Christmas Vacation 2014

Jim and Alonda went to visit Alonda's family in Ft Worth, Texas. Here is Alonda and her two sisters in a giant snow globe. The snow is fake.

A fun Christmas side trip is to visit the model train exhibit at the local mall. There were a LOT of trains and kids there.

Wanting a warmer climate (Ft Worth weather was exactly the same as Seattle), we went down to Cancun, Mexico.  When you visit this part of Mexico, you have to go see the Mayan ruins. The bus stopped a few times en route. This was a very nice Catholic church in Valladalid.

This is Chichén Itzá. This is possibly the best know of the Mayan remains. When it was originally discovered, it was half tumbled down and covered with vines, brush and trees. What this means is that it has been rebuilt. This is NOT what it actually used to look like. They are still arguing over whether it was painted or otherwise decorated. The guides will also tell you that they don't know how much of the area still has undiscovered ruins on it and then will tell you they have uncovered 6% of the total ruins left by the Mayans.

This is a sinkhole. The entire Yucatan peninsula is undermined with underground rivers. The rock is limestone and the water has worn rivers through it. The Mayans would pull up water from underground. Without this water, the entire area would simply be a desert. We did not go swimming in the sinkhole. It looked like fun, but it had been a long day on the bus ...

This is a ray at the Cancun Aquarium.

 This is Alonda touching the ray.

This was the "pirate ship" sailing by an Italian Restaurant where we ate. It has a "Mystery Dinner Theater" on board as they sail along the beach hotels.

We took this selfie out on the Isla Mujeres near Cancun. We took a tourist cruise out for the day. The boat was crammed with Mexicans on holiday and a few token Koreans and us.

 Here is the sunset on the last evening we spent in Mexico. We had a very nice time!