Travelogue: Summer 2004

[Penni]

Hi everyone. With a little encouragement from livius, I have written a travelogue, chronicling my recent vacations. I hope others will enjoy it, and it is not as boring as the proverbial vacation slide show, but at least in this format you can leave when you are bored and I will never know! And now, without further ado, I most humbly present:

Travelogue: Out on Probation
Part 1

So, I escaped from jail for a short time recently, and my probation officer even let me leave the state. I have to document these few weeks of blissful freedom and will think back on them fondly during my days incarcerated in my drab grey cubicle.

WEEK 1

The date: Thursday, July 29, 2004. My last day at work…er, jail. I went to my hairdresser at lunch and had my hair chopped off in honor of my upcoming vacations in which I just couldn’t imagine dealing with long hair. This is the symbol of the start of vacation. For the rest of the day I was glowing, knowing I was already free in my mind.

I was very smart to take Friday off also, even though it obviously depletes my reserves for the future. I had to pack for two separate trips and I have been a big procrastinator on packing in recent trips. I couldn’t afford to this time, because I needed to be strategic about what I packed for Tahoe (trip #1) and what I set aside for Playa del Carmen (trip #2) and what would be overlapping both. Even though I had the whole day off, I didn’t start packing till late afternoon!

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/akiladillinger.jpgIn the morning, I did laundry, cleaned the house and prepped the kitties (right) for their own little trip. They were to be dropped off at my mom’s house for babysitting, and two litterboxes, one carton of food, two sets of dishes, several toys and treats and 20 lbs. of cats later, they were ready to go.

That night we traveled one hour north to Perris, where my mom and Jeff’s family live. We dropped the cats off at my mother’s little house. She recently adopted a new kitten (adorable!), so in addition to her own cat, Zaphod, she had 4 cats in her 900 sq. ft. house. Sounds like trouble! Jeff and I spent the night at his parent’s empty house. They had already left for Tahoe, and were spending the night in Mammoth (about halfway).

Although I don’t believe in any way that I am looking for a father figure in my partner, my dad and Jeff do have one thing in common. We have to get up early for vacations. When I was a kid, we’d spend a couple weeks each summer in June Lake (coincidentally near Tahoe, but closer to Mammoth). My dad would get me up at, oh, about 3 or 4 am and put me in the car which he and my stepmother already had packed. These were the days before seatbelts were required (I feel so old!), and they’d pack up the entire backseat and cover it in so many blankets, it was like a huge bed and I was the Princess and the Pea (although luckily, I never felt any of the various pots, pans and camping implements I must have been sleeping on). Back then, at least I got to go back to sleep. Now that I am a Big Girl, I have to stay awake (for the most part) with Jeff, but we get up at about 5am for a 5:30am departure time. He would probably leave even earlier, but that’s the best I can do.

This year I didn’t sleep on the way up, but enjoyed the scenery. We take 395 all the way up and it’s really beautiful. Very early in the morning we get out of the ugliness of San Bernardino and into the high desert. We pass various small towns and Manzanar National Historic Site (http://www.nps.gov/manz/) where my grandparents were interned during World War II. If you have read Farewell to Manzanar (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553272586/104-5351959-8538333?v=glance), you’ve read my family’s story of the internment camps. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston is my grandmother’s sister and my favorite great aunt. We used to stop and visit the site when I was little, on the way to June Lake, and I stopped there on the way to Tahoe a few years ago with Jeff, when I discovered to my delight that they were doing a lot of work on the site, excavating various items of interest and making an interpretive driving tour.

The drive at this point is easing out into the Sierra Nevada. The Sierras, literally “saw” or “saw-like”, are stunning from the east side. You are driving the high desert, maybe about 4,000 feet elevation and looking at mountains just to your left that exceed 14,000 feet in elevation. Within a comparatively short distance, the earth rises some 10,000 feet into stark, craggy and even dangerous looking mountains. Mount Whitney is near the southern end and, at 14,494 feet above sea level, is the highest point in the continental United States. (ETA: I just realized the picture on the Manzanar site shows the Sierras really well, behind the desert landscape of the camp. Stunning. Ansel Adams was a big fan of photographing this area, so that's another source for seeing the beauty of the eastern side of the Sierras, if you haven't firsthand). We continued past various adventure towns including Lone Pine and Bishop. Most would say these are just little rest stops where hicks live, but those into outdoor adventure know that they are the portals to fun in the mountains. Also, for anyone coming through these towns at lunch or dinnertime, I highly recommend the Pizza Factory. They’re motto is “We Toss ‘Em, They’re Awesome!” and they are! We’ll make a stop there a week from now on the way back home.

Now, ascend to 7,000 feet when the area turns from high desert to cool pines and pass the resort town of Mammoth. You are kind of inthe mountains now, so the scenery, while less stark, is more sublime, and if you started early, like my dad and Jeff like to do, you beat the heat of the deserts; it’s only 11am and you are already at Mono Lakes (http://www.monolake.org/), with it’s interesting volcanic history.

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/tahoeview.jpgA few hours later, after a nice lunch in Bridgeport, we take a turn off onto a windy highway to get to South Tahoe. There are various ways to get to Tahoe, and this road is so windy that long vehicles can’t use it, so you’ll never get stuck behind an RV! Monitor Pass is breathtaking. There are huge valleys that look like they would take days to traverse and are strangely tilted, though they look flat, and give me a little vertigo when looking down on them from several thousand feet above. I told Jeff it was cantilevered at a weird angle, but he told me I wasn’t allowed to use that word for land. Nevertheless, hopefully that provides a good mental picture.

Soon, we are in South Tahoe, which is a little crowded with a lot of vacationers. We continue up the West Shore, past beautiful Emerald Bay (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=506) to our home at the Water’s Edge. Nine hours from our early-morning start, we are settling into our condo with a view (left).






There’s nothing like a beautiful, long drive to start off a vacation! Such a feeling of freedom and adventure!

[Penni]

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/frisbeediving.jpgAs I’ve mentioned in my journal (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/journal.php?do=view&journalid=45), Tahoe is one of my favorite places. Ideal weather, lots of fun things to do, and our annual vacations there are times of relaxation, fun and good food. One day, we may spend in the boat, speeding around the lake, enjoying the wind in our hair and a good game of Frisbee Diving (left, and Jeff will kill me if he finds out I posted that pic, but it's too hilarious to pass up). Another day, we may simply relax on the beach, perhaps take the kayaks out to head down to another sandy beach and eat lunch and read. We also revisited a hike that we didn’t complete 4 years ago. In 2000, we set out on Round Top Loop, a 6.5 mile or so hike that included a side trip to the top of Round Top Peak (below, right). It turns out the elevation was too much for me at the time, I wasn’t in the best shape, and later in the hike, I turned my ankle and spent the rest of the week limping a bit. This year, Jeff was determined that we would not fail again. And we didn’t. We succeeded, but not without more casualties and a few scary moments. http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/roundtoppeak.jpg














http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/roundtop.jpgRound Top is actually one of my favorite hikes. Pictures don’t adequately capture the riot of colors in the wildflowers, the scent in the cool fresh breeze, or the feeling that out here, all is right in the world. You can’t avoid lakes in the high sierra, and we ambled by no less than 3 very large lakes during this hike (the view from the top included about 20 more). Then we made the turn up the trail to start up Round Top. And I mean, UP. I haven’t seen a trail this steep in a while. Quite quickly, you move above treeline and the steepness is even more apparent (left). Soon, a 70 year old man bounded down the trail and greeted us, and I immediately felt ashamed of my labored breathing. I hightailed it to the saddle at which point we made our nearly fatal error (what? Too much drama? Alright, don’t worry, we actually were not close to death at any point). We took the wrong trail.








http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/longway.jpgSometimes it’s hard to find trails in stark places. There may be several footpaths you can see, and sometimes, even multiple places where cairns or ducks (the little piles of rocks that indicate the trail) are left. Somehow, we ended up rounding the entire summit block, ending up on the back side of the mountain, looking straight down into an untouched valley, oh I don’t know, maybe 4,000 feet below us. One slip on that talus-strewn trail and we would have ended up at least several hundred feet down the side of the mountain (right). Oh, and did I forget to mention the wind? The higher we got, the stronger it got. The more exposed we were, the scarier it was! But if we thought it was bad then, we had another think coming.





As we were scrambling around, a sharp rock fell on my leg (thankfully not my head) and cut me deep. I was bleeding rather profusely, probably because the air was cold and my body had sent tons of blood to the surface of my skin. We stopped for a band aid and that filled up and started leaking down my leg. I have never seen two little cuts bleed so much! In the meantime, Jeff’s scouting the trail and finds out we basically have to go all the way back to the saddle we were at earlier. Great.

Finally, we started to ascend the rocky summit block-ish area. This involved a lot of hands and feet scrambling, and we finally reached the second, or false, summit (luckily, I knew to expect it or I would have been pissed. There’s nothing like ascending a long, steep hill only to realize there’s another one in back that you couldn’t see before).

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/thepeak.jpgThen, we had to traverse a thin, VERY thin, ridge, go down a notch and back up again to get to the true summit. Crossing the thin ridge, with what seemed to me gale force winds, was one of the scariest things I’ve done in my life. And I have skydived, bungee jumped, white water rafted, and rock climbed. This was scarier, because we had no protection. We scooted across the ridge like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Standing upright was not an option, otherwise you’re just asking the wind to send you body-sailing down a few thousand feet. Even in the crouched position, I had to stop a few times, so both feet were on the ground during particularly strong gusts. After descending the notch, we were in a slightly protected area, but had to actually rock climb to get to the summit block. No ropes or anything. To be honest, it wouldn’t have been as technically challenging as a real rock climbing route, but we did have to actually pull ourselves up with our hands and having no ropes made it pretty scary. The worst part was that I knew on the way back we were going to have to downclimb it. Climbing up is comparatively easy. Climbing down can be impossible. Nevertheless, we soon reached the top and, despite the icy winds, got a few good pictures (left).




Although the downclimb was a little nerve wracking, and the steep descent was tough on tired quads, we made it with no more troubles. Jeff and I agreed that 4 years ago, we would never have been technically experienced enough to complete that peak. Who knew? It just looks like any old peak!




http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/roundtoparea.jpgHere's another picture of the beautiful area around Round Top. Lots of ice, even in August! Also, although you can't see it, the wildflowers were bright red, purple and blue, plus you can actually see the yellow. Oh, how I WISH the pictures could capture those colors! We never manage to get good wildflower/scenery shots, though.




















Back at home, we had a nice dinner with our usual cocktail hour and, as we do every night, we played games. I am just learning Bridge, and I ended up slaughtering everyone that night, starting a nice winning streak that would last through most of the week.

[livius drusus]

Yay! Yay! Travelogue! Where's the wriggling excitedly smilie?

You're so lucky your mom is nearby and a willing catsitter (your cats are so gorgeous, btw; they're like negatives of each other). Dealing with the pets can be such a logistical nightmare. I'm also totally with you on the taking an extra day off to prepare thing. I don't like to start vacations all hectic and frazzled.

The Sierran landscape sounds spectacular. Judging from the gorgeous pictures on Mono Lakes site, there's an enormous topographical variety. Oh, and I think cantilevered is a great word, by sea or by land. I can't even stand the view from your condo. I bet the air smelled amazing: briney and fresh and leafy.

You've done a great job putting this together, Penni. I'm very much looking forward to Part 2. :)

Edit: And I don't even have to wait for it! You rule, Penni.

[Penni]

I also spent a lot of time during the week reading, whether it was relaxing on the beach, in the condo or in bed. I love vacations for reading, and had made a special trip to the library the previous Friday to stock up. Of note, I finally read To Kill a Mockingbird, which is by a woman who is a member of my sorority, and Watership Down. I also read Oryx and Crake, which I enjoyed, because I couldn’t find A Handmaid’s Tale, The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King and A Separate Reality; Further Conversations with Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda, the second in a series of books about his experiences with a Yaqui Indian as a sorcerer’s apprentice.

I also agreed to a second hike before we left for vacation. Jeff gave me to understand that it would be much shorter, so I thought it would be the easy hike of the week. I also convinced his brother to come along based on this information. Well, little by little, I found out it might not be so easy. First of all, it isn’t even in any trail guides, which means it’s going to be a more rustic trail. Second, we took a look at the topo map and I discovered that the elevation gain from where we start to the peak is almost 3,000 feet. Now, for those non-hikers among us, I have to impress upon you that elevation gain is probably the most critical component influencing whether or not you will enjoy the hike. I could much more easily do a 6 mile hike, with 3,000 ft gain, than a 3 mile hike with 3,000 foot gain. For me, 1,000 feet per mile (as in the first example, because the mileage quoted is round trip) is my fun limit. 500 feet per mile is downright perfect. 2,000 feet per mile is simply interminable steepness. Oh well, I was already committed. That morning, we got our Camelbaks ready, Jon strapped and entire box of Wheat Thins to his Camelbak, and we hit the road. Sidenote: Jeff would NEVER let me take an entire box of crackers on a hike. Our last backpacking trip found him chastising me for wanting to take a tiny, trial size bottle of lotion. It, apparently, was the ounce that broke the camel’s back. He only made fun of Jon, and to be honest, so did I. I mean c’mon, a box of Wheat Thins strapped to your back?

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/rubicon.jpgWell, let’s just say the hike was every bit as miserable as I tried to impart before. At first, it was very pretty. We passed through a nice meadow that I thought would be perfect for seeing bears (no bears and by the way, the flatness of that meadow, as I knew very well, only meant it would have to get steeper later to make up for it). Then the long climb started. And kept going, and going, and going…it was like the Energizer Bunny! At first, I was happy, called frequent breaks to catch my breath and kept going. Then, I started dragging. My legs were still kinda tired from our previous hike and I simply didn’t have the energy I did before.

So then I started getting mad. I would turn to Jeff and say, “It’s so steep!” Then later, “When does this goddamn hike end?” And then, “Can you see the fucking top yet? I can’t see it. Fuck!” Finally, we came out of the trees to the summit block. Hmmmm, this looks familiar. Yep, lots of scrambling to get to the top.






Much like childbirth, the memory of the long painful hike can be completely swept away when you have views like these. (above and below…this is a merged panorama of 6 different pictures[which is why it looks kinda weird], capturing the entire length of Lake Tahoe) OK, I was cheerful again. The only sad part was, we couldn’t find the summit register for the life of us, and it’s always fun to mark your achievement by signing the summit register.

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/lakepanorama.jpg

I think Jeff’s gonna make me do the hike again someday so we can find the register (GROAN).

Sidenote: In the first picture above, you can see the variations in color in Lake Tahoe. The turquoise parts are really shallow (sometimes just 20 feet)while the deep blue parts are really deep (over 1,600 feet). When you are in a boat, sailing over those parts, it's really impactful. You can just see the shelf drop off and it's scary to think about what might be below you in that freezing cold lake. They even have a monster, modeled off the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie) that they call Tahoe Tessie.


Not to give the impression, though, that we spent all our time, or even the majority, hiking. I got in lots of nice beach time and you really can’t beat this vacation for relaxation. Finally, we celebrated Jeff’s mom’s birthday by going out to eat at the traditional location, Swiss Lakewood. I still did not have Sweetbreads this year (see my journal), but had a really great veal. It’s always fun to get dressed up one night for a fancy dinner, and since we don’t really spend time at the casinos in South Tahoe, and clubs and bars are similarly far away, there is little other reason to get changed out of bathing suits and shorts.

Unfortunately, Saturday came all too fast, and Jeff and I had to make the distinctly less pleasurable drive back home to San Diego. We left at about 7am and I knew that within the next 24 hours, we needed to get all the way back to San Diego (10 hours if you go straight), stop by and visit my mom and the kitties, get unpacked and repacked and make it to the airport for our flight to Cancun.

Well, of course we managed all that and were soon on our way to Mexico

[Penni]

WEEK 2

If I was much for fate or psychic signs, I would say that the trip out to Mexico signaled a bad vacation to come. First, we had to sit by a noisy family on the way to Houston. I’m not fond of children. I’m even less fond of some family with about 10 children encircling me on an airplane. It wasn’t the worst I’ve had, but Jeff was pretty irritated, too (we are truly a perfect pair). We got off in Houston and made our way to our flight to Cancun and what to our wondering eyes should appear? Apparently, our friends from San Diego would be joining us in Cancun. Oh joy. However, we were spared the pain and weren’t sitting anywhere near them. The fun wasn’t over yet, though. We were about to arrive at what would quickly become my least favorite airport on the planet.

Now this is going to be hard to describe, so try to stay with me. When landing in Cancun we had to, of course, go through immigration and customs. No problem. I’ve been through it a million times and never had a problem. Here’s how it happened:

Our plane couldn’t get a gate, so we disembarked in the middle of the tarmac and took a bus to the terminal. The bus let us off and a guy directed us to a door to enter to go through immigration. Well, the line was way past the door and somehow, I ended up there first. I very politely followed the line to the back and stood there. However, I should have known the entire planeful of people would not all jostle through all these people to go to the back of the line where they belonged, like I did. So I totally screwed us over and put us behind not only our entire plane, but behind the rest of the people beyond the door. It ended up taking us about a half hour to just get back to the door.

Then, another surprise. Beyond the corridor with the door was another room. A huge room. With lines snaking back and forth the entire length before they reached an agent. Yes, we were in line for immigration alone for almost 2 hours. Welcome to Mexico! Not only that (and yes, I’m about to say something not very culturally sensitive), we were immediately in front of people from a culture in which personal space is a lot smaller. Therefore, I was getting “love taps” the entire 2 hours. I wanted to scream. It was like the fucking Chinese Water Torture. Tap. Tap Tap. Bump. Tap. BANG! Tap Tap. I kept putting my backpack on so that they couldn’t at least touch my actual body, but we had stuffed the backpack full and it was extremely heavy, so I had to take it off a lot, too. At those times, our friends closed up that valuable space behind me that was made vacant by the backpack. Yay.

Luckily we were soon out in the refreshing Cancun air. Actually, having just come from Lake Tahoe, extremely dry, the humidity made it like sucking the air through a straw for us. But we were happy. The car rental went really well, too. I was concerned about it because I have heard many stories of people who did not do a good job at the pre-rental inspection and, when they turned the car in, were told there was damage that was not previously present that would have to be paid for. I think we got lucky, because I tipped the guy who brought us and he loved me. He pulled our car right up as Jeff was doing the paperwork and we did the inspection together. He caught things I never would have seen and, even though he didn’t speak a word of English, we were able to get everything all clear. I really got my Spanish speaking skills warmed up. It turns out I severely overestimated the prevalence of English speakers in Cancun and environs. Sidenote: Do you know they rent cars down there with no air conditioning? I don’t know who rents these cars, but I sure as hell made sure the A/C was working before I left that office!

Soon we were on the highway down to Playa del Carmen. Jeff was driving for his first time in another country. It was beautiful and, like I always feel in a new country, a little unnerving.

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/fromthehotel.jpgWe finally arrived at our hotel, which was lovely (left=view from our balcony). You may only enter this hotel from the beach, which is lots of fun….but, the charm wears off quickly when you are carrying all your luggage over the sand. Still, you couldn’t beat the location. We had a complimentary breakfast every morning under a palapa just feet from the breaking waves. Sigh. I miss breakfast on the beach each morning. You just can’t beat that.

Now, our first day was the big wedding. Some of our dear friends were getting married at their resort just up the highway and they had lots of friends and family in town to join them. We headed up there early and spent the day at their pool (roughly the size of my entire neighborhood) and beach.

Now might be a good time to talk more about the weather on the coast of the Yucatan. It’s hot. No, seriously, it’s really fucking hot. It’s almost 100 degrees each day. You know, I could totally handle that. I grew up in the desert! I used to lifeguard at my local pool in 110 degrees! But, it’s not humid in the desert. Humidity kills. At least, I was dying little by little. Pretty much every time we went out during the day, we were only traveling to do something else. I don’t know how people could shop or lay out in the sun. Impossible! I’ve literally never sweated so much in my life.

That day we laid out in the shade or spent our time submerged in the perfect water. We went to freshen up and just as dusk began to hit, the wedding started. It was also just feet from the beach and was lovely. The men wore flip flops and my friend, the bride, was barefoot. The reception was also fun and we had a great time meeting and reconnecting with friends and their families.

[Penni]

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/tulum.jpg http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/tulumcliffs.jpgThe next day was our first trip to some Mayan ruins. We went to Tulum. Ancient Mayan buildings on a cliff looking out over the turquoise waters of the Caribbean? Sign me up! You can look around the ruins, then take a refreshing swim. Right in the middle of the ruins, there's a nice, wide, sandy pathway down to the beach!















http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/castillotulum.jpgThis is a picture of the Castillo at Tulum, which is really well-preserved. Sadly, no climbing or entering allowed.















Ok, it was pretty hot, though. Afterward, a large group of us went to a cenote. Cenote is a derivation of the Mayan word for these sinkholes. They are fresh water swimming holes and they can be in caves or outside. The one we went to was in a cave with stalactites and stalagmites and everything. The water was a lot cooler than the ocean too, so it was very refreshing. In addition, this cenote, called Tak Be Ha, was in the middle of the jungle, so we got to ride in an open cattle herding type vehicle out through the jungle. We thought we saw some monkeys, but by their long snouts, we realized they weren’t monkeys. Suddenly, all my trips to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park in San Diego came through for me and I said, “Hey those are coatimundis (http://www.belizezoo.org/zoo/zoo/mammals/coa/coa1.html)!” They are raccoon-like animals, and it was very awesome to see them in the wild.

Now, given that we were in the jungle, this would be a great time to stop and talk about my Mosquito Repellant Program. Mosquitoes love me. I have had mosquito bites that got so big they occupied the entire back of my thigh. They get hot and hard and Calamine lotion is like a bucket of water on the Towering Inferno. I usually numb my skin with an ice pack to prevent itching. So, I knew I needed to be prepared. And I was: I bought sunscreen with DEET, I bought OFF, I bought time released DEET (12 hours of protection!) called Ultrathon and I bought AfterBite. It’s a stick with what seems to me to be almost straight ammonia in it that you rub on the bite as soon as you discover it. This was my first time to really test it.

So, here’s the program. Before sun exposure, apply sunscreen/DEET on all exposed body parts and up sleeves and pants/shorts a little ways. Then, even though the bottle will tell you not to, spray all clothing, hats and hair with OFF. If not being exposed to sun, apply Ultrathon instead. Bring OFF with you for reapplication. I may get cancer form all these chemicals, but dammit, at least I will have fewer mosquito bites!

Even despite all this, I ended up getting about 7 bites during the week. Luckily, AfterBite turned out to be an awesome product (or maybe I should just stock up on ammonia). None of them turned into the Towering Inferno. I’ve never been so happy in my life. Nevertheless, paranoia did occasionally take over and at some places I would yell, “Omigod, was that a mosquito??” Jeff would always reassure me that it wasn’t, even when I’m pretty sure it was (another reason mosquitoes like me so well, perhaps, is that I never notice them. I honestly never had seen a mosquito in my life till I was about 24 in Hawaii. They bite me and slip away before I know it and only find the bites hours later when I accidentally scratch them).

One more exciting piece of mosquito-related news: I think I found my own personal mosquito repellant friend. Jeff tells people all the time that I’m his mosquito repellant. He got all of zero bites while we were in Mexico and he rarely if ever applied repellant. Mosquitoes went through my layered repellant 7 times to get to me instead of him! Well, I think after all these years I found someone who is more attractive to mosquitoes than me. One of the groom’s friends, with whom I was sitting at the reception. Midway through, he mentioned the bites he had been getting…right there at the reception. I immediately started worrying that I would soon discover scores of bites on myself. He even had a horrible bite on his cheek that was starting to swell up! Nevertheless, I don’t think I got any additional bites while at the reception…and I had forgotten the repellant! I wish I could keep him around. Maybe I’ll pay for him to come on future mosquito-infested vacations of mine simply so he can be my repellant. Poor guy.

[Penni]

Back to the trip!

The next day we decided we needed to find some really great snorkeling. Isla Mujeres was recommended to us, which is an island north of Cozumel. We were actually going to take a car ferry over, but got lucky when we were there and found a private boat that wanted us to hire him out. We had a big group, so for just $20 each, we spent about 4 hours traveling around Isla Mujeres. Way cheaper than round trip on the car ferry. And our guide knew just where to go.

First, he took us to the main part of town, where we could do a little shopping. As I previously mentioned, I don’t know how people shop in that heat, so Jeff and I searched out a little lunch. Jeff was in heaven, because we found what he decided was a true Mexican eatery. No one spoke a lick of English, there were only about 4 tables, 1 empty and 1 occupied by a Mexican family and the food was cheap. I think we spent only a few dollars on a big plate of tacos and a huge bottle of water. They were fish tacos and they were good. But, the experience was more important for Jeff.

Next, our boat driver took us to a beach to swim. It was a beautiful area with crystal clear water and no waves. That was actually the first time I had spent any significant amount of time in the ocean yet! I found out the water down there is incredibly salty. It must have a higher salt content than I’m used to. Every little cut I had stung, and my lips tasted salty for the rest of the day. One of the guys was saying he wished he hadn’t shaved that morning.

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/catshark.jpgThen we moved on to snorkeling by a reef. We saw tons of fish and interesting reefs and I learned to dive down with my snorkel. I’ve never done it before, because I find it hard to clear my snorkel and I also get somewhat claustrophobic using a snorkel. That was great fun. For our final event, our guide took us to a little location where some kids were torturing a shark. OK, it was a “show” but a lot of us were really uncomfortable. They were manhandling the shark and opening his mouth and I felt so sad about it. Yeah, me and my first-world luxuries, eh. They don’t have the luxury to feel guilty. Still, it was interesting and some of our friends enjoyed it. Before we got there, I asked what kind of shark we were going to see and he said a Cat Shark. We were all like, WTF? Do you mean a Tiger Shark? A Leopard Shark? No, he meant Cat Shark dammit. Well, it turns out he was right. I just looked it up and there really is such a thing as a Cat Shark and that’s what you see in the picture!

Next, we saw some turtles that were kept in an ocean pen and I asked the guy what type of turtles they were (ie. Loggerhead, Leatherback, Green…) and he said Marine Turtle. By that time, I decided they must not have very good knowledge of their marine life in those parts. Anything I can find in a quick search just calls them sea turtles, so I am still not sure what species they were, but they were protecting their eggs and helping the babies to hatch and make it to the ocean.

Such a fun day on Isla Mujeres with the whole crew! Unfortunately, we caved into our hunger and went to dinner in Cancun. See my post about that meal here (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3749#post3749).

[Penni]

The next day, it was time for SCUBA diving. Jeff and I were up early for a two tank dive in the ocean between Playa del Carmen and Cozumel, along the second largest reef in the world. It has been almost 4 years since we’ve been SCUBA diving, so we had been reviewing some key points in our manual the night before. Still, I recalled my tendency toward claustrophobia and was a little worried. The dive started out great and our divemaster seemed really competent and safety-minded. He was telling us that he had just moved here not long ago from Bali, where 13 of his friends and 4 of his employees from his dive shop were killed in the terrorist bombing there. He was American with a Texas accent, but said he grew up on the Keys.

Then, it was time to dive. I was nervous. We put on our masks. Having my nose blocked made the feeling come right back to me. I started to feel sick to my stomach from worry. But, what can I do? Not chicken out, certainly. On 1-2-3, we all fell backwards off the boat and met in the water. Too quickly for me, he gave us the signal to descend. As soon as I was under I knew I couldn’t do it. I KNEW it. I was panicking. I was breathing too fast. I was so claustrophobic. Jeff, my dive buddy, was looking at me, but must not have realized how scared I was. I kept going. I kept telling myself I couldn’t go anymore and yet I kept deflating my BC and descending. Soon, I started breathing more slowly and I knew I’d make it. The only problem is, we were getting so deep, I really needed to equalize. Not just my ears, either. For some reason, my stupid mask was getting too tight, and was only getting tighter and tighter as the air inside it was getting crushed by the water pressure. My eyes felt like they were bugging out of my head and might explode. We were going down to about the max limit for recreational open water divers (60-70 feet) and the pressure was enormous. I blew out through my nose to add some air to the mask and loosen it a bit. Thank god it worked, and I didn’t even lose an eyeball. The next few days, though, I would find that my forehead was slightly bruised and I had weird blood pinpricks under my skin all over my eyelids and bridge of my nose.

The dive was lovely. Not quite as good as Hawaii, but there were lots of beautiful, colorful fish, the visibility was great, and it was peaceful. The second dive found me less panicked and I was able to enjoy the entire time. I think to get over my claustrophobia, I’d have to dive more, but for Jeff and I, it just isn’t exciting enough (especially in San Diego) to justify the time and money. Still, we’re thinking about it.

The rest of that day, we were too exhausted to do more, so we participated in siesta and were up in time to spend a while on our nice little hotel balcony, reading as the sun set behind us. Then, we went out to dinner together at Yaxche, a Mayan restaurant. It was so good, actually, that we went back the next night. I hate going to the same restaurant twice while on vacation, but the rest of the group really wanted to go (we went alone the first time) and the good news is that both Jeff and I ordered dishes that were even better than the ones we got the first night.

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/ATVtour.jpgWell, the next day (the day after our first night at Yaxche) we took an ATV Jungle Tour. I was skeptical of this, because it was almost $50 per person, and it seemed like a big tourist trap. But, I ended up liking it. Everyone gets their own ATVs and we follow each other deep in the jungle. We get going pretty fast, too. Are we wearing helmets? No. Any padding? Nope! Pretty much no safety precautions whatsoever. A couple of times, when it was really bumpy with tree roots and rocks, the path would make a turn and I would almost run into a tree or fly off the machine. Luckily, I came through ok, just a little dirty (left). This is another instance in which I felt like we weren’t spending our tourist dollar in the most ecologically intelligent way. ATVs in the jungle? Well, they do have plenty of jungle, but I don’t like to think about the impact on the flora and fauna. I don’t know how to feel.








http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/cenoteguardian.jpgMoving on, we arrived at a footpath which we took out to a cenote. This cenote was not in a cave. There was a large face, carved by the Mayans, that was a guardian of the cenote (right. Can you make out the face?). Mayans used cenotes for fresh water, for purification before rituals and evidence has been found of both human and non-human sacrifices that were dumped in cenotes. We swam a bit, and again it was very refreshing. On our walk back, we saw wild monkeys playing in the trees. I was so happy! Unfortunately, the buggers are fast and we didn’t get anything but blurred pictures.










Next, we visited a cave that the Mayans used way back when. There were some carvings therein and a small structure that was used as a place of ritual purification, a sauna of sorts. Deeper in the cave, it was bat heaven. Never seen so many bats in my life!

Finally, we returned, muddy but happy overall. It may not have been worth quite that much money and it may not have been the best way for conservationists to spend their money, but no one’s perfect.

[Penni]

The next day was our last full day in Mexico and we decided to make it worthwhile. We were going to make the long trip out to Cobá, a huge Mayan city inland. I was nervous, because it was so hot at Tulum, I just didn’t know if I could stand it inland, where it was likely to get hotter. We got lucky, though, and had a slightly overcast day. Makes a huge difference!

We eventually got to Cobá, kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and decided to hire a guide. It was $25 for 45 minutes, but I had heard it was a good idea. It turned out to be a wise investment. Our guide was awesome. He was Mayan and also spoke Spanish, but had learned English, too (thank goodness, because I couldn’t have translated all that to Jeff). At first, I thought he had just memorized a script, but when we asked him questions or to elaborate, he was always able to answer flexibly. He had been through a course and was a professional guide of the ruins and we really appreciated his knowledge. Also, he had a booklet with pictures so one could see how Mayan buildings would have looked before the jungle and humidity took over (very colorful!) and other traditions, like the implantation of precious jewels in the front teeth of some upper class members and the more widely known application of boards to the front and back of the head to create an elongated, flattened skull.

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/observatory.jpgHe further recommended us to take a bicycle or “Mayan Limo” out to some more distant ruins, including Nohoch Mul, the tallest Mayan structure on the Yucatan. It was a 2 mile round trip walk, and we decided it would be worth it to take the Mayan Limousine. This was a bicycle with a seat attached to the front. In fact, we have them in San Diego and call them pedicabs, except usually, the seat part is on the back here (like a horse and carriage). The man who was driving us was elderly, so I felt kinda guilty, but he was in great shape. He didn’t speak English at all so I spoke Spanish with him and found out he was actually our guide’s father. I told him he should be proud, his son was doing a great job. At one point, we rode past a friend of his and he was speaking with him. I couldn’t understand a word and it didn’t sound like Spanish at all. Then he told me that he was speaking Mayan with his friend. Cool! He stopped at several other locations for us, including this observatory, which was really handsome and well preserved (left). Then he dropped us off at Nohoch Mul and said he’d wait for us.








http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/climbingnohochmul.jpghttp://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/viewfromnohochmul.jpgNohoch Mul is very steep and about 150 feet tall. It only took a few minutes to get to the top, though. It’s amazing to see the jungle from above. It’s as flat as Kansas there, but the flatness is the jungle, not just fields or plains. In fact, our guide said if you see any hills, it’s actually an unexcavated building (this place is only 5% excavated), so it’s pretty amazing to think about how much the jungle has reclaimed the land and how many buildings are yet to be explored. The jungle is amazingly dense, too. In the picture to the right, the small rock you see poking up is the top of the observatory (from above).















http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/p&jatnohochmul.jpgIt was a nice climb and the view was exactly what we came for. We weren’t even going to come to Cobá, but we heard you could climb this building (whereas at Tulum, whether it be because of structural problems or the increased popularity of the site, you cannot go in or climb any of the ruins). We were so happy that we came.














http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/ballfield.jpg http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/partiallyexcavated.jpgI would also be remiss if I didn’t talk about the cool ball courts they had there. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the ball game that was widely played in Central America in the 1st millennium AD. You could only use your hips, elbows and knees and it was so hard that putting the ball through the hoop once was a victory. Still, the game lasted up to a couple of days and it was no simple game, it decided political rivalries and was sacred. Therefore, sacrifices were involved. Apparently, they’re not sure if the sacrificed were the winners or losers! Perhaps it was such an honor to be sacrificed that the players gladly went to their fates. Anyway, in these two pictures, we have 2 ball courts (only one half of each, there is an opposing, facing wall for each that you can’t see). The right is fully excavated and looks ready for a game anytime. The left was really exciting because it is in the process of being excavated, so you can see a little of the magnitude of the work it takes to restore these sites.



As we exited, we were starving and decided to eat at a little restaurant in the lot there. This was a wonderful surprise. I had the best Enchiladas Verdes of my life. Jeff got some kind of tacos, which came out looking a lot like my enchiladas, but with a red sauce, and they also were very good. We were blissful, and Jeff was happy because it was another simple Mexican restaurant that felt a lot more authentic than a place in Cancun or even Playa del Carmen.

We did do a little shopping at that time. Jeff wanted a t-shirt, so we went into the stores nearby. We finally were finding ones he liked and I asked the guy how much. He gave me a little wave of the hand and said 100 pesos (less than $10), which I took to mean the price was negotiable. Damn! I hate bartering. I don’t know why. When I was little we used to go to Mexico (Tijuana and Ensenada) a lot for a day and my family would always make me the barterer. But, I never felt quite comfortable with it. I still don’t. Plus, it felt awkward bartering below 100 pesos for a shirt when we pretty much had 100 peso bills and would have to get change from him. So, we didn’t.

But, on the way out, Jeff saw a little onyx pipe he liked. He asked how much and the guy said 50 pesos. I am not one for tchotchkes, so I shrugged like, “If YOU like it.” And he said, “Nah.” And we kept going. Well, of course, this means it’s time to barter to the store attendant! He immediately offered 45 pesos, so Jeff, realizing what was happening just now, came back with 40 pesos and the guy agreed. Well, not bad, although of course we know we could have gotten it for a lot cheaper. On the way back to the hotel I asked Jeff what he was going to call his new pipe on his customs declaration. We decided it would be best to call it a “small figurine.”

[Penni]

The next day was our last day. We had a flight home at 5:30pm, so we still had plenty of time to kill. After a leisurely breakfast, our last breakfast on the beach, we packed up and checked out, intending to stop by a Botanical Garden on our way back to Cancun. Well, unfortunately, even though a sign said Open, the gates were all locked securely, so we moved on, unsure what to do.

We ended up stopping for lunch in a small town, Puerto Morelos. We saw a big restaurant on the main drag, but knowing how Jeff liked the small shops, I saw a tiny place down a side street and we went there. They had some pretty good tamales, although what with their delicious pico de gallo and the intense heat that day, I was fanning myself with one hand and eating with the other, making lunch a little difficult. This place was so tiny, I didn’t even know if I could ask for a bill, as that might be too formal, so I finally just called out to the girl, asking her how much. She consulted with her friend and said 48 pesos, roughly equivalent to $4.50 for lunch for two. I was thinking I was pretty sure I just got the tourist price, but how can you argue with $4.50 for 4 tamales and two bottles of water? I couldn’t.

This leads me to Unhappy Cultural Difference #2. In most countries other than America (in my experience) you have to ask for the check at a restaurant before they would even think about giving it to you. It would be downright rude to bring a customer a check before they asked for it, like, “Get outta here, Buddy” I knew this. However, in America, you rarely need to ask for the check, as the servers are usually trained to anticipate your every need and bring things before they are asked for. In fact, if we have to ask for our drinks to be refilled, we usually think about reducing the tip! The servers prevent any feeling of rushing you by assuring you that you should take your time with it and give it to them when you are ready. As a result, I now feel like it is rude to have to ask for the check. Like I am pointing out they are doing a bad job. Ironic, eh? Anyway, all week we accepted our fate, but you know, after a while of overcoming the feeling, of doing what you think is rude, you get a little stressed by it. We were looking forward to going back to America where we won’t need to ask for the check. It’s the little things, you know.

Although I will mention one other thing along those lines that bothered me. Often, when the server would bring the bill, they would put it down and stare at it with you, and wait till you gave them the money for it. Well, I appreciate having a little time to look a bill over and see if anything is amiss. Additionally, we had this special deal card that got us discounts at several places, so I wanted to be able to make sure they applied the discount correctly and also see what the pre-discount total was so I could tip on that, rather than the lower total. Finally, I learned to ignore them and/or tell them we’d be just a minute.

Alright, so at this point, we had a few more hours and needed something to fill it up. I was hesitant, but I was pretty sure we were going to have to go to Crococun Zoo. What is Crococun? Well, it’s this zoo on the side of the highway that looked like the biggest tourist trap ever. We also found out it was $15 each, which we considered a lot, so we were really doubtful. But we did it. Again, it’s something I’m happy we did despite the price and even with some of my conservationist reservations.

http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/withcrocodile.jpgThis zoo was very different than American zoos. They had food for sale at the front, so feeding the animals was my first big surprise. Secondly, we got to pet a lot of them. As the name implies, there were lots of crocodiles, big and small. Here’s me holding one (left). There were also coatimundis, Mexican Hairless Dogs, snakes and pigs.












http://www.freethought-forum.com/images/penni/withmonkey.jpgAnd monkeys! The sad thing is, all the monkeys were leashed to separate trees. They could go down or up and out, to a certain radius, but I felt sad for them. Our guide told me they could reach each other to play, but I’m not totally sure. He also told us that most of the animals there are refugees from human development or former exotic pets that people realized they couldn’t keep. I dearly hope that’s true. Anyhow, we got to feed and hold quite a few animals, our guide was a funny guy and I got to hold hands with a monkey. This guy took the last of my banana, then I got him to come back and grab my hand for a picture. He held on tight, and I suddenly worried that he wouldn’t let go and I couldn’t get out. Soon he was tugging on me and yanking me forward onto the fence of his little enclosure. I started to have flashes of me being the monkey’s hostage. Then, I realized what he really wanted. He was holding my left hand, and yanking on me, because he was using me to jump up and try to grab the empty food bag out of my hand with his tail. Funny guy. Finally I escaped his death grip. That was my first time to touch a monkey! Although it may not be responsible zoo policy, I was happy to have had that chance.





.

[livius drusus]

I can't even tell you how cool it is that you saw coatimundis. :badger: Also, it's good to hear about the great food you encountered to wipe out the memory of the crappy chile relleno (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297). I can't quite make out the face on the cenote, I'm afraid. Maybe you should you do a sharpie drawing overlay like they do to explain football games. ;)

P.S. - I feel kinda weird popping in my comments in the middle of your work. Would you rather I simma down nah until you're finished?

[Penni]

I can't quite make out the face on the cenote, I'm afraid; maybe you should you do a sharpie drawing overlay like they do to explain football games.

I tried that and now my computer screen is all black :tongueout:

Seriously, though, I'll try to describe it. The black round hole-looking thing at the center in the top third is the eye. The gash going from left to right and slightly up is the mouth, with jagged teeth. The entire face is facing almost directly to the side, so you are seeing a profile. Hmmm...hope that helps!

[Penni]

With that, it was time to head to the airport and say goodbye to Mexico (and the heat) and hello to home. Unfortunately, the idea of air conditioning in a lot of Mexican establishments was getting it down to about 88, maybe 85 degrees. So, I was still really hot in the airport. Finally, we got on board the plane and I started to worry. We had a 1 hour and ten minute layover in Houston to do immigration and customs, recheck our baggage and get on our flight to San Diego. And our flight was already running late.

This was déjà vu, because the last time I had an international flight out of Houston, I was returning from France. My flight was late and I almost missed my next flight. Added to the fact that at the age of 20, I was smuggling a bottle of French wine into America AND I was homesick after a long trip and just wanted to get home, it wasn’t the best experience. All worked out well at the time, and I could only hope that it would work out well here, too. The only problem was, at that time, the line for immigration was about 5 people long, whereas if we had a line anything like Cancun, we obviously would be staying the night in Houston (my least favorite city, for the record).

So, we landed a few minutes late and I just hoped that they had immigration cleared out. Strangely, there were police officers asking to see everyone’s passport at the end of the gangway, so some people weren’t prepared and had to step aside to pull it out. Jeff and I were prepared and got to pass a lot of people. This helped us a lot.

Because after that, we rounded a few corners and came upon….yep, a huge room with lines snaking back and forth, waiting for the immigration officers. Now, again for the record, I have traveled out of the country since 9/11 a couple of times, and I didn’t want to hear any crap about increased security since the terrorist attacks. In all my other experiences, I’ve never waited beyond about 10 or 15 minutes. I was very upset about this line. Luckily it moved a little faster than the line in our neighboring country, and we made it through with 25 minutes to spare before our plane was scheduled to take off. Now, to get our bags and go through customs.

That should be no problem, right? I mean, we’ve been in another line for half an hour so our baggage should just be waiting for us at this point. But, no. Our baggage was not on the carousel they said it would be on (that was a flight from Jamaica) and no other carousel had a sign as to what flight’s baggage it was unloading. So, we had about 3 carousels to check for our baggage. I was fucking pissed. I was cursing, quite loudly, “Jesus FUCKING Christ” and got some weird looks. Finally, I saw one bag come out on the carousel, and the other was stacked in a different pile and I don’t even know if it came out on that carousel. I was so happy I had convinced Jeff that we would need to carry on our third bag on the way home to speed up customs, so we only had to wait for the two. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to check the extra bag when we rechecked our others. But at that point, we didn’t care, we just needed to make it to our flight. It was about 10 minutes till take off, and as we all know, all passengers are to be boarded by then. My only hope was that, knowing they had checked in passengers (as we got our boarding pass in Cancun), they would wait for us. And they did. Pretty much after that, we lived happily ever after. We got home, we slept, I got a facial the next day to cap off my vacation and I went and picked up my babies from my mother’s house.

To this day, I am still not completely unpacked. I have a bunch of papers and some pesos lying around that I just haven’t gotten around to, but due to the wonders of digital cameras (and we LOVE our new Sony Cybershot), we were able to enjoy our pictures right away. I also discovered how easy Ofoto is and was able to send them to all our friends and family to enjoy.

So, now I am down to about 4 leave days and you’d think I wouldn’t be taking anymore vacations anytime soon. You’d be wrong, though, because Jeff and I don’t let a three day weekend go by without doing something. We’re heading up to the Sierras, which I verbally slobbered over above, to climb Split Mountain, our third Fourteener in California. If all goes well, I might have a (much smaller) travelogue for that trip, too!

[Penni]

YAY! Well, that was really fun. I really have to thank livius for all her encouragement and most of all, her help. FF hosted all these pics for me, and liv made everything so easy!

:jd: THANK YOU!! :bow2:

[viscousmemories]

Wow! I finally got to read the whole thing and what a great story. A little history, some danger and excitement, cute animals... what more is there? Thanks so much for putting so much time and effort into that for us, Penni. I really feel like I got some of that experience without all the near-death stuff. :)

[wildernesse]

Please ban me from this thread. For my husband's sake. I can't even bear to look at all the pretty pictures, much less read it all. I will turn back into crazy travel hungry, wandernesse, and then Rufus will have to lock me in the bathroom until February.