We're Back

Our vacation to the Riviera Maya resort was, shall we say, relaxing. I thought of documenting in photos all of the things I did NOT do, but that would have taken too much time and effort, and then it would not have been a relaxing vacation, would it? In a nutshell, here is a list of what I did not do: I did not swim, snorkel, scuba dive, jet ski, parasail, play golf or horseback ride; I did not participate in exercise classes, beach volleyball, or fishing expeditions; I did not even play billiards or ping pong. All of these things would have involved use of my right arm. What I DID do was lay on the beach in the shade of an umbrella and read my book, sit on the beach and soak up the breeze, watch the waves, watch the people, ponder our place in the universe, walk on the beach, take pictures of the beach, drink margharitas on the beach, drink daiquiris on the beach, drink beer on the beach, drink wine on the beach, stick my feet in the Caribbean, play tag with the waves - they were out to get me - and on Monday the 23rd we took a trip to the ancient Mayan village of Chichen Itza.
Chichen Itza was fascinating, and I wish we could have spent more time there. With a two hour trip each way to the site and back, a stop for lunch, and a stop at one of the sink holes that provided water to the ancient Mayans, we really only had about 3 hours total to visit the site, and our tour guide Luis used two of those to give us a detailed tour. He was fabulous actually. I wouldn't have minded if he had continued for the entire time we were there, but he left some of the time for everyone to wander and take pictures and shop from the Mayan merchants that sell their wares along the paths. We did not shop, but Marv climbed up to the observatory, and on the Temple of Warriors. Because of the erosion caused by millions of feet, they no longer allow visitors to climb the other temples. There were many things that impressed me about the site, the civilization and its decline, but one note that I think is important to know, is that all the temples and buildings had been eroded by the jungle and its elements, and that archeologists have reconstructed the buildings from the original stones, piece by piece. Nothing that was missing was replaced by new materials, and so once they no longer have original materials, the reconstruction is stopped and the buildings are completed only to that point. There are still piles of rubble that were once structures of the ancient Mayans, and seeing that I was amazed that those piles of stone could be pieced together into anything. And so there is still much that remains for the scientists to work on and discover. And much for visitors to marvel at even more in the future. I'm working on getting some of our pictures up here. I've created a Flickr account, but since I still have dial-up service here, uploading the pictures is tedious. Soooon, I promise.
My physical therapy is progressing well. It surprises me after every visit how much "doing nothing" can ache when you are all done. So far its all passive range of motion exercises, and my therapist has been heard repeatedly saying, "Gimme, gimme!", as I have a hard time keeping my arm and shoulder relaxed and letting her move them about. Monday I see the Dr again, and the PT team is anxious for the go ahead to get to give me some real work to do! Yikes! I'm already spending my evenings snuggling my ice pack. But actually I look forward to getting on with it.