Hello everyone!
I wanted to start the week telling you about my most recent trip to the Carribbean! What a wonderful time indeed! My extended family and I took a 5-day Carribbean cruise to Cozumel and Progreso. We were not disappointed!
The first photo for today is on Passion Island near Cozumel, Mexico or Isla Pasion in Spanish. White sands, blue water, and gentle, swaying palm trees await you there. We took a catamarran over to the island from the cruise ship. I recommend the top deck of a catamarran for sun and breeze. We had a wonderful time basking in the sun, swimming, walking along the beach and trying wonderful authentic Mexican food! One could even do a bit of shopping! God's creation is so beautiful, as you can see! And yes, the water is that blue! I highly recommended this place if you are a beach lover like me!
I am standing, along with a random little girl, at the temple of Kulkukan, the Mayan snake god, in the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza! This is one of the 7 Wonders of the World and the largest Mayan temple ever built! It has 365 stairs to the top, 91 stairs on each side of the pyramid. It was built, along with the rest of the city sometime between 500 and 1000 AD if not before. This city We toured the ancient city after arriving in Progreso the following day. The temple was surrounded by other temples, a palace and a soccer field! Yes they played soccer! They had to hit their ball through stone holes that were built into the wall of their soccer field. I would never have imagined this! The Mayans were expert astronomers and mathematicians. They built their cities based on math, nature and their calendars. They are believed to have come from Asia, crossing an ancient land bridge in Alaska and journeying far to the south. They could count using only 3 symbols and knew about 5 of our 8 planets long before Europeans. They built cisterns for water just like the Romans! Historians also believe they traded with far away peoples and nations, perhaps across oceans. They worshipped many gods and practiced child and adult human sacrifice to appease their gods - a sad and frightening thing for the people I believe.
When the Spanish arrived there in the 1500s, the Mayans were gone. No one knows what happened to them. Several theories have been proposed, war, political problems, disease and famine. The Spanish destroyed all but three of the Mayan historical books. Those books are studied and reside today at major univerisities in Germany, France and Spain. Mexico has been unsucessful to date in getting these books back to preserve their own historical culture. It was a whirl wind tour but a grand tour indeed! I highly recommend visiting Chichen Itza!
We also spent two wonderful days on board the Carnival Valor to get to and from the Yucatan peninsula! All in all, it was a wonderful vacation! I will return to the Yucatan again, there is much to see and explore! Next stops are Cancun and Cabo! And yes, I will write about all my adventures!
Looking for my next adventure,
Elizabeth