Sin City Sinners

Well…we made it up to Las Vegas without much drama.

Of course, along the way, something had to blow up, fall apart, or be rendered inoperative with the motorhome because, well…it’s an RV! Accordingly, about 3 hours out of Murrieta, the convex mirror portion of my driver’s side rear-view mirror fell off. I actually saw it start to wobble, and was remarking about it to Charlie when it completely came unglued and left the rig. It’s not a big thing, because I can drive the RV safely without it, but I’d rather have it to help out seeing the guys on the left who are about to pass me.

It is a part that probably costs $5 to make, but, because it is original equipment on an expensive RV, will probably cost me $200 to replace. New shoes for some mechanic’s kid over at Temecula Valley RV…just sayin’.

We are currently residing at the Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort, a fancy own-your-own-lot RV resort. It is very similar to the one in Aguanga, minus the executive golf course. Charlie and I really like that one, but your rig has to be less than ten years old to qualify you to buy a lot there. Unfortunately, we have a 2005 Monaco Windsor…a very spiffy one…but, at Aguanga, it’s no dice. Here in Vegas,  they’ve shit-canned that rule and have a committee that makes the decision whether a Class A motorhome is WORTHY. Ours would qualify, we are told.

Anyway, the Vegas facility is every bit as nice as the resort in Aguanga, maybe better. The lots vary in size, as do the improvements that owners have made to the spaces. The majority of improvements here tend to be of the “thatched-roof” variety, although there are quite a number of stucco-and-tile structures. The improvements usually consist of fancy cobbled driveways, executive BBQ set-ups, bars, and maybe an outdoor family room with giant screen TV. People (old rich ones!) are here for the good life…Some of the fanciest improved lots are “for sale”, asking prices in the $250-$300K range.

(I believe that they only allow Class A motorhomes in here, as opposed to the “5th Wheel” trailers that are commonplace at Aguanga.)

Here are some examples of the improved spaces:

This is the space that we are staying in, with palapas, cobbled driveway, and a major-league barbeque.

We’ve talked about buying a lot here, although there’s a few things that would have to happen first (like, first, sell our Murrieta house!). But, we’re interested in something like this for the long haul; if not here, maybe in Palm Springs or Arizona? Anyway, we’d probably get one of the unimproved spaces and do our own thing as far as improvements are concerned. There is a pretty good inventory of basic spaces here, and the asking price is about $70K, although one could probably pick one up for $60K. Here are a few:

If we were to buy a lot here, that would be our non-“Summer” home; i.e. we would travel in the Summer (when it’s hotter than Hades here!), and retreat to this location for the rest of the year. The weather’s actually better in Southern California, but it’s too expensive there, and those snobs at Aguanga won’t have us.

Yesterday, Charlie got her big chance to get a permanent tattoo. She has been itching to do so for the past couple of years, after enjoying henna tattoos at the beach in Mexico. So, we drove over to a local, highly-rated parlor and did the sinful (?) deed. (Hey, you only live once, right?)

Charlie’s tattoo artist was named Julia Steele…a very nice, young gal who was an art student before committing to the tattoo business a couple of years ago. She and her boyfriend Lev are planning to move to So Cal by the end of the year. Here she is:

She has a shaved head because she was involved in a fund raiser for cancer victims and decided to go bald in solidarity with the patients.

Anyway, she did exactly what Charlie wanted, and in an hour or so put a nice ring of dog prints around Charlie’s ankle.

As long as we were there…I decided to modify my Booger and JayJay tat, by including Baby. I came up with an idea of including the previous tattoo in a “thought bubble”, as if Baby was thinking about her best buddies. This will be the case in several years, when Booger and JayJay are not around to play with her (sigh!). Anyway, here’s the modified tat that my new friend Julia etched on my left shoulder:

What a waste, you might say. Well, if I’d gone to a local casino, and blown $250, I would have nothing to show for it…right? So, actually, I was a genius for thinking of this excellent way to spend my money. (I hope I don’t go to Hell for disfiguring my body…again!)

Speaking of the dogs, they are all doing great, including Baby, who has really taken to the RV life. She has yet to poo in the rig…knock on wood!

It’s a spacious RV with plenty of room for everyone, even when Charlie is working at the desk, helping out some businessman hundreds of miles away.

By the way, today was an interesting one for the reason that there was a “police action” going on nearby for several hours, with a hostage team specialist on a bullhorn trying to talk a guy out of a house…for hours. We could hear the whole thing quite clearly outside of the rig. I don’t know what finally happened, because I had some errands to run, but the police gave that stupid perp every opportunity in the world to exit the premises unharmed. If he eventually got shot up, it was his dumbass attitude that did it, because the hostage team leader guy was begging him, for hours, to please exit peacefully so that the SWAT team didn’t hurt him, his dog, or his family’s home. Criminals…go figure!

On to more pleasant news…

Tomorrow, JayJay and I will accompany the girls up to Grand Canyon Village, where we will set up camp for a week. I’m praying (even though I’m not a religious guy) that the Verizon service, hence our WiFi hotspot, is strong, otherwise we may have to skeedaddle away from there and miss out on some great views, hiking, and night skies. Keeping fingers and toes crossed…

And, hopefully, as we drive four hours over to the Great Abyss, nothing else will fall off the motorhome…

Cartoonapalooza

It must be great to be a political cartoonist at this very moment in history. Every day, the Trump Administration and/or the GOP provides more material to be ridiculed and poked fun at.

The past week has brought us a grab bag of Trumpian incidents and Republican Party nightmares: the Obamacare repeal/replacement bill; Trump’s proposed budget; more loony “business-friendly” proposals; the Middle East trip; and, the various investigations into peculiar election/Trump Administration happenings.

The proposed “health care” bill being sheepishly forwarded by the GOP has been lampooned as mean-spirited.

Trump campaigned about “draining the swamp” in Washington D.C.

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

The Trump budget proposal has been universally panned as another GOP money grab for the 1 percent of Americans  who already have everything they need.

In years past, Republican bean counters would rail against any type of budget proposal (Democratic, of course) that wasn’t balanced or would increase the Federal deficit. Now that the GOP controls both the Senate and the House of Representatives, plus the Presidency, those budget rules are, evidently, no longer germane to the discussion.  Trump’s budget proposal would add trillions to the deficit and push the problem down the line to my great grandchildren. No one, not even Republicans, is defending the sketchy mathematics that Trump’s Budget Director is trying to sell.

Day by day, proposals are emanating from Washington D.C. to privatize the nation’s infrastructure, auction off our Strategic Oil Reserve, and liquidate Federal real estate assets.

 

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

President Trump’s efforts to short-circuit investigations into Kremlingate, the appointment of NSA Director Flynn, or the firing of FBI Director Comey have received close scrutiny.

It’s been a quiet week in terms of Presidential tweets, probably because the Prez has been traveling overseas, meeting diplomats, and working to apologize to the many dignitaries that he has personally insulted and offended during the past six months or so.

 

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

The Commander-in-Chief was, as usual, direct and to the point when he commented on the terrorist bombing of a concert in Manchester, England. For a guy who got all worked up when President Obama wouldn’t use the words “radical Islamic terrorist” to describe the perpetrators of such an attack, Trump simply let the offender(s) off the hook by calling them “losers”, thereby lumping terrorists into the same category as the Press, Hillary Clinton, and Arnold Schwartzeneggar.

We can probably expect more tweeting this coming week, as Mr. Trump will be anxious to let his fans know what he really thinks.

One wonders what Donald Trump was really thinking when he visited the Middle East. Especially after his wife Melania slapped his hand on the tarmac.

I’m sure he had a bit of Wall Envy in Jerusalem, although he’d never admit it.

More realistically, what was really on his mind…

There is now an Impeachment-o-Meter on a prominent website, similar to the Doomsday Clock, counting down the days of the Trump Presidency. One wonders how much longer it will be until his own party pulls the ripcord…

 

 

 

Almost There

It’s May 25th, only four days until we hightail it out of town to begin the 2017 Road Trip.

I sold my Hyundai Veloster yesterday; it was nice to get that item off the checklist. I really loved driving that car, especially of the highways and byways of America. But, Charlie  wanted a tow car for the rig that she felt comfortable driving, so we added a Jeep and subtracted a Hyundai. Simple as that, and now we are a one-car family.

Another item on the checklist was organizing things for the Richard and Barbara Manning Trust. I won’t be around for awhile, and there are important matters to attend to. My son Tim is going to work with Terry and my sisters in my absence to execute pertinent aspects of the Trust. I think my Mom would be proud if she could see how well the four of us siblings are handling this difficult time, working to make sure that she is well taken care of. I will not be seeing her for several months, but I’m sure that Claudia and Ted will keep her well-supplied with goodies.

My bowling league ended today with a thud. It was the big sweepstakes event, and I was hoping to revisit one of my greatest performances (when I bowled a 734 scratch several years ago and won $750). But, alas, I bowled crappy, and will have to wait until September to figure out a solution to my poor technique.

Little Baby, our runt Boston Terrier, is pretty much taking over the house. She’s got Booger and JayJay playing her games and submitting to her hijinks. She’s not quite 100 percent house-trained yet, but we think that living in close quarters (in the RV) will be good for her and she’ll be able to develop a routine of “going outside” with the other dogs on frequent walks. At least, that’s the hope.

Speaking of the RV, all of the work on it is complete, it is looking and operating perfectly, and we’ve begun to load it up for the trip. On Saturday, we will bring it over to Bear Creek for two days, so that we can pack in all of the goodies and provisions, and clean it up for the trip. On Monday morning, probably before 10 a.m., we will head up I-15 to Las Vegas, where we will stay for three nights.

It will be a relief to get out of Dodge. Every time we get ready to go on a trip, Charlie’s clients seem to come out of the woodwork, tasking her with all manner of goofy “priority” jobs that drive her to distraction. She’s about ready to burst a vein right now; lots of four-letter words can be heard around the house from sunup to sundown. She really needs a vacation!

And, a tattoo. Charlie is talking about making permanent a “dog steps” henna tattoo that she got down in Cancun. It is inscribed on one of her ankles.

She wants the same concept with the ring of footprints wrapping all of the way around the ankle. It should be an easy 1-hour tat, in black…a piece of cake, for any self-respecting artist.

I may get my Boston Terrier tat modified at the same time, if Charlie follows through with her proposed job. I’ve had the following tattoo for a number of years; it’s Booger and JayJay in a playful setting.

I am considering adding Baby to the mix, but I will have to come up with some design that doesn’t look too busy. Maybe she can be thinking about them?

We will look for the tattoo parlor in Las Vegas where I got this tattoo several years ago for Valentine’s Day.

(Gee, you’d think that I’m a tatted up old biker or druggie, but those are the only tats that I have, on my shoulders, where they can’t be seen unless I’m at the beach or wearing a tank top. Not exactly a Hell Raiser.)

We will be leaving our Bear Creek home unoccupied for a number of months, but will be pleased to do so. Our nosy, A-hole of a neighbor, who has infected our cul-de-sac with mean-spiritness, has just been elected to the Master HOA Board of Directors. So, we can anticipate more trouble, as her ego will be super inflated, and she will have an even higher level of entitlement and power to do evil. Hopefully, she will take ill while we are away, or will be done in by someone in the community who hates her more than we do.

Or, even better, housing prices will skyrocket over the next five months, and we will be able to sell our condo and move, permanently, into our “tiny house”. We’re most happy in there!

More to follow…

 

 

 

 

 

The Keystone Cops, Revisited

Our little puppy dog, Baby, backslid this week. She crapped and peed in the house a few times, and might have even eaten one of her poops. Not a good showing, considering that she just turned 6 months of age.

But, still, she had a better week than Donald Trump.

The fumbling, bumbling, stumbling Presidency careened into its 4th month, without much prospect of righting itself. It’s like the old Abbott and Costello gag…”Who’s on First?”…or, like the Keystone Cops running around, crashing into things, falling all over each other, making a mess of things. WTF!

This seems to be an Administration who’s motto is “Ready! Fire! Aim!”, with off-the-cuff ideas flowing down from Mount Trump, his subordinates trying mightily to understand on-the-fly, curious policy is implemented, and, then…the President changes direction, or claims that he never said something…and his staff has to re-explain things to the public/media or claim that the Prez was misquoted, etc., to cover-up the kerfluffle.

After getting his well-deserved public wedgie by the Press, Mr. Trump will then tweet his standard “Fake news!” summation of the events and whine about some “second-rate” or “failing” newspaper that has it in for him.

The worst job in the Trump Administration has to be explaining to the press exactly what The Boss means, whether it be teasing out some rational policy from hastily-thrown-together bullet points, or rationalizing a tweet that the President sent out at 3 a.m. while watching Fox News. There’s no “winning” involved, because the Press and the public are by now attuned to the lying coverups, and the President has a habit of reversing course the next day or claiming that he never said what he said (publicly). White House credibility is south of zero, and Trump has only been in office a little over three months. Press Secretary Spicer must not sleep at night.

The embarrassment of public officials in Washington D.C., both in the Administration and within the Republican Party, has led to a deluge of leaks, which has kept the pot boiling and pissed off the President. New scandalous stories are breaking each day. The Prez brushes them off with the “Fake News!” retort…until either his minions or The Boss himself has to correct the White House spin later in the week.

The White House Press Secretary tossed out a new threat this week…to do away with all press conferences, because The Media wasn’t being fair to Mr. Trump. This is probably where things will end up, as Donald Trump has made the Press to be the villain and “the enemy” ever since he hit the campaign trail back in 2016. It’s no wonder that journalists are now seeking his scalp.

Perhaps the White House press briefings should be curtailed, as they have turned into charades and comedies in the past months, with no factual information being disseminated. Poor Press Secretary Spicer…he looks like a deer in the headlights, a hapless contestant on Amateur Hour. I wouldn’t want his job.

This week brought us the James Comey firing. The President pulled the rug out from under the F.B.I. Director who, months before, was, seemingly, his best friend. (And, for good reason…Comey torpedoed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.) But, in Washington, D.C., it’s a case of “What have you done for me lately?”

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

Mr. Comey, if you didn’t know, is the guy who is responsible with investigating all of the Kremlingate issues…i.e. the idea that Russia interfered with the 2016 elections, and the cozy relationships that many Trump associates had with the Russians during this time. The stench of this story seems to grow by the week, infuriating, it seems, President Trump. High-level government officials are now testifying before Congress about the curious behavior, and, evidently, Mr. Trump had expected his F.B.I. Director to sidetrack said inquiries. When that didn’t happen, Mr. Comey was shown the door. “You’re fired!”

It all seems so eerily Nixonian, with that pungent aroma of the Saturday Night Massacre, where the President attempted to clean house at the Justice Department of anyone who wouldn’t quash the investigation of the Watergate cover-up. Nixon was impeached for that stunt. Not to be outdone, in just three months, President Trump has shown the door to three career public officials who wouldn’t kowtow to his wishes: Comey, for not derailing the Kremlingate investigation; Sally Yates, who was Acting Attorney General of the United States at the time, for not backing his (illegal) immigration Executive Order; and, Preet Bharara, U. S. Attorney for the Southern District, for vigorously enforcing Wall Street regulations.

We seem to have a problem on our hands with Donald Trump. He is proving to be the anti-patriot: rather than love of country motivating his actions, it is love of himself. He seems to despise the system of government that he has chosen to run, where there are constitutional checks and balances to ensure that democracy works properly. He abhors the transparency that a free press provides to the public, so that the public can understand what is being done by its elected officials, and why. He seems to value loyalty to himself above the rule of law. He flaunts his disrespect of the customs and traditions of the Presidency, by hiding his financial interests, hiring relatives, and taking actions which appear to promote Trump Industries. And, he acts like a spoiled child, throwing tantrums when he doesn’t get his way. Evidently, he thinks that he has been elected Emperor, not President.

Mr. Trump seems to have forgotten how much fun he was having when Congress was investigating the phony Obama “birther” issues that Trump raised, or how gleefully he and the GOP raked Hillary Clinton over the coals with the Benghazi investigation.

Oh, yes, and then there was the big campaign issue of Hillary Clinton’s email server, and the possibility that top secret information might have found its way into our enemies’ hands. That brouhaha was mentioned at every Trump stump speech. However, months later (this week, actually), President Trump blurted out some top secret information when hosting some Russian diplomats and spies. No problem, according to the Prez, and any account to the contrary is “Fake News!”.

Shooting one’s mouth off without thinking, or tweeting in anger, when you’re the President of the United States, is a dangerous way to conduct the public’s business.

Public policy becomes unclear, new enemies can be made, and old enemies are given a means to undermine and humiliate our country. Issuing retractions, spinning a new version of what was said, or claiming that something already in the public record…never happened!…well, these things are very un-statesmanlike.

Our leader doesn’t seem to understand, or appreciate, that government is a deliberative institution. Public policy is developed incrementally, after much thought, with input from many sources, both public and private, which much thought given to immediate and long-term impacts. Extensive hearings, debate, and soul-searching go into the development or modification of our laws. The process might get ugly, but at least the debate is out in the open. Our democratic system of government “corrects” for abuses and mistakes via frequent elections.

When someone such as Donald Trump puts out a “tax plan” which consists of bullet points on a single piece of paper, insults the integrity of the Federal bench, or tweets out an intention to ban Muslims from entering the United States, he disrespects the deliberative processes that make democracy work. Government is not impulsive: too many things are at stake.

Despite his incorrect assertion that his election win was of historic proportions (he’s called it a “landslide”), the fact of the matter is that most American citizens who could have voted in the 2016 election didn’t vote for Donald Trump. He didn’t even win the popular vote; Clinton beat him by 3 million votes. But, more importantly, about 90 million eligible adults didn’t vote at all. So, going in to his Presidency, Donald Trump had the electoral support of less than 30 percent of adult Americans. This was no “mandate for change”, and his approval ratings have been no higher than 40 percent since he took office.

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

The upshot of this situation is that President Trump should be working hard to bring the country together, to bolster his support. He should be contemplative, serious, deliberative, respectful, and working to mend fences. In short, he needs to act like an adult, not a whining, bullying, thoughtless, narcissistic child.

In one of his most thoughtless, everyone-is-picking-on-me statements of the young Trump Presidency, the Commander in Chief, speaking at the Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremonies this week, publicly said: “No politician in history…has been treated worse or more unfairly!” Uh, wait a minute, Mr. President…how about Julius Caesar, who was stabbed to death? Or, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Ghandi, and Anwar Sadat, who were shot to death?

Or, how about the fact that the U.S. media gave Donald Trump a free ride through the Presidential primaries, heaping upon him all manner of free publicity, while his opponents had to pay for their air time? That doesn’t seem like mistreatment; he must have forgotten about that.

What has been happening, unfortunately, is that he has realized that this job of being The Leader of the Free World is a tough one, something that he wasn’t really prepared for. The President is having to learn the job on the fly, and he is having a difficult time doing that because he is impulsive and thinks he knows more than he actually does.

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

It will be interesting to see how long the Republican Party will put up with this rank amateur. There will be Congressional elections in 2018, and the GOP will not want to campaign with an unpopular President in their camp. Heads could roll.

 

Postcards from Cancun

The hotel where we are staying the week is now called The Royal Cancun. It is a classy place in every sense of the word and is one of three Royal resorts on the Cancun strip. Our two-bedroom suite cost us $190 per night, which is a very good rate, probably due to the current exchange rate: 18 pesos to the dollar!

This resort was originally named the Club Internationale de Cancun, and, according to the literature, was the first resort built on the Cancun hotel row and was also the first timeshare in Mexico. It was built back in 1977 by Americans, with the cooperation of the Mexican government. The hotel strip was originally a 50′ wide sandbar roughly 15 miles long. It was widened to 250′, and now contains many huge resort hotels, restaurants, shopping areas, and a marina or two. In some parts, where there are a bunch of big nightclubs, it resembles “hip” portions of the Las Vegas strip, Mexican-style.

There is a rumor that Jeff and Carol got shitfaced one night in this district many years ago, but that is a story for another time…On this trip, all four of us opted to avoid the mayhem and get shitfaced back at the hotel room.

In the midst of the strip, there is a very tall flagpole with a HUGE Mexican flag. It’s got to be 50’x100′; the biggest flag that I’ve ever seen flying.

Our fine in-house taxi driver (my son) has taken us on some wild rides through town during our stay here. It’s a good thing that we have GPS navigation in our cell phones, because the street layouts are goofy, there are many one-way streets, and, let’s be honest, we don’t have the slightest idea where we’re going.

Warning to visitors: If you’re ever driving down here, be on the lookout for the “topes”. They are large speed bumps, and the fucking Mexicans put them in the most unexpected places…like on a highway with a 45 mph speed limit. If you don’t see one coming, the impact will catapult you into the car roof. Ay, Chihuahua!

We navigated our way through the topes, the one-ways, and the loco taxi drivers to the supermercado one day. It was like a Wal Mart, and we stocked up with essentials, munchies, booze, etc.

Yeah, it looks like a plain old American market, right? But, take a look at the bag “boys”…they’re old geezers like me. What gives?

We went to a highly-rated restaurant/bar one night because of a nice review on Trip Advisor. The place was called “Nomads”, and was pretty slick inside. Like all Mexican bars, this place starts hopping at about 11 p.m.

The table service was crappy (note: we were early, and I think the management was trying out some rookie help at our table), but the food was very good. I had a Rib Eye steak, and it was the best I’ve ever eaten; it tasted like Filet Mignon. We’ve traveled all over Mexico, and there’s an old saying, “Never order the beef.” Well, someone didn’t tell the cook at Nomads. Three cheers for Mexico!!!

The girls posed outside in front of the restaurant with Mr. Rubber Ducky.

Last night, a storm blew in from the ocean, and it poured for a couple of hours. The rain came down in sheets and filled the swimming pool to the brim. It rained again in the morning when I was taking this photo.

Today was Charlie’s “date day”. I took her to a large mall which is located several miles from our hotel on the strip. In many respects it looked like an American mall, with many familiar names. But, it also had a number of International company names unfamiliar to us, and an entire upscale wing for the jet-setting rich folks who frequent Cancun.

We stuck to the redneck area…

…where Fonzie’s shark got us.

After buying a few non-essential items, we decided to have lunch at the Tacogrill alongside the marina.

We ordered Margaritas, chips and guacamole, lobster tacos, and a flank steak burrito…way more food than we actually needed. But, what the Hell…we’re on vacation!

While we were there, Charlie showed me her dog print tattoo that she got at the beach.

There was a pizzeria next to our restaurant, right adjacent to the lagoon. Evidently, there are alligators in these lagoons, so the management placed a sign next to the tables to discourage feeding.

Our pre-vacation (i.e. the RV trip begins May 29) in Mexico ends tomorrow, when we fly back to Southern California. The trip down here on United was extremely cramped, so, at Charlie’s suggestion and urging, I upgraded the return seats to First Class. (It was actually no big deal, as the net cost to us was only about $150. I wish I had thought of it!)

Hopefully, our Uber driver Chris will be waiting for us when we hit LAX.

“Welcome Back to the Estados Unidos!”

 

 

 

 

Tastes Like Chichen, Amigo

Just before 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Jeff, Carol and I (Charlie didn’t want to slow us down) headed to the Mayaland Hotel private entrance to the archaeological site. Our plan was to thoroughly examine the national park before the hordes of tourists began arriving at 10 a.m.

Just to let us know that we were not still in America, the Mexican bureaucracy held up its hands and said, “Not so quick, hombres!” At the park gate, there was a very small thatched hut. Inside the cramped space was a counter with a guy selling admission tickets. It cost 70 pesos (about $4). No problema.

But, there was another spot next to him, three feet away, currently vacant, where the OTHER ticket seller was supposed to be. Say what?! Believe it or not, you had to buy two admission tickets: one State (his) and one Federal, to enter the park. The Federal seller hadn’t shown up yet, so everyone had to wait until she and her watcher (nobody trusts nobody down here?) showed up. A highly annoyed crowd had formed by now, and we were all exasperated until she finally arrived, and then proceeded to take another five minutes setting up her ticket machine and getting her cash drawer ready. Finally, we got to the front of the line and paid for our Federal admission ticket (172 pesos, about $10).

Triumphantly clutching our tickets, we walked out of the hut toward the gate, only to be greeted by…you guessed it…a State and a Federal ticket taker, who each had to validate our ducats! The Mexican full employment program in action…

I guess the moral of this story is that the State and Federal government folks don’t trust each other very much down here in Ol’ Mexico! Ay, Chihuahua!!

The archaeological park contain about 15 square kilometers. Within it are the remains/ruins of a Mayan culture that thrived between 600 and 1500 A.D. (when the Spanish conquistadors arrived). At that time, most of the indigenous population was shipped north to work in the silver mines, and the city of Chichen Itza was reclaimed by the tropical rainforest. It was not “discovered” again until about 1842, when another bunch of white folks came to the area with picks, shovels and machetes and began the task of uncovering the Mayan structures.

Our group headed into the middle of the park to see the centerpiece structure, the Pyramid of Kukulcan. It is 24 meters tall, each side is 55 meters, and there are stairs on each side (very steep) with 91 steps to the top (representing the number of days between the four seasonal solstices).

“Kukulcan” means feathered serpent. At the bottom of the steps, there are snake heads, so that the entire staircase looks like a snake, with its tail at the top of the pyramid.

Unlike the 82 meter Temple of the Sun in Teotihuacan (near Mexico City) which I’ve climbed, this pyramid is cordoned off…no climbers allowed! It’s probably best, though, because the staircase is extremely steep, and a clumsy hiker could easily fall and break his neck.

From there, we trooped over to the massive Ball Court, the largest one in Mesoamerica. Evidently, long before soccer, and before James Naismith invented basketball, the Mayans played “ball”. In their version, the competing players attempted to bounce a ball off of their hip through a stone ring (imbedded in a stone wall) about 24 feet off of the ground. That would be quite a feat for players who averaged about five feet tall without their Air Jordans. They must have been using a ball made of Flubber.

The ball court is half again the size of a football field, with huge walls on the sides and important-looking stone structures on the ends. I’m guessing that’s where the officials observed the game. No bleachers or viewing stands for the fans, though.

Here’s the “hoop” that was the target for the players. It consists of entertwined serpents carved into a ring.

I read once (although it might have been bogus?) that the “winner” of the ball game had the honor of being sacrificed to the Mayan gods. I’m guessing that this resulted in quite a few blown lay ups…

The walls are made of large, closely-fitted, irregular blocks of limestone. Each one was custom-carved to fit its location in the structure! No Home Depot for these stonemasons!

At various locations within the Ball Court complex, there are carvings of players or local bigwigs (?), wearing what appear to be wireless headsets (so that they could listen to music and talk to their family while playing the game?)

Leaving the main Ball Court (note: archaeologists have located 13 of them at Chichen Itza!), we wandered around the grounds, observing less-defined structures/ruins. What was striking about all of it was the ornate detail which decorated the stone buildings. Lots of serpents, eagles, gargoyles, etc. festooned the limestone walls.

It appears that Tic Tac Toe may have been invented here and memorialized in stone. Who knew?

The House of the Nuns was interesting. Lots of carved men in anguish; what was going on within these walls?

We then cruised by the Natural Observatory, one of the signature structures at Chichen Itza. It was a focal point of the community back in the day. The Mayans were more advanced than any of the peoples of the world at that time with regard to astronomy; they had the most accurate calendar in the world, among other things.

It has been estimated that approximately 30,000 people lived in Chichen Itza before the Spaniards destroyed the civilization. They most likely lived in thatched huts like this, made of tree branches, leather, and mud-coated walls. This one-room house measured about 6′ x 12′. The landscaping is dirt, with the ubiquitous Mother In Law’s Tongue plant, which is everywhere here at Chichen Itza.

This archaeological park is the Yucatan’s equivalent of Disneyland; it’s the most visited tourist attraction in Mexico. And, every family within 100 miles has a relative on the grounds, with a table, selling trinkets. It reminds me of walking through the abominable African vendor guantlet (selling Chinese knock-off goods) at the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. At least here the entrepreneurs are locals selling local crafts. Kudos to Mexico.

We exited the grounds at almost precisely 10 a.m., just before the tour busses arrived and disgorged their passengers…who then had to run the vendor gauntlet. “Almost free today, Amigo!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tres Cenotes and Mayaland

While the workers of the world and America were celebrating May Day (and protesting Donald Trump!), we took off from Cancun for Chichen Itza in the late morning. It’s about a 2-1/2 hour drive west on Autopista 180D from Cancun.

Along the way we decided to divert to Valladolid to have lunch and see a couple of cenotes (natural pools in underground limestone caverns).

We stopped at Cenote Zaci, which is in a park in downtown Valladolid, and had lunch there. The restaurant was inside of a very large palapa (thatched hut).

The menu was very Yucatan-ish, and we didn’t recognize much (it was all in Spanish), but the food turned out to be very good…different from the “Mexican” food that we’re used to, but interesting and tasty in its own way. I would definitely order the same thing again, whatever it was.

The Cenote Zaci was outside, right below our table, to the left.

Many of the locals swim here. It’s a beautiful place, with crystal clear water, which is a cool respite from the normal 80 to 90 degree humid weather that typifies the Yucatan.

Some young dude named Oscar took a 100′ dive off of a log near the top of the cenote…and survived.

I met him afterward and convinced him to do it again, recorded on video, which I gave to him.

Carol and Jeff got into the act by jumping in, first from maybe 15′, and then, a second time, from about 35′. I got movies of them, too.

We later visited two other cenotes on our way to Chichen Itza. They were at a tourist trap located a few miles from Valladolid, where the Cenote Xkaken and Cenote Samula reside. The cenotes had to be accessed by marching down some very steep stone-carved steps to the underground caverns. Charlie stayed above ground. These cenotes were not as nice as the Cenote Zaci, but were interesting in their own right.

Jeff and Carol decided not to swim at this location. Or, at this last one.

We were led around the cenote complex by a 17 year-old lad named Esteban. His job, it seems, is to make sure that, on the way to the two cenotes, his guests walk by each and every vendor (probably relatives) that are purveying all manner of useless Yucatan crafts. He did a good job at this. But, he did teach us a useful Mayan word: “Ma!” It means, “No!”, as in “I’m not buying anything!”.

As I mentioned, Esteban is 17 years old. He stands maybe 5 feet tall. Believe it or not, he is a pretty average-sized man in the Yucatan. The women, on the average, are shorter; I’d guess that most are under 4’10”. The very short people (Mayan heritage) is one of the most striking things that one notices when visiting this part of the world.

I gave Esteban a $20 dollar tip for his services and he practically shit his pants.  That’s a lot of money is these parts. I hope he spent it wisely on a case of Coronas (and, maybe, a loose woman or two).

After leaving there, we proceeded to the Mayaland Hotel at Chichen Itza. It is a famous place, located right adjacent to the archae0logical park. The hotel grounds are beautiful.

The hotel property was festooned with large trees. There were large stands of bamboo and a rubber tree that must have been 70 foot tall. The centerpiece of the property was an enormous Acacia tree whose circumference was maybe 25′ and was said to be 300 years old.

There were many iguanas on the grounds, as well as a huge peacock that must have been 8′ from beak to tip of tail.

The hotel property was quite extensive, with many thatched bungalows (which rented for $400 per night). We stayed in the main hotel.

One reason that this hotel is so famous is that it is located immediately adjacent to the archaeological park. We could see the Astronomical Observatory (ruins) from our balcony. This is what is looked like from the parking lot.

We had a very nice dinner at the outside restaurant. Here is my son Jeff getting ready to feast.

Tomorrow morning we hike the ruins.

Good night!

 

 

 

Sun, Sasquatch, and Kike

We’re here in Cancun, enjoying the Caribbean coastal weather with Jeff and Carol. They just got here from Tulum, where they vacationed with relatives for a week. Here they are in the swing at their Tankah Bay seaside rental house.

They met us at the Cancun airport yesterday in their rental car and drove us over to the Royal Cancun Resort. Our suite has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a balcony, which overlooks a pool.

As with most Mexican seaside resort facilities, there are several large pools, swim-up bars, palm-thatched palapas, a beach restaurant, and the like. This place is very nice, and even has a volleyball court in the ocean.

We spent several hours today getting baked out by the pool.

While we were there, we spotted a Sasquatch in the water. He wasn’t much of a swimmer and looked more like a gorilla than a human. He minded his own business, and eventually went back into the forest.

We also met a nice Belgian man, his wife, and their son, who is a dwarf (Little Person?) named Juanito. The little guy, who looked to be maybe 40 years old, is an artist of some type. While Jeff was talking to the father, Girard, the man related that he had been coming to this resort for maybe 20 years, knew all the restaurants in the area, etc. So, Jeff asked him for a recommendation and he said, “La Habichuela” in downtown Cancun. And, accordingly, we had our dinner marching orders.

The restaurant was not in any tourist area. Instead, it was down a rabbit warren of narrow streets in an out-of-the-way spot. Luckily, Jeff had a MapQuest app (or something like it) on his mobile phone, so he steered with one hand and navigated with the other. Eventually, we arrived at the restaurant, which didn’t look like much from the street.

However, once we entered the place, we knew that it was going to be something special.

The menu was nice, as were the contents.

Jeff and Carol had mojitos to go along with their Calimari appetizer and clam chowder. Charlie had a vodka and sprite, and I had a Diet Coke, to help wash down our Soft Shell Crab tacos, which were muy delicioso. Then Carol and Jeff each enjoyed a very sumptuous Surf and Turf dinner, while Charlie had the Lobster Bisque soup, we both shared a Caesar salad (prepared with great fanfare at the table by Elias), and I had a Lobster-stuffed Grouper entree, which was very nice.

Everything was great, and our two servers, Elias and Kike, were excellent, as was our (Craig & Charlie) price: $69 U.S. plus tip. In Southern California it would have been over $100, for sure. (Note: the Mexican peso is currently trading at 17 per U.S. dollar; the last time we were down here it was more like 10 or 11 to the dollar.)

Aside: I thought I’d be nice and do a review of La Habichuela for Trip Advisor, one of my favorite I-Phone apps. Anyway, I wrote up a nice piece, particularly complimenting our waiters, Elias and Kike (spelled that way, but pronounced KeeKee). When I tried to post it, I was refused…because my write-up used a profanity. Guess what the offending word was. “No good deed goes unpunished.”)

Yeah, that’s our rental car parked next to a “No Parking” sign that says violators will be towed. Luckily, it was Sunday night, there was a huge block party going on in the barrio, and the Policia didn’t spot us. (Which particularly helped when Jeff backed into a car trying to extricate us from the tight curbside (illegal) parking spot. Ay, Chihuahua!!

Tomorrow will be a big day. We are going to head out of Cancun late in the morning and head west on Route 180D to Chichen Itza. It’s about 2-1/2 hours straight through, but we may stop in Valladolid, which is a small town 3/4’s of the way there. I’m hoping that we can find a nice place to eat lunch and take a look at the famous Zaci Cenote (cavern pool). Just down the road from there is another one, Cenote Ik Kil, that I’d like to see, as well.

We may actually go into the cool water; it will be something like 98 degrees at ground level (it’s in the rainforest!).

And, then, we will proceed to Chichen Itza, a World Heritage Site, where we will stay at the Mayaland Hotel.

I’m excited for tomorrow.