Chichen-Itza Wonders Of The World Bucket List & Cenotes

 Dear Kids, 

While on our trip to Merida, we were able to go to some COOL Cenotes around Valladolid, and also visit CHICHEN-ITZA! Wonders of the world bucket list got some checks in it! Yahoo!

The Cenotes were a perfect break while on the road. It was a four hour road trip, and they were right in the middle. You all LOVED it. The water was super mineral heavy and we had to wear life jackets, but it was so cool. Juan Lopez, our friend, was with us and he had a blast with the kids! He is like an uncle figure actually. 

then on the way back from Merida we were able to go to Chichen-Itza! 

A few things I learned while on this road trip:

-Teenage broodiness does not go away just because you are in a magical place. hahaha!

-Go to amazing places ANYWAY, even with the complaints of "why are we here", because it's like a symphony concert - they learn culture by being IN culture. 

-Complaints will abound from kids that don't care. Give them access to take pictures on their own (with device or camera), and that will help to keep their minds and hands busy when they don't care about the lecture from the tour guide. 

-Tour guides are worth it for adults. Unless you have an old soul super interested in old stuff (like Gabe) the other kids won't care about what the tour guide says. 

-Give all the kids $5 to spend on their own, then they bargain on their own for what they want. 

-When you can go to someplace like a Cenote - GO. Make every effort. It's so cool. 

-Make sure the go-pro is working BEFORE you leave. 

-Eating pizza in the car so you can make it to your destination on time is WORTH the mess!

-Taking a friend like Juan is WORTH the cramped car!

-Telling really good road trip stories helps while getting through the jungle. 

-Finding a place that has kid friendly food sometimes isn't worth it. Just go wherever and they can have chicken anywhere you go. 

-Expect rules about covid and things of the like to be different everywhere you go. Be flexible so you don't cause a scene. 

-PREPARE your kids psychologically for when you will be at the ruins. Tell them that even if they don't like it, to please be kind because they love YOU. We go places that people in our family WANT to go to, even if we don't, because we love each other. We didn't prepare them well enough for that, and just expected them to emotionally be okay - we should have prepared them more. 

-Take hats and water everywhere you go. 

-Take BUG SPRAY.

All in all, I'm SO GLAD that we went to all these sites. Chichen-Itza was seriously AMAZING. It was absolutely a holy place at one point. The way it was survived for so many years is phenomenal. This land is FULL of Nephite and Lamanite history - you can just feel it in your bones. The sound reverberation off the structure was SO COOL. Our tour guide references King Benjamin's tour and told us they could have used the same type of structure and technology in order to be able to have his voice carried to everyone. The tour guide also showed us a lot of the art on the walls that depicted a "white God" coming from the sky. He told how the people told that story for generations and when the Spanish came, they thought it was the "White God" coming again. So many convincing parallels involved. Gabe was EATING IT UP. He's my old soul that loves stuff like that. There was also the warrior temple with thousands of pillars that were all dedicated to a warrior. The tour guide speculated that it could be about the 2,000 stripling warriors, or a tradition of creating columns for warriors like them. 

I love you kids. We'll keep going to cultural things and experiences no matter where we are and no matter what it equals. If it equals a symphony concert - we'll go. If it equals ruins - we'll go. If it equals cenotes - we'll go. 

I love you, 

Your Mom