Ahhhh, The Sweet Life!

Where in the World are Catherine & Bob?

The following is from Bob & Catherine:

To break up the six gruelling days of driving and before arriving at Kent and Sue Ellen's in Paamul, Quintana Roo, Mexico (just south of Playa del Carmen), we stopped at two ruins.

The first site is a Totonac ruin and is called Quihuiztlan.

It is south of Veracruz on the Emerald Coast and is sited on the top of a mountain. It is basically a very large cemetery with numerous, small mausoleums about five feet tall. The legend is that they contained the bones of the "dearly departed" and that the priests kept incense burning at the door of the temple/mausoleums. This is also the location of Cortez' first landing and legend has it that he made an alliance with the Quihuiztlanis, who did not like the Aztecs either, and they joined forces to overthrow the Aztecs. There is also some legend of a continually burning, funeral pyre maintained at the top of the mountain which was probably visible from the sea and functioned similarly to the lighthouse at Alexandria.

The second ruins we visited is located north of Veracruz in the town of Zempoala.

The ruins is also a Totonac site and is also called Zempoala/Cempoala.

It was a major Totanac center in 1200 AD. It fell to the Aztecs in the mid-1400's and had a population of 30,000 when the Spaniards arrived in 1519. The buildings were covered with white plaster but were constructed of round rocks instead of the squared, lime-stone blocks common at most other sites. These round stones were set in mortar made from burned sea-shells, small aggregate stones and sand. I have included a picture of the round Plaza of the Gladiators where it was possible to fight for your freedom if you were a prisoner of war. Legend has it that only one person successfully won his freedom by defeating all challengers. Apparently all others attempting to win their freedom died in the process. This also the site where Cortez met and defeated Panfilo de Narvaez who had been sent by the governor of Cuba to arrest Cortez in 1520.

We have been on the road since Jan 7. We have been visiting Kent and Sue Ellen in Paamul, Quintana Roo, Mexico since Jan 13. Paamul is just south of Playa del Carmen and right on the beach. It is basically an RV park, but the RV's have been set on the ground, bricked around and covered with palapa thatched roofs. The thatching is made either from palmetto fronds or from "thatch grass" very similar to that used in England. Kent and Sue Ellen's is made from palmetto fronds. These palapas are fairly cool, have tall roofs and ventilation triangle windows in the gables at both ends. The triangle windows remind me of the hay-mow doors on old barns. The windows have no shutters or other way to close them so they allow hot air to vent all the time. Consequently, the palapas are quite comfortable...they shade the sun, keep out the rain, break the wind and add a wonderful ambiance. Just north of Paamul, 1 km., is a beach called Yon-Ten and it is clothing optional. It is also fairly empty. The sand is very shallow and the slope likewise is fairly shallow so you can walk out 100 yards and still only have water up to you knees. These beaches are all sheltered by an off-shore reef, resulting in small, "lappy" waves like we see on small lakes in the Midwest. This area is greatly affected by the large tourist trade in Cancun and Cozumel and most prices are at least as high as in the states and many times priced in US dollars instead of pesos.

We went cenote diving yesterday at the "Dos Ojos" cenote about 25 miles south of here and back in the jungle about a thousand miles--actually it was only 2 miles but the road was absolutely the worst I have ever driven and it just seemed like a thousand miles. Cenotes are sink-holes that have fallen into the underwater lake that lies under the entire Yucatan. There are numerous limestone caves, tunnels and cenotes all over this place. We took some underwater pictures but will wait to have them developed in Texas.

The cenote was inhabited by fish that love to eat body hair when you stop moving to take a picture. It hurts like having your eye-brows plucked and is somewhat disconcerting the first couple of times. I referred to them (the fish) as the "little pluckers"--Catherine did not think that a funny as I did. I think her sense of humor may have been affected by the dark, the wet, the cool, and maybe the heavy rocks hanging by a thread from the ceiling, etc. We are leaving here today and heading south to Tulum, Coba, Xacalak, Chetumal and then we are heading into the interior to visit some even lesser-known ruins and cenotes. We will be "off-the-air" for a while when we are in the jungles.

I am not sure when we will be back...probably mid-February-ish.

Love,

Catherine and Bob