Cancun

Dec 2-4
UA1619 IAH-CUN, UA1059 CUN-IAH

Flights from Toronto to Cancun are very inexpensive, much cheaper than flying to Houston even for flights flying through Houston.  For this trip Tom started in Toronto, stayed overnight in Houston and we continued on to Cancun together.  I had actually started this trip from Toronto a few months earlier as part of my commute flights to Houston.  This was my first trip into Mexico since a day trip into a California border town 36 years earlier.   Cancun was a very different experience and the main purpose of the trip was to see the Mayan Ruins at Chichen Itza and also to enjoy some nice tropical beach weather.  Although there very heavy rains in Houston, other than being a little bumpy, my flight back wasn’t disrupted.  Tom wasn’t so lucky as Chicago had heavy snow that delayed his arrival by about 5 hours.

Dec 2

After our morning flight we headed to the resort and stopped by Costco and a Grocery Store to buy some supplies.  Shopping in Costco in Mexico was a little surreal as it was just a little bit different than what I was used to, but we managed to navigate the experience.   

This monitor lizard startled me the first time we ran into one on the hotel property

A couple of para-gliders enjoying the warm afternoon 

Preparing for another launch

Walking the beach as the sun is starting to set

After our walk on the beach, we headed back to hotel for happy hour and some snacks and had a quiet evening, away from the party side of Cancun.

Dec 3

As we had a lot of ground to cover, we started out pretty early for Chichen Itza, and got well ahead of the bulk of the crowds.  

View from our balcony shortly after sunrise

El Castillo temple, the most famous site at Chichen Itza

Columns of the Temple of a Thousand Warriors

Different perspective on El Castillo

91 steps of the best restored of the four staircases

Plumed Serpent

The site's Mesoamerican ballcourt

The Ossuary (high priest grave) at Chichen Itza

El Caracol ("the observatory") at Chichen Itza

The Nunnery Las Monjas at Chichen Itza

Temple of a Thousand Warriors

First ruins at Cobá 

Smaller Mesoamerican ballcourt at Cobá

42m tall Nohoch Mul Pyramid, Cobá

Incredible view rewards our climb

Slowly making my way down (much harder than climbing up)

Not the most graceful descent, but arrived safely at the bottom

After a full day of driving, we made it back to the hotel before sunset, and had another quiet evening.

Dec 4

Our good weather luck ended by Sunday.  Overnight our room was shaken from the wind coming off the gulf, and it was quite rainy when our flights left that afternoon.