![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holytoastrThe next morning, we pulled into the port of Costa Maya.
There's almost nothing around Costa Maya. It's strictly a cruise ship town. Everything was built for the cruise ships. When you get off the pier, there are shops everywhere. And a giant pool that anyone can use. The pool had a bar! You just swam right up! How weird!
This was the first day we pulled up to another cruise ship. It was the first time we could see just how ridiculously huge our ship was.
The touristy part of the town was really gaudy, but just outside the town was very pretty.
Nice, right?
We took a tour bus from Costa Maya to the nearby ruins of Chacchoben. These ruins were from the classical mayan period. They were excavated by a team from Tulane! Unfortunately they ran out of money, so the ruins are only partially excavated.
On the way to the ruins, we passed through a small town. The gov't had installed speed bumps along the highway to slow drivers down as they went through the town. At each bump, there was a fruit stand!
Our tour guide explained that whenever a car slowed down, someone from the stand would rush out to try to sell the driver fruit.
The best part of the bus ride was the moment the first pyramid appeared to rise up out of the jungle.
And if that wasn't cool enough, we entered the park and our first sight was this:
This was not the tallest pyramid, but it was one of the bigger ones. I can't believe they let us climb up and sit on it! I felt so tiny on the huge steps!
The other side of the pyramid still had some of the original stucco frescos on it. The archaeologists put a covering over it to protect it from the sun. Hopefully it'll keep it safe for the day they get more money and can return.
The site was covered with many mounds like this one. Each one has an ancient pyramid or temple under it!
Here's one that was partially excavated:
Our guide told us that only the ruler, the priests, and the elite were allowed to live in this city. But the privilege of living in the city meant living in tiny tiny houses!
Tiny huts were built on top of these foundations. The houses were really only used for sleeping. The rest of the time was spent outside in the many plazas.
Eventually on the tour we came upon a massive flight of stairs.
Each step went up to my knees. We climbed all the way to the top! Only to discover the steps were actually the base to a GIANT pyramid that had two pyramids on top!
The bigger of the pyramids was the one we saw on the bus!
The smaller pyramid was still quite large.
From the top of that platform, we could see almost forever!
In addition to the pyramids, the park also had many interesting trees. Like the chicle tree, which was covered in scars. The scars were created when people harvested the sap, which was once used as an ingredient in gum.
There were also many strangle trees. The tree would start as vines in the branches of another tree. The branches would grow down and slowly take over the host tree. Eventually the host would be strangled to death.
At the end of the tour, we returned to the entrance and gift shop.
I had to make use of the potty before we left. When I entered the bathroom, a woman directed me to a stall. Then brought me paper towels after I washed my hands. It was awkward and I did not like it. I don't mind tipping people except when I feel like I was guilted into it. I gave her a tip anyway though. (And then tried to avoid bathrooms off the ship for the rest of the trip.)
We ate lunch at Costa Maya after our tour. Service was incredibly slow, but I find that's the case any time you head south. We had mexican coke and sprite with real sugar!
When we returned to the ship, we took a good long nap. In the evening, we went to the midnight buffet. It wasn't as fancy as the one I remember as a kid, but I'm ok with that. Fewer food sculptures means less food was wasted.
(I must warn anyone before they click that there is a dead animal head in this picture set.)
The ice sculpture is supposed to be a carved mayan head. It was a lot easier to tell that in person.
And of course the day ended with a towel animal.
Towel armadillo!
Now I need to get started on those Cozumel/Tulum pictures. Whyyyy did I take so many pictures??
There's almost nothing around Costa Maya. It's strictly a cruise ship town. Everything was built for the cruise ships. When you get off the pier, there are shops everywhere. And a giant pool that anyone can use. The pool had a bar! You just swam right up! How weird!
This was the first day we pulled up to another cruise ship. It was the first time we could see just how ridiculously huge our ship was.
The touristy part of the town was really gaudy, but just outside the town was very pretty.
Nice, right?
We took a tour bus from Costa Maya to the nearby ruins of Chacchoben. These ruins were from the classical mayan period. They were excavated by a team from Tulane! Unfortunately they ran out of money, so the ruins are only partially excavated.
On the way to the ruins, we passed through a small town. The gov't had installed speed bumps along the highway to slow drivers down as they went through the town. At each bump, there was a fruit stand!
Our tour guide explained that whenever a car slowed down, someone from the stand would rush out to try to sell the driver fruit.
The best part of the bus ride was the moment the first pyramid appeared to rise up out of the jungle.
And if that wasn't cool enough, we entered the park and our first sight was this:
This was not the tallest pyramid, but it was one of the bigger ones. I can't believe they let us climb up and sit on it! I felt so tiny on the huge steps!
The other side of the pyramid still had some of the original stucco frescos on it. The archaeologists put a covering over it to protect it from the sun. Hopefully it'll keep it safe for the day they get more money and can return.
The site was covered with many mounds like this one. Each one has an ancient pyramid or temple under it!
Here's one that was partially excavated:
Our guide told us that only the ruler, the priests, and the elite were allowed to live in this city. But the privilege of living in the city meant living in tiny tiny houses!
Tiny huts were built on top of these foundations. The houses were really only used for sleeping. The rest of the time was spent outside in the many plazas.
Eventually on the tour we came upon a massive flight of stairs.
Each step went up to my knees. We climbed all the way to the top! Only to discover the steps were actually the base to a GIANT pyramid that had two pyramids on top!
The bigger of the pyramids was the one we saw on the bus!
The smaller pyramid was still quite large.
From the top of that platform, we could see almost forever!
In addition to the pyramids, the park also had many interesting trees. Like the chicle tree, which was covered in scars. The scars were created when people harvested the sap, which was once used as an ingredient in gum.
There were also many strangle trees. The tree would start as vines in the branches of another tree. The branches would grow down and slowly take over the host tree. Eventually the host would be strangled to death.
At the end of the tour, we returned to the entrance and gift shop.
I had to make use of the potty before we left. When I entered the bathroom, a woman directed me to a stall. Then brought me paper towels after I washed my hands. It was awkward and I did not like it. I don't mind tipping people except when I feel like I was guilted into it. I gave her a tip anyway though. (And then tried to avoid bathrooms off the ship for the rest of the trip.)
We ate lunch at Costa Maya after our tour. Service was incredibly slow, but I find that's the case any time you head south. We had mexican coke and sprite with real sugar!
When we returned to the ship, we took a good long nap. In the evening, we went to the midnight buffet. It wasn't as fancy as the one I remember as a kid, but I'm ok with that. Fewer food sculptures means less food was wasted.
(I must warn anyone before they click that there is a dead animal head in this picture set.)
The ice sculpture is supposed to be a carved mayan head. It was a lot easier to tell that in person.
And of course the day ended with a towel animal.
Towel armadillo!
Now I need to get started on those Cozumel/Tulum pictures. Whyyyy did I take so many pictures??
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 04:20 am (UTC)I can't wait to see your Tulum photos... I went there!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 02:55 pm (UTC)