Tulum Ruins

We finally made it to the Tulum National Park to see the ruins! (and I'm finally blogging about it)  It was very different from the ruins that Drew & I saw on our last cruise that were tucked away in the middle of a forrest far away from modern civilization. These ruins were close to the interstate and have been made into a national park so there were tons of people from all over the world there.  The ruins were also maintained and unfortunately you couldn't walk on them or touch them because they were trying to better preserve them.  These ruins were surrounded by an ancient tall stone wall which was really awesome and they were on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean.  They were huge and breathtaking and beautiful.  

  

 We saw these awesome HUGE iguanas everywhere soaking up sunlight.

 This little guy snuck up on us while we were taking a break and tried to eat a snack right out of the hand of the lady sitting next to us.  He was sweet and curious and the locals called him a coati mundi.  It was so weird to see an animal we've never seen before roaming around like a squirrel would in our parks.  It really reminded us we were in a place far from home.

 I've been learning Spanish through Rosetta Stone so it was really neat to be able to read the signs and to communicate with the people we bought things from.

Cozumel

We got off of the ship at Cozumel and rode a ferry over to Playa del Carmen.  This is the same city that we went to on our last cruise but it has changed a lot in just a  few years.  They're building a new dock at the port in Cozumel and Playa del Carmen had a new entry at their port with restrooms and shops, and the downtown area had grown with new restaurants and shops.  It was neat to see the growth.  Maddi got sick on the ferry ride.  She's never gotten see sick before but so I didn't think to give her sea sickness medicine before hand like the rest of us, but the waters were extremely tumultuous, and by the time I realized she didn't feel well, it was too late to do much.  She got sick all over her and me, so we washed off with the water bottles I'd packed for the hike, took any unnecessary layers of clothes off, and gave her some sea sick meds which almost immediately put her to sleep. We walked through the city a few blocks (with a drowsy Maddi smelling like puke) and then hopped on a bus headed toward the ruins.  Along the way we stopped at a little tienda where we tried to wake Maddi from her coma and bought some souvenirs and snacks.  The kids bought their favorite chips and sodas and were stunned when they tasted completely different.  The drinks were more of a citrus flavor and all of the cheetos & fritos were spicy.   Good thing I brought granola bars for the hike,.  Now I just had to figure out how to get a sleeping, half-naked six year old to hike through the forest....