Furnishings

 Basement back bedroom

 Basement middle bedroom

 Kitchen table and chairs

 Basement livingroom

 Upstairs livingroom

 Upstairs table and chairs

We had a big down pour of rain and then hail started falling. We had a flood watch for a few hours and some houses in the area had mud and water in their basements. It lasted a few hours and was fun to watch.

Tulum

 Sunday we went to church at Tulum Ward. they had about 70 local people and 3 visiring families.We were surprised at the amount of youth they had; it was great. They had just had a youth conference, called A Day of Nefi, and they talked about how wonderful it was.

 We went to the Tulum ruins; Tulum means wall.

 Part of the Great Palace. Inside the great Palace, it looks like a baptismal font.

 The back of the castle, right by the sea.

 God of the Winds Temple.

 Taking a rest on some ruins.

 Over looking the central yard. It was very green and beautiful, more like a garden than a jungle.

 The Great Palace.

 There are 3 iguanas behind me, we saw them all over the place here.

Leaving the ruins through the arch in the wall that surrounds it. On each corner of the wall there is a watch tower.

Coba and Gran Cenote

 We drove out to Coba, about an hour and a half from where we were staying.

 We rented bicycles to ride through the jungle. It was very beutiful riding under the canopy of trees with the wind blowing in your face to help cool us off.

 Carved stellae that they had under thatched huts to protect them from the weather.This is one of many.

 3 level temple.

 One of the arches

 Standing in front of the arch.

 On the stairs of one of the temples.

 A small ball court.

 Nohuch Mul pyramid or Gpyramid. It has 120 steps and is 126 feet tall. At the top of the pyramid the building has 2 small carvings known as the descending God.

 A view from the top. It was so beautiful up there. You look out at a canopy of green trees and can see the peak of a building in the middle of it.

 Coming down the steps.

 We were all hot and sweaty and went to the Gran Cenote, which is pretty close to Coba. It was very cool water and clear and pretty shallow caompared to most of the other cenotes.

 The tree roots came through the rocks trying to find water. Really pretty place!

Swimming to another part of the cenote. There were a lot of box type turtles we saw as we got out.

Valladolid and Ik Kil Cenote

The central market of Valladolid, a cute town outside of Chichen Itza. We ate a lot of fresh fruits and a tostada made of bean tortillas. So Good!

The Ik Kil Cenote is about 80 feet deep from the top of the water to the bottom.

 We are on top of the stairs waiting our turn to jump in.

 There we go!

 In the cenote, it was very cool and crowded but was a neat experience.

We ate at a buffet afterwards and ended with a delicious flan.

Chichen Itza

 Our guide, Helaman, took us to Chichen Itza. It means; at the mouth of the well of Itza. His tour began in the van, on the way he told us many things about the Mayan people, myths, words, and some of their history.

 This is the biggest temple in Mexico, it is called the Castillo or castle. There are 365 steps and on the solstices, September and March,  they say you can see the feathered serpents on the stairs light up with the sun. Helaman said the day you see all of the serpents backs is April 6th. Pretty cool!

 The biggest ball court, probably like our super bowl, it was a biggie. 7 each on a team and the captain of the winning team gets beheaded and they feel it is an honor. This is inside the inner wall so it would be like dying in the temple.

 The observatory has 6 windows and the sun goes through them at the solstic times also.

 The side of the observatory, the section in front is the priest's house, it has 3 rooms like the temples did. Outer courtyard, inner courtyard, and Holy of Holies.

Temple of a thousand Warriors, you can see Chac Mool on top in the center.

They had human sacrifices where they took the heart out and placed it on the plate that is on the reclining God's hands. Representing giving a broken heart to the Lord. They had the idea, just the wrong approach.

 This could have been a baptismal font. It has 3 steps down and a round shallow well.

Part of  Las Monjas, the nunnery; this is one of the buildings, the church or Iglesia. On the top right corner you can see the nose of the Rain God that kind of looks like an elephant. They built them that way because the rain comes down and makes things grow up. It was also a sign of fertility. On the building behind us were a total of 13 faces of Cha'ak, the rain god,carved into the stone.

LeavingChichen Itza we took one more picture of the Castillo. Loved this tour!