This trip has been a long time in the making and I'm excited to finally be here. After only a day and a half we've found Mexico to be so much more interesting and stunningly beautiful than we're often told to expect. We've somehow managed to avoid the apparently prevalent drug lords and marauders for the time being (talking to you, Mom!) so let's hope it stays that way :)

Fort Lauderdale airport was a zoo, but the flight clocked in at less than two hours so it wasn't long before we could jump off the plane and start having some fun. You know you're in Mexico when the flight traffic control tower is disguised as one big Corona ad! I was expecting the touts to be extra pushy in Cancun, given how touristy it is, but I think there are so many gringos here that they just don't see the need to fight for your attention. It was surprisingly relaxed outside the airport, and even though there were hundreds of people vying for taxis or rental cars everyone seemed pretty content to nurse a Modelo from the Margaritaville ten feet outside the exit. There was even an official airport cart going around with cold beer and mixed drinks!

We found our rental car rep pretty quickly, but we ended up standing there for about 45 minutes, just waiting for the stupid shuttle to pick us up. All told it took us close to three hours from getting off the plane to getting into our rental car, but it was definitely worth the wait. We love having our own car! The roads are all fantastic (so far) and other drivers are outlandishly courteous. We made a quick stop to get some cash at an ATM and eat a quick lunch before making the two hour drive to Chichen Itza.

I did great for a while but the two hours of sleep I got the night before started to wear off frighteningly quickly. Blasting some Latin music kept the SandMan at bay until we got to the hotel, so the cheap flight with the weird times was totally worth it!

Our hotel is just outside the ruins and we love it. There are absolutely gigantic trees all around, and each is swarming with beautiful chirping birds. We had a lackluster dinner at the hotel and then hit the hay...hard.

The ruins opened at 8am this morning and I wanted to be there even before then (much to Brittany's chagrin). It was all going according to plan until I realized that I couldn't find my debit card, then checked my account and saw three charges that I never made. Apparently I left my card in the ATM machine because I'm super smart. Awesome! It was a bit of a fiasco to get through to Wells Fargo but at least it's taken care of and they only made out with forty bucks. I'm (not) smarter than the average bear! I told Brittany to make sure she remembers this so the next time she does something dumb and I get mad she'll be able to bring me back down to Earth.

The hold-up meant that we didn't get into the park until close to 8:30, but this is where coming during low season turns out to be a great idea, even in spite of the 100+ degree temperatures. There was ************e there to obscure our view of El Castillo, the main temple (which serves as a massive calendar), and we never once felt crowded. The site itself is much larger than I realized, and we walked for hours to see it all. We debated hiring a guide to show us around. I'm sure we would have had a great experience and left with far more knowledge of the place than we have now, but our conscience simply wouldn't allow it. We're already staying in a hotel instead of a hostel and eating three decent meals a day in lieu of stuffing our pockets at breakfast. If we had a guide, we'd have no remaining reason to think we're somehow superior to all the other crummy tourists! That does make sense, right? Right?

The sun was high and intense, but a constant breeze and rolling clouds kept it from getting too hot to bear. When the clouds did pass, the sky turned a deep azure that contrasted exquisitely with the green earth. I have the (four thousand) pictures to prove it :) The ball court was probably the most interesting thing we saw. It is hundreds of feet long and yet two people can easily talk to each other from opposite ends. A clap will echo exactly seven times, and scientists still don't understand the acoustics! Every facade is beautifully carved, and I can only imagine the splendor of this place when everything was fresh and painted. A large cenote nearby glowed green. There's a sixty foot drop from the ground to the milky pool, and the Mayans used to chuck people into it as sacrifices. I always think of Aztecs when I think human sacrifice, but the carvings all around Chichen Itza prove that the Maya were just as messed up as anybody else!

Right about the time we had seen everything was when the tour bus crowds started to pile in. The whole site had transformed from a quiet, awe-inspiring archaeological gem to a bustling horde of merchants and bright-red white people. That was our cue to leave, and we quietly retreated out the back to our outrageously convenient hotel. There aren't many restaurants in town so we drove to the only one with a decent reviews, ate a delicious lunch that wound up costing us a whopping $13, and then headed back for an excessively long nap.

By the time we woke up it we were ready to eat again, so we went straight back to the same restaurant and started over. Vacations are hard! Haha Brittany loves the spicy salsa they bring to the table, even though it's so spicy it hurts. She would literally take a bite, say how painfully hot it was, then stare at the salsa for a while before inevitably eating more of it. It was as if she said in her mind, "Don't eat that, it's hot. But I want it. But it's hot. Maybe it won't be too hot this time" Nomnomnom. Ahh, the genius I've married! It was quite entertaining to watch.

A night-time laser show at the ruins was included with our ticket and I was hoping to get there early enough to see the sun set. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us in until after dark so we had to stand around for over half an hour. On the plus side we met a Belgian couple and had a great time talking to them while we waited. They've spent the last three weeks touring Mexico and gave us some exciting tips about things to see and do.

When the gates finally opened at 8pm a group of around one hundred people walked the short distance to El Castillo. There were rows of folding chairs set up and we sat in growing anticipation as bright lights changed the temple from blue to red to green. I really had no idea of what to expect, but we were in for some Disney-quality special effects! Lasers from behind us projected incredible images onto the temple. There was a long story that played along with it but, not speaking a lick of Spanish, we have absolutely no idea what it was about. Seeing the ruins at night was special on its own because the stars are far brighter and more numerous than they appear at home. Throw in the laser thing and the fact that it was pretty much free, and we had an awesome time! We talked to our new Belgian friends for a while in the parking lot and then made the five minute drive to the hotel. Tomorrow we head to the house we rented in Merida. It's supposed to be even hotter there, so it's a good thing the house has a pool!