Sunday, April 21, 2013

Mexico 2013: The History of Chicken Pizza

Soon after arriving in Mexico we easily transitioned from the clunky "Chichen Itza," to the more clever Chicken Pizza.  Hahaha. But after touring the ruins, my husband discovered that the story of Chicken Pizza was really present! Here, the chicken.
And up on this tower, the pizzas! We also found an oven, but no good photos.
Here's what happens when you eat too much Chicken Pizza.
 So many heads were sacrificed.
 Yeeeee!
Oddly, earlier in the week we had flipped on the TV in the morning and watched Mars Attacks!, so this seemed like a spot-on interpretation. One of my personal mottoes is "keep your seafood out of my breakfast and your chicken off my pizza," but I will make an exception for this Chicken Pizza.

Mexico: 2013: Chicken Pizza

First adventure was to Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya civilization and is located in the Mexican state of Yucatán. Chichen Itza was a major focal point in the northern Maya lowlands like a million years ago.
Chichen Itza was one of the largest Maya cities and it was likely to have been one of the mythical great cities. The city may have had the most diverse population in the Maya world, a factor that could have contributed to the variety of architectural styles at the site. And will henceforth be referred to as "Chicken Pizza." Here, my handsome husband is standing on the largest ball court in Mesoamerica.
The point of the game played on this court is to get the pelota through that stone ring up on the wall by bouncing it off your hip for the entertainment of royalty. Tho this one is so high, its suspected that there was another tack taken to get the ball through the hole. The losing team lost their noggins.
The rest of the court is decorated with pictures of the sacrificed losers. This is a bit more serious than Pictionary.
There are lots of other buildings around the court...
... in addition to the famous and much-photographed temple.

Mexico 2013: Sweet Ride

Renting an auto in Mexico was an adventure. It came to about $100 a day, which at first seemed like a lot, but we would have paid much more than that up here in the states for Jeep.











Upon pulling this sweet ride onto the road, four lights were on: the flat tire light, the check engine light, the lost traction light, and the brake light. Seems about right.

Nope, no problem with these babies.
But it turned out just fine. And for those folks who were present the first week and recall me waking from a beach-front nap wondering about the possibility of finding ACTUAL Doritos (which was odd, since I have like 5 Doritos a year, and really don't care about them at all), we hit the jackpot out on the road!

Mexico 2013: Drivin' Through Rural Mexico

Here's our sweet ride. I have wanted a Jeep since high school, but after two Jeep adventures, I think it might not be for me. Between the Cooper and BigGreen i've becomed accustomed to a level of luxury and amenities the Jeep just doesn't offer. It is fun though when the sun is out.
So we got in it and started driving! This is how useful a GPS is in Mexico.

There are feral dogs everywhere, and they are seemingly all mama dogs, regretfully, with milk.
 Random lavender buildings.
We discussed that CR would have likely had some anxiety driving through these crowded small town streets. Some things just make CR crazy.
Some stuff is just on fire in Mexico.
Goats! On the side of the street! In Mexico! I love goats. A couple of these goats came home with me (in my head) to live on my goat farm (in my head) where a team of magical folk do the actual stupid hard farmwork, and I just make craft goat cheeses (in my head.) I've had my fill of getting up at 5 a.m. to feed baby farm animals who had no mama, its not glamorous. Thus the reason the goat farm is (in my head).
The lodging here is a little grittier than at the resort.

Mexico 2013: Playa del Carmen

After our friends left, Day 9, we made our way into Playa del Carmen, a beachfront shopping tourist town about 35 miles and an easy taxi cab ride away.
Featuring side-by-side Tequila Factory Store and Ostrich and Alligator cowboy boots stores? Seems right up our alley.
And here's the mild dismay exhibited by my husband seconds after being offered "Hey buddy....Need weed? Need blow?" about 1 hour after being in Playa. Ever since Navy days he has traveled the world and is quickly offered drugs wherever he goes. If you need drugs while traveling outside of your home town, take my husband, something about his look over the past 20 years says "sell me street drugs." I know I would totally do cocaine purchased in an alley in a Mexican tourist town.
Big yella dog on a deck. Doesn't seem safe, but seems about right.
We had a lovely lunch at "100%  Natural Restaurante," a chain of all natural, mostly veggie restaurants that feature yummy fresh fruit smoothies and guacamole and all things yummy. There are 45 restaurants across Mexico and Florida. I dig what they got goin' on.
But never forget you are still in Mexico. What looks like tropical vines is actually an exposed electrical wire. I'm sure its fine.
"Portal Maya!" Translating to "Mayan Gateway", Portal Maya is set right on the city's main beach, with the Caribbean Sea and the Cozumel ferry dock just behind it. This immense archway depicts a man being pushed by a spiral of wind and a woman being pushed by a spiral of water, joining hands at the top of the arch. The main columns include a mixture of elements from the region's Mayan past, honoring ancestors as well as people of today interacting in this exciting city.
There are many more folks on the public beach than at the resort.
Hahahah! I love this pic. I'm not sure how she got so much air, nor how I managed to capture it at just the right moment.
After our fun day in Playa, we rented ourselves a Jeep and pointed it back to our lodging for the evening to get some sleep, as we were going to be Jeepin' it up for a few days!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Mexico 2013: The Flying Gurnard!

As soon as our peeps left, we found this awesome guy! At first I thought he was a lobster, then I thought he was a lionfish lost out in the open.
This is the Flying Gurnard! Also known as the Helmut Gurnard because of the spiny plate protecting his noggin. If you look next to his head you'll sees little flipper hands, which he uses to drag himself along.When you piss him off by getting too close, he fans out his fins and they turn blue. He's not crazy rare, but he's not particularly common either.
Regretfully, he doesn't actually fly. But he was super awesome. We bugged him for probably a little too long, so we let him get back to his flipper dragging.
On our way back to the beach my husband took this guy's pic. He is actually a real bird, tho he looks like a statue.
We took our camera to the dive desk at the resort and asked what he was, but Pablo didn't know. So when we went into Playa del Carmen we went to almost every dive shop and stymied just about every single dive dude, who had seen one once, but couldn't just couldn't remember his name...finally we found a book in a dive store that had a picture of him, and finally he had a name. The Flying Gurnard. 

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Mexico 2013: Week One Ends, Week Two Begins!

Golly. Now our friends have left. Hmm. Wow. Well...
Uhm...what will we do now? Hmm. Let's see...I been talkin' to you for 21 years...hmm...a tropical conundrum...
Hahahahah! NO!! As Week One drew to a close, Tim began pointing out couples in the resort who were dining together and staring off into space..."That's totally going to be these guys after we leave..." Hahahah!!!
But since it's normally just the two of us, turns out we are pretty darned good at entertaining ourselves. And beach beds are kinda spacious with just two. ;)
I did my best to keep up our presence in the sea, as I'm part mermaid. My fave part of this pic isn't my big Jackie O glasses, which I scratched and had to throw away, but my toes popping out of the water. Mermaid.
Without our friends, we did have to get up at a reasonable hour and secure beachfront real estate, but turns out Tim is right, early morning on the shore is really nice. They come around with trays of mimosas and banana smoothies and something yummy that tasted kind of like an orange julius.
We even managed our own group shot on the beach bed! Here's to Week Two, my partner in crime! Mwahahaha!!

Mexico 2013: So Long, Friends!

Well my dear friends, enjoy your last Riviera Maya...
Soak up those last rays...
Get one more round from Aracely...

Don't forget the hilarity of me ordering spaghetti carbonara instead of chocolate mousse for dessert. Chocolate schmocolate, pass over the parmesan...
And enjoy the Not Sandwicherie one more time...
For regretfully...the first week has come to an end, and we are sad to see you go.
But it was So. Much. Fun! Thank you all for spending your resources to vacation with us again, south of the border. Buenas dias, amigos!