Today we head to Chichen Itza. I might expect have awakened early-ish on my own since I am excited about seeing these ruins but the public address system was blaring all too early. The first time I looked at the clock it was 7:33am and I was already annoyed. When we spoke with Jose, the main guy in the hotel, he explained that this is how local townspeople spread the word that they are roasting a pig. I've never crashed a pig-roast... hmmm.
The shower head in our room came unglued this morning when Justin was showering. We told the staff that it needed attention as we were leaving. They got right on it fortunately, maybe... As we were backing out of the parking lot, I looked up to see Gemma walking down the stairs taking herself for a walk. Justin said he hadn't seen me move that fast in quite a while. After I got Gemma back in the hotel room and settled (it is entirely too hot to leave her in the car) I asked the hotel to delay in fixing the shower and there was no need to clean. They offered to move us to another room but we just went two doors down to take showers rather than move all our stuff.
Chichen Itza, like Celestun, was on our list very early on of places to go in the Yucatan. It did not disappoint. I had downloaded a walking tour so we went that route, spending $1.99 for the app rather than $40 for the guide. Of course, because we could travel on our own schedule, it also meant we spent close to four hours there rather than the 1 1/2 to 2 hours that is typical. Justin and I tend to look at every detail and we need to read every sign. To think that over 50,000 people lived here from about 900 to 1200 AD is truly amazing. I was awestruck with the pyramid and we've heard a lot about the Maya advances with astronomy so I wasn't surprised with the observatory. I was prompted to smirk just a bit when I learned that despite the Roman's claim to holding the corner on the market on road building in the ancient world, the Maya's built a road from Merida to Puerto Morelos, about 186 miles. Wonder how long that journey took? It couldn't have taken as long as it takes to get from Yokosuka to Yokota today -- that is only about 50 miles and it takes over three hours -- by car! 
There were a dozen ooh-ahh moments for me, but perhaps the next highlight for the day was the cenotes. These waterholes are the only access points to the underground river system in the Yucatan. The cenote at Chichen Itza is considered sacred and like many others you can't swim there. (These are the areas only source of fresh water.) After leaving the grounds we went to Cenote IK KIL which is on the grounds of a hotel and you can swim there. It was a bit too commercialized for us so we will continue to look for one where we can take a plunge.
Back in town at Kaua, we explored around town a bit. A motorcycle bumped into us as we were turning right into our parking lot and left a long scratch/dent down the side of the car. The guy kinda chuckled and drove off. I guess he was ok. We found a local restaurant for dinner that served only Poc-Chuc (roast pork). Justin had had this dish for dinner last night but this was so much better.
We left San Miguel de Allende one month ago today on 27 January. That really means we have about one month left before we need to be back in Austin for blue bonnets. Dellene and Lisa are serving as eyes on the ground (and Facebook) to make sure we get there in time. Justin and I both find that we think often about the new property on the bay and we talk about our plans for refurbishing often. I sure don't want to wish my life away because, as much as I am looking forward to bluebonnets and to making our new house our home, it is too nice here not to enjoy each moment.
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