Wandering with Tedder and Tamara

Happy Earth Day everyone! We spent a lot of time outside today, enjoying the sun, water, and, of course, the earth in total.

We left early and drove down to Tulum. It is a small site, especially compared to Chichen Itza, but it is right on the water, and so is very beautiful. It also has a very intact city wall, through which you enter the site, and it is probably 25 feet thick where the tunnel is to enter. There was nothing spectacular about the buildings, except that they are gorgeous set on the cliffs about the green sea. We saw quite a bit of wildlife - lots of iguanas and birds.

After Tulum we went to Xel-Ha, a water park that is build around mangroves, cenotes, and beaches, but is touristy and sanitized. We spent quite a bit of time there snorkeling in their lagoon.

It was my first time snorkeling, and although I'm not completely comfortable with it yet, I enjoyed being able to see all the fishes. Ted was very patient in teaching me how to use the gear, but I am just not terribly at home in the water, so it was really pushing it for me. I'm definitely glad I did it though, and I learned that I really just need to relax and not let myself start to feel really claustrophobic and panicking.

I hate to admit it, but I saw a manta or sting ray at the very beginning of the snorkeling, and it freaked me out because I knew it was at the bottom, and I needed a break, but the water was shallow and I didn't want to step on it and have it freak out. I don't really think it would hurt me, it was just one of those things - they look kinda freaky when you actually see one right there. We also saw a lot of fish, whole schools of them, and from tiny fish to fish at least the size of a torso. The fish were really pretty, and I'm really looking forward to at least trying to do some snorkeling at the reef when Ted and his mom go out. I know now that I can at least throw on a life jacket and float around on the surface and look under.

We did a river float with inner tube, which was really slow, but it had a couple fun spots on it for Ted - a “cliff of courage” (12 ft cliff jump) and a double rope walk (where you walk on one rope and the higher rope you use for your hands). I wasn't really into either of these, but he had fun - especially when he made it across the rope once and came back to just jump around on it and literally went heels over head into the water.

Also, we spent the extra $20 to get the all-inclusive package, which included free meals & drinks, snorkel rental, and more. We were glad we did that, because we didn't have to worry about getting enough to drink or eating enough. We took full advantage of the perks and had two meals with desserts while we were there.

The only downside to today was that we got sunburned. We are partially at fault and probably should have slathered up more often, but the park also has a 'biodegradable sunscreen' policy, which I'm not complaining about, just that the sunscreen didn't seem to stay on very well in the water. Also, the highest SPF they sold was 30, and hey, we're from Seattle - we need a LOT of sunscreen!

So, afterwards we found a Fred Meyer type store, got one-hour processing on the under-water camera we bought (only a few pictures turned out decent), got some sunburn lotion, aspirin, and other grocery supplies. The water camera is reusable, so we got more film so we can use it when we go for dophins and to the reef.

Tomorrow our company (Ted's mom) will come with the bike parts, and we're hoping to hear back from the Suzuki dealer to see if they can help fix it and when (hopefully Monday).