The photographs include pictures of:

• the lush inner courtyard of our Cancun hotel
• Christmas festivities and food vendors in the old Cancun square
• Pancho, the Mexican Santa Claus' replacement for Rudolph
• the cenote, made into a pool, at our ChichenItza hotel
• the Mayan ruins at ChichenItza, many pictures
• the smaller Mayan ruins at Tulum
• swimming in a cavernous, underground cenote
• New Year's eve in Cozumel (note midnight mass service)
• touring by motor scooter the perimeter of Cozumel Island
• snorkeling off Cozumel

Our third day on the Yucatan Peninsula, and I am writing from beside the pool at the Hotel Delores Alba, ChichenItza. In Cancun we stayed downtown, eschewing the huge resorts in the hotel zone. Our hotel, El Rey del Caribe, was an oasis of tranquility in the hustle-bustle of downtown Cancun. We especially appreciated the inner courtyard with a jungle-like setting, and the wonderful breakfasts in the open-air restaurant.

After walking several miles along the beach in the Cancun hotel zone on Christmas day, Christmas evening we visited the old town square. Mexican families brought their children to sit on Santa's lap, and to ride on Pancho the burro dressed up with a Santa shirt and cap.

Riding the second-class bus to ChichenItza today, we probably stood out as the lone Gringos. We were rewarded by enjoying the Mexican culture. Use of my fluent Spanish (joke) ensured that the bus dropped us off right in front of our hotel, the Hotel Delores Alba. For 370 pesos ($34 US) we have a spacious room, a circular outdoor pool adjoining a bar/restaurant, and a second pool built around a cenote, a natural pool fed from an underground spring. After a swim in one of the pools, and after a margarita, I now write this trip diary sitting beside the pool.

A 50 peso taxi ride following our swim took us to the nearby town of Piste. Exploring the town in the twilight, we visited a bakery, a musical concert, a hotel built beside an old Mayan burial ground, and had dinner at a restaurant before returning to our hotel. Tomorrow we visit the Mayan ruins at ChichenItza.

The symbolic, emotional, and literal high point of a visit to ChichenItza is the ascent and descent of El Castillo. The Spanish gave the pyramid that name because of the resemblance they saw to a castle. Even the ascent of the hundred-meter high Castillo is exciting due to the narrow steps and steep pitch. The top provides an airy, excellent view of the entire archeological site, and the steep descent terrifies the timid. After the hordes have arrived on the tour buses, the Castillo appears from the distance crawling with ants on top and on the two restored stairways. The difficulties of some trying to descend among this hoard provide amusement from below, and an ambulance waits discretely off to the side under the jungle cover. Since we overnighted nearby, we arrived at the ruins early and enjoyed the Castillo ascent in comparative quietude.

What struck me the most at ChichenItza, though, was not the Castillo or the other large structures, but rather the totality of the effort they represented of that lost civilization. Walking almost alone through a maze of hundreds of standing columns, walking the perimeters of the more restored buildings and over the rubble around the perimeter of others, and traversing the extensive grounds made me feel the reality of the breath of work, accomplishment, and the reality of that civilization having lived here for several centuries a millennium ago.

The birds in the neighboring jungle again serenaded us during the night. One bird who is especially loud, annoying I'm sure for anyone who is a light sleeper, appears not to sleep at night, as we periodically heard his loud caw during the night through the wire mesh of the rear wall separating us from the jungle.

We shortly will go out with our luggage to stand by the side of the highway to flag down a second-class bus to Valladolid. We intend to check our bags, explore the town, and then later take a first-class (primero clase) bus to Playa del Carmen.

Today the visit to the Mayan ruins in Tulum provided views of incredible juxtapositions of the remnants of the ancient Mayans, the aqua color of the Caribbean Sea, and the modern tourists of all nationalities walking among the ruins and bathing on the beach at the foot of the 14th century Mayan buildings. Still, the visit to the ruins in Tulum paled in impact to the visit several days earlier to the visit to ChichenItza, an earlier Mayan ruin of much larger scale.

The personal highlight for me today actually was not visiting the ruins, nor was it the swim off the beautiful beach just south of the ruins. Rather, for me the highlight was the visit, swim, and snorkeling in the cenote after leaving the beach.

A cenote is a water-filled cave-like hole in the limestone rock. The porosity of the rock in the Yucatan precludes above-ground rivers and lakes, so all of the water drains underground, leading to the creation of the cenotes--sources of water and respites from the heat. Swimming through the caverns in the El Grande Cenote was almost spiritual in its serenity, purity of the water, and the colors, lights, and shadows of the rock formation, stalactites, fish, cactus, and palms.

My liquor of choice for my evening nightcap is now Xtabentun, the liquor of the Mayans.

Yesterday we drove by motor scooter around the island of Cozumel, visiting an interior Mayan ruin and seeing the more remote, east coast. Whereas the west coast is sheltered from the prevailing winds and offers sheltered swimming and snorkeling, the high surf on the unprotected east coast largely precludes good swimming and snorkeling. We swam briefly at a beach offering some protection from a rock outcropping. When caught on the drive back by a light rain, we used the edge of the jungle as protection until the rain had passed.

The final two days in Cozumel we devoted to enjoying the excellent snorkeling easily accessible along the west coastline. If you are now, like am I, experiencing the cold of winter far removed from such a setting, then look at the later photographs above and vicariously enjoy with us snorkeling in the warm waters off Cozumel.