We're Here!!

We arrived yesterday (Tuesday) into Cancun airport around 12:30. We got our rental car (er make that a rental Jeep . . . of course), bought some water and headed out to Chichen Itza (pronounced Cheech-en Eetza). Side note – Chichen Itza are some famous Mayan ruins that have just been declared one of the 7 new wonders of the world. The highway to Chichen Itza was almost deserted – it’s a very nice highway. It felt so good to take the top off the Jeep and have the sun beating down on us and the wind blowing our hair – it felt like as we drove in toward the jungle that we were leaving all of our stress and worried behind. I literally screamed out the window at the top of my lungs “WE’RE IN MEXICO!!!” about 10 times. Trent looked at me like I was a freak – but I just laugh because I know he loves me for being goofy like that. It’s the strangest feeling – when I’m in Mexico, I feel like I am home, but I can’t speak a lick of Spanish (or Mayan).

About 2 hours later we arrived at Hacienda Chichen, the hotel we are staying at. It is seriously like staying in the Garden of Eden. The Hacienda is 400 years old and is AMAZING. The grounds are filled with Bird of Paradise plants taller than me, huge jungle type plans, fruit trees, many types of palm trees and lots of plants and flowers I’ve never seen before. Outside our bungalow is surrounded by Bird of Paradise and there’s a lime tree right outside our door (which we’ve sampled already and they’re delicious!). The Hacienda employs all local Mayan people, grow all of their own organic food and 10% of their profits go back into the Mayan community – I LOVE that! We had dinner by candlelight outside on the terrace – The food is fabulous – it’s so fresh and tasty! There’s no TV or radio in the room, so we were in bed by 9:00 and got a great nights rest.

This morning we woke up to coffee, fresh orange juice and a fruit plate brought to our room – how wonderful is that?! If you’ve never had Mexican coffee, you’ve got to come to Mexico just to try it! Then it was up to the office to see if I could find Mr. Jose Tamay who would be taking us to the Cenote Ykodzonot. Funny – when we got there, we had already met him – he runs the office and checked us in, we just didn’t know who he was! We talked for about an hour about all of the things that the Maya Foundation is doing in the area (I’ll fill you in on those later). It was a GREAT conversation and we learned so much – it was very fascinating. Mr. Jose couldn’t get away to take us, so he arranged for an employee at the hotel – Lorenzo – to take us. He was a delight to be around and he spoke very good English.

So after a swim in the gorgeous pool and a nice lunch out on the terrace again, we met up with Lorenzo, loaded up the jeep and headed out to the pueblo of Ykodzonot - It was about half an hour away. I was so glad that we had someone to guide us because it’s different here than in other parts of Mexico. It’s very safe, but there is definitely a language barrier. Even if you know Spanish it isn’t always helpful because here they speak Yucatec (or Mayan). Very few Mayan’s know Spanish – so communication is difficult. When we arrived in the pueblo, we took some small roads back through the jungle and there it was – the Cenote! OH MY WORD, it was gorgeous! I really have never seen anything like it – it was truly magical and unless you go there yourself I’ll never be able to explain it to you and pictures will never do it justice.

The walking paths, ladders and steps were all hand made by some of the local Mayan women and it was very rustic, but beautiful. Not many tourists come here, it’s mostly a place that locals use, so we stuck out like sore thumbs! When we got down to the Cenote (it’s kind of like an open well, you have to walk down into it) I couldn’t wait to jump in. The water is fresh water and there is something MAGICAL about. I am not kidding, when you get out your skin and hair feels so silky smooth you can’t believe it. Legend has it that the fountain of youth was a cenote’. There must be minerals or something special in it!

So, I was trying to figure out how to gracefully jump in the water because it’s just a little tiny deck where you get in, and finally I said “what the heck” and just ran and did a canon ball into the water. The few Mayans’ that were there thought that was pretty funny! I swam all the way to the other side where the sunlight was cascading down into the cenote’ from above and I just floated on my back, gazing up at the white limestone walls with swallows flying all around me and little black fish swimming all around me. The reflection from the water was throwing sparkles all over the tall walls and the vines cascading down into the water were beautiful – the combination of the sounds, sights and feeling of the water on my skin was mesmerizing. While floating on my back and enjoying every single sensation of this moment, I felt so overwhelmed with gratefulness and also disbelief. I could not believe that I was finally here! God is so incredible and I am so thankful. Now, when I go to my “happy place” – this is where I will go.

When I got out of the Cenote, there were some kids standing around watching us. I took pictures of them and showed them, talked with them a little bit and made fast friends (of course, it could have something to do with the candy we were passing out!). They were adorable girls and I was so happy to meet them – they had the most beautiful smiles!

It was getting time to leave and I still hadn’t met the women who run the Cenote, so I asked Lorenzo if we could meet them on the way out. As we were leaving, he walked right by them and I wasn’t sure what to do. Could I just walk by them after coming all this way to meet them? What in the world was I going to say to them? “Hello – I came all the way from America to meet you and I have no idea why” – can you say STALKER!? I tried to explain to Lorenzo that I saw them on the internet and came all this way to meet them and it seemed like he didn’t understand (in fact, he kind of looked at me weird). So we just stood there in front of them in this awkward weird silence and I remember thinking “Oh no, this isn’t what was supposed to happen”. We asked for a couple of soft drinks and they gave them to us. Then I took my camera and asked if I could get a picture of them – THAT broke the ice!! Then I asked if I could get a picture WITH them and the seemed to love that idea and then we had a connection. I showed them the pictures, laughed with them and then got their names. We said “adios” and then took off. Now, I have no idea what is going to come of this or why I felt like I had to meet them and see the Cenote and their pueblo, but I followed my heart and now one more of my dreams have come true! I know there will be more to this story . . . and I can’t wait to see it unfold!

We came back to the Hacienda (I had questions all the way there and all the way back for Lorenzo) and we are relaxing with the magical Cenote yokdzonot water soaking into our skin and hair. In a little bit we will go the Yaxkin (pronounced Yash-keen) where 2 women will be giving us a Mayan hot rock massage. The rocks are purified and blessed and have special significance – I can’t wait!!