Cancun Day 2

In my prevoius post I said I fell asleep a little late. It was probably around 11:30 pm which is not late for me by any standards. Well I had shut the curtains in my cave dwelling and the sun woke me up about 12 pm. That's right, 12 hours of sleep in Chichen Itza!!! Some vacation this is. I got up all flustered thinking I was going to miss check out time and be charged for another day. So I hurried and got showered, which was an amazing shower and left on my trek.


My trek started in the opposite direction I wanted to go. I was planning to go to the Balankanche Caves near Chichen Itza. I was looking for a taxi as the man in the hotel said it was about 5 km. I quickly found a taxi on the side of the road but he wanted 100 pesos to go there. I said no to that idea and thought it would be cheaper to walk. I walked right back to the hotel, tried to find out where I was going by looking on the internet and worked for a few minutes and was off.



1/2 km into the journey I thought to myself, "oh self, look, you have reached the main road. The ruins are to your left, the caves are to your right"? I wasn't really that sure so I walked towards the ruins only for a minute until I saw a sign pointing me in the right direction. So there I was, walking and walking and walking. It really wasn't that horrible but it was hot. I enjoy a good walk but usually off the main highway. Cars were zipping by me and I kept on walking. I bet you'll never guess what song came to mind? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njzeq9t95ZE


If you don't want to go there it a minute video of "If I could walk 500 miles". After about 1 km I reached an open space where I asked a guy on a motorcycle if I was headed in the right direction. He said yes and do you see where this is going? Next think I know I'm one his bike crusing along highway 180 going faster than I enjoyed but it was awesome. It was a quick ride, much faster than walking and he dropped me off at the enterance. He offered to take me up the path but I was fine walking. It was about another 1/2 km to the caves. It was well worth it all. I loved them and wish there was a way to take more pictures. I learned in the cave that on my camera the flash takes about 10 seconds to recharge after taking a picture. I took lots and will post them once I get to but here is a pic from the internet to keep your attention.

I met two people in my group and while we didn't really talk during the tour, after we talked for a few minutes. They were from Mexico City and worked for some Anthropology place. I was jealous of them and they gave me lots of good ideas of what to see next time I'm looking for a place to go. I got away from them to go buy water and pick up my things only to start walking back to the main road to find a bus to Cancun. As I got to the parking lot they were just leaving and asked me if I wanted a ride. Hmm, to walk in heat or ride in AC? I took the ride and though the thought crossed my mind that they could be Mexican druglords and kidnap me I stayed. They didn't drop me off on the side of the road as I asked, they took me all the way to the bus station. They were very kind to do this and it saved me alot of time.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful, got back to Cancun, realized I like the no taxi life so I walked to my hotel and ya. I got in about 8:30 at night, left about 9 to go find some food and because on my walk to the hotel I saw a great party going on in the downtown plaza. I went there and it was really neat. They had all sorts of things and I guess they do some sort of activity every weekend. It wasn't full of tourists, just locals having a good time with their families. I ate great food and drank some tasty horchata. Also had real Mexican Churros for dessert. It was way too much food in a short amount of time but I was still able to watch this comedy show of clowns but it was mostly a dance off between two kids from the crowd. It was so funny. I liked it so much I even gave them money when they asked which is not something I do.

Cancun Day 1

First day was simple, landed around 10 am, took a taxi to the bus stop, traveled 4 hours to get to Chichen Itza and toured the ruins for about 90 minutes. Bought some little things on my way and took some pictures of the great Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. It really was a great place. I found myself wishing I had studied more about them before I saw them and also wishing I had booked two nights in the area vs. only one.

The park closed at 5pm so I went back to my hotel. I was going to walk but forgot and took a taxi that overcharged me and I paid it. It cost 70 pesos ($5.45) and was a quick ride. My hotel was pretty cool. Much nicer than I was expecting for $30 a night. If you ever plan on going let me know and I will hook you up with a hard to find deal at this hotel. Of course I will charge you a booking fee, I don't care who you are...Brother Tyler.

I sat around the hotel, relaxing, working, enjoying the AC until about 7:30 and then I walked over to the ruins the back way and watch the light show. The show was cool but after they shine lights on the ruins so many times it got boring. I was sort of listening to the story that went along with the lights but then I fell asleep. I'm pretty sure the guy next to me thought I was dumb but I couldn't help but doze off. Pictures will come once I can upload them from my camera. I went back to the hotel and enjoyed a poptart I had brought for dinner. Nothing sounded good at the restaruant and besides, it cost money. It was a pretty fun day and I would recommend seeing Chichen Itza to anyone. However, you cannot climb up them like before. The ball court was also cool to see. I went to bed a little late which was weird since I was so tired at the light show.

Cancun Anyone?

I have this problem...it may not be one of my many problems you are thinking about. My problem is I am wanting to go to Cancun for a quick little getaway in August, but the fares are so cheap that I feel bad not telling people that from SFO it is only $247 and from SJC it is only $258. If you are into the beach thing you can do that, but I just want to go see the cool ruins of Chichen Itza. I have heard great things about them.

I was going to take my brother but since he is only 13 it would end up costing another $200 since he is a minor and I don't want to fly to get him. If you are flexible, let me know. Pictures to come after.

CRUISE DEALS OF YOUR LIFE/ No passport needed.

SO I just bought a cruise in January. It will be the whole fam damily. But I looked at some cruises today and I had to tell someone even if no one reads this, you can go on a 7 night cruise for $200 plus taxes. See there is this flu going around so no one wants to go to Mexico. This cruise normally goes to Mexico but has been changed to go from Los Angeles to Canada. It really is a sweet deal. You can see your friends Victoria and Vancouver CANADA. I just verified for two people in the interior with taxes is only $510 AND A BRAND NEW CLASS OF CARNIVAL SHIPS!! If you want a balcony it is only $100 more per person.

The more you put in the room the lower the price per person goes but for just 2 people the price is a $510 for a week long vacation. That's no cooking, cleaning, just relaxing and free food, entertainment and ocean view. Act now you need to be cruising next week! I would invite myself to go with you if I had not just bought a ticket to go see my wonderful Grandma on her 91st birthday. Oh and you don't need a passport to go either, the new law takes effect in the summer so all you need is a driver's license and birth certificate.

Idaho again random pictures of the night in no order

The best part is this picture is how my blog will be seen on Hayley's blog until I travel again. I just loved all 5 years I had in the 80's.

The party animal sister of mine getting the last things ready before Mike walked in.

I still wanted to rock out 80's style after the party was long over, my brother had to control me.

Good news is, Idaho wasn't freezing cold this time around. I last went home at Christmas but a few weeks after Sally invited me to a party for Mike's birthday. I happened to be looking at airfare that day and was looking for a reason to travel as it was so cheap. So I went. This was the cheapest trip home I have ever taken. Even when I flew one way for the holidays and drove back with the Atwood Family was more expensive.

Here's how it went down. Tyler dropped me off at the train station, I paid $4.25. I got off and onto BART, paid $1.5o. Got to the airport just in time to have some time to work instead of traveling during good working time. The plane never got there. That blasted United flight was delayed 2 hours. The pilot tried to make up time by flying like a fighter pilot. I have no reason to believe we were under attack. He just had a date with his Salt Lake hottie.

Picked up my rental car, made the girl at the counter laugh a few times. She loved it. We had a great time and next thing I know I'm being offered a free upgrade from the lowest economy car to a minivan. I guess she just was looking to the future and saw me in a minivan. I sort of laughed at her offer and asked if she had anything that would get a little better gas mileage so she gave me what she called something like a small minivan. It was a Kia something. May not be the best looking car but it ran well. I got it with only 1850 miles and added a good 600 in 2 days. I went on down south where I had a great time and dinner with Grandma Bird. I loved seeing her and she was so funny. My favorite part about seeing her was as we walked down the hall she was holding onto my arm and she nudged me and asked if I could speed up. She's wonderful and by far the greatest 90 year old in the world.
After Grandma's I was going to go to the Griffin's house to sleep as I was pretty tired but instead I went to my cousin's house and was shocked when there were lots of people there. My favorite part of seeing all of them was hanging out with Ralph and looking at his pictures of Honduras from 30 years ago. Turns out we went to the same church when we lived there. I loved the idea of going back with him so hopefully that will happen soon. I finally wore out my welcome there and headed to the inn where I triumphly found the secret key (Grandma gave me the secret code) and then entered the house to the alarm going off. I put in the code with Grandma also gave me but it didn't seem to work. It was so loud and it finally calmed down and I got Sally on the phone to tell me the code. I entered it and all was well for about 10 minutes when I got to meet a fine officer of the AFPD. He must of thought I looked like a nice boy because he just laughed at me. Too bad I didn't get a picture of his face.

Woke up at the crack of dawn and I drove up to Draper to attend an open house for the new temple there of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was really neat and I was glad I had the chance to see it. Then I met some old friends for breakfast and spent an hour or so hanging out with them. Then I drove to Ogden where I picked up Chrissy because she was cool enough to go home with me for one day. We got to Idaho on Friday about 4 pm. I hung out with my family until about 6:45 then met up with Chrissy and this is what we looked like before we left her house a little after 7.

Mike's party was sweet. When I walked in I was a little nervous as I looked around and everyone looked weird. I wasn't sure who these people were and if they were dressed up for reals or really dressing up to the 80's theme. I tried to get the party started with my dancing skills but that didn't seem to work. I tried again at limbo and I claim that the bar holders always put it lower for me since I was the first one in the round. I took a close second place...tied with about 5 other people. I split my pants a bit and possibly threw out my back in the process. I love limbo but that was the first time I actually tried it. Usually I just watch. Must have been those sweets on the table that got me into the fun.

We did group performances as well that were well cool to say the least. Ours was highlighted with my old friend Trent running and diving across the stage many times. It was so funny he even burned a hole in his pants. Mike on the drums, Trent and I hitting the high notes.

Please note everyone is watching me bust a move. Too bad it wasn't a 90's party, I could have thrown down my Carlton dance.

The bad part of being with the hosts was the rope in job into clean up. I got home, hung out with the family. Went and saw Whitney's nook and went to bed about 1am. Woke up to Chrissy knocking on the door about 3:20 and I quickly got ready and we left about 3:40. The fog on the drive back was crazy but we made it. I made it on the plane and was asleep before takeoff. There were many things to see and do but for some reason when I'm in Idaho I'm kept under close watch. If I move towards an exit, I'm almost tackled as if I were trying to steal something. But it was great to hang for a few hours. Thanks for the fun party sister. Also thanks to my buddy Jake for the sweet shoes he let me wear. It was all worth it.

What a Shippy Life

HER MAJESTY OF THE SEAS

(The Ship, not my mother in the lower corner)

Ever been on a cruise? I now am proud to say I have. I spent my first of many cruises to come on rough waters between Miami and the Bahamas. It was a short cruise that left on Friday and came back on Monday morning but it was a good way to get in touch with my inner seafarer desires. So funny thing was while we were docked I looked around and saw everything and enjoyed the beauty of the ship. I couldn't help but think why I had never considered being a captain on a cruise ship. How hard could it be? Then we did a little drill...
After the muster drill we sat down for dinner and from that moment on I realized people that works on ships must not get seasick like I do. Here is my mom showing off her investment in an attempt to put the pains aside. She claims they never worked and I tend to believe her as I heard regurgitation more than once.

The sickness I felt wasn't enough to make me want to never go on another cruise but it made me realize I was not meant to be on sea, birds are meant for land. This bird, the odd and rare Brooklyn Bird loved life at sea. She was convinced that she could take the pizza man home with her to bake her pizza anytime she wanted as if she were still on the ship. She also loved the little pool party they had one night. They started dancing and I had to snap a few shots of my little sister who was breakin it down with the best of them.

Besides food, I don't remember much. The food was extremely good. The first night I had lamb with something I didn't understand, the second night I had Steak that didn't need A-1 and the last night I had the option for snails but I passed and went with the shrimp cocktail to start, a ceaser salad, a roast and banana something custard cake with a special order of ice cream.

There was some time to do other things. I spent the early afternoon hours sitting up on deck getting a little sun as I relaxed. I loved to just stand on the deck and watch things. The sports court was a fun place to hang out as well. We watched a competitive dodge-ball tournament as well as basketball games and little kids playing soccer. I tried to hook Brooklyn up with them but she was a little skiddish with the idea of a teen club. It was all fun. I was often scared I'd be marked as "gone overboard" if I didn't check in with my mom so I did that as she sometimes forgets things like I know how to not fall off a ship and I don't even like to swim.Being away from everything was great, knowing how inexpensive this little vacation was really great and having everything I needed and more all confined on a moving resort was awesome. I mean hey, they even let me board with my mom and sister. They made the journey fun and I was happy to be with them. If I had to do it again I'd probably drug up my mom a little more so she could enjoy things other than the shuttle from the port back to the airport. I thought for a second she was going to exchange me for the driver. Afterall, he was the guy that reminded us if anyone asked we needed to say we made a reservation last week. Everyone on the shuttle was thinking the same thing but we made it and I'm glad I dont' live in Miami.

Where I've been and what I've seen

One may think that I haven't been doing anything with my life since I came home from Guatemala. Truth is, I've had many adventures since then but other things on my mind besides posting about them. While the Guatemala trip was awesome, a quick trip driving to Idaho was pretty enjoyable and made me think I must be crazy.

After work my friend and I took off. He drove for 2 hours, I drove for 2 hours. During my shift we had a close call with the Nevada Highway Patrol but nothing serious. We took an exit soon after where he drove for the next 4 hours and I drove the rest of the way to Idaho.

We got there about 8 am and the Spud Day Parade started at 10 so we had some time to relax. The small town parade life was awesome.

I was impressed with the turn out of Spud Day fans. It hailed, and rained, and was also sunny and bright. It just changed as quick as could be. I ate a world famous Winder Funnel Cake and I was in heaven.

At about 2 pm we left the small town fiesta and went home where we were quickly sleeping in the recliners that can only be found at the Bird house. We slept right through the Spud Tug or as some call it a tug-o-war over a pit of mashed potatoes.

When we woke up we went to the tourist spots as my family heavily insisted and while it wasn't much, my compadre was liking it. We saw potatoes in a cellar, I guess it doesn't get much better than that.

Next thing I knew it was 11:30am we were leaving church and out on the open road again. We made pretty good time for some reason even though I thought I did a much better job at keeping Bonnie around the speed limit. It must have been when my friend was driving. So we drove about 26 hours and spent about 27 hours in Idaho. It was a great trip but next time I think I'm just going to fly. Driving is so much work and it only makes me want to be a trucker.

I also went to Phoenix where my best friend I met on my mission got married. Sadly there is no proof to show I was there. I took my camera but never took a picture. I'm not exactly sure why this happened but most likely because I was not in a tourist type mood. I only like to take pictures when I'm feeling like a tourist.

I got to go inside the Mesa temple where he was married and that was pretty neat. My favorite part about this was his dad, I call him Mayor since he is the mayor of the great city of Duncan AZ, met me about 4 minutes before and was asking everyone in the temple if they had any single girls in their parties about my age. It was really funny as moms and grandmas would look me up and down to see if they could find a match. I told him there was no need to do such a thing as I never hope to live in such a hot place.

Another great part about Arizona was the family I stayed with. My fake grandma and grandpa I also met in Honduras were there and I stayed with them, their son, his wife and their 3 kids. That was really fun because we got to see the sights together. Costco was on place we went that sticks out. The two younger kids had on those shoes with wheels and they kept skating into me and I'd spin them around and get them in trouble but the adults didn't know I was doing anything to make them go faster and the kids didn't tell on me! It was a quick trip as my trips usually are but it was worth it to see my friend and his beautiful bride together.