i get 3 weeks of vacation per year. last week was 1/3. both my wife and i had a dress rehearsal on tuesday and a concert on sunday so we snuck in a quick trip to Cancun from wednesday through saturday.
below is some of the photographic evidence. for more see the gallery on my website: http://tinyurl.com/cancunandchichenitza
we did an all-inclusive deal through expedia.com. the hotel that we picked was the GR Solaris. i'd go back there. it was clean, everyone was friendly enough except for the grouchy guy hounding for tips at the watersports counter. we sailed, we played tennis, we took out little paddleboats, we drank by the many pools, we sunbathed, and we even swam in the (rough) sea. not bad at all for the cheap price! anyway, here's the view from our room:
here's a lazy view looking straight upwards from besides the pool:
we didn't just hang around the pool, however. as consummate tourists not into bar-hopping we instead chose to swim with dolphins and to head over to Chichen Itza. because the dolphin-swim-photo industry is a crock we decided ahead of time to not buy any. rest assured, we did swim with the slippery beasts, and it was good. here's the only evidence i have of it:
the trip to Chichen Itza was definitely worth it as well. it took all day, literally, including many an hour on our giant tour bus. we had the most talkative tour guide ever. he talked for the entire ~2.5 hour trip out there, and i think everyone zoned out. anyway, amongst his babblings i picked up that we were going to a cenote, a sinkhole or well. on a hot day going for a swim in the cenote was quite pleasant indeed, even if it involved running the gauntlet of jewelry dealers on the way from the bus to the lockers. the cenote:
next up was the main attraction, Chichen Itza. just like everything else around Cancun and Cabo it's all tourist-ed out, but it's impressive nonetheless even if people are always standing in your way. here's a miniature version of one of the Mayan codices that is responsible for the upcoming apocalypse movie "2012"
here is the main pyramid, El Castillo, from a variety of angles:
excavation at its base by archeologists:
serpents everywhere!
columns. lots of columns:
live long and prosper:
on the ball court, under the "hoop", as it were:
ok, i think that's enough. once again the whole gallery, with more images than those that i posted, is online here: http://tinyurl.com/cancunandchichenitza
(photo-nerd talk: Canon 5D Mk II with a Sigma 12-24, Canon 24-105/L, and Canon 135/L. polarizers on all but the super-wide. shots captured in raw, processed in Adobe Lightroom 2, with the gallery published with BetterHTMLExport, which unfortunately has lots of aliasing in its resizing algorithm.)
below is some of the photographic evidence. for more see the gallery on my website: http://tinyurl.com/cancunandchichenitza
we did an all-inclusive deal through expedia.com. the hotel that we picked was the GR Solaris. i'd go back there. it was clean, everyone was friendly enough except for the grouchy guy hounding for tips at the watersports counter. we sailed, we played tennis, we took out little paddleboats, we drank by the many pools, we sunbathed, and we even swam in the (rough) sea. not bad at all for the cheap price! anyway, here's the view from our room:
here's a lazy view looking straight upwards from besides the pool:
we didn't just hang around the pool, however. as consummate tourists not into bar-hopping we instead chose to swim with dolphins and to head over to Chichen Itza. because the dolphin-swim-photo industry is a crock we decided ahead of time to not buy any. rest assured, we did swim with the slippery beasts, and it was good. here's the only evidence i have of it:
the trip to Chichen Itza was definitely worth it as well. it took all day, literally, including many an hour on our giant tour bus. we had the most talkative tour guide ever. he talked for the entire ~2.5 hour trip out there, and i think everyone zoned out. anyway, amongst his babblings i picked up that we were going to a cenote, a sinkhole or well. on a hot day going for a swim in the cenote was quite pleasant indeed, even if it involved running the gauntlet of jewelry dealers on the way from the bus to the lockers. the cenote:
next up was the main attraction, Chichen Itza. just like everything else around Cancun and Cabo it's all tourist-ed out, but it's impressive nonetheless even if people are always standing in your way. here's a miniature version of one of the Mayan codices that is responsible for the upcoming apocalypse movie "2012"
here is the main pyramid, El Castillo, from a variety of angles:
excavation at its base by archeologists:
serpents everywhere!
columns. lots of columns:
live long and prosper:
on the ball court, under the "hoop", as it were:
ok, i think that's enough. once again the whole gallery, with more images than those that i posted, is online here: http://tinyurl.com/cancunandchichenitza
(photo-nerd talk: Canon 5D Mk II with a Sigma 12-24, Canon 24-105/L, and Canon 135/L. polarizers on all but the super-wide. shots captured in raw, processed in Adobe Lightroom 2, with the gallery published with BetterHTMLExport, which unfortunately has lots of aliasing in its resizing algorithm.)