Last month, Jason attended the 10th annual International Conference and Workshop on Lobsters in Cancún. Yes, an entire week devoted to all things lobster (including one evening of eating them). We decided to make a mini-vacation out of the trip so we flew down a couple days early to have some free time before the conference started.
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| The view from our hotel balcony |
The first night we arrived we went out to dinner at a restaurant just down the street from our hotel. Called Navíos, the restaurant is built on a pier on the lagoon-side of the barrier beach. We had some fantastic food (smoked marlin tostadas with avocado and picked onion was just one offering), tasty drinks, and great service from our waiter, Alberto, who looked like a Mexican version of Danny Divito.
On Sunday, we escaped the torrential rain in Cancún and took a bus tour to Chichén Itzá. Like all bus tours, there are several stops, but our favorite was Chichén Itzá itself. One of the new seven wonders of the world, the site was built by the Mayans around 600 AD. Having seen two of the other sites on the list (here and here) and the only one left of the original seven (here). We were impressed! We hadn't realized that there was more than the one huge pyramid. The site is quite large and varied. There are many temples to various gods, a market, ballcourts, roads, etc. Although I'm sure the tour guide had good things to say, we ditched the tour in favor of wandering around and getting a feel for the site ourselves.
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| The great pyramid at Chichén Itzá |
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| The ball court at Chichén Itzá |
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| Temple of Sacrifice |
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| At Chichén Itzá's sacred cenote |
On the way back to Cancún we stopped in the town of Valladolid. The tour was running late so we only had a short time to wander around the main square, see the huge cathedral (San Servacio) and get a snack. We would have loved to explore the streets with their Spanish Colonial vibe - maybe next time.
The last stop before the long drive back to Cancún was a cenote (sinkhole). We took a quick swim in the cold, but refreshing water and stared up at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. It was late and not so sunny, but the water was still a beautiful shade of blue. We got out feeling relaxed after a long day of sightseeing.
I took a day off from the conference to visit Isla Mujeres, an island off the northern tip of Cancún. I took the ferry to the island and spent the afternoon wandering the quaint (though very full of tourist) streets and walking along the beautiful beach. Later in the week, Jason visited the reef off the island on his SCUBA trip. He got some fantastic photos and saw an abundance of marine life including, of course, lobsters!
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| Entrance to the beach on Isla Mujeres |
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| Boats in the Isla's harbor |
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| Mermaid statue on the east side of the Island |
We would definitely visit the Yucatán again. Next time we'd love to do more exploring. Although the beaches of Cancún are gorgeous, there is so much more to do in this part of México.
Stayed tuned for Jason's post on SCUBA diving. See more pictures of our trip here:
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| Mexico |
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