Author: Ryan (Page 2 of 2)

On Monday we got up early to meet our tour guide by 7:30. He was a man named Lemuel who we had met at church the day before who is a tour guide. He arranged everything for the 3 couples who wanted an LDS guide for Chichen Itza. When he got here to pick us up, we climbed into the mini van, and set out on our two hour drive. It wasn’t so bad, although the roads are a bit bumpy and I was fighting car sickness by the end of the drive. On the way, Lemuel told us a bit about his family and his history (he has brothers named Moroni, Helaman and Nephi, and sisters named Alma and Zarahemla). He then brought out a notebook with pictures and maps and talked to us about the history of the Mayan people as it relates to the Book of Mormon. When we got there, we were instantly hot and sweating. He got our tickets and we went in. We were amazed by the ruins. The sheer size of the temples is astounding enough, not to mention how well they have been preserved and restored. They no longer let you climb all the steps to the top of the pyramid, but that was ok. There is a place where you stand right in front of the temple and clap, and the echo sounds like a bird. We did lots of clapping. Of course there are many many people with little carvings, replicas and trinkets to sell. They line the paths like a mobile gift shop. We managed to get out of there buying only a t-shirt and two little stone animals for the kids. After seeing everything there, we were hot and tired and guzzling our water.





(Sorry these aren’t in the text or anything special, I only have 15 minutes of Internet time for 30 pesos ($3)… Ryan)

Lemuel took us to a little place for lunch that had once been a Spanish palace, and there was a buffet there, too. The thing that set it apart from our buffet here at the hotel, though, was the entertainment. Three girls and three guys, all in their Spanish outfits, came out onto the stage and danced for us. Not terribly impressive, but entertaining. After the stomping dance, they put bottles on their heads and danced, then whole trays with a few cups and bottles on their heads. They then did a may pole dance, and we decided it was time to go. Lemuel had been doing a good job of keeping us ahead of the crowds, and we wanted to keep it that way. We were the first group to arrive at the restaurant, and as soon as we sat down, one large group after another came in and sat down.

We went next to a sink hole called ? I don’t remember what it was called, but it was a large sunken well, with vines and tree roots hanging down. The others in our group had said that they didn’t really care to swim, so we just went and looked at it, but I was wishing we were going swimming. The water was cool and clear and beautiful. It was about 200 ft below the surface and incredible.

On a recommendation from someone we met at church (who coincidentally happens to be the brother of one of the members of the bell choir–what are the odds of that?) we had asked our guide if he could take us to Ek Balam, which we had been told was another great ruins and we should see it if we could. So, off we went. We drove through little towns and when we got there were again hit by the heat of the day. No crowds at this one, though, and only one little roadside souvenir vendor. There were a couple of sad hungry looking dogs, though. We started walking and came to an entrance, climbed up and were impressed with the size of the city. there were many ruins, but the most amazing one was the temple. I can’t believe the carvings that are still intact! They still do let you climb this one, so we climbed all the way to the top (well, almost all of us went to the top. Phillip, the pilot who is afraid of heights, only went up half-way, then went back down). Ek Balam, although it may not be as high as Chichen Itza, was more impressive to us because of the carvings and statues that have survived. We were red faced with sweat running down our backs, but glad we had made the trek.

By then it was about 4 in the afternoon, and we had to get going. The drive seemed to take forever, especially when we finally reached Cancun, and then had to fight the traffic. We all had to use the bathroom and Sharon was feeling very car sick. We were very grateful to Lemuel for our tour and for giving up his whole day. We all paid him, and from what I can figure out with the admission prices and lunch and everything, he still probably made around $200 dollars profit from his day of work.

We made it back here just in time to use the bathroom and then meet some of the other winners for dinner at the Mexican restaurant. They are a funny group and seem to be getting along well. Two sisters, Vicki and Kathy are the “life of the party” and we sat by them. They would probably be loud and obnoxious even if they weren’t drinking, but when they are–wow are they loud! We laughed a lot and had a fun dinner. After the sisters left and we were leaving, one of the ladies thanked us for sitting by them. “We think they are entertaining,” I said. She said she could handle them in small doses, but can’t be around them for too long, as they are just so obnoxious. I second that. Dickie, the KODJ DJ, gave us our “welcome gift” of $50, and we were excited about that one, for sure.

The food here is good, mostly buffet, and I keep seeing deserts that look like they would be chocolate but aren’t. There are also a lot of disappointing cheesecake imitations, but we keep trying them. So, the entrees are good, but the desserts are not so great.

A few full size pictures from the trip are available HERE

UPDATE: All the pictures from the trip are now posted here.

I didn’t think we would have Internet here, but for a small fee (30 pesos for 15 minutes), we can actually connect to the world.

So, let me give you the run down of our activities here. We had a pretty uneventful flight, other than driving through the snow and ice to get to the airport by 5 am (I must interject for just a second to let you know that in his channel flipping, Ryan has stopped on Robin Hood in Spanish. Most all the TV is in Spanish here –go figure– although there is one channel in German, and a couple in English with Spanish subtitles. Oh, great. Now he’s watching Lazy Towne in Spanish. That show annoys me in English, can you imagine it in Spanish?). We met some of the other winners at the airport, and then had a nice boring flight. I decided to pay the $8 for an in flight movie, and we watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2. I’m sure it would have been much better on a large screen (as opposed to the 6 inch screen on the back of the seat in front of me), but it was a diversion, and when I fly, I need a diversion to pass the time. Our hosts from KODJ, Dickie and Angel, had a little trouble at the airport, however. It seems Angel had received a new drivers license recently, and the birth date was wrong. By one day. They told her at the airport that they would let her fly, but she probably wouldn’t be able to come back without the correct dates on the legal documents. So when Dickie got on the plane, he had no idea when his wife would make it, if she does at all. But since he was the “host” and leading all of us, he had to come, anyway. We’ve heard that she won’t be able to come until Tuesday.

When we arrived, we waited a long time for the luggage to come, and while waiting, met up with the members of our group, and one of the winners was from Chicago! Seems they were visiting their kids here, their sister-in-law told them about this contest she was trying for, and he got through and won! Now that’s what I call lucky. After gathering our luggage and going through customs, we met “Pepe”, our fun jet vacations representative, who brought us to the bus, which would bring us here to our hotel, the Riu Caribe’. It’s an all inclusive hotel, with three restaurants, a couple of bars, several pools, right on the beach. It’s kind of like being on a cruise, but we’re not moving (which is good for me, since I don’t enjoy the whole motion sickness thing). Even alcohol is included, which is surprising. Even our mini bar in the room is stocked with bottled water, sprite and Pepsi and Coronas. We told them at the front desk they can take the beers and just give us more waters and Pepsi light, but they left the beer anyway. So, as you can guess, there are a lot of “happy” people here.

It was too late to do anything yesterday, so we just ate dinner and came back to the room and went to bed early. I think I was asleep before 9, I was very tired.

One of the other couples here asked if we wanted to go to Church with them in the morning, and we said we would. So, this morning we met up with them and another couple at 9:30 to catch a bus and get to the LDS church by 10:00. While on the bus, the guy sitting across from us pointed and said, “Mormon?” like, “there’s the Mormon Church, you dolts, get off the bus.” We said, “Right here?” and got up, telling us that “that guy” said to get off now for the Mormon Church. So, all six of us get off, look to the left where he was pointing, and see no Mormon Church. What we do see if a WalMart. “What kind of Mormons does he think we are, shopping on a Sunday?” said our new friend, Sharon. We laughed, realizing that we don’t know where we are, but we didn’t get off at the right stop. We asked someone, and found out that we were about “8 BIG blocks” from where we needed to be. I’m guessing it was about a mile’s walk, in my non walking shoes. By the time we finally found the place we were sweaty and my feet were very much hurting! We went in the church and there was no one in the chapel. That darn website lists the sacrament meeting times wrong. So, we killed a bit over an hour chatting with the others in our group and the other Americans who also came early, and the missionaries. We met a guy named Lemuel, who is a tour guide. We arranged for him to take us on a tour of Chichen Itza tomorrow, and give us the whole Mormon scoop.

By the time the meeting started at noon, there were almost as many Americans in the chapel as natives. Needless to say, I didn’t catch much of the meeting, although it was cool to be there. Three people, who had been baptized the day before, were confirmed, and we got to sing Christmas hymns in Spanish. Ryan did a little bit of translating for me until his brain went into overload and he said he couldn’t think anymore. Our trip home was much less eventful. We caught a bus and came right back. After lunch, we came back to the room and Ryan had a nap and I went out and relaxed on the beach. Since it was late afternoon, there wasn’t much sun, and I could only stand to be out there “sunning” for about an hour until it got to cold. Yes, there were some obvious Europeans who wanted to enjoy the sun topless, but we can look past that.

At 9pm we have our dinner reservations for the Shangri-la. Thanks for reading, sorry this is so long, and we’ll post more in a few days!

A few full size pictures from the trip are available HERE

UPDATE: All the pictures from the trip are now posted here.

Oh, the excitement of traveling.
This morning, we woke up at 4:30 AM. (That would be 2:30 Utah time, by the way)
Caught a taxi at 5:00 AM.
Got to the airport (JFK) around 5:30.
Stood in line to check in until 5:50 or so.
That was when we found out from the lovely US Airlines lady that we were NOT listed on our 6:50 flight. Our names were in the computer, but there was no flight information attached to those names.
So, we stood there at the ticket counter (actually sitting on the floor some of the time) while Charmaine told us that every flight today was OVERBOOKED-it being a holiday weekend and all- and she couldn’t get us on any flight out. This is even after I called yesterday to confirm our flight and find out what time it left.
At around 7:30
***hold on a minute, are those nuns? I think I see some nuns in white with a blue stripe over there. The things you see in airports, huh?**
Anyway, at around 7:30, after standing there for about two hours, Charmaine finally tells us she’s got a flight for us on Delta out of Newark (that’s in New Jersey) leaving at 5:30 PM. Wow!
So, Charmaine called us a cab and gave us voucher for the drive from JFK to Newark. After our wild ride (cab drivers here are not known for their smooth driving) we got here to the lovely Newark airport, hoping to be able to be put on stand-by for an earlier flight. The lady at the check-in desk here practically laughed at us when I suggested the stand-by thing. She also told us we couldn’t check in until 6 hours before our flight.
So, here we sit.
Waiting.
Blogging.
I read my e-mail for the first time in a week, and that took about 20 minutes.
I do have a book, and we have the internet, thanks to Mr. Technology, so we should be able to pass the time without killing ourselves.
We just helped a cute Austrailian girl find the phone number for Malasian air so she can check on her flight out of Los Angeles (she’s been traveling for 6 weeks now–talk about being ready to go home!)
The good news is–we aren’t having to pass the time for 8 hours with 5 children.

In other news, we did get tickets to see Wicked last night and it was FABULOUS!! Amazing! Ryan really enjoyed it, too. He didn’t laugh out loud quite as much as he did in Spamalot, but he said he thought it was a better show. I loved it. I laughed, I cried, I sang along, and I’m buying the soundtrack as soon as I get home. I HIGHLY recommend it.

So, to recap our trip, we:
Saw all the Church sites in Palmyra–the Smith frame home, Smith log home, Hill Camorah, Moroni monument, Peter Whitmer farm and visitor’s center, the sacred grove, and the Grandin printing building.
We also went up to Niagra falls and did all the tourist things up there.
We went to the Raleigh Ringers concert, and it was AWESOME!
We went to 3 broadway shows and the David Letterman show.
We went to Central Park, the World Trade Center, and the Empire State Building.
We ate great pizza, a calzone as big as our head, and wonderful cheesecake.
And we’ve waited in three airports.

And we’re ready to come home.
May the stars align so that we can.

We’ve been so busy–no time to blog. Yesterday we spent a large part of the day aquiring tickets for the Late Show with David Letterman. First we stood in line to apply for the “lottery”, then they called to let us know we had tickets. So we headed back uptown to pick up the tickets. Then we had about an hour until we were supposed to be back, so we rushed to the 1/2 price ticket seller to get tickets for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, then back to the Ed Sullivan Theater. So, we got to see Dave! It wasn’t the greatest show, I must say–I didn’t know any of the guests, the band was loud and not so great, and it was a long wait to get in–but it was David Letterman, so it was still fun. Johnny Depp was the scheduled guest, but I guess he cancelled.

Today–it’s Central Park and try for Wicked.

I’m sitting here in the little lobby of C22. In the Airport. In Chicago. Did I mention that I don’t really enjoy flying? Well, the flying part isn’t so bad, what I really don’t like is the landing. Taking off I can hadle (sort of), and the smooth part is ok, but the landing just sucks. I get all sweaty, and my stomache jumps all over the place. Nausea sets in as I wonder if I’m going to throw up or not. And here I sit waiting to do it again.
The nice thing about the flying today is that I’m doing it without a bunch of little people to watch over, and I’m only schlepping my own carry on, not everyone else’s (still incredibly heavy!). But there’s another flight from Chicago to Rochester, and then we can start the fun.

Deep breaths. Relax. And board that plane.

Upon checking into the Comfort Inn here in Anaheim, she asked if I’d like to upgrade to a kid-suite for an extra $20 a night. UH-HUH! I’ve just spent about a million hours in the car with the yahoos driving from St. Geoge to Anaheim today, with at least an extra hour for some kind of unexplained traffic jam. I think a kid suite sounds like a Fantastic Idea! So, now I’m sitting on MY queen bed, and Ryan is sitting on HIS queen bed, and all the kids are in their own little room with bunkbeds watching their own TV. Cool! The kids may not all sleep in there, but for the moment, it’s nice and quiet.

Yesterday we drove to St. George after the kids got home from school, and arrived at the hotel about 8:00, with enough time to swim in the outdoor pool for a bit, then we had the kids shower, eat some sandwiches, and get ready for bed. We tried to put three kids in a bed, but they kept kicking, pushing and complaining, so Cole ended up spending the night on the floor — he didn’t mind so much.

We plan to get up early and hit the parks tomorrow, so if I’m not too exhausted I’ll blog it then.

Yellowstone Pictures…

Watch this space for the blog entry…