Maya Luna, Chacchoben, and Laguna Bacalar (Mexico - Part 4)

Friday, 30 December 2011

Our home for 4 nights.

Our first day at Maya Luna was actually the only day that I snorkeled.  The beach we’re at is “protected” by a reef that is about ¼ mile out, so although it was a bit windy, we were still able to snorkel in the waters between.  It’s not very deep and most of the bottom is covered with sea grass, so it was a bit difficult to see any creatures in the water until we actually got to the reef.  In the morning we actually tried to swim out to the reef, but I was feeling a bit tired and wasn’t sure about being able to swim back to shore, so we headed back to have some lunch and pick up some kayaks.  With the kayaks we made much better time and tried to actually go to the outside of the reef – until the waves started tossing us around too much.  So we came back to the inside and Jeff tied the kayaks to his shorts and we snorkeled around until we started getting chilly.  There were lots of sea fans and different types of corals.  We saw all sorts of fish, big and small, colorful and shiny.  Snorkeling is one of my favorite things to do – especially on a bright sunny day in crystal clear waters.  We had a mostly sunny day and mostly clear waters, so not a bad day in paradise!  We also saw an octopus!  It was about plate-sized (including tentacles).  We watched it move from one large piece of coral to another, then disappear beneath it.  So cool!

The view from our roof-top terrace.  Note the red water (explained below).

The water on this beach is interesting.  We’re downwind from a small river that pours out of a mangrove swamp.  The water in that river is literally blood red from the mangroves, so that redness/orangeness flows into sea water.  Our beach actually looks like there’s been an oil spill, but it’s just from the mangroves.  When Jeff and I were snorkeling near shore, we couldn’t even see one another from just a few feet away because the water was so dark from this mangrove water.  Kind of cool, kind of creepy.  Carolien told us she learned that the mangrove water is actually really good for the skin.  Possibly helps reduce skin cancer.  So hopefully my time out in the sun this week will be compensated for by this colorful water.

We visited the “town” of Mahahual a few times to get some different meals and to see what the locals were hawking.  I say “town” because this area wouldn’t really exist as a tourist center except for the cruise ship port that was recently installed (within the last ten years or so).  While we were here there were at least 4 giant (and I mean giant – floating cities bigger than many cities on the Caribbean coast of Mexico) cruise ships docked.  So an insta-town sprung up to cater to tourists – trying to feed them, give them massages, sell them anything, and most importantly, get them drunk.  There’s a really nice beach walkway (called the Malecon) that runs for about 2 km.  We ate at a couple of different restaurants there, enjoying the sea view and the people watching.  Seeing people getting massages on the beach was somewhat entertaining.  People of different sizes and ages with much of their bodies on display – come to think of it, I guess that’s not much different than seeing people of different sizes and ages in bathing suits.

The beach in Mahahual.  In the distance is one of the many very large cruise ships we saw.

On our third afternoon Jeff talked me into going for a late afternoon kayak off the beach at Maya Luna, before the sunset. As we got out to the reef, the sky looked impressively black off to the east. We couldn’t really figure out which way the storms were moving, and thought we’d be safe from that one. Three minutes later, we were getting dumped on. Luckily no lightning, and the rain was warm. Once back to shore, we actually went up to our terrace, stood in the rain holding each other, and watched the rain come down over the sea. It was excellent.

Our last full day in this area was spent checking out some local ruins at Chacchoben – another Mayan archeological site that is really cool and should be on everybody’s must-see list – and swimming in a cenote (see Jeff’s next post) and swimming in a large freshwater lake.  Chacchoben is a very small site, and had very few visitors.  It’s still covered in jungle with a few structures cleaned up for viewing.  It seemed so wild and so much more like finding a site (Indiana Jones-style) than Chichen Itza did.  While we were there, for the first time, I tried fresh coconut milk – we watched the guy use a machete to cut off the end so he could stick a straw in it.  It was delicious!  I don’t usually like coconut (both the flavor and the texture), but I guess that’s because I wasn’t tasting the real/fresh thing. 

One of the temples at Chacchoben.

The palm trees were huge!

We only got to climb part way up this ruin.

Man with a machete and a coconut.

Fresh coconut milk is surprisingly refreshing and yummy!

Cenote Azul was interesting, but as Jeff explains in his post, he liked it a lot more than I did.  I guess I just couldn’t get over the fact that there was 300 feet of water below me.  It was beautiful, though.

We only spent a few minutes at Laguna Bacalar.  We walked out on a dilapidated old pier and jumped into about 4 feet of fairly warm freshwater.  Turns out it was not nearly as clean as the water at the cenote.  The sun was setting by now, so we stayed in long enough to get wet and watch the sun go behind the trees.  Then it was time to head back to Maya Luna.

The waters of Laguna Bacalar as the sun sets.

We left Maya Luna this morning and made the long drive back to Cancun.  Jeff swam in the Gran Cenote (see his post), while I watched and took pictures.  (I especially don’t like the idea of swimming in anything resembling a cave, so I didn’t even go in – what can I say, I’m a wimp who has a few phobias). 

It’s been a great babymoon.  I’m sad to be leaving, but as always, I’m also looking forward to being home.  I don’t think Jeff or I got much sun – I was hoping to get back to Mass with my skin sun-kissed.  But we were diligent about sunscreen, and I suspect that the December sun is a bit weaker than the summer sun.

One of three small sting rays we saw - this one was about the size of a salad plate.

Another one of the three sting rays we saw - this one was about the size of a dinner plate.  His tail made me a bit nervous being in the water.

Bees enjoying the flowers of a palm tree.

Jeff watching as two brown pelicans slam into the water, another gets ready to dive, and the fourth flies over looking for fishy food.

Good morning Caribbean.

Saying farewell to Maya Luna.

Ek’ Balam and Our Last Beach Resort (Mexico - Part 3)

Tuesday December 27, 2011

Maya Luna Hotel near Mahahual, Mexico

Yesterday was a fairly leisurely day – as Jeff mentioned in the last post, the morning started out in the sunny courtyard of what must have once been the party center of the Club Med of Chichen Itza.  These days it seems this resort is more family focused – although last night’s show seemed more like something you’d want to see if you were taking some sort of hallucinogenic drug…

After taking our time eating and packing up, we finally left Chichen Itza around 11am and headed for a slight detour before arriving at our final destination.  We decided it was going to be worth the time and extra driving to go see the ruins at Ek’ Balam.  And it was definitely worth it.  As Jeff noted earlier, we couldn’t climb on the ruins in Chichen Itza, but we could here.  I felt a little bad about climbing on these ancient ruins so I convinced myself that most of them were actually reconstructed.  The biggest structure – which claims to be taller than El Castillo (the huge pyramid at Chichen Itza) – was actually under reconstruction, so it didn’t take much to convince me that it was ok to climb.  And we did.  It was the heat of the day and it felt incredibly humid too, so by the time we got to the top, I was feeling a bit light-headed.  The view was really spectacular – we could see how flat the surrounding land is (you can see for miles in every direction) and a few ruins poking out of the wild jungle.  This site is much smaller and much less excavated than Chichen Itza, but really, really cool.  If you ever visit the Yucatan, this is one place not to be missed.  There are several mounds that have not been excavated, so they are covered in jungle, but you can see that they must have been man-made.  Makes me wonder how the archeologists figure out which stone goes where and what the mound actually was before it was taken over by flora.  Since I was feeling light-headed, Jeff held my hand as we descended the pyramid and I chose to remain in the shade for the rest of the outing.  Jeff galavanted around the place, climbing up and over multiple structures.  This is definitely the place for any Indiana Jones wannabe’s out there.

Jeff balancing over the steep stairs overlooking the rest of Ek' Balam.

I was so happy to make it all the way up to the top.  Now to get down...

Is that Indiana Jones I see?

On a side note – I tried a guanabana popsicle and really enjoyed the flavor.  Not to mention the cold of the frozen treat.

Jeff tried to convince me that we should visit the cenote that was adjacent to the ruins, mainly because it was really hot and this particular cenote was off the beaten path and probably would be the most empty of any that we might be able to see.  I was unconvincable, however, because it was past our lunch time and we both tend to get the hungry bitchies if we don’t eat in a timely manner. 

We ended up having a nice (and long) lunch in the town of Valladolid.  Our Lonely Planet guide told us of a market/food court just off the main city plaza that lots of locals go to, so we tried that.  Our Spanish is fairly poor – so trying to read a fully Spanish menu and talk to people who spoke no English made ordering a bit difficult – I tried to order several things without meat (I’m not vegetarian, just sometimes don’t want to try dishes with meat from unknown sources), but was repeatedly told I couldn’t get that meal without pork (or chicken).  I finally just ordered Huevos Rancheros (fried eggs on tortillas with a tomato sauce and beans on the side) which was quite tasty.  Jeff was only going to get a small meal, but kept ordering plate after plate: fried plantains, papas fritas (French fries), and pork tacos.  We ended up stuffed. It was great!  Meanwhile, we got to see a bit of the local populace (along with tour groups and some individual tourists).  It was a great stop.

Mmmm, tasty lunch.

Finally, we headed to our last beach resort – in Mahahual, about 4 hours south of Cancun.  We drove on several different very straight roads with little traffic to finally find this wonderful little resort on the sea: Maya Luna.  The proprietors are originally from Holland but have been running Maya Luna for 9 years.  There are a total of 4 bungalows at this resort, each with their own roof terrace and all about 20 meters to the water.  We arrived late, but Carolien and Jan were nice enough to fix us dinner (an interesting take on fajitas with a curry flavor – very good).  We decided we really wanted to get in the water before bed, but we only walked a few feet in (just above my knees) and decided that there were too many unknowns in the dark, so we’d wait until tomorrow to check it out.  We’ll be here for 4 nights and plan on snorkeling and swimming and kayaking and pretty much relaxing and enjoying ourselves for the last part of our babymoon.