The Ruta... Mmmmm Goodness!

Met my crew in the morning in the lobby of Margarita's Hotel in Cancun. A wild bunch... 6 guys, 2 girls... 7 Brits and 1 Wild Swede. I was a little intimidated... but it was all in vain. From the first day the group showed and proved... a fun bunch of nerds. Here's a quick look into the madness of the Ruta...

The crew on their guided tour of Chichen Itza.

Sitting and waiting for the serpent to appear. Twice a year, during the spring and fall solstice, the sun hits the pyramid (El Castillo) in a way that creates the illusion of a giant snake slithering down the stairs... or so we heard. We arrived at the ruins on the 19th, the day before the solstice, to see the magic happen. It was jam packed with people. We were told to come back at around 3:30 to see the event. We arrived and watched and watched and watched... we sat through an hour of introduction and explanation translated into 7 languages (Spanish, Mayan, English, German, French, Italian and Something Else) and still the shadow didn't slither. It was a bit uneventful. Rather than "sliding" What actually happens is that the sun hits the 9 tiers of the pyramid casting a zigzag shadow on the stairway that (after a couple of hours) alines with the stone head of a serpent at the bottom of the stairs. Although it is really amazing to see how in tune the Mayan people were with astronomy and how they connected astronomical events to their basic archetecture it is really nothing spectacular to watch. I think my group would agree with me.

The Secret Cenote. This is a photo from the stairway that descends into the cenote. I'm not quite sure who first found out about this place but there has been a map in my notes that shows how to get there ever since my first year coming down here. Drive south out of Merida. Take a left towards Abala. Drive through the village of Abala and continue a couple of miles until the high voltage electrical lines cross the road. Take the next left on the gravel path. Pull the mirrors in on your car and drive slow. Take your first left and follow the road until it ends at a couple of big rocks and there you are... the Secret Cenote. It's always a highlight for people. You have to crawl through a small cave opening and down a 30 foot ladder into the crystal clear water. There are some giant stalagtites, roots from the trees penetrating the 15 foot ceiling of solid limestone and a couple of good diving spots. Bring a snorkelling mask and you can see how the floor of the cenote drops off on one side, sliding down into a deep cave where it joins with an underwater river system!

Some underwater glamour shots. Taken with the same camera that the underwater videos were taken with.

Iguana @ Uxmal

Another Iguana

A beautiful sunset at Laguna Bacalar

The peeps at Finca Ixobel. Had a couple of good nights at the Finca. It's always a fun place to spend a couple of days... I can relax while my passengers are off doing activities. Good people, great food and always completely entertained. Especially had fun this time around. Mario (far left) was about to leave after 19 months at the finca so I sold him my external hard drive and gave him 80 gigs of tunes. Spent the day with him, Pichi and Maria (center) drinking beers, listening to music and grillin' out. Then at night met up with the crew for a little drinking session. Joakim and Steve each drank a bottle of Rum and then had a kick boxing session.

Dusk at Finca Paraiso on Lago Izabel

Rasta Dave, our guide in San Ignacio, showing us his scorpion handling skills.

Messing with my camera

Another long exposure

Boxing with myself

We took an all day "Jungle Canoe Trip" with David. Paddled down the river looking for wildlife and watching David smoke phatty afer phatty. Made a stop midway to eat lunch and jump off of some rocks. This is a photo of David giving me tips about how to read the wind before I jump.

Takin' the Plunge. Continued from this spot all the way down river and back into town. Saw some iguanas, toucans and even a couple of kinkajous. After the tour went into Cayo and got some killer BBQ pork... there was still hair on the pig skin! David asked me for a ride home so I dropped off my group and headed off to give him a lift. He had other ideas though. We rolled back to his office to pick up his sidekick who was sleeping on a bench out front and projectile vomited in a ditch before he jumped into my ride... nice! Then we rolled off to take care of some of David's reservations for the next day. Afterwards he said "Let's stop in and see my Chinese girl!". We stopped at a Chinese grocery and he bought me a couple of beers while he chatted up a couple of chubby Guatemalan "Ladies of the Night". I was getting a little impatient so I pushed him to roll. His little buddy was sleeping in the car and David was tanked. I knew how to get to his place so I just drove... it's in the middle of nowhere. David passed out and woke up about 20 minutes into the drive mumbling about how I was going the wrong way and then passed out. When I finally got to his place I woke him up... he said "How did you get here? Why are you driving my car?" I tried not to laugh but couldn't help it... I sent him on his way back through the orange grove, across the river and back to his settlement that sit in the middle of some ancient Mayan ruins.

During our canoe trip we made a stop to grab a couple of beers. We bellied up to the counter at a little cornershop and grabbed a couple of Belikins. I slumped down on the stoop in the shade trying to avoid the midday sun. There were a couple of young girls around the back of the shop doing some laundry by hand. They saw me watching them and giggled. The youngest ran back into the house. When I looked back again she was giving a bath to what looked like her cat. The cat definately didn't like getting wet and was making a screeching howl that definately sounded like the cry of a wild animal. It caught my attention so I went to take a closer look... sure enough it was a wild cat, a baby jaguar. I asked where they had gotten it and they said that their dogs had found a litter of kittens. They left them alone and when they returned the next day the one kitten was still there so they took it. It was really cool to hold a baby jaguar kitten but at the same time the situation was a bit sad. The people in a most of the Central American countries that I visit really lack education when it comes to environmental issues and animal conservation. You can still encounter people trying to sell animal pelts, rare live birds and animals, chucking their trash out their car windows, burning garbage... It's sad. The family that had the jaguar had him in a small carboard box and were trying to feed it milk and water out of a bottle. They were more concerned with having it taken away than having it survive. Sad. Until there is more focus on education about these issues these countries will continue to obliviously suffer the consequences.

Me and the Jaguar Baby

You can tell how much my passengers loved me by the friendly comments that they wrote about me on my van.

We arrived in Xpu-ha and it was the beginning of Semana Santa. The beach was packed with vacationing Mexican families. My friends Cory and Martina invited my whole group and myself to their April Fools Party. They had a huge spread on the beach... enough to feed myriads. They put me in charge of grillin's and I cooked enough arracherra and marinated pollo to feed a small pueblo. They even hired Paco from the famous Tacos Paco to cook up a batch of his shrimp and fish tacos. Had a great night of drinking that ended with drinking bottle after bottle of wine with my new friends on the rack of my van... goodness. Thanks Cory and Martina!

A photo of Anna "Queen of the Beach" doing some hair raising dance moves at the party

Me and my handlebars

Dude... "Sweet Child of Mine" is such a killer tune it can wake the dead (or passed out) and make them jam like a metalhead robot!

The fireshow at the Blue Parrot in Playa. Had a good night jamming with the crew on the beach front dance floor (except for the part when the Mexican girls came up and asked if we were gay because we were 5 guys dancing like robots in a circle).

Alls I got to say is... Thanks guys! I had a blast. It's not that often that you get a trip that seems like a road trip. From Scottish Dave's Borat Impression, to Joakim's "It's raping time" comment, to Steve's bottle-a-rum hoola hoopin' moves... it was a good one. Thanks for making it memorable!