Sand, Cenotes, & Flaming Football with Melody

Well, it's mid-workweek, and I'm adjusting back to reality after a weekend of fun and adventure with Melody, who came to visit from Antigua (where she and Chris are currently living since they sold their boat). She arrived Thursday night and left late Monday night, so we had a good four days' visit.

We were pretty much non-stop. These are the highlights. 

Progreso Beach 

Saturday (not quite morning) we took an Uber about an hour away to the coast. The beach there is called Progreso, and it's a port town known for having what has to be the world's longest pier.

After exploring the main avenue and getting a cocktail in a very strange Cuban bar (an experience that will need a separate blog post), we rented lounge chairs on the beach and relaxed.

The main boulevard in Progreso

Maybe an hour passed in this state of bliss before, unfortunately, it started pouring rain. So off we ran to this place for lunch. It was a cool restaurant, but the roof was made of bamboo, meaning we basically still got rained on while we ate and drank. Cocktails helped that not matter so much.

Shell restaurant

Mayan Football

Another fun thing we did was watch a Mayan traditional sport called, Pok ta Pok (a.k.a Mayan football). There happened to be a game scheduled in the Plaza Grande, so we headed over and joined the crowd to check it out. In Pok ta Pok, teams seem to compete to get a ball through a ring by hitting it with every body part except their hands.

It's honestly hard for me to keep an interest in sports in any culture, even an ancient one, but it was actually pretty interesting. The game started with a ritual involving smoke and conch shell blowing, and then the teams of three played in tiny outfits and mostly hit the ball with their butts. Things really picked up after "halftime," too, when the ball was lit on fire (yes, real fire- see video!) and the game continued. I found myself wondering why they can't do this in every sport.

Video of the fireball in play

Cenotes 

The last big thing we did was our cenote trip, which was by far the highlight for both of us. It's hard to describe in words, or even pictures, how awesome this was. 

A cenote is essentially a sinkhole created when the limestone collapses and creates access to an underground pool of cool, fresh water. Sometimes cenotes are open at the top and light pours in, and other times the entrance is so small that no light gets in at all, and you are in a deep, dark cave. Cenotes are all over the Yucatan, and maybe in other spots in Mexico, but I'm not sure.

To get to the particular cenotes we had decided to visit, we first took a bus to a town about an hour and a half away. From the bus stop, we got on a moto-taxi (a slightly terrifying but exciting experience) to get to the spot where we'd then take a horse-drawn cart into the jungle to visit the three cenotes.

We were a lot more excited than he was. 

This is the horse-cart we took to the cenotes.

The horse cart rides on rails and the road is really rocky, so you feel like your teeth are going to shake out of your head the whole way. Also, when another cart comes in the opposite direction, one of the carts/horses has to get off the rail, so the horse pulls over and the driver manually lifts the cart to the side for the other one to pass. We rode about 30 minutes or so before reaching the first cenote.

Bumpy ride on the horse cart

When we got there, the cart stopped and we were pointed in the direction of the entrance and told we'd have a half hour. We had to climb down a steep metal ladder, but when we got inside, we were blown away. We had the whole place to ourselves and the water was completely clear and cool. Breathtaking!

 The other cenotes were really different and the second one, especially, presented a challenge in overcoming my claustrophobia. It involved climbing into a small hole in the ground and going down a very long ladder through a narrow rock tunnel... into the unknown. Melody was brave enough to go first and scope it out for me. I wasn't sure I would go at all, but in the end, I'm proud to say I did it!

Melody bravely entering cenote #2

Cenote three was not as hard to enter, but when you got in it, there was no daylight at all; it was lit up with interior lights. This is where we entered, just like the tree. 

The entrance to cenote #3

Melody in spooky cenote 3

It was a fantastic visit and I love Melody's enthusiasm. She may be the most laid-back person I've ever met, since nothing ever annoyed or even slightly frustrated her in all of our adventures. Looking forward to the next visit!