Surprise!!

Damian bought us a 13th Anniversary trip to Cancun, Mexico and we're leaving in 2 weeks! We'll be meeting Jared and Christine there (Damian's brother) and I can't wait! I spent a day researching and planning and this is what I've come up with! Disclaimer: I should have made this two posts, I got a little carried away! If you get bored, just read half and then come back and finish another day!

We'll be gone 8 days, and 2 of those will be spent traveling, so we'll have 6 days in the sun! This is what the beaches look like in Cancun. Just take a moment and picture me, reading a book, soaking it in. I think I'll spend 3 days here. . . in this cute double chair . . .with my cute husband, that I adore. I especially adore him after this surprise!

On the 4th day, when I've had enough of that cute chair, I've planned an excursion for us. We'll drive 2 hours south to visit the Tulum Ruins. They're right on the beach and really beautiful!

We'll stay for an hour or so and when it gets hot we'll drive another 15 minutes to a Water Preserve/Park called: Xel-Ha (Mayan for "The Place Where Water Begins.")

We'll have all sorts of adventures there, including swimming with 75 varieties of fish as well as dolphins, stingrays and turtles in a river inlet that forms a natural lagoon, draining into the sea. Don't worry, there is a big gate across the ocean to keep the sharks out.

After snorkeling, we'll float a REAL lazy river out to the sea. Along the way we'll stop for rope swings, cliff jumping, underwater cave exploration and other exciting junk.

For a hundred bucks, Damian MIGHT swim with dolphins. They jump over you, swim around you and "play games with you," they let you pet them, do tricks you command them (the trainers teach you the signs), they kiss & hug you as well as jump over a bar you hold for them.

For an extra $30 you can do this "Foot Push" trick, where the dolphins swim up under your feet and lift you out of the water. How long you can stay on is up to you. I hope Damian decides to do it. I want to see him do this fancy number.

Xel-Ha is only $67 dollars for all the food, drinks, and equipment you need for the day, including kayaks and bikes. Plus it's just so gorgeous. There are trails through the jungle to walk or bike that you can observe tons of butterflies, macaws, toucans, iguanas and beautiful orchids and other flora. The park closes at 5, so then we'll head back to Cancun. I think we'll be exhausted!

Another day we're planning to hit another Water Preserve called Xcaret. It has an amazing dinner theater with a night show called "Mexico Espectacular." The show chronicles the history of the Mayans people, through the conquistadors and to modern times. It's 90 minutes of gorgeous entertainment and costumery. These photos are all taken from Xcaret's site.

The part of the show I most want to see is the 3000 year old Mayan version of Basketball. This feathered ball player is sitting on top of the "basket." The ball court has long narrow alleys with side-walls against which the ball can bounce. The rules of the ballgame are not known, but judging from its modern version "Ulama," they were probably similar to racquetball or volleyball where the aim is to keep the ball in play.

In the most widespread version of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets or bats. The ball is about the size of a basketball, made of rubber and weighs about 9 lbs. (a basketball weighs about 1.5 lbs!) And Damian thinks he has hip problems!

"He Shoots, He Scores!" I guess during the dinner show, the two sides of the theater pick teams and we cheer for our team. I think the guys will really like to see this game played.

This is the modern ball court at our Xcaret. It's hard to notice the "basket" or goal, but it's sticking out of the wall, with the ball coming at it right in the middle of the photo.

This is the famous ball court at Chichen Itza. It is the largest ball court in Mesoamerica. If you notice, the "baskets" are WAY up high. Probably to make the game near impossible.

These Mayans were weirdos, let's face it. And VERY violent. Violent, as in, they'd have scared the pants off the Vikings and Nazi's. They sacrificed humans all the time. Because of the artwork depicted around the ball courts, it is a fact that players were sacrificed at the end of the game. What isn't known is whether the victims were the losers or winners. Most archaeologists believe the winners were sacrificed. It was supposedly an honor to be sacrificed (maybe like the Muslim Jihad) and if you were the winning team captain, you had to die. Apparently, Chichen Itza is the bloodiest and most horrific time period in earth's history, to be uncovered so far. I mean, these people were very EVIL. I'm getting the creeps about this place as I research. Click HERE to see what I'm talking about. This historian shows beautiful pictures of the ruins and the carvings that illustrate the people's deeds at Chichen Itza. The question is, should I visit this horrible place? It was recently voted one of the NEW 7 Wonders of the World. Gross. I guess it's like visiting Auschwitz or Dachau.

Here is some Mayan artwork depicting the game. I think the Mayan artwork looks cool but I'm not planning to hang any up in my house. I don't want to make a blanket statement, but it's my blog. Those people were wicked and creepy. Their culture thrived from about 500BC -1200 AD. There may have been a time that the Mayan's were nice. But evidence shows that they were sacrificing, as well as those Tolmecs that conquered them (and were even nastier). So, unless I can find something that I know is depicting the glorious, righteous years that the people in Central America were Christian, as The Book of Mormon teaches, I'm not buying.

This last shot is of the largest ruin at Chichen Itza, "The Temple of Kukulkan." Kukulkan is another name for Quetzacoatl, a mythical prince that founded Chichen Itza and became a feathered serpent god the Mayans revered. The things the Mayans did in his name were horrid. But, let's move past the blood and horror.

The Mayans were very knowlegable about astronomy. On the days of the Spring and Autumn Solstice, the sun shines through the top of the temple and casts a shadow that resembles a snake, slithering down the side of the temple (remember, their "God" was part man, part serpent and part bird.) There are exactly 364 steps to get to the top, with the top platform counting as the 365th step, symbolizing all the days in the year. Both Tulum and Chichen Itza were built Post- Book of Mormon times, so I may try and hit another group of ruins that are known to be in exhistance during the times I love reading about in my scriptures, but we'll see.