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Before we went on our trip we were warned by others who have travel experience that the transition back to work is tough. When they heard we are landing in Zurich on Sunday and start work on Monday they especially thought we were crazy. So, following their advice we decided to make the last two weeks of our travels a vacation. Traveling is loads of fun but can also be tiring: lots of new impressions different people, different places. Hiking, heavy backpacks, long bus rides with short nights. In these last weeks we decided to go for sun, beach and relaxation. After some deliberation we picked the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico: the weather is good this time of the year, great food and enough things to do.
The first contrast that we noticed is the amount of tourists here. Even though it is low season the area is flooded with tourists. The advantage is that there is a well-established tourist infrastructure, but makes it harder to experience “Mexico”. On the other hand, like with most touristy places, there is a reason why people are here: it is beautiful!
One absolutely amazing natural feature in Yucatan are the
cenotes. Various underground rivers run beneath the peninsula, which have carved out a network of caves. In some places the caves have collapsed creating openings to the surface: these openings are called cenotes. For the Mayas they were holy, as they were considered entrances to the underworld, Xibalbá. To see if they would actually lead there, Bianca signed up for a few dives in the cenotes 😊 The water in these caves is extremely clear, so you can see as far as the walls and flashlights will allow. There are only few fish, such as small catfish and some cousins of the goldfish. The most beautiful features are the stalactites, stalagmites and other rock formations. A dive site called “The Pit” has a hydrogen sulfide cloud at about 30 meters depth, which creates beautiful visual effects. Though it was unfortunate that I could not join, I really enjoyed sleeping late, reading and chilling while Bianca was diving.
Between our beach stays and binges on burrritos, quesadillas and tacos we also visited the Maya ruins at Tulum, Coba and most importantly Chichen Itza. The problem with traveling is that you invariably end up comparing the things you experience to what
you have seen before. So when seeing the Maya ruins, we couldn't help but compare them to the Inca ruins we saw earlier in this trip or the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. The most noticeable difference is the setting. Whereas Machu Picchu and Great Zimbabwe are in a mountainous or hilly setting, Chichen Itza is on flat land surrounded by trees. As a result there are no beautiful panoramas to look down on. The ruins at Tulum do have quite a beautiful setting: the ruins of this old Maya city are built upon a cliff right next to the Caribbean Sea. However, compared to the other ruins the architecture at Chichen Itza is beautiful. The buildings are elaborately restored, giving us a good idea of how things must have looked like a thousand years ago.
After enjoying the busy but beautiful Mexican coast, we concluded our trip with two days in Quito. The last bit in Quito reminded us again of how beautiful traveling is. It makes you realize how beautiful the world is, even the small things. We were in a nice restaurant where we discovered a delicious local drink (“caneloza”). And the great thing is
that this is just one minuscule thing that can already make you so happy. And then there is the music, and the restaurant owner who is arranging roses around the restaurant with so much care and attention. And that's just one small place in a beautiful city, in a beautiful country in a beautiful world!
So as you can imagine, the adventure isn't over yet!
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
The Yucatan is where we had our vacation from our vacation after having visited Peru and Bolivia...
ours was only four days...I wish it had been two weeks like yours!