Feliz Ano Nuevo Part 1

As is becoming tradition my family took a vacation right after Christmas. This time we went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It was fun!

We spent one day at the pool and the next we went on tour with Carlos. He is a wonderful guide...if your going to the Mayan Ruins look up Helaman Tours or Mormon Encounter LDS Tours and ask specifically for Carlos Ortiz. Carlos grew up searching for Mayan ruins as a boy and has studied Archeology for years. He is very knowledgeable!


We started in Coba where they still let you climb the pyramid. It was TALL! I think there are only about 120-130 steps but they are steep and thin, b/c some of the steps we are tall as my upper calf. My legs were sore for 2 or 3 days after the climb. The view was quite awesome though..and hey how many of my friends can say they have climbed a pyramid created by an ancient civilization?

After sweating as we climbed up and down Carlos took us to an amazing sink hole! From the top all you could see was flat ground and concrete stairs going down. After about 10 feet underground the concrete turned into wooden stairs and went down even further. The water was beautiful and warm! Everyone except for mom jumped from the stairs (I only jumped from the 20-25 foot dive. The boys went off the 40 foot dive.

Following the swimming hole we visited a modern Mayan "temple" and then Tulum. These ruins are the buildings that are right by the sea and were the first ones to be viewed by the Spanish. It was also beautiful and Carlos had many interesting thoughts about the Mayans and the Book of Mormon.