Paul's parents surprised me on Mother's Day- with an awesome gift...A week at the beach! We dropped Paul IV off at Grandma's and headed south of the border. You can click each picture for a larger view.
This is the view from our room balcony- it was great eating breakfast each morning watching the sun rise over the Caribbean. The water was a beautiful power blue.
From our hotel door looking over the lagoon- a beautiful sunset each night!
As blue as the water looks- this doesn't quite capture it.
My first walk to the beach- it wasn't as scary as it looks :-)
The hotel offered free sailing lessons and boat usage- so we took them out in the lagoon for a while- it was fun and all- but I really don't see what's so cool about sail boats- I guess you have to be from a rich family in Martha's Vineyard to get it.
The hotel lobby had these thrones that Paul loved- he felt like a King!
Tulum
We drove down to Tulum- a Mayan fort right on the beach. The ruins were very cool and their setting on the beautiful beach was so dramatic. These dated to about 800 A.D.
The main temple at the fort- it's on a neat cliff hanging over the beach.
We had to walk through the jungle to get to most of the ruins- it was beautiful!
Stunning views from the main temple!
Ooooh- lush vegetation!
Down toward the beach from the fort
It was a lot of work!
Chichen Itza
We also went over to Chichen Itza in the middle of the Yucatan Peninsula. It was another Mayan site dating to about 450 A.D. The ruins were much more impressive and aged much better without the harsh beach conditions of Tulum. This is El Castillo- the main pyramid in the center of the city. They don't let you climb up it anymore, but it still makes for a great picture.
The steps were very narrow- scary to climb down!
Me in the middle of some civic building
Historians have no idea what this was for. But considering it was next to one of the religious buildings (see below), I think it was used for baptisms
This religious building was so ornate!
The observatory- where the famed Mayan Calendars were created.
No explanation needed
Hurricane Paula decided to visit, even though our hotel denied it the whole time. They even boarded everything up and still tried to tell us nothing was coming.
We only had one day of
bad weather, then it was perfect again!
Paul really likes this picture- I wonder why?
