There has been no school or other activities this week.
I feel no motivation whatsoever to get stuff accomplished around home.
So because I am encouraging my procrastination, here's a few more pictures of our trip, since I really wish I was back there right now!
Our second excursion was to a place called Xel-Ha (pronounced Shell Ha). It is essentially a huge natural aquarium. We spent a full day there and I still wanted more!
We spent the majority of our time snorkeling around and viewing the large amounts of fish everywhere. I wouldn't be able to tell you what most of the fish were, but they sure were neat to look at! Some have amazing colors, like the rainbow parrotfish (one of the FEW that I knew thanks to a Wii game called Endless Ocean!)
The underwater pictures that we do have were taken with a cheap disposable camera. The pictures certainly don't have a high quality but you can see enough to get the right idea.
We also opted to do a Sea Trek which was a neat experience. We got to put on these large space-like helmets and walk on the ocean floor. During that walk we were surrounded by large fish and several sting rays. We were allowed to touch the sting rays, which is really neat. They feel like sandpaper on top and very smooth and slimy on the bottom. Apparently they are very docile creatures so they happily accommodate having people touch them. Our tour guide also brought along some food for the fish so it was neat to watch the feeding frenzy!
We also did the lazy river (you float down in tubes) but we chose to use our flippers to paddle and make it a "not-so-lazy river". The best part of that was probably seeing the little hermit crabs along the edge of the rocks. They were everywhere!
We also saw some other animals there. Of course the iguana is around just about anywhere you look but we had to take some pictures for our girls. This one turned out really well.
And for the extra-touristysucker person, you could pay to have your picture taken with these birds. We certainly didn't feel the need to do that but we managed to get some pics of our own for the girls to see.
We also opted to do a Sea Trek which was a neat experience. We got to put on these large space-like helmets and walk on the ocean floor. During that walk we were surrounded by large fish and several sting rays. We were allowed to touch the sting rays, which is really neat. They feel like sandpaper on top and very smooth and slimy on the bottom. Apparently they are very docile creatures so they happily accommodate having people touch them. Our tour guide also brought along some food for the fish so it was neat to watch the feeding frenzy!
We also did the lazy river (you float down in tubes) but we chose to use our flippers to paddle and make it a "not-so-lazy river". The best part of that was probably seeing the little hermit crabs along the edge of the rocks. They were everywhere!
We also saw some other animals there. Of course the iguana is around just about anywhere you look but we had to take some pictures for our girls. This one turned out really well.
And for the extra-touristy
Is it sad that we already talk about when we can go back here again someday?
Here are some stone tablets that were like message boards for the people. It would get updated with various information until it was "erased" and a new message was inscribed.
I didn't think that my fear of heights would permit me to climb very high, but I successfully made it all the way to the top. I just looked at one step at a time, and refused to look down!! Unfortunately right after we got to the top, it started to RAIN! This makes the rocky steps very very slippery so we waited until the downpour slowed to a trickle. Fortunately there was a small temple at the top where about a dozen people took shelter.
It was an amazing view from the top. At one time, this wouldn't have been jungle but instead the city of Coba.
After lunch, we canoed around a small lake. Then we walked into the jungle for a tour of our surroundings. We had to take a zipline across an open cenote, which is essentially a natural pool fed by underground rivers. I was absolutely TERRIFIED to do this, but I managed to survive in one piece. Very fortunate, considering that we later found 5-foot alligators waiting in the water at the end of the zipline. Seriously!! They took our pictures for various parts of this excursion but I was lucky enough to have shielded my face since I was thrashing around like a wild women trying to make the dumb thing stop going so FAST! (Can you tell that I really liked this?)
Next we walked through some more jungle until we got to the entrance of this closed cenote. This time we rappelled down about 120 feet into the water. Essentially this cenote was a large underground cave. The water was the clearest we had ever seen! We could easily see the bottom which was about 100 feet down. It was really amazing. And strangely enough, the rappelling wasn't anywhere near as scary as the crazy zipline. I could control my speed and take my time.
Later to get back up, the options were the rope ladder or the "Mayan elevator" where they pull you back up using the rappelling ropes. It was a little scary, but certainly much easier than attempting the ladder, which is what John chose to do.
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