Having Fun in Playa del Carmen

---

Hi everyone I have been in Mexico now for almost a week in Playa del Carmen. I spent my first 4 days relaxing on the beach and was starting to get bored so thought I better do some day trips to keep things interesting.

The weather has been brilliant every day and of course I got burned to a crisp on day one and only now does it not hurt to sit down. The fake tan from NYC has certainly washed off so I am working on my own now. Slow process.

Yesterday I went to see Chichen Itza which are Mayan Ruins. It is rumoured that the Mayan´s were actually aliens as they were so advanced and mathematically brilliant. They came up with the zero and the negative and positive numbers either side way back in 300 AD so there you go.

Mexico was hit by a big arsed meteor thousand of years ago therefore nothing naturally grows here except cactus and they had to bring in soil in order to grow stuff...very interesting I didn´t know this. Maybe the Mayans came in on the meteor???

Yesterday I bought a Mayan Stela which is a charm with your initials soldered in Mayan letters and anyway I was writing my name on the piece of paper so they would put the right letters on it and a lady behind me said to me...why are you writing my name? I said because its my name too. She was amazed as she has never met another Simone before. Bizarro that she just happened to be standing behind me and looking down at what I was writing right at that moment. She was a lovely lady and she and her husband are from Canada and over here for a week. They ended up buying 300 weeks of timeshare and given that they are both around 60 looks like they will be be spending a bit of time holidaying in the near future. I gave her my email address and we are going to keep in touch. Interesting coincidence don´t you think?

I am very interested in the Mayan Ruins and went to Tulum today to see more ruins which had much more of a presence than Chichen Itza. The beach there was absoloutely beautiful too and my next trip to Mexico I think I will spend a few days in Tulum.

My day trip today also included Xel-ha which is an ecological water fun park. Lots of snorkelling and jumping off the ¨cliffs of courage¨and trying to keep my kini on when I landed in the water which was rather a challenge jumping from such a height. So much fun!! Met some more nice people today from the UK.

Tomorrow I am going to XCaret which is more snorkelling and a night show which I have heard is fantastic and then it is off to Cuba Saturday which is Sunday home time.

My nieces are so cute asking me am I on my way home every time I speak with them, when I mention I just bought them another present I think they are happy to wait a little longer for me to get home!! Can´t wait to get to Cuba and might even do a salsa lesson or two while I am there.

Anyway hope you enjoy my pics from Playa del Carmen.

Love to you all

Till Cuba...

Sim xxx

---

Photos

Beach outside my hotel The Blue Parrott
My room is about 15 steps from the pool and 25 steps to the sand...hard to take really

Beach outside my hotel The Blue Parrott
My room is about 15 steps from the pool and 25 steps to the sand...hard to take really

5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen
Its official I am addicted to shopping can´t stop buying jewellery

The well
Mexico is built on limestone and there are lots of underground rivers and wells. This was one that I swam in fish and all. It was quite beautiful

The well
Stairwell down to the well

Chichen Itza
I was looking forward to climbing this structure and was dissapointed to find out that you can no longer do this. Two people died in Dec and Jan climbing it so they won´t allow people to climb up it anymore

Observatory at Chichen Itza
The Mayans were very interested in astrology I guess if they were aliens they needed to check on home every now and then

Xel-Ha ecological water park
I had so much fun snorkelling here and jumping off cliffs and getting sunburnt again!!

Xel-Ha ecological water park
The Iguana...I was told yesterday when you eat chicken in Mexico this is actually what you are eating!! No more chicken for me might have to go back to steak!!

Xel-Ha ecological water park
You could swim with the dolphins too if you wanted

Ruins in Tulum
Tulum had much more presence than Chichen Itza. 12 families used to live in this Mayan city

Ruins at Tulum
Dodgy self portrait. Note the structure to the far left. At sunrise the sun comes through one particular spot in the window of this structure. These Mayans certainly had their measurement spot on.

The beach at Tulum
the water was so beautiful and really warm

Comments

[Jane]

Loving your blog..and very jealous
Hi Sim, Loving your blog. Sounds like you couldn't have wished for a better holiday...and still weeks to go!! Best I can come up with is Sydney for the weekend but looking forward to it anyway...30 degrees, no children..no housework..no cooking..mmmm. Take care, Jane

[JO-ANNE]

GLAD TO HEAR FROM YOU
YOU SOUND LIKE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME. I WANT TO GO AWAY AGAIN, I HAVE THE BUG. TAKE CARE IN CUBA, LOVE THE PICS, BIG HUG JO xxx