Antigua to Mexico and back...

Late August Richard and I went to Antigua for a week.  

We had found a Doctor and a Dentist that both spoke English.  

As we were overdue for full check ups.

They were both wonderful, extremely thorough, both of us getting a clean bill of health.

Our friend Belinda (and her husband Ken), had arrived in Antigua, prior to Ken heading to Aussie to visit his Mum, and Belinda staying on for a week to go to Spanish School, then flying to Mexico to go on the "Copper Canyon" train trip.

This all sounded fantastic, so I joined her.

Richard headed back to Our Rose to carry on with all the maintenance work 

and I skived off for 3 weeks.

 The property in Antigua where our Spanish School (and accommodation) was located right in town - the grounds and gardens were lovely, 

with a swimming pool and tennis court.

My teacher, Gloria was wonderful - extremely patient with me!

Toward the end of the week, Gloria took us (Belinda & her teacher also) to her village (San Juan), where we visited the Catholic Church...

Chocolate Factory, and local wine maker...

 Belinda and I then flew to Mexico City, where we had 3 nights.

We visited the Freda Kahlo Museum.  Her artwork was extraordinary

Driving back to the National Palace, we came across to most beautiful gowns...

These are designed by an extremely talented Mexican, whose gowns all tell a story

www.mcmargaritacisneros.com

 When Belinda saw a sign for "Cricket Tacos" she had to try them...

Her first "survey" of the crunchy cricket...

followed by the actual taco, with varying size crickets on it...

(I was a chicken and did not partake)

We flew from Mexico city to Los Mochas, then  onto El Fuerte.   From here we went to Bachuichico, then onto Pasada Barranca.  We had a wonderful trip.  I took so many photos that I hope this small selection shows the beautiful country we experienced...

Sweat Lodge at El Fuerte

Our "Chariot" that took us to a boat for a bird watching trip (Belinda is a keen birdwatcher)...

Accommodation at Bahuichivo

View at Urique

Belinda taking a photo - it is "extremely steep"

We went horse riding - my horse had a 2 month old foal, who joined us on the ride...

We let the horses have a break, and stopped at this beautiful spot...

 Bird Watching was a main part of the trip, and Belinda was seen like this often...

Mario told us that the people still believe very strongly in the old ways, they have shrines at water springs (as water is life).  The Sweat Lodge is like a womb, so you come out "born again", with your emotional baggage left behind.  The people are also extremely religious, following the Jesuit religion.  We found it to be an interesting mix of religion and traditional ways...

Belinda loved the train journey...

Coming from New Zealand, it is still a shock when we see people with guns, and in this part of the world, they are everywhere.  There are guards with "big" guns outside every store (even bakeries)

There were at least 6 armed guards on the train with us (all with AK47's or similar)...

 The Copper Canyon boasts to be 4 times larger than the Grand Canyon.  However it is far greener, with a higher rainfall...

You can see why this is call Yogi Bear Rock Formation...

Over looking some of the Canyon is truly spectacular, with sheer drops...

Watching the sunrise at Pasada Barranca was spectacular... 

 I loved spending time taking lots of photos...  The scenery, birdlife and people 

were spectacular and colourful...

We were in El Fuerte for Mexican Independence.  

It transformed from a quiet sleepy town to a huge fiesta.  

The dancing horse competition was amazing...

It was a great trip and heading back to the Rio Dulce would hold some unexpected  turn of events...

Richards Birthday

This is typical of many of the rural houses that we saw while driving to Tulum...

This car was parked opposite the Restaurant we went for dinner...

Richards Birthday 16 May 2015

We were up early and off to Dos Ojos Scuba. 

Richard's wish for his birthday was to dive Cenotes.  

Cenote is a Mayan Term, which refer any cavern with a water deposit.  These are inland, underground cave systems, with the six biggest in the world all located in Tulum.  Since the caves were formed in the last ice ages, inhibitants in that period (prehistoric, including human) settled in the caves in search of the single drinking water source.  Most of them, including mammoths, sloths, horses, camels amongst others, did not manage to get out and their remains stay there as proof.  Four human skeletons more than 10 thousand years old have been found.

These caves were dry in the last ice age, rain was filtered and it dragged minerals along forming stalactites, stalagmites and colums.

The first dive at “The Pit” an amazing 123 ft deep, with contracting scuba bubbles and divers against light backdrop – an incredible place...

  

The second dive was “Dreamgate” at Cenote Profunda, a very remote place down a long rough road.  Only two sets of divers.  A double pronged dive along 20 ft bottom with millions of staligtites and mites on the bottom and ceiling.  Very unique place in pitch blackness.

We then headed back to Our Rose, doing some major provisioning along the way...

We headed to Punta Allen, we were the only boat there.  

We went ashore and chatted with the locals.

Leaving Punta Allen we overnighted to San Pedro Belize, a rolly night, we had to slow Our Rose down, as we were going to arrive too early to have the right light to navigate the reef system at the entrance to San Pedro.

Mexico Ruins...

One of the most advanced indigenous cultures of the ancient Americas,

the Mayans began as hunter gatherers and migrated into the Yacatan around 2500BC.

During the pre-classic period (500BC - 250AD) they appeared in Quintana Roo - it was this area that we visited ruins at Tulum, Coba, Chichen Itza, Ek Balam

The shear size and architectural fete was nothing short of extraordinary!

Considering they felt the "wheel" was sacred, therefore was not used for any constructions whatsoever…

The following photos are from the four ruin sites we visited:

Tulum…

Coba...

Our accommodation where we stayed overnight

This is a "Ball Court" - the object was to get a Rubber ball through the small hoop at the top of the wall, using only the hip to hit it.  This was not a game, however used for various decisions needing to be made, including political and sacrificial…

The "Watch Tower" at a cross road connecting various main cities...

Below was our "Mayan Limosine" a typical mode of transport...

Richard climbed to the top of this!

Iguanas come in various colours...

Chichen Itza

The ruins covered a huge area here.  We visited in the morning before it got too hot…

This pyramid is actually a second layer on top of an existing pyramid from an earlier era…

In the evening, we returned for a light and sound show, that was projected onto the above pyramid…

The below photo depicts the fact that most of the Mayan Ruins were brightly coloured structures - they used Jade, Dyes from Vegetation etc to achieve this…

Ek Balam

This is Richard climbing to the top…

The view from the top showed the area that Ek Balam covered…