Another Trip to Margaritaville (Cancun)

There is something about a white sandy beach, warm weather, blue inviting water, margaritas, ceviche and cold Corona beer that screams at me:  "You belong here!"

Ahhhhh!!!!  Our first day in Cancun was slow afternoon, just  relaxing from the trip down here and acclimating our bodies to this sandy paradise.  But after a trip to the grocery store for supplies quickly made me realize that this only paradise to tourists staying on the hotel strip - some with all-inclusive plans and some with pay as you go plans.  To the rest of the people who live here, it is the same daily struggle to work and try to survive every day with less than adequate income.

The flight was almost uneventful, except for the near-death experience of the turbulence we encountered somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico.  For the passengers inexperienced to flying in turbulence, there was yelling, screaming, white knuckles and the woman in the row in front of me yelling "Oh God don't let me die before I get to the beach!"  I felt bad smiling at what seemed a sincere concern.  For en experienced traveler like me, this type of turbulence was common and it was more of a matter of closing my book to avoid getting motion sick.  That episode only lasted about two or three minutes, but I'm sure it seemed an eternity to someone that was panicked.  The other undesirable event was the process of getting my rental car.  All I can say is that National Car Rental in Cancun SUCKS!  But they did compensate for the delay by giving me a full-size car for the price of a compact.  

 So, what does one do when the surf is too rough to swim?  Watch pelicans fish.

We met up with family who happened to be in Cancun at the same time and had dinner and drinks.

Another trip to the Mayan Realm

(This is the first blog entry in about a year.  Life has kept me very busy not giving me a chance to write.  But now that things are under some control I hope to be posting regular blogs and getting back to completing volume two and three of the historical novel I am writing.)

A couple of years ago on a spring break to Cancun we made time to visit and explore some of the Mayan ruins that are now located in the state of Qintana Roo and Yucatan.  On that trip we decided to leave the beach for a couple of days and take a side trip to Mérida, Yucatan, a beautiful city where I decided I wanted to buy a house and move there (well, at least for the winters and only if I came into some money).  On that "side" trip we visited the Mayan Ruins of "El Balam,"  "Chichén Itzá" and "Uxmal,"  ancient cities of the Mayan Post classic period - between 500 and 1000 years old (places indicated by a light green and yellow "X's" on the map below).  We also took time to swim in a Cenote, and of course, we enjoyed the beaches and the climate of Cancun - One of the most fun and educational trips I have taken. 

For Adrian's 14th birthday this year, I told him that I would give him a trip to Cancun in lieu of other presents, (and of course I would sacrifice myself and go with him since at 14 he is too young to travel by himself).   The trip is coming up and we are due to depart on our trip during spring break.  I know it's a hassle fighting our way through all those beach-bunny-crowded beaches, and that is why we plan to get away from all that beach activity.  So, we are taking another side trip to two or three (possibly four) Mayan archeological sites.  So, in addition to seafood dinners, drinks by the pool and relaxing, we will take a day to go snorkeling on the northern beaches of "Isla Mujeres" just north of Cancun, take a side trip to Tulum, a small Mayan archeological site south of Cancun, and take a quick side trip to Cobá, another site of Mayan ruins about twenty five miles northeast of Tulum, and if we can, swim with the dolphins.

However, one of the main events of this trip is a two-day trip to the large archeological sites of Palenque and Toniná - Cities from the Classical Mayan period that are between 1,000 to 1,800 years old - much older than the ruins we visited two years ago.  To get an idea of their age, the site of Palenque was begun around or shortly after the time of Christ.  We also plan to visit to Agua Azul cascades in the state of Chiapas.  The sites we plan to visit are marked on the map with a Red "X" on the map below.  I plan to spend a whole day in Agua Azul, a series of incredibly beautiful waterfalls, where, because of the mineral content of the water, the water is truly aquamarine.  It is a natural wonder that needs to be on everybody's bucket list.  I marked it on the map with a blue "X."  We were there for a short time many, many years ago and I can't wait to visit again.  To do this we are taking advantage of the flights on "Vivaerbus,"  a "Sprint-like" airline that offers round trip tickets for under $100 dollars. 

One of the things I am looking forward in Palenque is the burial site of  K´inich Janahb´Pakal II, the boy king who ascended the throne at age 12 and under his guidance came the classical construction of the buildings in Palenque.  His is a story, the real "Game of Thrones," with royal family intrigue, assassinations, love, military campaigns, and classical architecture.  The grand construction could only be realized because of the military and economic power and splendor that his reign brought.   K´inich Janahb´Pakal II died when he was 80 years old, and his burial mask was made out of 340 pieces of Jade.  Although we will not see the mask, we will be able to see his sarcophagus with its very elaborate cover that weighs about 7 tons and it is inside the temple.  We plan to go into his burial chamber - inside and the bottom of one of the pyramids and see this first hand.

 Sarcophagus Cover

Agua Azul

If time permits and the site is accessible, we also planned to visit Toniná, a site about fifty miles from Palenque where the one of the largest pyramids of the Mayan culture (and the largest pyramid in Mexico) was just discovered in 2015.  A write up on the site can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonin%C3%A1  About Tonina

A Quick Tour of Downtown to Philadelphia and New York City

While visiting my sister, we took a quick tour of a couple of sites in downtown Philadelphia and New York City; sites that we had not seen in previous trips because we were either rushing through the day and did not have time or we were too tired to see one more site.  So this time we made a special trip to visit Independence Hall in downtown Philadelphia and the World Trade Center Memorial in downtown New York City.  Of course, visiting tourist sites was not the purpose of this trip.  I wanted to come and visit my sister, not because we would have free lodging in Pennsylvania, but because it is a "family thing" to visit each other once in a while.  Not so much for my sister and I, we have known each other for over 66 years - but more for Adrian and Peter, the tail of a long line of 29 cousins and siblings.  Peter was born when my sister was 50 and Adrian was born when I was 55.  Except for a couple who are still in their late teens, just about all of Adrian's and Peter's cousins and siblings are in their 40s, 30s or in their late 20s.  They even have some second cousins, children of their first cousins, who are older than they are.  So these two are special in the Family hierarchy - late life surprises, we might say. 

Our first trip was to Independence Hall.  We stood next to the seats where Adams, Franklin, Jefferson and all the other delegates to the Continental Congress sat in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and later the Constitution - a very emotional event to be in the same room  where these people worked.  Of course, we could not leave Philadelphia without having a cheese steak sandwich!

Of course, we could not leave Philadelphia without having a cheese steak sandwich!

The Trip to the World Trade Center Memorial was an afternoon treat.  We drove to Trenton, N.J. and took the NJ Transit train to Penn Station in NY City.  From there a short Subway ride on the "E" line to the World Trade Center ride.  It started as a partly cloudy day but it began to rain once we got to the top the new World Trade Center building.  The elevator ride, the most unique and exciting ride up and down the building was worth every penny of the cost - a must "do" on a trip to NY City! 

 And of course, there is the need for texting friends from the top of the Word Trade Center.

It's a pleasure to see the sense of family "closeness" transfer from generation to generation, and for someone like me hitting seventy, it is a reminder that family life continues and it gives the feeling that things are in order in the universe and life as we have known it continues.  They laugh, joke and talk about things that either are irrelevant to one state of life and often makes no sense.  The enjoyment is to watch them relate to each other and develop the bonds that will last a lifetime.  Of course, with technology that includes Facetime, Skype and multi-player internet video games where participants are in constant communication with both audio and video, this age group has a chance for close communication that we never had when we were young.  But, technological communication does not seem complete.  I am convinced that one still needs the personal contact, nothing can express what one says with our eyes.  To see these two share things with each other not only with what they say or what they do together, is the way they look at each other when they say or do that completes the communication not hiding who they are or what they mean - a pure communication.  It is a pleasure to see.

End of School Road Trip - 2015!!!

(I have not been posting much since last summer.  In fact, I have not been writing much on my book either.   I guess other things have taken my time these last eight months.  But, I plan to catch up on my writing in the summer months!)

You would think that because one is "not working,"  one does not have daily grinds of people who spend all day at their jobs (even if some of them are working).  Let me just simply say what has always been known to parents, raising and caring for a 13-year old adolescent is full-time work!  So when my son finished his school year this past week, the first thing that came to mind was to get away and catch up on the visiting we could not do during the school year.  Since I can't afford the fancy beach resorts, a European getaway, or a trip to the West Coast or Las Vegas, the next best thing is to visit my sister in Philadelphia and my oldest son and friends in Washington DC - a treat I wait for every year.  Actually, I have not seen my oldest son Adan and my daughter in-law Vivian in eight months and we still have some construction to finish at their house, so, "It's a road trip to the East Coast!"

I don't know if I'm just beginning to notice it or does getting ready for a road trip always taken this long and has it always been such an effort?   Let me see.... I packed my bag and helped Adrian packed his, I cleaned out the car, loaded the tools for Adan's construction work, got all the toiletries and medications packed (it seems that I take several pounds of pills every morning), I packed my favorite pillow (I have to have my own pillow to sleep comfortably), I loaded a couple of blow-up mattresses (just in case), I had my oil changed and filled the tank with fuel earlier, and oh…. and made twelve flour-tortilla tacos of a beans, eggs and chorizo for the trip.  This has been a traditional family travel meal for as long as I can remember.  My grandparents, both on the Rivera and Garza side, used to tell me that that is what they made when they traveled. 

I had planned to take off at 4:00 a.m. but we actually did not take off until 5:30 - last minute stuff.  It was  a bleak and stormy day for traveling, gray skies all around us and the spray from tractor-trailers, traveling at over 70 miles per hour, was blinding. Construction work on Woodward had us detour through downtown Detroit.  Detroit is a desolate city this early on Sunday morning, except for a few cars, also on the bypass from the closed I-75, there was not a soul in the city.  The wind from the southwest channeled the pollution from the Marathon refinery just south of Detroit up I-75 and we had to smell those cancer-causing uncooked hydrocarbons for a long time.  As we passed the refinery complex; an endless sprawl of tanks, pipes and smoke stacks piercing through the fog and rain, we could see the bellowing of steam and smoke and the fires from the burning off-gasses pouring their foul smell toward the residents of south Detroit and their counterparts across the river in Canada in Windsor, Ontario.

We made it through Ohio with little rain always chasing and catching the big storms that had passed through going east the night before.  The best thing is that we were averaging 32 MPH, this was starting out to be a very economical trip!  I decided to travel on the cheap and took the toll-free I-80 instead of the Pennsylvania turnpike - wrong decision!  Construction delays on I-80 set us back at least an hour - bummer!  We were still chasing the big storms and manage to catch up and pass them all through Pennsylvania.  At least everything was green.  I love trees and I love green.  Traveling east reminds me why I like Michigan:  In addition to beautiful seasons and weather - especially summers, and the vast amount of water everywhere, Michigan is overwhelmingly green with trees. There is also lots of green in Ohio and Pennsylvania but it is green in patches among fields of corn, wheat and other crops.  Interstate 80 through Pennsylvania has a long stretch of almost 200 miles of valleys and hills covered with forest.  Unlike Northern California, Oregon, and Washington State, there the forest is harvested and there are huge patches of mountain and valley stripped of trees, Pennsylvania seems to be pristine.  The forest has been left alone lush, bushy and fluffy like a thick quilted blanket of green, growing gently doing its job; producing oxygen so the people in the east coast can breathe better.  But even with all this green, I still think Michigan in greener.  I believe one can see more green in Michigan than a legion of leprechauns can see in a lifetime.

Even with the construction, we made good time and arrived at my sister's house in about eleven hours.  I wanted to spend a day in New York City the following day but my nephew Peter and Adrian just want to "hang out"  at home for the rest of the day.  I think I'll drag them to downtown Philadelphia and do some tourists sites this afternoon - maybe even have a cheese steak sandwich downtown before we head south to Washington.