It was our third time in Thailand. Why you may ask, why to travel in a country we have already seen while there are so many unseen. And will never be seen by us. Because we are “following the dollar”ￂﾠ – tickets were cheap to Thai;and this year. And because I figured that out this time – Thailand is a country of my childhood summers. The same light, the same feeling of safety and excitement, the same feeling of being cared and loved. Strange as it is. Of course, nobody takes you around if you do not organize or order it, nobody cares how you are dressed and if you ate enough – but we lived long enough not to notice how we do that, it is a routine. So I visited my parents and flew to Thailand from Lithuania – Helsinki -Bangkok. A long flight, some 10 hours from H to B. But my Andrei’s trip was longer – he flew to LA -Tokyo-Bangkok, therefore spending in the air almost 21 h. But what can you do. My advice – buy a traveler’s credit card which lets you into Airline lounges, it makes the trip more entertaining and tasty. Some of them have unoccupied sofas where you can nap for a while. One of themￂﾠ – this was in Phuket and they accepted even the local, meaning not only international travelers – they offered even a 15 min shoulder massage. But we started in Bangkok, Andrei met me, we left our bigger luggage in a safe room for 100 bt a piece and went to cover the places we haven’t seen last time – the Silom Park with King’s palaces. The whole Thailand is in grieving. The first view our eyes touched in the airport was this memorial for their late King:
And after we got off the metro train and walked for maybe 3 km to the park – all the way we saw such memorials, bigger and smaller and also all the walls and fences were lined with black and white fabric – it got into our psyche, we were not very joyous…Here is a glimpse of Silom park and palaces. The white one is carves from Teek trees:
No, we didn’t go inside, too tired after long trips, to jet lagged, too many people. And hot. We arrived at the end of January, you would think – the best time to visit Bangkok, but it was plenty hot. Sweaty. And we walked a lot the very first day, which played not a good impression on my knee and it started its protests the rest of the trip. Also – we didn’t have a lot of time. Our firs encounter with Thai food was the worst through the trip, to our horror they served us little paws of crabs in their famous papaya salad…So we were happy to leave Bangkok behind that same eve and fly to Krabi.
And here are us girls with our selected heroes meeting by the museum doors: 
Strange as it is -parrots live in the street of Rome! 
Poor Faust: 
And more and more:
The Spanish Stairs: 
Those columns are not real – they are painted:-)! 
The stairs that are modern:
I never stopped admiring different mosaics of the floors and richly painted ceilings and cupolas: 
ￂﾠ
Those strange things were in a Greek section – i have no clue what they are 🙂 
The St. Calistus Catacombs – they were closed when we reached them. but the top part was impressive and relaxing enough: 
There was a building on the way with such a variety of cacti in front of it – I was mesmerized! 
There were churches on the way and of course-ￂﾠ there were sculptures iin them/ Even the footprints of St. Peter or Jesus, oh, I forgot…Because at that place St. Peter met Jesus who told him to return to the city and continue the Christening: 
One of the gates to Rome with a strange Pyramid, the structure one least expects to see in Rome of all places: 
That evening we ate in a nice cafe -night bar while they had a buffet-snacks with drinks. Close by what an interesting shop as if from a fairy tale -a man making solely Pinoccios:
Againￂﾠ -we finished the day in Transtevere, where to sit in the middle of its square and look into the flocks of birds doing different figures, listening to various musicians playing- what else can be better?
The next day we went up to the hills behind Transtevere – it is also very worth going:
Here is the place where we lived. It was exotic – in a yard of a huge museum of Oriental art! Guess what – we didn’t find time to visit the museum…We found this apartment through Air B&B, you can see it in that building after the bridge in the first floor. It seemed to have been part of the museum. but now restored to a rather comfortable apartment with a living room-kitchen, a very big bathroom and a bedroom, just right for 3 people:ￂﾠ 
The calm autumn light in Rome was just right for the still hanging leaves on the trees: 
The view from a not to miss basilica St. Peter in Vincoli and Peter’s vincoli: 
We are standing on ancient stones, going to the Forum! 
The bridges over Tiber river, the river itself, so amazing:
The little market in the middle of downtown with “a showman” who had quite a performance convincing us to buy his vegetable shredder:
But somehow I picked a part of Rome I liked best and I’d like to live there for a while – a dream :-). It is on the other side of Tiber – Transtevere:
Those are camellias-ￂﾠ I imagine how it is when they bloom! 
Here again in the center – Pantheon with its mysterious hole in the top – no rain comes from it!
The Trevi Fountain: 
To be continued!
The narrow beach: 
There are modern buildings here and there, but I found our street leading to the sea the most beautiful, between the sea and Av. 5. Here is some creature looking down to a real very small cenote in front of some hotel: 
This strange building is in Av. 5: 
The only oasis I found there that I really enjoyed was an Asian store Caravan, where the things for sale were beautiful, the music was very pleasant Indian chantingￂﾠ and the girls that work there are also charming. So nice was my experience there, thatￂﾠ I ended up visiting that store for 3 times and buying dresses that I do not need :-). So here I dressed one of those dresses – I guess it is fit fro the coming Rooster year – and the next day we went to visit Puerto Morelos-ￂﾠ a town where we stayed 5 years ago:
Here is a modern church in Puertoￂﾠ -and we happened to see it while there was a wedding: 
In conclusionￂﾠ – all this side of Yucatan peninsular is good for catching lots of sun, warm sea and high temperatures. It is good for busy people-ￂﾠ lots of hotels with all included. What concerns cenotes-ￂﾠ you may not have a car- so you can take an excursion or a bus to them/ There are lots of amusement parks. Some are for visitors with high adrenaline levels – like Xplore. There is even a cenote park – where you can enjoyￂﾠ 5 cenotes in one day, but be prepared to pay not 60 or 100 pesos but $60 USA. But if you have no more time, so it is good to have a choice:
Will we go again – yes, we will, but maybe in January or February, sometime. when we have time during those months. Should you go – definitely! 
So we found our hotel Mango – it was not easy to find, only with the help of GPS-ￂﾠ not that it is iin a complicated area – but because Tulum has only the main roads paved. The others are dirt roads with huge potholes filled with water, big stones here and there and cars parked wherever. The GPS led us to a road. that was not a road any more – but a path through jungle with trash all along it. When we said to the manager how we came, she was shocked and scared- she said there are snakes in the jungle :-). But I don’t think snakes can live in the middle of the city. But that people through trash on a lot that is not builtￂﾠ -that is for sure. Then we found a better way to drive to the hotel. Yes, the hotel is perfect, and the view from the reception desk is like this:
But this is a trick – on both sides of that wooden fence that you see from the path is nonsense…the whole Tulum looks like that – a nice hotel built in a neighborhood of trash – very strange! Here is the other side of Mango hotel and its cozy yard:
ￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠ The owners of the hotel are British and the manager – Check! I found it peculiar that Mexican nation very often doesn’t have their own managers…And they say there are no good jobs in Mexico…But the housemaids are local – which can be seen from those swans…it is their tradition, I guess. So we didn’t waste time and drove to a cenote we knew from last time here – Crystal. It looks like a lake, but it also has caves extending far and beyond.ￂﾠ Still – it is a pleasure to be in peace and quiet and swim there, and I love those palm trees that have leaves like palms 🙂
Then we ate in a very popular – very full restaurant of Mexican food and were not impressed…No taste, except for one – Habanero peppers, but who has tried them – knows what I mean: 
And we even managed to drive (the drive is around 3-3.5 km) and stay by the sea and see the moon rising from the clouds: 
So the next day we drove the the best beach by far in that area – Playa el Paradiso – and it really is a Paradise, you can’t wish for more:
There are plenty of hotels on that stretch of land by the sea, mostly for those who just like to be by the sea all days long and not do traveling like us. But when you think – you will always be sandy, it is glued to your legs at all times except if you into an AC-ed room and your legs dry up. Remember – in this humid air you are always wet…There are also beds of different kinds on the beach for rentￂﾠ -very strange and unusual to my eyes. I guess the owners are creative!: 
That day the waves were just right. They did a good massage. And so warm: 
And here is one of the fancy beach hotels, where room prices start from $400, they don’t even speak “pesos”. I liked the design, so I am sharing:
The next day it was raining , so we rested at home and went for a swim, snorkelￂﾠ and a walk on the beach in the evening. We didn’t plan on snorkeling this time, but a very pleasant English speaking Mexican came up to me and talked us into – for God’s sake, they were only charging $10, it was uncomfortable to refuse:
Strange as it is it was not hard for me to breathe through the tube, and I saw some bigger fish and three very big sea turtles. The second longest coral reef in the world is going parallel to this beach – where you see the waves far awayￂﾠ -it is shallow there and therefore a good place to snorkel and see some life. The reef itself maybe it is very long, but not as impressive as the reefs in Thailand. But the trip was very pleasant. The boat guys told a lot about the reef, the sea and the ruins in English and were very helpful. They provided with the gear. Then as i mentioned-ￂﾠ we walked the beach and waited for the big moon to rise – it never did…The horizon at this Caribbean sea is mostly cloudy…But it was a nice walk, with some picture perfect people we saw:
And the last day we had to get up early, because tourist books suggest to visit Tulum archeological site before excursions arrive – so we were there at 8 am. This is the extension path of the road you have to drive to the beach, a narrow one. This part is already for pedestrians only. On the sides of it – is wet jungle or mangroves, not passable at all:
At the end of that long path there is a ticket office and a tropical racoon who was saved by one of the guides and now he has no family of his own so every morning he is meeting that guide, expressing his gratitude and then he is amusing the visitors:
And then you walk around the wall and enter the site for the other side – the whole ancient city was enclosed in a tall stone wall. Once you enter – you just dive in to some very good energy:
And I do not care which pyramid was for what, of course some were for religious ceremonies, some for a king to live at, some for arts and events. Nobody really knows what those rituals were or what kind of religion could gather people together and inspire them to such an extent that those impressive and huge pyramids were built! I heard the guides saying- everything is just a guess…But who cares – as if somebody in 1.5 thousand years will be interested how we prayed and what we believed in… If not for the bus excursions which increased the crowds after 9 am at once – I could stay there and walk and walk around. The pyramids were colorful, not as grey as they are now. But the paint was natural, so it didn’t hold for several hundreds of years: 
Here this beach underneath is protected from visitors – sea turtles come to lay their eggs in holes they make in sand and then little hatch-lings make their first trip to the sea:ￂﾠ 
But there are stairs to the next beach where people can swim if they want or just walk and enjoy: 
I think this is our best picture of this trip! 🙂
I liked those black birds in the tree behind the building: 
Here the simple houses where regular Mayas lived stood – but they were not as sturdy as the prominent ones: 
Leaving the site and going again to our Paradiso beach to swim some more! This time we noticed that those coconut palms are super prolific, they bloom (ironically ￂﾠ -the blooms are super tiny) at the same time as ripening their big fruits, which can be a little dangerous if you look for a shade, which you do:
And we left Tulum for Playa Del Carmen, such was the plan…We had no clue tat Playa is not for us, at least not for Andrei. On the way there were lots of Amusement parks, so we drove to see how does Xcaret look like at least form outside. for if you go there – you have to go for the full day. The tickets to those parks are around $100 p.p. And you can snorkel there take different rides, see stalactites in the caves, etc. Some are more challenging, some less, but they are mostly for people who like to be entertained, which is good. So here is the entrance to Xcaret – when I saw it, me, the tree lover – I lost interest in adding to their pockets:
I saw cenotes from the airplane on our way backￂﾠ -they look like a blue round eye in the jungle. I mean the ones that have an open roof like this. They are very deep and are connected by underground rivers. There are no normal rivers in Yucatan, only below the porous lime stone. Therefore all cenotes have the same pleasant temperature of 26C and very clean water, for now. They say that sadly, butￂﾠ the pollution is getting underground, too: 
Here is the entrance and ticket office to the cenote, it is usually 60-80 pesos: 
The depth: 
I mentioned in the beginning of the Blog about Mexico that the views and feeling in the pictures are better than being there. What concerns cenotes is vice versa- no pictures can capture the pleasure of staying there and just looking, not speaking about swimming… 
Valladolid met us with especially colorful and unusual clouds:
After checking in into our hotel Hipil – not bad, maybe even good had we not got a room Nr.1 in front of their reception desk and the kitchen…The hotel was an example how in a tiny itzy bitzy lot an 8 room hotel can be built and in its tiny yard a swimming pool can be included. Yes, and 8 room hotel and a person sitting non stop, even at night in the reception desk, doing nothing, but talking on the phone or with guests or friends, in front of our door (what a cheap work force)…Or the guests cooking an elaborate breakfast and jingling the dishes since 5:30 in the morning…So I didn’t have a knack to take pictures of the hotel :-). But since we have been to Valladolid 5 years ago, we headed to our last time favorite restaurant and were not disappointed: 
Here is how they serve burrito, with “a touch” 🙂 
And here is what they have on their wallsￂﾠ -the first room is devoted to Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera, the other rooms do not lack in pictures also: 
So we continued having our dinners at Conato. Three nights, three dinners total. Those almost 3 days in Valladolid were just enough. Ther eis anough where to go and what to do for even longer stays. The main attraction is The Convento of San Bernardinos of Siena, and here is the long street that leads to it:
Last time we only visited the church and one yard, this time we went to their museum and the gardens, here is their water supply – a cenote with a pump: 
Here are the geese who attacked us bravely: 
The altar of the church, there was a wedding and people were moving by the altar to pose for the pictures – for it is the main part of the ceremony, isn’t it? 
The other attractions are two cenotes down the road some 7 km from the center. We swam only in one – X’Keken. Last time it was marvelous-ￂﾠ it has stalactites and stalagmites which were lit with colorful lights that were changing colors. Not this time…The lights were just white and even not directed to the biggest stalactite, quite a disappointment, but still, it was a pleasure to swim there:
THis cenote has a closed roof, only a tiny hole in it. You go down the stairs and start seeing this: 
This time we didn’t feel very safe – what if a stalactite dis-attaches while we are swimming underneath? :-). Here I am standing on top of the cenote – by its single small open window to the sky: 
But the biggest fun to us was Cenote Zaci – it is in the center of the city and you can go there several times a day if you want. They also charge a little for the swimￂﾠ -like 40 pesos, but if you eat in the restaurant on top with this view – you can swim for free:
See a little figure swimming by the waterfall: 
In addition I have to mention again – the air was very very hot and humid. So to jump into the water was like a very welcome and refreshing activity.
We entered it and noticed a lot of white and light blue balloons in front of some houses and pedestals decorated with flowers in the front rooms, with some people gathering. Once we checked in to our hotelￂﾠ -we found out what it is about. The very center of town was blocked for transportation because there was a huge fair even with merry-go-rounds. It was December the 8th – the day of Mama Linda – the beloved St. Mary of Yucataneans. So they were carrying Mama Linda in all glory through town and stopping in those decorated houses, placing her on a pedestal and maybe praying or just taking pictures with her. I guess it is a great honor for the house to have Mama Linda visiting it:
Mama Linda is beautiful, and the ladies looking at her passing by were beautiful and I also had a dress of similar style, but mine was from Peru, not Maya :-): 
Our hotel was in the very very center of town – with the view to the Cathedral, it is called San Miguel Arcangel. We though – wow, how good, we will stay in the main square, can wander around till late and observe the celebration. Boy. how wrong we were…But from the beginning. They built this hotel by the side of an ancient pyramid. The whole town is built on an ancient city. So the owners of the hotel did quite a good job, if I can consider myself knowledgeable enough to say that. In the back yard one can see the ancient stones and at least it is neatly preserved, if not recovered from ruins. So here this palm tree grows already on the pyramid facing our rooms:
So we didn’t waste our time and went to see the Cathedralￂﾠ just a couple of steps form the hotel. It is also built on a Maya pyramid, like many churches in Yucatan. The cloisters seem very medieval, there is a museum and then the main church and a super big courtyard – as if it is the biggest in Latin world. Therefore it is convenient for big celebrations:
Here is one of the corners outside the church where people were worshiping a very old and distressed icon of Virgin Mary – so I assume it makes miracles, I hope it does, for there were so many candles emanating peoples wishes and pains:
Here is Mama Linda’s ‘bedroom – it is the altar where they keep her in a very separate room high up the stairs: 
A little lower there is a museum which houses mama Linda’s different outfits and also pictures how Pope Paul II visited Izamal and put a crown on Mama Linda! 
Then we walked in town looking for some more leftovers form the Maya culture. And here it was – you enter a gate in a regular street not anticipating such a view:
Once you climb the first set of steps – a field opens and a tall pyramid at the edge of it. Not so easy to climb for the steps are not restored still, and even if they are restored- the steps are very narrow and very high- and Mayas were very tiny :-): 
Right down in the street by the pyramid is a rather nice restaurant, with those strangely cut bushes in front:
What was inside those big fried “things”ￂﾠ -I will never remember their name – as if they had onions and cheese inside. Maybe even some mushrooms.ￂﾠￂﾠ We walked a little more in town, saw some groups of “Gvadelupa bikers”:
AS I found out later -young guys, some girls, too, make a promise to virgin Mary of Gvadelupa to drive form point A to point B, or to run. And so they were driving on all the roads ant highways. That would be not so bad, but once they get into a city – they start their sirens, exactly the ones that police cars have…Imagine the noise and the scare… 
So now is the fun part – when the darkness fell onto townￂﾠ – some tiny guys started building a stage right smack by our hotel doors…The main part of that stage were super loud loudspeakers, a lot of them. As if their nation is deaf…And so we had a free music to the extent that the floors and walls were shaking till 4 a.m. Viva Mexico!
It was hard to take a picture of the buildings around the 2 main squares, because of abundance of fair tents, but still: 
Buy buy Izamal!..
And here by this side of the church two smart American women boughtￂﾠ a casa, which I’d rather call Fazienda. They bought it in a depressed condition and did such a fantastic job that all three days we were there-ￂﾠ I couldn’t stop admiring! The feeling once we found from where to enter it was that I entered Bramasole From the book “Under the Tuscan Sun”ￂﾠ -it was like living in a movie, only better! Here is Casa Lunita from outside and inside:
Here is how romantic the yard and pool looked at night in the dark, with the kitchen on the other side of the pool:
There was also a small water Lilly pool on the other side of the arch but I forgot to take its picture. It was especially nice at night because three big toads would come out from their hiding places and sit on the edge. Here are the doors from our room -I am sorry. I didn’t take the picture properly, but for the idea:ￂﾠ 
We will definitely go there again – such a place! And in addition to all the pleasures-ￂﾠ we were there alone, exceptￂﾠ for the housekeeper Sally. So we could enjoy the quietness of the evenings, the pleasure of cooking in that exotic and spacious kitchen and having our meals there. Sally cooked us very tasty breakfasts, so we enjoyed tat a lot! But again – nothing is perfect in life, situations do not let you be fully happy – being such an old style building with super tall rooms and with all those doors in rooms andￂﾠ crevices in them – it cannot be air conditioned. So we slept with fans directed towards us and it was OK, but in that climate…I guess – the best time is January and February. And with all that – of course there were mosquitoes, but not many. Everything depended on whether I was tasty – which I was, o wasn’tￂﾠ – like my husband.
Lots of lotus plants in Koi fish pools here and there, a couple of Budha sculptures, a spacious promenade to the restaurant and a park behind it. There is a Thai woman cooking, so it was good. But we were very lucky to meet the owner of the hacienda, who is of French descent and was sick with cancer three times. With the help of doctors and his own inner peace he healed, therefore he continues to create the surroundings of peace. He said he created it for himselfￂﾠ -but the park and buildings in it are for cancer patients, mostly those of low financial means where they can come during the day and walk in the park, get some electromagnetic treatment and consultations for nutrition and psychological help, also do some Chi-gong training in a special squareￂﾠ -all for free! therefore lay people are not supposed to wander in the park, so that the patients won’t be disturbed. So we were lucky that the owner took us around and showed us the big – i would say 1.5 m height amethyst he bought form Brazil for auspicious reasons and so on. Here is a Lotus seed pod, and the last lotus flower of the season:
In the evening we went to a mass, it was close by, why not to go – everything was good and pleasant, only when it ended -they started exploding some fireworks and explosives so loud, that it was frightening to leave the church and on that note they got so excited that kept on doing their pyrotechnic fun all throughout the night…it is their Mexican blood, what can you do, Sally said. ￂﾠ 
Here is Motul -a the town next door which is known for their Huevos Motulenos- Motula’s eggs – made with lots of ingredients, but it was not the right time for us to eat more eggs after Sally’s good breakfast…We Left it for next time. ￂﾠ 