A Visit to the World of the Maya

When Joy asked me what I would like to do for my birthday, I said I would like to visit the Mayan ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula (YP). She appeared to be a bit cool to the idea as she has had a fear of going to Mexico in the past because of the drug related violence that has made the headlines in the past few years. After some extensive research, we agreed that the YP did not have a history of the violence that was in other parts of Mexico. So, the planning began.

The cheapest flight was to Cancun, in the northeast part of the YP. Since my daughter Cathy considered this birthday to be special, she arranged, through some of her friends in the hotel business, to spend one night at a resort north of Cancun. More about this place later.

Our plan would take us from the northeast corner of the YP (Cancun) south to city of Chitumal; west to the city of Campeche; north to the city of Merida; and then east back to the airport in Cancun. It was sort of like a square loop. Our goal was to, on each leg of the loop, was: eat seafood, visit Mayan ruins and museums; Spanish colonial buildings; learn the history of each of the cities; introduce ourselves to the Mayan cuisine; do a little bird watching, and eat seafood.

The plan worked out very well, with only a couple of minor changes. The weather was quite warm and very humid. It was cloudy every day with only a one or two showers in the beginning of the trip. We rented a car and drove a total of about 1200 miles in the two weeks we were there.

It was a wonderful trip with many new places and things being experience by us,