Party on the Boat! Stop #1: Costa Maya, Mexico!

As soon as you get onboard, there are a million things to do and EAT!  So we of course hit the buffet first!  Then we went to our assigned "Muster Stations" to review all the safety tips, ate again, hit the mini-golf course, played foosball, ate again, and watched the most gorgeous sunset as we sailed down the Mississippi River and out into the Gulf of Mexico.

YAY for Muster Stations!
(And all the boring announcements)

TOWEL ANIMALS EVERYWHERE!!!

The Elephant

The Manta Ray? Or a flower?

Taking over the deck!

Mini-Golf

Face Painting at the Kid's Club!

Funny Food Story:  Tatum's first morning on the boat.  Her breakfast of choice...bacon AND ice-cream of course!

Ice-cream 24/7
for every meal!

Beautiful sunsets every night from our boat.

Every night on the boat at dinner, photographers would come around to take pictures of everyone.  The idea is to get nice family photos you could buy from the ship.  Chris and I always politely declined but the boys GLADLY posed for them.  Every night, they tried to make the best drunk/tired/crazy pose/face they could.  I can't believe they actually displayed their photos!  (Which we promptly used our phones to snap a photo of the displayed photos:)

Costa Maya, Mexico:

Our first stop was in Costa Maya, Mexico.  We chose to explore the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins.  It was quite hot and muggy--it's the jungle for sure.  But we were well rested and ready for the adventure! 

These ruins date back to about 1250 B.C. and was abandoned and reoccupied multiple times until about 1000 A.D.  It's incredible to look around the area and to see that this was once a large city!  The land is typically very flat.  Looking out, you can see several "raised" areas which are all houses or temples.  Only very few of them have actually been excavated and restored but they are EVERYWHERE!  Seeing a Mayan Temple here is like seeing a castle in Germany...like I said, they are everywhere!  Definitely the oldest places I have ever seen or visited!  On this one stop, we hit 4 excavated Temples!

Temple #1

Thanks Yam for the family pic!
(Our guide:)

Temple #2

A Cahuna Tree

Temple #3

As we walked from temple to temple, you could SEE THE MONKEYS in the trees!!!  It was SOO awesome!!!  I've never seen monkeys in their natural habitat and it was fascinating.  It's hard to see in the picture but I did catch a video too!

There's a monkey family there I promise!

This tree held ceremonial importance.
There are many markings on it's trunk.

These are some pictures of un-exavated temples/houses:

This was a tablet that actually explained the history of Temple #4.  It is obviously worn down but at one time you could read the history of the people on it--from the time they took possession of the temple to the time they left it and any other significant events.

Temple #4

The foundations of a couple homes

I found some Ivy!!!

Back in the town of Tulum, they had a dolphin sanctuary right there on the beach.  So we watched dolphins for a little while before getting back on board.  LOVED Costa Maya.  AMAZED by the history and places we were able to see here today.  And the monkeys...SOOO CUTE!  We couldn't wait for our next stop in Mahogany Bay where I signed us up for the excursion to actually hold monkeys!!!