We've been here before. Ivan has gone north, but there's another hurricane coming, and potentially one behind that. Pick up the National Geographic this month, it's facinating reading on Global Warming.
On another repeating pattern front, I didn't see much of Cozumel today but I did see a bit of Playa del Carmen. More urban than where we were yesterday, but still showing the huge disparity between the haves and have nots. We paid 80-some for the tour today, including ferry out to the mainland and back, and the entrance tickets into the Excaret Eco-park. It is a combination zoo, botanical park, and beach, with a few entertainment and museum elements thrown in. To my mind it did none of these things well, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. But back to the tour cost. There were 20-some people on the tour, each paying over $80, and the tour guide made $13 for the day. That's less than $.50 from each ticket. I'm sure the tips increase that income exponentially, but it still irked me a bit.
Oh, a Sun and Sea update -- I did fine yesterday, which was the first day I was really concerned about from a Sun perspective. Today my head feels a little pink, despite having worn a hat the whole time I've been here. Oh well, it would be much worse without the hat, I know. It's going to be truly amusing when I go home the same color that I arrived...SPF 45 is your friend. I tried taking my Sea Bands off this evening, but after a few hours I felt like I had no equalibrium, so back on they went. They were quite useful today, the ferry ride over to the mainland was quite rolling and I was fine. I'll have to remember these for future boat excursion.
I took another run at the climbing wall tonight. Still didn't make it to the top, but did make it another 10 feet or so. I'll keep trying. And this time I didn't flee in a near panic.
The Kohunlich pictures are going up now. I took some pics at Xcaret, but have not downloaded them yet. I'm not going to take the camera on the catamaran tomorrow. Just too big a risk, especially when Jenna is taking hers. But perhaps if we go into Belize City in the afternoon I'll take it along then.
It occurs to me that I did not actually say much yesterday about the Mayan ruins we saw. They were completely amazing. I have one picture of our guide explaining how there are 6 or 8 levels of building revealed in a crumbling corner. The guide was phenomenal. He presented a wide range of facts on every subject, and would appropriately caveat items that required it. His explination of where the Mayans came from spanned from UFOS to Kon Tiki to the current accepted theory that they were an Asiatic people.
Kohunlich now goes on my list of 'astronomical calendar' sites that I've visited, along with Stonehenge and New Grange. In the main plaza at Kohunlich the sun comes through east the building in April, and through the west building in August. But wait, you say, those aren't solstice dates. No, but they are 52 days either side of the Summer Solstice in June. 52 was a significant, mystical number to the Mayans.
As mentioned before, this is hardly my first trip to Mexico. But what I didn't know is that Spanish is not the primary language all over the country. It's the official language, but Mayan is more prevalent in some areas, namely Quintana Roo.
There's the quick and dirty lecture, fair warning that you'll get more if you ask.
*yawn* Ok, beddy bye time.
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