Holy cow, I had to go back 3 pages to find my last installment. Thank you all for sticking around, and again I apologize for disappearing. Things got busy, and frankly I just forgot. Then DW told me that a lynch mob was starting up so I figured I better get off my rear end and get this thing done.
So today is Friday, December 21, 2012. It is the end of the world as we know it. Or at least that's what we had been told and promised because the Mayan Calendar was ending and the Mayan's know everything there is to know about anything!
We got up early (around 7am, wow, I have a terrific memory) so we could get ready and get some food at BBB. We got off the ship just after 8am and waited for the rest of our group to join us. One of the DISers in the group (Julie) had set up today's excursion to the ruins, so we all needed to head up there together. We signed up through Native Choice, once again not going with the Disney excursions and once again saving ourselves some money.
Here we are just off the ship...that USC shirt is starting to look familiar.
To get to the meeting spot for Native Choice we had to wind our way through the shopping area by the cruise dock (we would spend some time there later). This area was only accessible to Cruise ship passengers and had lots of bars, restaurants and stores. One place even had a pool with a small beach. pretty impressive. As with anything where they make it convenient...it was expensive. We exited out and headed a few blocks down to meet Native Choice . The place we met was an old shopping mall of some sort. you could clearly tell that Costa Maya was still hurting from the hurricane...and from what we understand the number of cruise ships has really declined. It used to be multiple a day...but now they only get a couple a week. Really sad and you can imagine the impact to the economy when they rely on that!
Then it was time to load up on our bus. Ivan, who was one of the owners, was our guide. He was very good and had alot of really good stories. We were going to the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins.
Our bus full of DISers.
Ivan lived among the ruins when he was a kid. At least that's what he told us. Since that time we have talked with many different people who have done tours like this. They all seem to have heard the same thing. So either there were a whole bunch of people who lived there or perhaps it was a little white lie. However it made the story neat...which continued like this: He lived there when he was little and has alot of souvenirs because they would go out and find stuff all the time. His mom owned the land up until Mexico came and took it from them. The even lived on the land while they were excavating these exact ruins...and he had a couple of pictures of before and after. He only had a couple of pictures left because the rest were ruined by the Hurricane. Well, there you go. You can decide if it is real or not.
Our first look at a ruin
Ivan talked about how the ruins were built...and that was pretty incredible. Essentially every 55 years (at least I think it was 55 years), they had to rebuild the temples. I always assumed these temples were kind of like the Pyramids...with hallow interiors. But apparently not. They started out small and every 55 years they added another layer to them...thus eventually making them huge. How thick the layer was depended upon the economy. During the good years the layer would be thick and colorful...when the economy was poor the layer would be very thin. Many times these temples would get closer and closer together as they got bigger, and eventually had to be combined because they were so large...making even bigger ones.
When you stand there and look out...you see many hills in the distance. Every one of the hills is a ruin as the landscape is extremely flat. It will be hundreds of years before they will uncover al the ruins...if they ever do. Cool stuff.
Here we are on a ruin!
The entire Dis group
And a close-up of us!
Dw going up some stairs
Audrey and I doing the same!
Here you can kind of see the various layers as they redid the temples.
Here you can see some red color on the stucco of one of the layers. Must have been a good year looting the other people!
Look at them thar hills in the distance...oh wait, those aren't hills!
DW on the edge of a steep hill. If you understand DW's fear of heights, you feel for her right now!
Another Ruin posing with us
Doug and Deanna
And another ruin...
Ivan teaching us about the calendar. This was very instructive because basically they Mayan's didn't predict the end of the world (obviously), Their calendar is set up to last forever essentially. They have 4-5 layers of numbers, some associated with days, years, etc. Essentially the days had progressed far enough along that everything was clicking over to a new number at the top level. Kind of like the year 2000...but more like 20000000 or something. And obviously the world did not end. Actually all of us felt that both Disney and Costa Maya missed out not printing t-shirst that said "I survived the end of the world in Costa Maya!". I would have bought one. Harumph...wish I had thought of it, I could have made a profit onboard!
Another picture of us
This is some sort of tablet. There used to be a ton of these, but many of them got stolen so they were moved off-site. I can't remember if this was a real one or a replica (my gut tells me it is a replica).
All-in-all it was a terrific excursion. We really enjoyed seeing all the neat stuff and we highly recommend Native Choice...even if Ivan may or may not have lived amongst the ruins!
Now it was time to head back...but of course not without being able to visit the stores at the ruins. We knew we had to negotiate..which I really enjoy actually. We ended up buying a keychain (which we would turn into a christmas ornament...we always buy christmas ornaments when we go on vacation...but alot of places do not have them...keychains work just as well), and a stone chess set for the boys. Dw didn't bother to write down how much I haggled them down...but I got what I felt like was a really good deal. Which, of course, likely means I paid twice as much as I should have.
Then it was back on the bus! One of the main crops in the Costa Maya area is pineapple. Of course the best Pineapple gets shipped off and sold elsewhere...but there is alot of pineapple that doesn't make the cut. This gets chopped up and put into bags and there are a ton of ladies on the side of the road offering to sell it. In addition they have this chili powder that they give with it which is sprinkled onto the pineapple. It sounds gross...but we are very open minded.
One little tidbit which I found interesting...the sanitary conditions are not that great there. So the people of that region sprinkle the chili powder on everything....which helps kill the bacteria which might make you sick. Pretty ingenious!
Ivan had talked about this on the way to the ruins and many of us asked to stop on the way back and get some.
Ivan getting pineapple for us