Next, we stopped for lunch at one of the hundreds of cenotes in the Yucatan. Cenotes are sink holes in the porous limestone of the area. They fill with water and with no natural in or out flows, they remain amazingly clear. Some have underwater caves that go on for miles. I took the plunge into one, the Santa Cruz Cenote, and swum around diving down to look into the cracks and crevasses of the unique underwater formations.

After the dip in the cool water, we continued on to Coba, a city of ruins with one of the tallest Mayan pyramids on the peninsula. It is on a lake and spread over several acres. We walked through the jungle past an ancient "arena" in which some strange game was played involving throwing balls through a stone hoop (the original basketball?) and then to the foot of the 100+ foot pyramid. After a slightly strenuous climb to the top (not for those afraid of heights), I was rewarded with views for miles above the trees in every direction.

The long day ended with a trip back to the resort, taking turns dropping off the fellow travelers from Mexico, Spain, England, and California.