Costa Maya, Mexico (Wednesday, February 14)

Costa Maya was basically a long pier sticking out in the Caribbean from a small fishing community in the middle of the jungle. 

The Mexican government is in the process of turning this location into another major cruise ship destination on the Yucatan Peninsula. 

Fractoid: When the Spanish arrived in this area, they asked the Mayas what the area was called.  Apparently in Mayan, "I don't understand you." sounds like "Yucatan".  After hearing it numerous times, the Spanish thought the answer to their question was "Yucatan".

With lumpy seas and a strong breeze, docking at the pier tested our captain's seamanship.  He executed the maneuver well.

To rendezvous with our guide for today's tour, we had to walk the length of the pier - about a third of a mile.  

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Today's Tour:  KOHUNLICH MAYAN RUINS

This tour allows you a more extensive look at the magnificent, multileveled, famous Mayan ruin best known for its Temple of the Masks.

Begin your excursion at the pier and travel with your guide to the Kohunlich ruins.  Along the way, you will learn about the site and the history of this fascinating area.  Upon arrival, you will embark on a guided exploration through this breathtaking site that is named after the majestic cahoon palm tree that grows fronds up to 40-ft. tall. The park-like setting includes a sunken palace, acropolis, ball court and courtyards but the main attraction is the masks!

Take the opportunity to climb the pyramid-like temple to get a great view of the unique 10-ft. high sculpted masks of the Sun God "Kinich Ahau" that run up each side of the stairways. Built before 500 A.D., these marvelous masks still retain some of their original colored stucco. Kohunlich's broad range of architecture, natural beauty and expansive, uncrowned seclusion set it apart from the more widely toured sites.

After a visit of approximately 2 1/2 hours, you will rejoin your coach and make your way to the Lagoon Club for a tasty lunch of regional favorites before returning to the pier.

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We boarded what was thankfully a nice bus given that we were going to spend about six hours on it today.  After leaving the terminal at 9:20, the first 45 minutes was a boring drive through jungle and swamp with visibility limited to the side of the road much of the  way.

We turned west on Route 307, the view did not markedly improve. After 50 minutes going generally south on 317, we turned west  onto 186, the road passing through huge sugar cane fields.

Two hours into our trip, we turned north onto a secondary road and a short time later onto a tertiary road that took us to Dzibanche.

At Dzibanche, five of twelve known temples have been excavated so far. In this instance, "excavating" does not involve digging down, but rather in.  After being abandoned  by the Maya around 1200 AD (or CE for those who prefer that unit of measure) the jungle buried the temples with falling leaves that became soil in which trees and lesser vegetation took root. Eventually the temples were cocooned inside what appeared to be just a small hill.

Climbing the steep temple steps was permitted, so up I went. Arriving a bit breathless at the top, it turned out that there was not much to see other than some slime that I didn't see prior to slipping on it. Thankfully no harm done to me our my camera. The climb down required considerable care.  Of course none of this injected even momentary hesitation into my thinking, or lack thereof, when we were offered the opportunity to climb a second one.

One of the things we learned while here was that these temples grew larger every 52 years as determined by the Mayan calendar.  At the beginning of each cycle, another layer was added to the exterior, continuing to honor the king(s) or high priest(s) buried within it.

Dzibanche had larger structures but seemed more primitive that Kohunlich, our second stop.

Just as we emerged from the bus, we were hit by a tropical rain shower - short and intense.  By the time we had our ponchos out and on it was almost over.

There was only one temple to climb at this site for which my  legs and stamina were grateful. I was determined to climb every one while hoping the ship's dining room had Advil a l'Orange on the menu this evening.

The temple we could climb was the Temple of Masks.  It was the highest temple on the site, with a large mask either side of the central stairway.  The theme of the temple and masks was seeking divine guidance for the rulers of the Maya.

We wandered back towards the bus, impressed with the advanced civilization that once thrived in this part of the world.

We drove about an hour to Bacalar for a late (3 PM) lunch at the shore of the lagoon. 

Once back at the terminal, we finished off our tour with the trek back to the ship.

As we departed, one of the crewmen on FREEDOM OF THE SEAS had a message for us.

Crewmember waving a large hand with "BYE" written on the palm

We sailed off for our port call in Belize tomorrow.

While we were ashore, back on the ship, our room stewards Jo and Kim had been busy recognizing my birthday.  It was quite something.  

Okay, I fudged the timeline.  They were given the wrong date and did all of this three days ago. The balloons in the room came down the next day as did the hanging towel monkey, but the rest  remained. This included the three large balloons on our cabin door.   When Pam commented to  someone in a nearby cabin that my birthday was today so they would be coming down  tomorrow, he was disappointed.  He said that over the past few days he had gotten used to using them as a landmark for finding his cabin.