Why does my neck squeak when I turn it?

We got up at the asscrack of dawn (EIGHT AM for the family, I’ve begun a cycle of insomnia and was up before five) and headed out to Cobá and Tulum ruins and then to Tulum beach to show the relatives the historical side of Quintana Roo. It only took us two hours to pack and get ready and close to the end, Sissy developed a headache and stomach ache, so Jamie decided to stay home with her. We’ve been on the road a lot (for us) as we are generally real homebodies but we are also finding that like many people who live in touristy areas, we only visit the tourist destinations when we can show people around. We hit our first cenote the other day (other than Cenote Azul in Bakalar) and the cenote fish are very different from laguna and reef fish, but we’re in the middle of Semana Santa here and every site we’ve been to has been jam packed.

Cobá was no different. The parking lot is ENORMOUS now, there were about 10 busloads of tourists, numerous 15-passenger vans full and private cars full of Mexican and foreign tourists eager to explore the ruins. The last time we were here we were completely alone so it was VERY different for us. We decided to hire a guide as it looks like we will not likely be able to hit Ek Balam this trip but were quite disappointed with his services. He spoke Spanish and I translated as an English-speaking guide was unavailable. He was good enough but I really wanted him to drop the dry recitation of dates and facts and give us an idea of life; I even told him the kids were bored and to drop the dates but he didn’t seem able to vary his script. It was still interesting and we found the palm that our palapa roof is made from. We left him at Chumuc Mul and headed on our own to Nohoch Mul. About halfway up the pyramid the skies open as they only can here on the Yucatan peninsula and we were all quickly soaked to the skin. I have never been so wet in my life. The water was coming down so fast and hard that my contacts began to swim in my eyes and I was completely blind. Over and over, I was quite certain I’d lost a contact lens to the torrential rain. The busloads of tourists were bemoaning the fact that they’d return on an air-conditioned bus and we were all looking very forward to the dry towels in the car. Luckily, the boys and Ellen all had spare clothing and Chris, C and I managed to find something dry to wear.

I continue to be amazed at the flexibility of Chris and their family as they were ready to head to the next event as soon as everyone was dry and fed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t, without any spare clothing and chilled from the rain and cold, I couldn’t imagine getting myself wet again on a cold beach so we headed home and ready ourself for the next adventure.

To recap: Stranded at the airport; no problem. Stranded on a sidewalk in a foreign city; no problem. Stranded without clothing with 2 young children for 2 days; no problem. Drowning in the Caribbean Sea; no problem. Sardining into a 15-passenger van, stuck at the very back, each and every trip; no problem. Eating diseased chicken parts; no problem. Drowning with rain at a Mayan ruin; no problem. This one’s going to be hard to crack.