Leah Loo, Jelly Boo, and Teddy Too: Coba, Cenote, and Talum Day!

We decided to explore some of Mexico proper this trip. At first, I was looking into Talum, but then I learned about Coba, which is another set of Mayan ruins. It has the largest pyramid on the Yucatan Peninsula AND YOU CAN STILL CLIMB IT! I think everyone should get to climb an ancient pyramid before they die. So, I started looking into tours and I couldn't find any tours that covered everything I wanted to. Then I learned that you could get a private driver for even cheaper than a tour, and I was even more sold. So, we did Coba, a cenote, and Talum all in one day.

Leah in front of an ancient ball court. She was a little nervous about taking a ferry. We got her seabands, and she did great. She even thought the ride home was fun when I was bracing myself to my chair because the boat was bobbing so much due to the waves. Juliet stayed with Grandma in Cozumel and had a wonderful day being spoiled and treated like an only child. It worked out perfectly!

In Coba, our driver recommended getting a rickshaw. Leah and I sat together. Chris felt like it was a little lame, and we either should have walked or got bikes. I wasn't sure about Leah and the rocky terrain, and I've never seen my dad on a bike, so I thought rickshaws were a good idea. We ended up being pressed for time at the end of the day, so I think it was a good move.

Leah with a picture of the winner from one of the ball court matches.

This was a checkpoint. There was a road nearby that goes to Chichen Itza. I think it's amazing that the road between these two cities still exists.

This is the pyramid, Nohoch Mul. It is in much rougher shape than the one in Chichen Itza. We timed everything really well, and there weren't many people at all there during our climb. The tour buses arrived while we were there. On the way out, there were hundreds of people coming down the path on bikes. I was glad to have this as much to ourselves as possible.

Here we are pre-climb. Leah was READY! I threatened her with a harness around her waist with a dog leash attached before we left as a life saving pyramid climbing measure. I never went through with it. Chris was in charge of her both ways. She did awesome. She was a total Billy goat on the way up. She got annoyed that I wanted to stop and take pictures. Once we were on top, she looked around, and was ready to go back down to see Grandpa and tell him she did it. She was slightly baffled that Chris and I wanted to look around. The way down was a little bumpier, and I could tell Leah was annoyed to have Chris so close. She went down on her bottom, which I tried but it was too annoying because the stairs are not consistent (large portions have broken off in spots). It was easier just to walk. But I needed a lot of space around me because it was scary and I was afraid someone was going to knock into me and kill me. I'm glad we did it, though!

She did it! We took a selfie at the top. Leah reminded me that selfies are how lice can be transmitted. The good news is none of us have lice.

Next was a cenote. These are all over, but I think this one is one of the coolest ever. It is totally underground. Before going down, we had to shower to keep the water pure. The water is super deep, but it didn't seem like it at all because it is so clear. The guide was explaining how the water is cycled out everyday. At first, my dad was confused at why we wanted to go to a "sink hole", but I think he thought it was pretty cool, too.

The only light was one light attached to the rock ceiling. We tried to take a lot of pictures, but it was tricky lighting, and most of them didn't turn out.

When we got here, there was one dad and his son. They left really soon after we arrived. We had the entire thing to ourselves for the entire time we were there. It was awesome. One the way out, there was a family asking us if it was worth it. Totally. Even better if it's just you!

The limestone drippings can tell you how old the cenote is. The guide told us that it would cave in one day. We joked that if Juliet was there, her screaming would do it in for sure.

After we left the cenote, we stopped in the Mayan village to buy Leah a souvenir. I wanted to make sure whatever money we spent benefited the people of the town, so I was willing to pay more for things than I would have otherwise. I also thought it would be nice if Leah brought home something that was authentically Mayan. Leah really wanted a dream catcher. Our guide tried to nicely explain that the Mayan culture has nothing to do with dreams or dream catchers. But the tourists like them so they make them to make money. Leah wasn't having it. She picked out a large white and pink dream catcher. We got a smaller purple one for Boo.

Lunch. After we bought souvenirs, I was counting our cash and realized that I did not pack enough for the day. I wanted to make sure where we went for lunch took credit, so I asked our guide for a recommendation. His first recommendation was beautiful, but didn't take credit, so we could only have a beer. Ha! We stopped at this cenote across the street. This one connects with the ocean, so it was pretty cool. We walked down about 200 feet and found another restaurant. We sat right on the beach (and were the only customers) and had an amazing lunch. Leah played on the beach and we all ate and drank. It was really good food and had the best view. It was great to be the only people, too. Leah was ecstatic because they let her take a really nice shell.

Then we went to Tulum. It was later in the afternoon so it was mighty hot.

Talum is HUGE and so much different than Coba. There are many, many buildings that are still intact. I wish we had gotten a guide here. It reminded me a lot of Pompeii.

There were some beautiful views, here, too. It was nice to be close to the ocean because it was much cooler.

You can't really climb or go inside of anything here. Too bad. I think it's cool to actually touch and go inside ancient buildings. But there were more signs telling you what everything was and how it was used. Coba didn't have that.