2010 VOYAGES UPDATES

UPDATE#11 04/29/2010

Howdy Everybody,

The adventures of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and thru 04/28/2010 have been published on the website. We continue with the latest edition.

UPDATE 2010 #11 04/29/10

At last update, we were traveling on a Yucatan adventure in Mexico. Welcome back to our continuing adventure…

04/29/10 THURSDAY VALLADOLID, MEXICO

Our room in the Casa La Candelaria guesthouse, in Valladolid, was nothing fancy; however, it was clean, comfortable, and met our needs for a nice place to stay. The city of Valladolid is situated in the Mexican State of “Yucatan”, whereas, the more eastern city of Cancun is in the State of “Quintana Roo”.

The bathrooms and showers are shared facilities. The water was always hot and everything was kept clean and neat.

A large kitchen area was provided for guests to prepare their own meals. The guesthouse had coffee, breads, and fruity yogurt salads included.

The garden eating area was peaceful and relaxing.

Nothing escaped the watchful eye of this calico feline…

Our continuing exploration took us to the ruins at Ek’ Balam, located just 20 miles, or so, north of Valladolid. We had the entire site to ourselves, as not many tourists get the pleasure of visiting this remote and wonderful place.

I will not attempt to explain each picture. We hope you will just enjoy roaming around the grounds, savoring the sights as we did. Imagine, if you will, what this place must have looked like at the height of its time in history. It must have been a marvel of architecture and construction that evidenced the power of the Mayan empire.

There are 45 structures, including:

1. Defensive Walls

2. Entrance Arch

3. Oval Palace

4. The "Twin Pyamids" are atop one platform at the southwest corner of the site and have steps to each.

5. Chapel

6. Stelae which depicts a ruler of Ek Balam, probably Ukit Jol Ahkul

7. Structure 12

8. Structure 10

9. Structure 7

10. Ballcourt

11. Structure 2 on the West corner of the Acropolis is as yet unexcavated and is the 2nd largest building on the site.

12. Steam Bath

13. Structure 3 on the East corner of the Acropolis is, like Structure 2, unexcavated and is the 3rd largest building on the site.

14. The Acropolis on the North side of the site is the largest structure at Ek' Balam and contains the tomb of Ukit Kan Le'k Tok'. It measures 146 meters across, 55 meters wide and 29 meters tall.

15. Tomb of Ukit Kan Le'k Tok'

A ball court…

That’s one heck of a climb to the top of this structure… HiYa, Judy…

Coming down is much less strenuous than the climb up. Knees, don’t fail me now…

After leaving the Ek’ Balam site, we drove north to the village of Rio Lagartos.

After some serious negotiation, we agreed to hire this boatman to take us on a wildlife tour of the waters and wetlands.

Local fishermen plied the river in quest of their daily catch…

The area is very famous as home for large numbers of flamingos. Although the weather was a bit inclement, overcast, and dampened by intermittent showers, we felt fortunate to see so many of these gorgeous waterfowl creatures in their natural habitat.

A “Magnificent Frigate Bird”…

Salt evaporation ponds…

It is purported that a facial with the salty, fine sand mud can take years off one’s appearance…

Do you think it will work for me?

Local, cast-net fishermen sling their wide mesh into the river waters…

Anhinga…

The Village of Rio Lagartos waterfront…

In the car, we drove about 10 miles to the next waterfront town of San Felipe. We thought that this place, El Popular Vaselina, might be a good restaurant to try.

It wasn’t just “good”, it was absolutely “fantastic”. The shrimp cocktail was scrumptiously delicious.

The “Pescado Relleno” (stuffed fish fillet) was perfectly prepared and loaded with fresh crabmeat and shrimp. This, my friends, is what we dream about when we think of a fresh, Mexican seafood feast.

The Village of San Felipe waterfront…

Huge dunes of harvested salt from the area ponds...

The rental car, a Dodge Attitude, is marketed in the USA as the Hyundai Elantra.

The salt ponds emit a pinkish tint from the combination of mineral content and the exoskeletons of crustaceans.

The beach along the Gulf coast was completely desolate.

Throughout the Yucatan, remnants of historic churches and crumbling cathedrals serve as remembrances to the massive surge of catholic missionaries eager to convert the native populace in centuries past.

We hope you will join us in the continuation of our Yucatan Adventure in the next update section.

CONTINUING UPDATES ARE IN PROGRESS…

WATCH FOR THEM, COMING SOON…

POST SCRIPT:

We sincerely hope that you will review the previous years of compilations to give context to the current editions. Please let us know if you have any special suggestions and thoughts.

REMEMBER: The website is now fully active and you can visit it at any time. You can also review any of the previous logs from the years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 to learn more about the crew and their many adventures. Enjoy.

ATTENTION: SPECIAL NOTE:

You may contact us via email anytime.

Thanks for allowing us to share our life and adventures with you.

Lotsa Luv,

Fred Reed and Judy Law

AMARSE

MT40

"AMARSE" is pronounced "AM-ARE-SAY".

Our website is: www.amarse.net .

CONTINUING UPDATES ARE IN PROGRESS…

WATCH FOR THEM, COMING SOON…