We had an all-day excursion to Chichén Itzá and a few other places today: about 11 hours round-trip.

Chichén Itzá is a collection of Mayan ruins on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

Here’s the famous wonder of the new world, El Castillo:

The ball court:

Stone carvings of figures:

Inside the ball court:

More of the ball court:

A wall of skulls:

Feathered serpent heads:

The top of the pyramid:

Steps:

Ruins:

Observatory:

Hole:

More ruins:

Iguana:

Pillars:

The pyramid again:

Next we headed to a local village for a tasty lunch (plus sangria and horchata, rice water):

Lunch entertainment dancing:

Then we headed to a cenote (water-filled sinkhole)… with more dancing on the way in:

The cenote has a tunnel path to the water level, so people could go down to jump in to the frigid water:

It was certainly a long day, but definitely interesting.

Another day in paradise!

This morning we went for breakfast at a neighboring resort that is owned by the same company, and had a tour. This one is only a year old, and very nice. Like the one we’re staying at, this is an all-inclusive, adults-only resort. It is divided into three main pool areas:

An overview of the “Preferred” area:

We’re enjoying our vacation so much, we decided to join the club. Like a wine club, we can enjoy their 60ish properties, plus hundreds of affiliated ones, at a discounted rate:

A champagne gift:

After a casual lunch, we sat on the beach for a couple of hours, enjoying the view:

Then had a dip in a pool near our room:

These birds are always hoping someone drops something tasty:

Finally, a mediterraean-style dinner: