Winter Sun

In January, I decided that I needed to get out of the cold and away from work for while. So a couple of friends and I headed to Cancun for five days. We stayed in a brand new, all-inclusive hotel. It was so new that they were still painting the walls in the hall outside of our room and the front desk wasn't finished. Though the accomodations were interesting and it wasn't the warm paradise we were hoping for, it was lots of fun.

During our stay, we took two excursions away from Cancun -- my favorite part.


Each of the excursions involved very long bus rides. This is Jenny and I getting ready for a three hour ride in our comfy tour bus.




Our first excursion was to Chichen Itza. This is El Castillo, the main pyramid, which is situated in the center of a large complex of buildings and acts as a very sophisticated sun dial.


Patrice, Jenny, and I in front of the East steps of El Castillo. If you clap while standing dead center in front of the steps, the echo comes back as the sound of a quetzl bird.


Me, standing in front of the observatory.


One of my favorite places in Chichen Itza is the Plaza of a Thousand Columns. The columns represent warriors, which are arranged in rows around a small pyramid. When you go behind the pyramid, the columns just seem to stretch on forever.


We took our second excursion out to Xel-Ha, an ecological water park formed where a river joins the Carribean Sea.



Although it was a little cool, we took a bike ride, floated in an inner tube, did some snorkeling, and relaxed for a few mintues in a hammock.

Sunday morning we went to church, which was absolutely fabulous! The ward was very friendly and welcoming, and I actually understood the majority of the meeting.


We spent the rest of our vacation on the beach. We found this shady spot so that it would be peaceful.

It was very hard to come back to the cold weather and the caos at work, so I am just going to have to plan another vacation.

Sarah