Journey to Palenque

We spent most of the day on the bus, driving 9 hours to Palenque. The scenery was nice, the movie wasn't too loud (it sometimes comes blasting out of the overhead speakers), and even the bathroom at the back of the bus was clean (cleaner that VIA rail train bathrooms!). We stopped at a small restaurant for lunch, but other than that, we only stopped at the bus stations where we could get out a stretch our legs, pay to use a bathroom that wasn't moving, or grab a snack. Our guide, D, always counted to make sure we were all back on the bus, but at one stop, G was missing (it was a bit of a recurring theme, unfortunately). D got the driver to stop, pull back into the station, and D ran around looking for him. It wasn't until D had looked all over that we realized that he was in the toilet at the back of the bus! Sigh.

There isn't much to the town of Palenque, so we stayed at a hotel and "traylor" park inside the national park, less than a kilometer from the ruins! The setting was beautiful.

Behind our rooms, we found a rope hanging from a tree branch. K was the first to swing on it, then it was my turn. Neither of us were all that good, but a really hot guy came up and offered to give me a push :) Of course I couldn't turn that down and he also caught me and lowered me down when I couldn't hang on any more. Mf took a turn too, then we walked around a bit. A while later, I was back in the same area when W came up (K had told her about the rope and the hot guy). She went up to the rope (where the hot guy was again), turned and shouted, "K was right, he is hot!". He pushed her and she started shouting "The hot guy just touched my ass ... he touched it again!" She didn't realize that he spoke English until she was down! It ended up being the start of a short (2 day) but intense relationship.

We spent the evening at the hotel restaurant, eating supper and laughing about W and "hot guy".

Merida

Our group split up into various activities today and I chose to go for the coolest option - visiting 3 cenotes (water sink holes) south of the city with K and I. The transportation to the cenotes was a bit of an adventure in itself as it involves taking small wooden horse-drawn carts that run along old rail tracks. It was a jerky ride and since there aren't any places to pass, we often had to climb out and take the cart off the tracks to let another cart go by.

When we got the the first cenote there were already 7 carts there, so our guide decided to continue on the the next one and come back to this one later. It was a great decision, because we got to have the second cenote (which I found the most beautiful) all to ourselves for quite a while. The water was a perfect temperature for swimming! Our guide brought along snorkel equipment for us to use, which was great.

The second cenote had the best entrance - through a small hole down a 20 - 30 foot "ladder" made of branches cemented unevenly into the walls. The third cenote (the one we skipped earlier) was the largest and busiest, but it was interesting because we were able to swim way into the back were it was pretty dark! Our guide had a flashlight and showed us different things under the water, including a large catfish that started to come after K ... until she screamed :P

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Merida - a pretty, colonial town.

Chichen Itza

We left Cancun around 9 and took a very well air conditioned ADO bus to Chichen Itza, arriving around 12 - meaning that it was scorching hot walking around the ruins!

We were given a 2 hour guided tour of the ruins, estimated to be founded in 432 AD. I gave up on the tour near the end (the heat was too much for me), but I did get to see all the major parts - "El Castillo" (the large pyramid), the huge ball court, and the cenote.

After lunch, we hopped back on another well AC'ed bus to Merida were we had a quick orientation walk and then supper with most of the group.

Cancun, Mexico

The start of another 3-week adventure with GAP Adventures - this time to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize on the trip Mayan Adventure!

I took WestJet out of Hamilton in the afternoon, so could sleep in and didn't have to deal with any lines at check-in or security. The flight down was fine though a bit bumpy for the last hour, but in Cancun we had to sit on the ramp for about 20 minutes. Going through immigration was simple (I never have problems in foreign countries, only in Canada!), but unfortunately got a red light going through customs which meant that my bags had to be checked. The officer didn't do a thorough job though - he seemed more interested in the fact that I work contact lenses and have blue eyes!!

I had arranged to have a shuttle from the airport bring me to the hotel, and it eventually showed up ... after me standing around and searching through all the other people holding signs for hotels. I got to the hotel just in time for the group meeting and then it was off for a late supper (at a place with ridiculously slow service).

Our group was supposed to have 15 travellers, but one never showed up, so, here are the 13 other people I'll be spending the next weeks with. (If there's an * after their name, they stayed for 3 weeks, otherwise they left in Antigua)

MZ* - early 30s girl from Austria who was my room-mate most nights

P* - early 30s girl from Germany

K - early 30s girl from England

MH* and T* - late 20s boyfriend and girlfriend from Australia who are spending the next 4 months travelling around Central and South America

W and MV - mid-30s friends (both girls) from Australia

G - early 40s guy from Toronto (and he talked about Canada A LOT!!!)

S - late 30s guy from England

L* - women who turned 50 on the trip (and didn't tell us until the day AFTER) from Thunderbay

B* and A* - late 40s couple from Scotland

I - mid-40s girl from Quebec City

It snowed! And then it rained ...

We FINALLY got some snow so I got my parents to come snowshoeing with me at Crawford Lake. We were some of the first people down the trail and conditions were pretty good! The only problem was because it was so warm, the snow stick to our snowshoes adding a lot of weight. But we enjoyed ourselves and couldn't have gone at a better (or any other) time - when we left it was already 2 degrees and the snow changed to sleet and then rain soon after.

Searching for Winter

Winter in southern Ontario never really came this year, so I headed up for a weekend in Ottawa. Of course, the week before I went it was warm and wet (destroying the canal), but I still had fun visiting friends and family.

I bought snowshoes this year and had to use them at least once, so tried snowshoeing in the greenbelt near Kanata (where I was staying). The snow was well packed so I didn't need the bouyance, but the metal grips were useful. I gave up right near the end though, and while I was taking them off, a herd of dear surrounded me! People in the area feed the deer (!?!) so they weren't scared at all - they just stood there and looked at me.

My last morning I finally got to skate part of the canal (which was still pretty rough) and get my beavertail ... mmmm.

Happy Birthday H!

It's my niece H's 5th birthday today - if you ask her how old she is, she says "I'm a handful!".

I came late to the birthday party (work) but just in time to put together the giant marble run that she got from her mom and dad. I now understand why my dad didn't want us around when he was putting things together - it's hard to concentrate when kids are climbing over you and trying to play with it already!