had the chance to walk around and explore a bit.

It was pretty interesting to hear about the ideology and history in more detail. I studied the culture a good bit back in my Spanish studying and teaching days, so it really intrigued me to see all of it in person. That type of history will interest me. It also makes me really want to visit Israel and see the historical architecture and such of my own religion.

Once we finished touring the ruins area, our group broke off to head to a special lagoon.

We sat in a hut with this view and consumed literally the best Mexican food I have ever had. Ever.

We had chicken fajitas with fresh homemade tortillas, beans, rice, and carrots in a mustard glaze of some sort. Sooooooo good! Even if I hadn’t been super hungry when sitting down to this meal I would have devoured every single bit. I’m not even a rice lover and couldn’t stop with this rice. Mmmm. I want it again. I guess when in Mexico they know how to cook a good Mexican meal. Go figure, huh?  

Once we filled our bellies we hopped into a kayak for some paddling around the lake.

…and finished up with some chilling in a lounge chair with Bamboo (Makenzie’s panda that we are taking around with us to get pictures for her).

She loves it! Although we do get the odd look when two grown adults break out the stuffed panda. Haha!

Before we knew it our first day was done and we were headed back to the ship.

Stay tuned because I can’t wait to share the adventure we just had with you. I’ll give you a hint – lots of highs and lots of lows. Any guesses? Hope you’re having a great week too!

Ever been to a ruins site or other historical site? Do those things interest you?

Tagged as: fun, travel

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