Cancun 4 of 4: Tulum

 Tulum was the second big ruin we visited.  The buildings there are much smaller than Chichen Itza, but are perched beautifully right on the coast.  The jungle is very thick here, and there were big lizards everywhere.

 The beach at the foot of the temple is pristine and the water very inviting.

This picture is for Sean and Rachel :)

Cancun 3 of 4: Food

  I did not take a lot of pictures while eating in Mexico because I hate to get buttery fingerprints all over my camera (one night we went out and ordered a mountain of seafood:  lobster tails, shrimp, the best tuna I've ever had and a couple other fish all served on a little brazier), but there were a few. The first is just to show off that I personally ate 5 pounds of papaya.  Marc was amazed.  We also destroyed half a dozen mangos, as many avocados, and several pineapples as well.

 This is from the grocery store we went to, where all meats were available in big open air piles, for individual choosing like the fruit. 

The last photo was from our way back from Chicen Itza.  We were starved and wanted to eat at a local place, so we channeled Anthony Bourdain and stopped at a tiny restaurant in a village. We had fresh tortilla chips, half a dozen plates with various condiments and sides, really good seafood soup, tasty fajitas, and flan, because you should always have flan at every opportunity.

Aww

These pictures were taken during a string cheese break on a hike this February. 

 While that was several months ago, they are just too cute to keep to myself.

Cancun 2 of 4: Diving

 While in Cancun we went on multiple dives so I could finish up my Padi certification.  This was fun, but the visibility wasn't great.  The water really was this exquisite blue though. 

The best part of getting my cert done was that a couple days later when we were able to go on an amazing cave dive near Tulum.  Our guide was a short Mayan guy who had a great frog-like kick to keep from stirring up silt in the glass water, and an eight foot hose on his spare regulator hooked to a double tank.  Extremely reassuring, as we were diving in areas with no overhead access.

My little underwater camera couldn't catch enough light in the caves, which is too bad.  Luckily, there are people out there with really expensive cameras that can show you the exact cenote we dove in, like these sites.  This was an amazing dive, the favorite I have been on.  The bubbles on the roof of the cave glittered like mercury.  The water was so clear and the landscape so alien it felt like being in space.  Stalactites stretched down from the ceiling; a weird thing to see under water.  Tiny fish flew by the beams of our flashlights and bats fluttered overhead (in the air...no swimming bats here.)  A wonderful experience that I would recommend to anyone, excluding those with claustrophobia.   

Cancun 1 of 4: Chichen Itza

 Recently Marc and I took an actual grown up vacation, while Case lived it up with his grandparents. 

We went to Cancun, to go diving and see archeological sites.

 Our first big exploration was to Chichen Itza.  I've wanted to see pyramids for years, and these were truly amazing.  

Temple of the Warriors

Check out the skulls carved on the aptly named "Skull Platform."

 

Group of a Thousand Columns

Las Monjas (left) and La Iglesia (right)

El Castillo, with cool serpent effect on the side of the stairs (we were there very close to the equinox.)

 I admit to getting us very lost on the way there, before we even left the city.  Once you are on your way it is a very easy drive, but Cancun itself doesn't believe in crazy things like street signs.  So one early turn in the city is disastrous. 

 We still had a fabulous time.

Fishing

 We went fishing today.

 We here at Nerd Family rarely do things like everyone else though.

We find someone at the pond with the appropriate gear,

Marc baits the fish with bread crumbs,

and the egret does the hard work.  Caught 4 perch this way today.

Bamboo

Sunday was warm and beautiful so we headed to the bamboo park again, Case's choice.

 There was a big dead tree toppled into the pond, perfect for climbing on and 100 times better practice than anything Case does in occupational therapy.

Dragonflies buzzed around everywhere.

 Big bullfrogs sat around the pond and croaked their songs about love.

 The water lilies were blooming beautifully.

 Oh yeah, and there were snakes around.  Lots of snakes.

Swimming around in the water and sunning themselves on lily pads.  Banded water snakes, and brown water snakes; mellow little guys that eat little fish and pollywogs.

 So, pretty much the perfect day in Case's opinion.