Saturday - Muyil, Sian-Kan

We have arranged to meet my friend, Val, and the Central College students for the morning.  We meet at their hotel in Tulum and caravan to the ruins of Muyil.  The ruins are small and of the post-classic time period  even though there is evidence that the site was inhabited since 300 BC.  The pyramid seems like a miniature of pyramids at Tikal in Guatemala.  There were MANY mosquitos at the site so we opted not to go back to the part they call the oracle because Juan said the mosquitos would be even worse back there. 

The ruins are right next to the bio-sphere reserve, Sian-Kan. We drive down a small unpaved road to a lagoon where we get in small boats.  The lagoon is large with calm water.  The boat driver slows at the other side at a point that seemed like just like all others but when we looked closer, there was an opening in the mangroves.  We go through a small opening for about 100 yards and come out in another lagoon.  Cross that lagoon and stop at a dock.  There is a small Maya structure there marking the entrance to a canal that goes out to the open water of the Caribbean.  It is generally about 4-5 feet deep with a gentle current.  We float down it on our life preservers.  Oh, it is so cool!  When we get to the end of the canal, there is a board walk with all of our shoes neatly lined up.  We walk along the board walk back to where we started.  No pictures of this adventure as it is not camera friendly.  

We come back to the condo to get dry clothes.  We had planned to go out to lunch but once we are here, we decide the left over fruit and snacks is a fine lunch and we’ll just have a nice big dinner.  Relax by the pool.  Oh, it’s now happy hour!   Julie has adopted a pet iguana and feeds it pineapple.  

The condo complex has a restaurant overlooking the ocean and we decide that would be a great place for our last dinner.  We go up, the ocean breeze is wonderful.  We enjoy the drinks but as our food comes, so do the mosquitos!  It was amazing how fast and how numerous they were!.  We grabbed up our plates of shrimp shish kabobs and take them down to our condo to enjoy in peace. 

Where to next year?