Coba

Yesterday we went on a day excursion - first to see Coba - the oldest Mayan ruin in the Yucatan Pennisula with the highest pyramid that the public can still climb!  Besides the highest pyramid, the site also boasts the remains of a palace, another pyramid and two ball courts.  Scott and I climbed to the top of the pyramid - over 120 steps - it was pretty high up!!!  Going down was a bit scary - had to really watch your step!  After Coba we went to a little Mayan village and got to visit with a family to see how they still live and still strive to preserve the mayan culture.  Some visitors brought gifts which we were allowed to hand out to the children.  After this, we had lunch at a local restaurant - traditional Mayan food and we also had time to buy some Mayan crafts. Finally on they way back to the resort, we stopped at a senote (sink holes) for a refreshing swim.

Playa Del Carmen

This afternoon we took a bus trip into Playa Del Carmen - the closest big city to our resort. The purpose of this trip was shopping on 5th Avenue - the tourist shopping area - a street that is closed off to vehicles. We were dropped off around 5 and had til 7:35 to shop and meet back at the bus. There were lots of big name stores but many more small retailers with everyone trying to get you into their store. We took a walk down to the pier - where we saw a big cruise ship in port. There were some pretty interesting buildings - the city is only 10 years old! We bought a few souvenirs, a couple of charms for my bracelet and Scott bought two paintings of these Mexican wrestlers from the 70s - they are cool!!

Ola from the Mayan Riviera

This is our third day in Mexico - staying at the Barcelo Maya Palace - about an hour from Cancun. What a spectacular place - this place is huge - I think there are 4 resorts all connected - we are staying in the newest one - the Palace. The weather has been pretty good - some overcast moments but otherwise hot and sunny. It is fairly breezy on the beach! The humidity is fairly high - our room always feels damp - and usually smells a bit mouldy - but right now it's not that bad!

For the first two days, we've been hanging out at the resort - sunning on the beach, swimming in the sea and hanging out by the pool. And of course, ordering drinks! The food is excellent - lots to choose from!

Today we went on our first excursion to Xel-Ha - a huge snorkelling park! www.xel-ha.com You can do all sorts of neat things there - snorkelling, floating downt the river on tubes, swim with the dolphins, cliff jumping, visit underwater caves - a pretty cool place! It was about 30 mins from our resort. Scott got a lot of sun and looks like a lobster right now!

I think tomorrow we are going on a little shopping tour of Playa del Carmen - the closest big city to us. On Friday we are headed to Coba - one of the many Mayan ruins in the area - this one boasts the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan Pennisula - and you can still climb it - that should be interesting to see if I can actually survive the climb!! Also, we get to visit a real authentic Mayan village!

Hmm....I think Scott may have caught something...he's not feeling to well and I believe he has the runs!!! eeeeeewww...yuck.

More Snow!!

It's snowing again! We are suppose to get 12-15 cm over night and then a few more tomorrow!! I'm praying for a Snow Day tomorrow so I don't have to go to work!! It was weird, tonight when Rini and I were leaving work, there was actually lightning and thunder. It was really bizzare - a bright flash that lit up everything - like a camera flash and then loud thunder!! Never experienced that before! Anyways, the snow is beautiful!! But still, I can't wait for our trip to Mexico in a few weeks!!!

More Snow Pics

After walking up to the Danforth for a coffee, we took Ginger over to Withrow Park - there is tons of snow everywhere. Poor Ginger - she hates the salt on the sidewalks - it hurts her feet but she enjoyed the park though. There were lots of kids there toboganning down the hill.

When we got home we did more snow shovelling!!! We reshoveled everthing all over again! And we dug our car out of it's parking spot on the street! There is a lot of snow and no place for it!!

After lunch we went back out again to help Evan with his snowfort - again....more shovelling of snow!! I'm all shovelled out! While we were all outside we ran into Jim and Toula - they are moving back from Calgary in 3 weeks - very excited to have our neighbours back!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

It's a winter wonderland outside tonight!! Toronto got a dumping of fluffy white snow!!! It was a little gusty this morning - so much that UofT decided to shut down at 11 a.m. for a snow day! This is rare for UofT - they hardly ever shut down!!! So, I got to leave work early!!

When I got home, I helped Scott shovel the front of the house - I'm sure we got over a foot of snow! Tonight I went out to take some photos of the snow, which was still falling!! It was absolutely beautiful - giant snow flakes and it was warm!! Here are some pics from tonight: