The Roving Richards

A family on the move


Sunday, July 5th, 2009

This morning two iguanas were lurking on the deck of the restaurant, so the waiter tossed them some melon like you would to a dog and they carted it off. Too funny. After breakfast, we drove to the ruins at Coba. We hired a guide at the entrance, and he went through his spiel. One thing that is hampering my enjoyment of the ruins is that they know so little about them. In Pompeii or the ancient castles and round towers of Europe they know exactly how and why everything was used. With the Mayan ruins, even though they have deciphered the language they’re really just guessing. Also it’s not clear that people actually lived in these cities vs. went there to worship, so it’s harder to “put yourself there” and imagine what it was like back in the day. After we walked around the main area for a while, seeing the ball court and allthe temples there, we said goodbye to our guide and then hired a driver of one of those cool Mexican cargo trikes to take us to the tower (because you know the whining that would ensue if we forced Charlotte towalk it). The guy was smaller than me and he had to push all four of us, definitely he’s stronger than he looks! We made it to the main temple, which is the tallest ruin that is still climbable in the Yucatan, and headed up. Once we got to the top we realized how very tall the temple was! Genevieve was excited to sit on the altar that was reserved for priests only back in Mayan times. We headed back down (carefully) and then took the bike back to the main area (paid the guy double for his trouble) where we walked around some more. Once we had our fill of the ruins we went to a surprisingly good restaurant just outside the park, and then we drove to the cenote that Cristina had recommended, Multun (the farthest of the three that are open to the public). It was extraordinary, exactly like the pictures, deep clear water. We all went swimming, and then went to the cenote known for having shallow water, but it wasn’t nearly as spectacular as the first one. We drove home, noting the hammock and pottery vendors along the route. That night we couldn’t face the surly night waitress nor the mediocre food of our hotel restaurant, so even though it was included in our room we went to Posada Margherita for dinner. This seemed like a very upscale bohemian hotel, with what might have been called beatniks back in the day staying there (but they were all clearly wealthy). Definitely a different vibe, but accepting such that even though we were clearly not as cool as these guests we were still accepted. The kids enjoyed playing on the swinging beach beds, and Mark and I enjoyed a good bottle of wine. I had ordered pasta with lobster and shrimp, and was very surprised when what arrived was pasta and shrimp delivered over a full split lobster! Yikes. But I did eat it even though I think I would have preferred the pieces of lobster I was expecting! We had a nice desert, and returned to hotel and to bed.

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