ItineraryMayJune04

March 16, 2004

Estimado Joseph,

Thanks for your email and the great photo!

Here's our itinerary which I've posted to www.Waldorf.homestead.com

May 28th. P.M. arrival at Cancun airport where I will meet you and our students and escort everyone to downtown Cancun where we will spend the night at Hotel la Hacienda in Cancun.

Tel: 011 52 9884 3672. E-mail: hhda@cancun.com.mx After dinner, if time permits, we'll visit Cancun's turquoise-water beach.

May 29th. Journey to Isla Mujeres by "colectivo" (public van) and ferry. After settling in to the Hotel Francis Arlene, 011-52-987/7-03-10, we'll lunch, then swim at Playa Norte (North Beach), a tranquil white-sand beach with crystal blue water, one block from our hotel. Dinner and bed.

May 30th. Panga expedition in "molded fiberglass open boat" to Isla Contoy where the entire island is a nature preserve inhabited by 3 foot-long iguanas. (Fruit breakfast provided on panga.) En route to Isla Contoy, students may snorkel at a lovely coral reef that is home to several dozen species of brilliantly colored fish. (Snorkels, masks and flippers provided.) On Isla Contoy -- while our "palapa" ("thatch-roofed pavilion") beach feast is being prepared on barbeque pits -- we will swim in the main bay, home to four-foot rays that are so friendly they like to be petted. Return to Isla Mujeres in the late afternoon. After dinner, we will either return to Playa Norte, or explore the town.

May 31st. Breakfast in Isla Mujeres. Then travel to Vallodolid, the Yucatan's "second city." Check into Hotel San Clemente (with pool). Tel: 011-52-985-6-22-08. After lunch, we will visit Valladolid's small museum which documents the astonishing tale of the mid-19th century "Caste War." Then we visit Cenote Zaci where divers plunge headfirst from the cenote's limestone "roof" into a small circle of green water 100 feet below. In the evening, we will dine at El Meson where President Jimmy Carter lodged in 1978. Before bed, we will swim in the hotel pool.

June 1st. After breakfast, we will visit Chichen Itza' or Ek Balam, followed by lunch in Valladolid. In the afternoon, we will travel to Merida, the Yucatan's capitol. Settle in to Hotel Santa Lucia (with pool). Tel: 011-508 -928-2662. Explore Merida's rich marketplace and "zocalo." The "main square" is bordered by the hemisphere's oldest cathedral, art galleries, bookstores and the government palace built by Conquistador Hernan Cortez. To close the day's activities, we will have dinner followed by swimming at the hotel pool.

June 2nd. After breakfast, social worker Minerva Benitez Castillo will lead us to a Mayan community where we will observe/participate in traditional cotton-string hammock weaving. As a service project, we will plant several fruit trees. Local Mayan women will prepare lunch and will teach us to "echar tortillas" ("toss tortillas") - the traditional way that tortillas are made by hand. We will return to Merida in the afternoon for a "pick up" soccer game with young folk from Merida, followed by an outdoor dinner at a restaurant operated by collaborator Enrique Puc's brother and sister-in-law. We then return to our hotel and -- time-permitting -- will swim in the hotel pool.

June 3rd. After breakfast, we will travel with Enrique Puc to the Centro de Investigacion de Yucatan ("Yucatecan Center for Research") where we will visit el Jardin Botanico (Botanical Garden), learning about tropical botany and the medicinal uses of native plants. Later we will travel to Dzibilchaltun, one of very few places in the Mayan world where a Spanish colonial town grew up "around" the pre-Colombian pyramid-ritual center. After lunch we will explore the town and the ancient Mayan ruins. We will then proceed to Puerto de Chuburna' en route to Chelem, a small beach town where we will swim, have fishing opportunity and finally spend the night sleeping in hammocks or "sleeping bags."

June 4th. After breakfast, we will visit las Grutas de Homun (Homun caves). If there's time, we will also swim in el Cenote Telchaquillo. We will lunch "along the way." Back in Merida, we will feast on "pollo pibil," the traditionally-festive Mayan chicken dish steamed in banana leaves. Garden restaurant El Portico del Peregrino ("Pigrim's Gate") prepares some of the best pibil in the Yucatan. Time-permitting, we will swim at Hotel Santa Lucia's pool before "turning in."

June 5th. After breakfast, there will be opportunity to do "last-minute" shopping at Merida's vast Mercado de Artesanias (craft market). Following lunch we will return to Cancun where we will spend the night at Hotel la Hacienda. If students wish, we can "time" our departure from Merida to insure beach-swimming along the white sands of Cancun's zona hotelera.

June 6th. Breakfast, followed by trip to Cancun airport for return trip home.

There may be some modification to the itinerary given above. At the moment, however, it seems reasonably firm.

¡Qué emoción!

Paz contigo,

Alan

Footnotes

The phone numbers listed above can be dialed directly from the United States. Country and city prefixes are already included.

Due to the Yucatan's porous limestone "shelf," the peninsula has no "above ground" rivers. All Mayan settlements grew up around "cenotes" which are circular "sink holes" where the brittle limestone collapsed into the subterranean river. Because the northern half of the Yucatan is extraordinarily flat, these cenotes have little current and are routinely used as swimming holes.



	Home March 16, 2004 Estimado Joseph, Thanks for your email and the great photo! Here's our itinerary which I've posted to www.Waldorf.homestead.com May 28th. P.M. arrival at Cancun airport where I will meet you and our students and escort everyone to downtown Cancun where we will spend the night at Hotel la Hacienda in Cancun. Tel: 011 52 9884 3672. E-mail: hhda@cancun.com.mx After dinner, if time permits, we'll visit Cancun's turquoise-water beach. May 29th. Journey to Isla Mujeres by "colectivo" (public van) and ferry. After settling in to the Hotel Francis Arlene, 011-52-987/7-03-10, we'll lunch, then swim at Playa Norte (North Beach), a tranquil white-sand beach with crystal blue water, one block from our hotel. Dinner and bed. May 30th. Panga expedition in "molded fiberglass open boat" to Isla Contoy where the entire island is a nature preserve inhabited by 3 foot-long iguanas. (Fruit breakfast provided on panga.) En route to Isla Contoy, students may snorkel at a lovely coral reef that is home to several dozen species of brilliantly colored fish. (Snorkels, masks and flippers provided.) On Isla Contoy -- while our "palapa" ("thatch-roofed pavilion") beach feast is being prepared on barbeque pits -- we will swim in the main bay, home to four-foot rays that are so friendly they like to be petted. Return to Isla Mujeres in the late afternoon. After dinner, we will either return to Playa Norte, or explore the town. May 31st. Breakfast in Isla Mujeres. Then travel to Vallodolid, the Yucatan's "second city." Check into Hotel San Clemente (with pool). Tel: 011-52-985-6-22-08. After lunch, we will visit Valladolid's small museum which documents the astonishing tale of the mid-19th century "Caste War." Then we visit Cenote Zaci where divers plunge headfirst from the cenote's limestone "roof" into a small circle of green water 100 feet below. In the evening, we will dine at El Meson where President Jimmy Carter lodged in 1978. Before bed, we will swim in the hotel pool. June 1st. After breakfast, we will visit Chichen Itza' or Ek Balam, followed by lunch in Valladolid. In the afternoon, we will travel to Merida, the Yucatan's capitol. Settle in to Hotel Santa Lucia (with pool). Tel: 011-508 -928-2662. Explore Merida's rich marketplace and "zocalo." The "main square" is bordered by the hemisphere's oldest cathedral, art galleries, bookstores and the government palace built by Conquistador Hernan Cortez. To close the day's activities, we will have dinner followed by swimming at the hotel pool. June 2nd. After breakfast, social worker Minerva Benitez Castillo will lead us to a Mayan community where we will observe/participate in traditional cotton-string hammock weaving. As a service project, we will plant several fruit trees. Local Mayan women will prepare lunch and will teach us to "echar tortillas" ("toss tortillas") - the traditional way that tortillas are made by hand. We will return to Merida in the afternoon for a "pick up" soccer game with young folk from Merida, followed by an outdoor dinner at a restaurant operated by collaborator Enrique Puc's brother and sister-in-law. We then return to our hotel and -- time-permitting -- will swim in the hotel pool. June 3rd. After breakfast, we will travel with Enrique Puc to the Centro de Investigacion de Yucatan ("Yucatecan Center for Research") where we will visit el Jardin Botanico (Botanical Garden), learning about tropical botany and the medicinal uses of native plants. Later we will travel to Dzibilchaltun, one of very few places in the Mayan world where a Spanish colonial town grew up "around" the pre-Colombian pyramid-ritual center. After lunch we will explore the town and the ancient Mayan ruins. We will then proceed to Puerto de Chuburna' en route to Chelem, a small beach town where we will swim, have fishing opportunity and finally spend the night sleeping in hammocks or "sleeping bags." June 4th. After breakfast, we will visit las Grutas de Homun (Homun caves). If there's time, we will also swim in el Cenote Telchaquillo. We will lunch "along the way." Back in Merida, we will feast on "pollo pibil," the traditionally-festive Mayan chicken dish steamed in banana leaves. Garden restaurant El Portico del Peregrino ("Pigrim's Gate") prepares some of the best pibil in the Yucatan. Time-permitting, we will swim at Hotel Santa Lucia's pool before "turning in." June 5th. After breakfast, there will be opportunity to do "last-minute" shopping at Merida's vast Mercado de Artesanias (craft market). Following lunch we will return to Cancun where we will spend the night at Hotel la Hacienda. If students wish, we can "time" our departure from Merida to insure beach-swimming along the white sands of Cancun's zona hotelera. June 6th. Breakfast, followed by trip to Cancun airport for return trip home. There may be some modification to the itinerary given above. At the moment, however, it seems reasonably firm. ¡Qué emoción! Paz contigo, Alan Footnotes The phone numbers listed above can be dialed directly from the United States. Country and city prefixes are already included. Due to the Yucatan's porous limestone "shelf," the peninsula has no "above ground" rivers. All Mayan settlements grew up around "cenotes" which are circular "sink holes" where the brittle limestone collapsed into the subterranean river. Because the northern half of the Yucatan is extraordinarily flat, these cenotes have little current and are routinely used as swimming holes.