A little German Christmas in April...by Twy's Twavels

We packed our camper in a puddle up to our middles (ok, not quite our middles - we had to wear sandals and roll up our pant-legs to leave our camper that seemed to be the only one in the campground that was castle-like with a moat)...welcome to Spring!

Our fruits and veggies all eaten and $8 bridge toll paid ($4 for the truck and $4 for each additional axle), we crossed the USA/Canada border in about 15 minutes with no more than a question about how we could travel for 6 weeks in the USA.  We had given ourselves a 2 hour window for that crossing - great luck!!!! 

Culture shock...a border crossing that didn't involve USD money and then no change to make the sum correct, big rubber stamps, pieces of paper stuck into our passports for the duration of our travels, or filling out paperwork for all four of us - with the same information all written out twice on each form.

Arden's parents went to Frankenmuth, Michigan two times in their travels over the past years.  One of their favourite places.  It is a small Bavarian inspired town with the world's largest Christmas store - Bronner's.  They enjoyed telling us about the buildings, foods and gave us all beautiful Christmas ornaments too.

Driving into Frankenmuth, Maelle announced that we were in a gingerbread house town.  She was right.  We had entered a different world.

After parking our camper at Jellystone Park and snapping a photo with Yogi Bear - we had our picnic supper (which Yogi thought of stealing but after smelling that it was rice and beans in the Instant Pot, he left us alone).  We enjoyed the heated pool although our Children noticed that the chlorine levels were higher than other pools in our travels in Central America.

We walked to the downtown in the morning...warm spring sunshine, old German-styled buildings, daffodils peeking out, flowering trees, enchanted fairy gardens, cupcakes and tasty treats.  All that was missing was snow...

The Christmas store was mind-boggling in the size, the incredible themed displays and the quantity of Christmas ornaments.  We wandered...enjoying the Christmas music.  Finally we settled on a few ornaments that will help us remember our travels this year...a sloth ball (from Playa Chiquita), a sea turtle (from Akumal) and a humming bird (from Costa Rica and Guatemala).  It's a fun tradition that we started 22 years ago and have continued through the years.

Now we can't wait to set up our Christmas tree in December!

Our short diversion to Frankenmuth drew to a close by going to a replica of the church where Silent Night was sung some 200 years ago.  Back to spring...

Blue Jays

The day after we experienced the mist of Niagara Falls,
we were in the hustle and bustle of Toronto.  
Lots of people who live in the suburbs
take the GO train to downtown Toronto.
In fact so many people take the GO train that there
was NO! parking spaces for our truck.  

We ended up driving to the Ontario Science Center.
My favourite exhibit was on the human body and extreme sports.
Free diving is about oxygen, pressure, and going as deep
as you can on one breath.  Wing suits are about aerodynamics.
The design of a wing suit looks like a flying squirrel.
Wing suits allow you to jump off a cliff and glide for long distances.

Next, we took a bus and a subway to get to the Blue Jays game.
The Toronto Blue Jays are Canada's only major league baseball team.
The night we were there the Blue Jays played against
the Boston Red Sox at the Rogers Center.  
The Blue Jays were ahead 3-1 for most of the game.
The Red Sox tied it at 3-3 with two outs in the ninth inning.
The game was headed for extra innings.
In the 10th inning, Toronto's Granderson hit a
winning walk-off home run.
I was cheering as the ball was sailing toward our seats in the bleachers.
The ball hit the LED screen above us and landed in my seat.  
I caught the winning home-run ball !

Niagara...by Spot(dot)It

We came back to Canada and Niagara Falls.

We heard the falls roaring from far away.

We rode our scooters all along the path.

We felt the cool mist on our faces.

We ate a tasty cucumber, tomato, and cheese sandwich.

It was probably the biggest waterfall I have seen in my whole life.

There was still a little bit of ice and snow in the river.

It was a lot different than the hot waterfall in Guatemala.

Cenotes...by Twy's Twavels

Cenotes (pronounced 'ce-no-tes') are a wonder of the Yucatan peninsula.  A cenote is a natural sinkhole created when a limestone layer collapses and exposes the groundwater system underground...according to an article online there are an estimated 6,000 in the Yucatan, but only around 2,400 have been explored.  Sounds like there is a lot more to learn and see...

We explored three different locations while at Akumal.

After biking along paths while experiencing Coba ruins, we cooled off underground in a cenote called Choo-Ha.  There was nothing visible except a sign saying we had arrived upon driving down several jungle roads to our destination.  After getting out of our rental car, we were advised to shower off by the local ticket master.  It was all a bit mysterious.  We walked down a short path and came to a set of stairs going into the ground through a hole in the layers of limestone.  Trekking down, we came to a large cavern with electrical lights and a bit of natural light from the staircase.  Stalactites and stalagmites were all over the room.  Roots came through the rocks from above and made their way into the water below - amazing strength and determination to twist their way through rocks.  Made me think about the verses in Psalms that talk about being like a tree with roots that grow into the stream and therefore didn't need to worry about droughts or heat.  The fresh water was cool, clear and deep.  There were little black catfish swimming with us - snorkel masks were used to probe their habitat.  The water's bottom was covered in pebbles and larger slabs of rock.  For a while, we were there all on our own as others came and stayed for 10 or 20 minutes and then left.  No need to worry about a sunburn down there!  We left feeling refreshed.

Not all cenotes are dark and completely underground.  We drove to Zacil-Ha - a cenote hole that was quite a bit smaller than Choo-Ha, but much more developed for an all-day experience.  The small cenote with fresh water, no swimming fish and about 3 meters depth had a place to cannonball in, staircases for those with less enthusiasm and a zipline for the ultimate splash.  We all chose our method of entry and enjoyed the sunshine while swimming or splashing.  Meritt found a loop-hole in the Mexican system of charging 10 pesos per time and was able to enjoy multiple zipline adventures.  There was a small cave on one side of the cenote where the sun reflected on the water.  Other families were spending the day as well.  The smell of a coal bbq, the sound of often-listened-to contemporary songs and the chatter of Spanish all mingled together.  One local family close to our table was cooking up fish for tacos - they used salt to encase fish and bbq'ed them that way to steam the fish to delish.  Soft tacos, pico de gallo and a bit of lime drizzled on the fish tasted amazing when they gave us one to try.

At Yal-Ku laguna, we experienced a cenote that was connected to the ocean with fresh water flowing into the small lagoon and thousands of fish exploring their surroundings as they moved out of the ocean and into the safety of the shallower water and many rocky hide-outs.  Snorkel masks allowed us to enter into the world underwater - although even standing on the edge and looking in from above was a feast of colour, movement and beauty from all the fish species.  None of us have ever had that kind of experience before - it felt like swimming in a completely full fish aquarium with many different schools of fish.  Parrot fish over a meter long dove and darted - we could hear them chewing as they nibbled the rocks for algae.  A white jelly fish gracefully moved away from us.  Schools of the bright blue tangs, the flashing silver of white mullet, and the stripped black sargeant majors all welcomed us to their home.  We enjoyed this place so much, we went back a second time.  This snorkel experience will be hard to beat - it was incredible!

It would have been fun to visit many more cenotes.  It seems that the few we did see were quite different from each other.  We didn't get to go to a cenote with alligators in it.  We skipped cenotes that were connected with theme parks because we didn't want to part with $150 USD per person.  There are many cenotes that require scuba gear and contain multiple rooms and underground rivers connecting them.  Bats find ways to sleep in the coolness of cenotes - and we skipped those because I'm not at all a fan of bats (although there were a couple of bats swooping in Choo-Ha - but they stayed far from my splashing children).  Maybe we'll have to go back, find a new one and give it a fun name - like Mer-Ku or Twy-Ha...there was one called Car Wash Cenote - so we could be original too!

Tikal, Tulum, and Coba - a comparison by Exotic Chicken

Over the past week I have been to three ancient Mayan ruins sites.

We visited the Tikal, Tulum, and Coba ruins.

Tikal:

Tikal is located in the jungle of northern Guatemala.

During our visit to Tikal we heard howler monkeys and saw parrots in the jungle.

If you clap your hands while standing in front of the King’s Temple,
the echo sounds like a Quetzal bird.

Tikal is the biggest Mayan ruins site.

Tikal is grandiose; it has the highest temples in the Mayan world (70m).

Kings and queens lived near the pyramids and were buried beneath them.

The temples were also used for religion.

Tikal’s golden years were from 300 to 900 A.D.

A recent LIDAR scan showed 60,000 buildings in the vicinity of Tikal.

The Mayans may have abandoned Tikal due to a food shortage.

Tulum:

Tulum is located by the sea in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

During our visit to Tulum, we felt the Caribbean Breeze
and heard the crashing of waves on the beach.  
We visited Tulum after a rainstorm so it was cooler and there were less crowds.
Tulum is unique because it is situated high up on a cliff.  
While Tikal was a religious site, Tulum was a town and a trading port.
It was built like a fortress with a stone wall around it.

Tulum was the smallest ruin site that we visited;
it was also the most scenic because of its location near the beach.  

Tulum was most powerful between 1200 and 1450.  
It was built by the Mayans, added to by the Toltecs and conquered by Spain.  

Coba:

Coba is located in the jungle, near a lake in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.  
During our visit to Coba we heard cicadas and birds.

Coba was built by the Mayans between 800 and 1100 AD.  
This was later than Tikal but earlier than Tulum.
Coba disappeared because Tulum and other Mayan sites became more powerful.

Coba was unique because it had two Mayan ball courts, a network of old white roads,
and a rounded temple.  The ruins at Coba were partially excavated.
It felt more mysterious than the others, because some of the ruins were
covered up by rocks, trees, and jungle.   
Coba was fun because we got to ride bikes between the ruins.
It was the only site where you could still climb up the face of the pyramid.