Liz: Day 26: Isla Mujeres Turtle Farm

Yesterday we rented a golf cart and drove around the island. It was so much fun! The sun was sparkling on the water and we kept passing fragrant bunches of sea lavender.  This is my favorite place of anywhere we've been on this trip.  Everyone is relaxed and on "island time."  Along the way we stopped at Tortugranja, the local turtle farm.  Every year during the nesting season of giant sea turtles they take the baby turtles and raise them in tanks. Then local school children and tourists help release them back into the ocean.  We saw several varieties of the turtles as well as some other sea life.  They also take care of turtles who have been injured.  Pictured below is a young white sea turtle and Otis and Sofia holding a starfish and sea urchin. 

The women who run our hotel, a mom and daughter from Canada are hosting a potluck dinner tonight.  I'm going to attempt to make Otis' favorite dessert, Granny Boyd's cookies. I say attempt because ingredients are different here and I wasn't able to find any cacao powder.  I do have roasted cacao beans (but no means of grinding them!) and a Hershey's bar of baking chocolate so hopefully it will work.  Also, butter in Mexico is very different from butter at home.  To me it tastes like margerine and acts like margerine.  The Chedraui grocery store here has a great selection of imported foods (they even have Tillamook cheddar) but the only unsalted American style butter I could find was Anchor butter from New Zealand.  The kitchen is open air on the rooftop terrace as well as the oven so this will be a new cooking experience for us.  My kitchen helpers are looking forward to some cookies so I hope not to disappoint them!

Also pictured below, looking at Cancun across the water and a beautiful flower.

Liz: Day 13 & 14: Fish Pedicures

Wednesday we all were a little stir-crazy but had to stay home to get everyone healthy. Patrick caught up on some reading. Otis triumphed over the carrot after much effort in Bowsers inside story ds game, Sofia caught up on cartoons and I caught up on sleep. We enjoyed our fresh fruit from the market, mangos and strawberries, ripe and freshly picked. 

Thursday had a dramatic start as Sofia had another high fever so we scrambled around to find a doctor.  Finally I was able to consult with a doctor who makes house calls and he said to take her to the hospital as there is a strong influenza going around right now and they would have better tools to take care of her there.  In the mean-time I had given her a fever reducer right away and now Sofia was doing jumping-jacks and showing her muscles to passersby. We have made the mistake before of taking a sick child who currently appears quite healthy to the doctor and didn't want to do that again.   

We decided to go to a set of Mayan ruins close to town and then to the beach at Progreso.  We had maps to a good hospital on the way and a recommendation for the hospital at Progreso so that if Sofia started feeling sick again we could take her in right away. It turned out she started feeling a lot better in the afternoon so we didn't need them.

Dzibilchaltun (tzee-BEEL-chahl-toon) was a peaceful place.  It was a great ruin to see first as it was smaller and there weren't many people. We hired a guide to show us around and we learned a lot from her.  The kids had many questions.  Sofia said she wish the Mayans were still alive and our guide told us that she is Mayan.  She showed the kids her last name, Ek Moo, which means star (Ek) and a type of Macaw bird (Moo).  She also told us that there was no evidence of human sacrifice at this site, a site that was only Mayan, whereas the Mayan at Chichen Itza (for example) were influenced culturally by the Toltec, who were a bloody, warrior people.  (her words)

After our tour she showed us the cenote on-site, where you can sit with your feet in the shallow end and have a fish pedicure.  We tried it and enjoyed it. The kids loved it and it was soothing sitting there watching the little fish nibble at your toes. A little bit of free spa therapy was just what we needed.
Afterwards we drove another 15 minutes to the beach at Progreso and chased waves for a while. 

We finished up the evening with a horse and carriage ride back in Merida from the city center up the Paseo Montejo, Merida's version of the Champs Elysees. Sofia asked if we could do that every night.  It was gorgeous, with beautiful older mansions, as well as statues and monuments along the tree lined street. There is a starbucks with valet parking, packed with people.   There is so much to see and do around Merida!  We have decided to cut out our three days in Cancun next week and stay a little longer.

Pictured below is the temple of the seven dolls (Siete Munecas) named for seven smaller figures they found when excavating it. This building is a great example of the Mayan's talent for astronomy and timekeeing. Every spring and autumn equinox the sun shines right through the middle square on rising, and on winter and summer solstices the sun shines through one of the smaller squares (each has a specific square, I don't remember which is which).