Mexico Part 2

So I loved the Yucatan the first time and I had to go back, I still want to go back more and more. Molly and I decided to go down for our spring break. So after a long couple of months our spring break finally arrived and off we were! We are not normal human beings and got a little crazy on the plane...

I had just woken up from my nap

RAWR

We arrived in Cancun and then hopped on our bus to head down to Tulum, well technically inbetween Tulum and Akumal. It is about two hours south and the whole ride you just see jungle...it's gorgeous. We arrived at our hotel, which was beautiful (but ya'll know I wanted a hut on the beach) and checked out our room. We had a balcony and a view of the Caribbean.

I am looking over the turquoise water and beaming...I LOVE MEXICO

The first day we were exhausted from traveling so we called it a wash and headed to the beach with its white sands and turquoise water and just general amazingness.

Enjoying the view and the sun

The next day we went to the Tulum ruins and Tulum Pueblo. The ruins at Tulum are Mayan and the only ones directly on the water. It is a larger complex still walled in and with several reconstructed buildings. Iguanas are climbing all over the place...did I mention this place is heavenly?

Main view of complex

This is the main tower from the photo above, but showing you how close the water is.

Molly at the top of the tower with the beautiful water

The most amazing part of this experience? Getting to go swimming!!! I, of course, jumped in the water the first chance I could. It was so surreal to look up from catching a wave or something and see this amazing ancient structure in front of me. Things like that do not exist in real life, it is too picturesque, too beautiful.

See, see!! Isn't it beautiful??


Post swimming, still amazed.

So after the ruins we decided to walk around Tulum Pueblo. Oh, and word of advice for people going to this area TAKE COLLECTIVOS. Collectivos are vans that are like smaller versions of buses. You stand on the side of the highway and they will flash their lights and you put your hand out and they stop. They are way cheaper than a cab. They tend to overcharge tourists, but it is 2.50 for collectivos vs 20 bucks for a cab.

Okay now onto Tulum. It is a very touristy city, but still nice to wander around in. Molly and I got some local food...I had fresh fish tacos...so good! I later had ceviche as well, although I think the one my bowie themed cooking group in Mo'orea made was better, it was still delicious. That was our day out in Tulum! The next day we decided to go the other direction to Akumal. Akumal is a much smaller town. It has some very small local restaurants and stores. It is close to the water and a nice place to visit so I recommend it to anyone who goes to the area.

Next, we went on a tour like thing that took us to a couple stops. The first we visited a Mayan village. I definitely felt like an ugly American at first, but then actually talked to the woman and the people and felt a lot better. They have a ton of fruits and veggies and they had noni which reminded me of Mo'orea. Then we got to make corn tortillas. They soak corn kernels in lime juice and then mash them or grind them. You take the dough and then turn it around using one hand to shape it and the other one to thin it out. Then you put it on their stove. They leave the stoves running all the time. This puts a film on the roof and it helps insulate the thatch and keep bugs away.

Molly making a tortilla

Next stop was a Cenote. Cenotes are underground (most of the time) caves. The yucatan is all limestone, which means when it rains the water mixes with the limestone and forms carbonic acid. After enough time the water erodes the limestone and has created an amazing underwater river/lake system, which provides the drinking water for Quintana Roo. This is part of the reason that we cannot drink the water. There is an intense amount of calcium in the water and that mineral content is hard for our systems. The water isn't "bad" though. So a lot of these cenotes are caves, with awesome stalactites and stalagmites, but we went to one where the cave had collapsed so it was exposed.

Beautiful!

We also got to try some natural chewing gum. It is crazy, no taste but the texture of gum, except the texture stays the same the whole time. They extract it by climbing up the tree and making spirals with a machete that causes the sap, the soon to be gum, flow down the tree. They smoke the sap and wahla! gum! It is pretty cool to watch.

After the cenote and the gum we were onto the main attraction, COBA. The ruins at coba are 48 sq miles. The pyramid there is the largest pyramid in all the Yucatan. Due to the limestone-ness the yucatan is entirely flat, so when we climbed to the top I am pretty sure we could practically see toBelize!

This is the small one!!

Inside a cave of awesomeness

Ball court

Tallest pyramid in the Yucatan

At the top of the main pyramid at Coba...look at that view!!

Molly and I at the top.

At the base with Molly, we got down safely

This is not even half the height of the whole thing.

I wanna go back!

I love traveling far too much...I am already itching to get out again!

Stay tuned.

Mexico Part 1

So this trip actually happened before Big Sur, but I spaced and did not write about it. So here we go...going back to July 2008.

I went to Mexico with Jillian, Jon, Jim, Westley, and Kelly. We flew into Cancun, spent two nights there and then headed over to Cozumel. This trip was much needed and made me fall in love with the Yucatan.

We arrived at our hotel and then hit the beach!

Jillian and I beaming with joy (Look at that turquoise water!)

Going for a walk on the beach.

The next day we went to Isla de Mujeres. This beautiful island off the coast of Cancun. We walked around for a while and went snorkeling. The marine life is AMAZING (little did I know what was waiting for me at Cozumel).

The crew right after we went snorkeling, actually above where we were.

Jillian and I being nerds (together since age 5)

We then headed to the ferry terminal. However, we got back early and all decided we were hungry so we stopped at an awesome beach shack, sand floors, right on the water, and got some delicious food and fresh drinks. The owner was really nice and was willing to make us whatever we wanted.

Jillian with her banana daiquiri, the owner, and Jim

The crew

We had one last night in Cancun and then it was off to Cozumel. To get there you have to take a ferry from Playa del Carmen. Playa del Carmen is about an hour south of Cancun. Playa del Carmen is a cute little beach town, which is unfortunately getting more and more touristy. The beaches are white, pristine, and the water is turquoise. You hop on a ferry and it is about 40 minutes to get to Cozumel.

SCUBA diving fountain in downtown Cozumel

When we arrived we head to our condo and see the amazing view. It literally is heaven. We decided to rent scooters to ride around on, they are so much fun!

Our method of transportation.

We had our first night and then we decided to scooter around the island. It was so nice. We stopped by amazing beach spots and then walking around town. We stopped snorkeled our way around the island. My favorite spot on the island was at Punta Sur...so gorgeous. A rocky coastline with turquoise water. The resturaunt there has amazing shrimp quesadillas, the real kind! They also have hammocks. I love hammocks. I want to live in a jungle hut with a hammock, like that is a legitamate life goal.

Punta Sur in the background (but we're facing north)

Hammocks rock!

We weren't satisfied with our snorkeling during the day, so went at night too! We saw shallow water eels in rainbows of colors and patterns, a baby octopus, and an adult, and a cuttle fish (refer to cuteness in Bahhh entry). The next day I went diving. We did two dives and the coral was AMAZING, tunnels and crazy structures, cool fish, including the endemic spledid toadfish! I really think I could live underwater if they found a way.

Next up Jib and I went parasailing. All you saw was jungle and water.

Post parasailing

I LOVE THE YUCATAN...and so I went back!

BBBAAAAHHH

Life is not so nice some days, but then again maybe I am just greedy. Today I had to turn down an awesome field opportunity because one weekend conflicted with an awesome job opportunity. So no more going to Costa Rica but I will be creating and leading a marine biology high school program for National Geographic, which is awesome and something I could not pass up.

I know life is full of decisions and choices are what make us, well us. Your actions speak to who you are more than your words ever can. This decision was hard because I thought I could do both and then all of a sudden I realized I couldn't. New knowledge was given to me and poof up in smoke goes my two new awesome opportunities. I hate letting people down and I hate feeling like I am even slightly unreliable...

I learned something from it all and that is all I can ask, right?

And now to lighten the mood...

Cuttlefish...how can you not smile at a cephalopod let alone something with the word cuttle, which is very close to cuddle, in its name? hu, hu? I know you're smiling.

Australia

Australia, Australia where to begin. First and foremost a week is not enough time to explore Cairns let alone the country of Australia. But I will recap on my trip and of course provide you with lots of pictures!

So I went to Australia with Yoko. We left after we had finished our course in Mo'orea. We left Papeete at 2 am November 19 and arrived in Australia at 12 pm on November 20. It was a weird time warp we went through, but one well worth it.

We arrived at our hostel, Caravella's Backpacking Hostel in Cairns (awesome place, I would recommend it to any one not just in Aus to party). We unpacked our bags and then hit the streets of Cairns. It is a very fun city. We were walking around, hitting cafe's walking the esplanade that runs along the mud flats. It is a beautiful place. While we were walking we all of a sudden stop dead in our tracks and look up, FLYING FOXES. They were just chilling in the trees. They are everywhere! These guys can be in trouble though. A species of tick can paralyze the mothers and make them drop their babies (oh no's!). So at these maternity colonies they have signs about what to do if you find a baby flying fox.

Look at the cuteness!

After our day in Cairns we decided to go on some tours so we went to the hostels main office and planned to our little hearts desires! The first thing we did was UNCLE BRIAN'S Antheron Tablelands Waterfall tour or awesomeness in a van. This tour to date was the most fun I have had. We started out by going to the Babinda Boulders. They literally look like they could be from another planet! The creek that runs through them is called Devil's creek. Legend has it the was a beautiful woman who went into the water with a man seeing it. The man then jumped in the water after the woman and died. There are tunnels under all the boulders so you can get dragged and not make it. Apparently all the people who have died since have been young attractive men. Who knows!

Devils creek and the babinda boulders

Very dangerous water, but very beautiful.

Babinda means wet place in the aboriginal language, and this town currently posesses something called the Golden Gumboot. This boot is awarded to the town that gets the most rain every year. Babinda gets over SEVEN METERS of rain per year...the gumboot is well deserved.

The Golden Gumboot

On our way out we found a Amethyst Python (Morelia amethistina), the largest snake in Australia. It had just had something to eat, it looked like a duck from what I could tell.

Look at that gut!

purty snake, probably about 3 m long

Next we went Josephine Falls. This was a three tiered waterfall with a natural water slide. It was so fun you have no idea! Natural water slides rock (har har har)!

As usual pictures do not do it justice.

We also found this crazy fruit on our way out, I still don't know what it is

We stopped at a banana field. They cover them with bags to help the bunches ripen at the same time,

the lucky recepient will get a brianna and yoko with their bunch of bananas

Next stop was onto the Antheron Tablelands...BEAUTIFUL. It reminded me a bit of California with its rolling hills.



Next was onto Milla Milla Falls...BEAUTIFUL.

When you swim underneath the falls it is like the greatest back massage ever

Again with the pictures that don't do the place justice!

Next stop on our tour was a Volcanic Marr. These thing are CRAZY. They in theory are able to be called giant puddles of water. There is no river system or anything all the water is there from past rainfalls. The water is super warm and the Marrs insanely deep like 80 meters!

Volcanic Marr

The final stop on our tour was by far my favorite. We went to a river to find ourselves a platypus!! I saw two. They are so cute and adorable and a lot smaller than I thought they would be. So I couldn't get any pictures but I will put some anyway, because how could I deny you the cuteness? But first, some information on them. The duckbill platypus is one of two monotremes alive today, the other being an echida, which is also found in Australia. A monotreme is an egg-laying mammal. They are rare and a bit off but oh so adorable.

Look at the cuteness...(image from nat geo)

echidna, the only other monotreme.

That ended out Uncle Brian's tour, which was AMAZING. The next day Yoko and I went to the Great Barrier reef for some SCUBA diving. I cannot even begin to tell you about it. We went out to the escape reef, right at the continental shelf. Literally a coral wall straight down. I would be swimming and be about 25 m down and then be 5m and have followed ONE coral head all the way up. There were literally mountains of coral, no adjectives adequately describe it!! There were coral caves and it just was phanomenol. GO DIVING FOLKS!!!

After our diving day we went on an overnight excursion to Cape Tribulation. This took us up to the Daintree rainforest, only the oldest rainforest in the world. How cool is that?? It was around during anICEAGE...craziness! First though we went to an animal sanctuary. We saw a wide range of critters. The cassowary (a big, mean, flightless bird) was pretty crazy looking. And of course we got to see a wallaby and some pretty cute crocs.

Cassowary!

Wallaby!!!

Crocodile, so cute!

Next stop was our hostel. It was amazing the rain forest literally went straight to the beach.

See, beach, rainforest and yoko and I in heaven!

The next day we went zip lining through the rainforest. The company is a sustainable, ecofriendly crew too. All of the stands are held up by suspension. Some of the stands were 20 m up! IT was impressive. They also did not cut any trees down, the zip lines ran along a stream bed. It was SO much fun. If you are even in Australia I recommend it.

yes that is me, isn't the helmet adorable?

On the way home I found a pretty flower at the hostel. There was also a sign that amused me about cassowaries. And then we saw a tree called a strangler fig, which is a parasitic tree that grows around another tree and kills it eventaully and leaves an amazing hallow tree. Apparently aborigines used to put the bones of their fallen into the nooks of the tree, which is why when the explores came they thought the aborigines were all cannibals. They aren't.

Slow down for Cassowaries folks!

Strangler Fig.

That was our last stop in Northern Queensland. We then hoped on a plane and headed down to Sydney for a six hour layover before heading back to good old San Francisco. While in Sydney we did not have time to do much but we took the train out to the harbor and went to the opera house and walked around the bridge and got fish and chips one last time.. I

That's me on those stairs!!

such a nice view

Sydney is a beautiful city, I hope I get to explore it more. After that we went back to states and had to end our semester adventure.

I want to go back!!!