Progreso Mexico

Progreso Mexico

Wednesday, February 15th, we woke up and were in the Port of Progreso.  It was just beautiful outside and hot!  We ate breakfast early and went ashore because we had an excursion to visit the  Dzibilchaltin Mayan Ruins and swim in the sink hole.

We got on a bus and rode for about 30 minutes. It was an interesting ride. We saw soldiers in town and the houses looked poor and the the livestock looked very skinny. It was kind of sad. The port itself looked brand new, but once you left the port area, it was a whole new world.

The Triumph docked.

Leaving the port to go to the ruins.

Soldier stationed at the gate as we entered town.

A street view of Progreso Mexico.

Now on to the Mayan Ruins and sink hole. It was AMAZING!  It was hot, but when we went swimming it was very refreshing.  I did get a free gift from Mexico....a bee decided to sting my arm and boy did it sting.  It swelled up and stung for a few hours, but by the time we returned to the ship it was almost gone.  I guess it wasn't a killer bee since I am still here to tell the tail.

The entrance

One of our Tour Guides

The other Tour Guide

Do you see the "little guy" in the picture?

The path to the ruins

The ruins were white stone and our guide was half Mayan. He explained how they used the structures and the sun to determine the days on the calender.  then they used this information to know when to plant and harvest crops. He wanted us to make sure to tell all our American friends that the world is not ending on December 21, 2012.  He said the Mayan people integrated with other people and just never continued on with the dates of the calender.  He said "no worries" the days will just go on as usual.  I guess we will all see....

Look! There's Ann and Mom!

This is where the bee stung me.

This building is the key to the Mayan Calender.

After the explanation of the calender, he took us to the sink hole. It was beautiful. One end was shallow and the other end was 165 feet deep.  I jumped in the the deep end and swam to where I could stand.  The whole thing was surrounded by rock and the bottom was rock as well.  The water was so clear that you could see the rocks you were standing on perfectly and also see blue and brown fish swimming in the water right next to you.  The fish were about 2 to 3 inches long.  It was awesome!

The sink hole is just beautiful!

See the little fish?

After we went swimming, we had some free time to walk around the ruins.  It was so hot that our suits were dry before we got back on the bus.  Thank God, that would have been awful to ride back in wet clothes. The 30 minute ride back was quiet and we got back on the ship to set sail at 4 PM. Next stop Cozumel Mexico.