Working Vacation in Mexico

A Mayan Winter

This post has been brewing for some time in draft mode, so it's a little off the usual timeline. Nonetheless, I thought I'd finally share it here. It's long, but I hope you like it.

As a first, we decided on a tropical vacation for the holiday season. Although I have worked throughout Mexico and the Caribbean, I've rarely gone there for a vacation.

Since I have trouble with the word vacation, it was also a working one, as I love what I do, so how can I not do it? With that in mind, we decided on the Yucatan peninsula with a variety of interesting Mayan sites to visit.

We actually booked our vacation in August, which I've decided I'm going to do again, as most people are still enjoying the summer and not thinking about winter. This means winter vacation destinations are usually offering some pretty good deals

Nancy-Marie is a trip researching fiend and combed a swarm of sites for prices, descriptions, reviews, activities, and everything else we might need to pick a resort/hotel. She is really impressive at digging up information and planning locations and activities.

Selloffvacations.com had some nive prices and we picked a little hotel called the Bel-Air Collection, but declined the all inclusive, as we don't drink and tend to want to eat in many different restaurants. This can save you a lot of money on a trip, provided you don't spend it on food/drink somewhere else.

The Bel-Air is located south of the main area of hotels (about 10 minutes), but not as far south as the Mayan Rivera, which is about 40 minutes or so south of Cancun. This means you can explore Cancun without paying top dollar for a high end hotel/resort. The Mayan Rivera sounded interesting, but seemed to be focused on the all-inclusive, never leave the resort style of vacation and we tend not to stay still long.

we booked the flights for Dec 20th through Dec 27th, which meant we would be away for both Nancy-Marie's Birthday and Xmas, for the first time.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

charter vacations have one serious problem for photographers, as the baggage limits are ridiculously low, with significant charges if you exceed it. On Sunwing, our charter the limit was 20Kg (44 lbs) for checked bags and 1 carry-on of no more than 5kg (11 lbs). Now any working photographer can tell you your equipment alone can breach 20kg without even trying. I think this is the single biggest problem for traveling photographers.

We spent a LOT of time trying to keep our luggage under the limit and I pulled hair out trying to figure out how to get my gear there. Despite stripping my equipment to the bone, we were still heavy, so I resigned myself to expensive baggage charges.

Our flight left at 6:20am (yes, I said the same thing), which meant a car picked us up at 4am, which means we got up at 3am after staying up late packing. Words fail to capture the sheer joy of the 3am alarm going off.

Strangely, despite no signs of any other brain cells working in the morning (actually middle of the night), I remembered that we could ship 15kg (33 lbs) of sporting equipment and have this added to our weight allowance. Wonder of wonders, our snorkeling equipment in a duffel bag fit the bill nicely. I also wore my photo vest and cargo pants, intending to pocket as much as possible through the weight check. (NOTE: There is no personal weight limit, so anything you can fit in a pocket doesn't count - hence big pockets and lots of them :-) ).

Not only did out duffle bag save us, but it only weighed 6Kg (13.2 lbs) and the remaining 11 kg (22 lbs)was applied to our weight limit. This little boost put us under the limit. As well, it was so early in the morning, they forgot to weigh my shoulder bag, which was heavy with gear. (Note, there is a real trick to carrying a heavy shoulder bag and making it look light). No excess baggage charges.

We arrived in Cancun about 9:30am and got into the hotel by about 10:30am. The next scheduled event was a nap and then some pool time and an early evening.

We ate dinner at the hotel and the staff was nice enough to "create" a cake for Nancy-Marie's birthday. Despite excellent service, the food was not so great, although the cake was nice.

Friday, December 21st, 2007

A wonderful morning spent by the pool and a swim in the ocean for me. I really miss the ocean, as I grew up by it and the Great Lakes are just a poor substitute for it.

We decided to head into Cancun proper, but by bus instead of cab, as suggested by one of our guidebooks. It was even more fun than expected. There is only one road up and down the hotel strip and every bus takes it, so as long as you are not going too far into Cancun, any bus will do. The bus costs 6.5 pesos per person, which is about 65 cents and is well worth the money.

As near as we can tell, the bus drivers rent their buses and need a certain number of fares to make money. The result is buses race each other, beep at each other, and generally compete for fares along the road. It's like a giant video game and a lot of fun to watch, particularly from within one of the buses. We ended up taking the bus a lot, just for the entertainment value.

Nancy-Marie on the Bus

During our bus adventures, we discovered the secret location of the holy Starbucks, which meant good coffee (i.e. with expresso) was once more available. Given the number of people who wanted to know where we found it, I think Starbucks should publish maps.

Late in the evening we discovered a restaurant called Harry's, which turned out to be the best restaurant in Cancun. The service was outstanding, the food incredible and the seating area is right next to the lagoon.

Their website is www.harrys.com.mx and I highly recommend it.

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

A quiet day, but we explored a bit more of Cancun and planned some excursion trips. I haven't taken many photos, but I'm focused on the Mayan sites.

Cancun

Mexican Sunset

We book a trip to Citzen Itza for the next day, a trip to Cozumel for the 25th, and Coba for the 26th. Since Cozumel has some of the best diving in the world, it seems like a logical place for Nancy-Marie's first open water snorkeling adventure. I've been a certified diver since 1979, so I can keep an eye on her.

Sunday, December 23rd, 2007

Despite being worried about group tours and being trapped with annoying people, this turned out to be an excellent tour. The bus was modern and comfortable and the tour guide extremely experienced. In fact the tour guide, Manny, was part Maya, a Master's degree in Maya history, and had trained for two years to be a guide. Needless to say, he knew his stuff. The difference between a low end and a high end tour is the quality of the transportation and the guide. Manny was excellent with a real passion for Mexico and Mayan history. I learned an amazing amount about Mayan culture and history during his tour.

Our bus, known as the "Galactic Banana", as it was large, golden yellow, and very high tech, stopped first at a Cenote for a swim and some food. The Yucatan peninsula has no above ground rivers. Since the ground is mostly limestone, they flow underground and occasionally there are openings to reach them called Cenotes. These vary in size from small holes just big enough to fit a person to nearly stadium size.

We stopped at one of the larger ones, and many of the tour members went swimming. The water in incredibly clean, as it's filtered by limestone. Ours was large enough to have a rainbow from one of the rivers flowing into it.

The Cenote

Swimming in the Cenote

An underground rainbow in the cenote

From there it was off to Chitzen Itza. Having a knowledgeable and experienced guide makes all the difference here. It's one thing to look at the interesting architecture, but it's impressive to have the symbolism and history explained at the same time. Wondering around Chitzen Itza certainly explains why it is one of the seven modern wonders of the world.

The Main Pyramid

Where severed heads were displayed

The Center of the Mayan Universe

Military training compound

The goal in Mayan games: Put a 7 lbs rubber ball through this using only your hips. Oh, and this is about 20 feet off the ground.

Needless to say, I took a LOT of pictures and would have taken more if I wasn't trying to keep up with the group.

Monday, December 24th, 2007

A difficult day of going to the beach, shopping in an expensive mall (while buying nothing) and roaming into downtown Cancun.

We found a great little place called Cafe Tulum near the intersection of Tulum and Coba streets. Definitely not focused on tourist traffic with excellent food for very reasonable prices.

We went to dinner at Ruth Chis, which was very nice, but not as nice as Harry's. I consider Ruth Chris an excellent restaurant, but second best to Harry's in Cancun.


Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Not such a nice day. Our tour to Cozumel was canceled, but not until we sat in the lobby at 7:30am waiting for them to show up. This really annoyed me, as no one phoned to tell us until we started calling people at 8am. By the time we found out what had happened, we missed being able to catch any of the other tours.

Oh well, our backup plan was not too bad. We sat on the beach, swam in the ocean, and phoned people to wish them the best of the season.

Santa?

Wednesday, December 26th

We've signed up for a tour of Coba today, which means being in the lobby again for 7:30am. At 8am, we figured we had been stood up again, but luckily it turned out they were just late in picking everyone up. This time it was a large van instead of a nice bus, but fine nonetheless. This tour was with altournatives and they run a very interesting service. They are focused on making sure that tours produce a minimal impact on the environment and maximum benefit to the local people. You can find out more at altournatives.com.

We traveled to a small Mayan town called Esmeraldes, which has a population of about 30. You need to travel a rough dirt road for a couple of miles off the main road to reach it, which was an impressive feat for a van, as this road really needed a 4-wheel drive.

Once we got there, we had a chance to swim in the Cenote, but this time we had to rappel into it, which was very cool. I've never been rappelling before and Nancy-Marie hates heights and scary rides. Amazingly, she was up for this one and rappelled into the Cenote like a pro.

The Explorer

This was a 50' rappel into water, which was pretty impressive.

After this we travelled to Punta Laguna, where we were taken on a tour through the jungle (very easy to get lost) and treated to a Mayan welcoming ceremony. From there we explored further and had the opportunity to zipline across the lagoon. Nancy-Marie was even up for this as well, which impressed me to no end.

I, of course, should have paid attention to two things. First, a camera bag is a very heavy thing and two, ziplines have weight limits for a reason. A soon as I started down the zipline my camera bag pulled my upside down. Luckily the guide managed to catch me before I left the platform or I was in for a rough trip. I re-strapped my bag to it was in front and off I went. Of course, next I discovered that the weight limit meant, as I dropped low on the line and dragged my legs through the trees before getting out over the water. This tangled my arm in the strap holding me to the line and left me with no free hands.

Oh, I neglected to mention, I had the camera out and was trying to shoot during this misadventure, so as I was turning around on the line, I managed a few shots.

Preparing to launch

Just before discovering the camera bag MUST be in front.

Still shooting

After I finally made it to the other side, I had a chance to talk to some of our people there. Suddenly I heard a high pitched squeel, which meant that Nancy-Marie are overcome her fear of scary rides and was ziplining her way across the lagoon - amazing.

After ziplining, we paddled across the lagoon for lunch. Strangely, I found the paddling portion the scariest, as the canoe was rather tippy and I knew my gear would take me to the bottom in a hurry,

Once fed, we left for Coba, This is one of the older Mayan cities and founded in an area with lots of water. At it's height, more than 50,000 people lived here. Coba has a huge pyramid that you can climb, which you cannot do in most places. It's an amazing view, but a hell of a climb up, particularly with the ever popular camera bag with you.

A serious set of stairs

Going down is almost as hard as going up

Mayan writing

Thursday, December 27th

Last day and heading home. Not much happened here, except for the usual complications in trying to get onto the plane without paying excess baggage charges. Once more our snorkelling gear, which we never got to use, paid for itself, but saving us the baggage fees.

This time I did not get away without having my camera bag weighed. However, there is an advantage to knowing your gear well, as I was able to remove my camera while putting it on the scale without making the removal obvious. Nancy-Marie saw me do it, but the airline did not. Now my camera with lens is probably close to 7 lbs, so this was the difference between being over or not. Without the camera, I was not and. once more, we dodged the baggage fees.

It was a long flight back with a screaming child for the entire trip. Leaving in the evening also meant we arrived at close to 2am and got home at 3:30am. This makes for a rough flight, but it was a great trip nonetheless. I'm already planning out next adventure in the area.