Tulum - Mexico

To summarize Tulum in one word, I would have to say...PARADISE!

With gorgeous blue skies, soft perfect champagne sand and crystal jade water, Tulum has by far the best beaches I have ever seen! Although there are over 100 hotels along the beach, many only accommodate 3 to 5 rooms and thus, the beach is really quiet.

We stayed at the end of the beach so it was especially quiet. So quiet that I had the courage to sunbathe topless for the first time in my life!!! It felt GOOD!

We have traveled pass Playa Del Carmen and are now in Cozumel. Honestly, I think Cozumel is so over-rated. If this is paradise to those who compare it with Cancun and Playa Del Carmen, then they will die in Tulum which is the REAL paradise.

We have yet to explore Cozumel in the next few days but so far, it's a huge disappointment, it's so crowded and commercialized, it makes me resent Cancun. Thank god we are not going there!

But mind you, we prefer quiet places and we don't like parties, so if you are young and on spring break, I am sure you would enjoy Cancun and Cozumel.

Chichen Itza - Mexico

From Merida, we took a 2 hour bus ride to Chichen Itza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

What you see in Chichen Itza is only 8 to 10% of the whole of the site. When you stand and look around, it's actually mind blowing to know how much has yet to be discovered and they find new things everyday!

The famous Mayan pyramid that you see in every photo is actually a Mayan Calendar itself. There are 91 steps on each side, there are a total of 4 sides plus the top platform equals 365, like the 365 in the calendar!

Also, the pyramid has 9 layers, there are 2 sides (left and right of the middle stairs) which equals 18, and there are 18 months of 20 days in one of the Mayan calendars!

Isn't that incredible?

The Mayan calendar started in 3114 B.C., thats 5,000 years ago! Some say they stopped at 2012 because it's the end of the world, the locals said it ends in 2012 because that's when the Spanish invaded the Mayans and they were working on year 2012 of the calendar.

Lastly, many books say the Mayans disappeared, it's not true!!! The Mayans are still there, it's just that when the Spanish took over, the Mayans adopted the new culture, regulations and ideology. The guides we had were all Mayans!

I have always been interested in the Mayans calendar, history and mysterious. This trip to Mexico is by far the best history lesson I have ever taken!

By the way, I can now put a "check" on one of the To Do Things on my Bucket List.

Palenque, Merida and Uxmal - Mexico

We have been doing nothing but visiting ruins which I love.

You can read a lot about Palenque on the internet so I am not going to go into details. All I can say it's a must go place!

Palenque was first occupied in 100 B.C., what you see today, it's only 2% of the actual Palenque!!! The remaining 98% is still buried in the jungle. Now, that's incredible. Go to my facebook to see the photos, it's AMAZING!

The next day we took a bus to Merida. Same as other Mexican cities, the zocalo, city hall, museum, cathedral. But I must say Merida is the least impressive Mexico City of our Mexican trip when compared to Mexico City, Oaxaca City and San Cristobal.

You only need half a day in Merida and you would have seen everything.

The day after, we did a da trip to Uxmal and Kabah. Uxmal was first occupied in 600 A.D and Kabah in 750 A.D. Both sites have spectacular Maya inscriptions which was just unbelievable!

As a historical site, I found Palenque more mesmerizing but Uxmal and Kabah were special in the way they have those funny Maya symbols everywhere. It was a privilege to see those inscriptions with my own eyes.

The bad news of the day was the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My prayers are with everyone in Japan.