Read, Ride and Roam with me on a college visit!

I recently took my daughter on her first college visit. We drove down to Lawrence, Kansas, to attend a junior day at the University of Kansas. I'd never been to Lawrence, so I definitely didn't know anything about the town or its beautiful college campus prior to our visit.                        

  

One of the very first things I learned was that they are the Jayhawks, and they are quite enthusiastic about their school chant of "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk." I'm not a sport's person at all, and neither is my daughter, so we were the only two in the crowd of about a thousand parents and teenagers who didn't know what to say when the vice-president of the university came on stage and yelled "Rock Chalk" at us! Oh well, I'm not looking for a place to send my daughter based on their sport's cheer.

Frankly, we were visiting KU because my daughter wants to be a paleontologist someday, so we went there to scope it out as a potential grad school for her. Since we don't live in Kansas, I can't really afford the out-of-state tuition for her to attend that university as an undergraduate student, but after seeing the campus, I'd consider it as a possibility now if she wants to go there. She's smart, so she could probably get enough scholarship money to pay for most of it, but for now, we'll just save it as a potential college for her to earn the master's degree she'll need to be a full-fledged paleontologist.

Prior to visiting Lawrence, I'd done a little research about the town and learned it is one of the top college towns in the country and that it has one of the nicest down towns of about any city in the U.S. Upon our arrival in Lawrence, my daughter steered me down Massachusetts Street as we attempted to find the hotel I'd booked for the night. Turns out that street is the main street of Lawrence!

Wow, what a street! The locals just call it Mass Street. It contains block after block of lovely shops, restaurants and cultural places like theaters and music bars. I was blown away. After we checked into the Oread Hotel and were equally blown away by that structure, we walked down one of the steep hills surrounding the campus (Hills! In Kansa! Who knew!?) and headed to Mass Street to check out a used bookstore I'd seen in passing and to find a place to eat.

 This is a beautiful hotel!

  

At La Parrilla, a Mexican restaurant and bar, we had some really delicious fajitas, a favorite of both of us. These were spicier than most Mexican restaurants make them, but I love spicy food! 

The next morning, we arose early to attend the junior day activities. We lucked out as the weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm, even though it was early in March still. We enjoyed the entire visit, and we were impressed with what we saw, but I would say they put more emphasis on the sports one can watch there than the academics. In fact, our group's first stop was the apparently famous basketball arena of KU -- again, I don't follow or care about sports, but my son does, so I did take a few photos while we were inside the arena, and I was interested to learn that the man who invented the game of basketball was the first basketball coach at KU.

That apparently is the original center court of the basketball arena. 

Overall, I enjoyed the junior day at KU, and I would especially like to return to Lawrence, Kansas, someday to spend a full day on Massachusetts Street checking out The Dusty Bookshelf further along with the other bookstores I saw there and the eclectic shops and diners.

Here are a couple more photos of the campus taken hurriedly while trying to keep up with our group which was being led by a very energetic college junior named Eva. She said that the campus buses go everywhere, even in town, and are free to college students, and we learned that the man who first discovered Pluto and the guy who created Google Earth were both KU students. Also, one of my favorite actors, Paul Rudd, was a student there, along with many other people who went on to do great things with their lives.

I'm leaving the final photo large because I like and totally agree with the saying engraved into the top of the building's entrance. "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!" 

Roam With Me! -- Holbox Island, Mexico

Now let's get to my absolutely most favorite place in the Yucatan Peninsula (and quite possibly my most favorite place on Earth!) -- Holbox Island. This was my second visit to this magnificent place, and I'm hoping it wasn't my last.

Holbox Island, or more correctly Isla Holbox, is situated off the northern tip of the peninsula, pretty much smack dab where the Gulf of Mexico waters meet those of the Caribbean Sea, 

Our route took us from Merida across through Vallodolid and eventually up to Chiquila where you have to leave your car in one of the many family-run parking facilities. From there, you take one of the ferries operated by two different groups and cross to the island. Ferries run every half hour until about 11:00 at night. There is a constant stream of men/boys on special bikes who will find you and transport your luggage to the dock if you need it -- believe me, as soon as you get out of your car in whichever parking area you choose, there will be a guy there ready to assist you -- and these guys work only for tips.

Here is a photo of my daughter and my friend's daughter about to get a lift while we adults walked to the dock. 

The ride across to Holbox takes just under a half hour. You can ride inside if the weather is poor, or you can ride on top of the ferry as we enjoy doing.






The town of Holbox has about 2,000 actual inhabitants, but many others come regularly to enjoy its non-touristy vibe and to swim with whale sharks during the time of the year when they are in the area. That's the main reason I went two years ago, but I returned this summer because I fell in love with the island and also because I wanted to see the whale sharks again and properly this time with my newly purchased prescription snorkel mask!

When you arrive, you can either walk to your hotel or house, or you can rent a "taxi." All vehicles on Holbox are golf carts with the exception of the few delivery trucks and construction vehicles that have to come across the waters on different boats. The streets are made of a fine white sand only, and they are quite pitted with holes, so any ride in a golf cart you take is a very jolting one. Nothing is so far that you can't walk as long as you are able to walk, but when you arrive laden with luggage, then it's best to rent a taxi.

The fare will always be 30 pesos no matter where you are going, and the taxi will only take four people. Since we were a group of five, we did a little begging and pleading with the taxi driver, who finally relented and took all of us, but when we left the island, my boyfriend did walk to the dock and let us ladies ride in the taxi -- what a gentleman!




On my last visit, we had stayed in a small room-only hotel many blocks from the beach, but this time we booked a room far in advance in a place called Amaite Hotel and Spa.

This post isn't meant to promote or disparage the hotel. I'm glad we stayed there as it offered a large suite with three bedrooms that accommodated all of us under one roof. Two of the rooms were air-conditioned, and the un-air-conditioned one had a ceiling fan that could have doubled as blades to make a helicopter take flight -- that sucker really moved. The suite was right off the beach and faced the sea, and there was a daily continental breakfast of fresh fruit, toast and juice or coffee. The drawbacks were that there was only one bathroom for everyone, and the water temperature was hit-and-miss. When we first arrived, we found boiling hot water awaiting us in the toilet, but then when we needed hot water in the shower, there simply wasn't any. Here are some photos of the suite and our views --

    

 







Our first evening there we ate at the seaside restaurant across the street. Then we went for a walk along the beach where I took one of my three favorite photos while there. Here it is --


The next morning we had some early beach time fortunately because a long-lasting rainstorm set in and lingered all afternoon, flooding the streets, which is a common occurrence there. My friend and I took advantage of the poor weather for a long girl talk at the hotel restaurant/bar which is open to the sea air. It was lovely to watch the rain pour down only feet away while having a drink with my best friend. Then we took a walk through the flooded streets to do a little shopping and find a place to eat for supper. There are many places to eat, and they are all very near each other.

  

There are beautiful murals painted on many of the buildings of Holbox.




I especially love this one because it depicts a whale shark, and one of the main reasons to visit the island from July -- September is to go swim with the whale sharks that are in the area. I don't have photos of swimming with them, though, as we used disposable cameras, and the photos didn't turn out the best due to the speed in which the whale sharks swim away from you and the sheer size of the animals when they are close to you -- you simply can't fit them all in the frame.

We'd been advised to sample the lobster pizza while we were there. I'm not a fan of seafood, but I was willing to give in a whirl. We did, though, also order a pepperoni pizza for the kids, and I'm glad we did as I ended up eating that when I got a look at the lobster pizza. Sorry, just not for me, but my boyfriend and I my best friend enjoyed it.
 
The above photo is another of my three favorite photos taken while on the island. We were heading back after wandering the sandy and flooded streets of Holbox. That's my guy, my best friend's daughter, my best friend and my daughter -- four of the most important people in my life sharing a beautiful place and experience with me.

We had just done some shopping where my guy had bought me a wonderful silver necklace made by a local artisan named Noa. She has her own metallurgy workshop at the back of her small store, and she makes all her own molds of whale sharks, sea horses, shells and other local fauna. Since I am in awe of whale sharks and find them to be the most beautiful animals in the sea, I naturally selected a solid silver whale shark pendant and chain.  I'm a lucky gal to have friends and family who will travel to a place I love and to have a man who will buy me such a great memento to wear everyday as a reminder.

We did go swim with whale sharks, and this time around I had a much better experience than last time. First, we took motion-sickness pills prior to boarding the boat because last time we got really ill from the rocking of the small boat at the whale shark spot, but I don't think we would have needed it because the water was much calmer due to fewer sharks and only a few boats when we arrived at a spot where some sharks were feeding at the surface.

Secondly, I had my prescription mask, so I could actually see the animals clearly, and so that my mask didn't leak like the defective one they gave me last time did. I sucked so much salt water into my nose last time that I was more focused on breathing and surviving than actually seeing the sharks. This time I saw them up close and personal, and in my third time in I shared a brief eyeball-to-eyeball moment with one of the giant fish. Glorious! In my second time in, the shark thumped me on the shoulder with his tail as he swam past. Loved it!

Third, we stayed out longer because this tour group took us fishing for our lunch. Nobody but the captain and the guide actually caught anything, but everyone had fun trying to catch some fish. The captain and the guide chopped up the fish and made ceviche while we snorkeled in shallower water. They let us swim for a long time, and we managed to see two sea turtles. My daughter swam along behind one for a while.

The tour operators were Tour Moguel. Again, I'm not supporting them, but they did a nice job, so I'm just letting anyone know who might like to know.

One of the main things I wanted to do on my second visit to Holbox was to explore the island better. The best way to do that is to rent a golf cart, which we did, but the problem for us was that it had rained a LOT on our first full day there. The water just doesn't run off; it sits in large puddles on the streets for a long time afterwards. Some of the puddles are simply not navigable with a golf cart because the water is too deep for the cart to go through without getting the engine works wet, so even though we did drive around the town a lot, there were areas on the outer limits that we just didn't get to -- guess that means I'll have to go back someday!

Here are some final photos of the trip. I'll begin with the final one of my three favorite photos I took there:


 

 



Just to prove I was actually there:

Roam With Me! -- Progreso and San Crisanto, Mexico

Hola de nuevo (Hello again). I promised in my last post to write more about my Mexico trip. This time I'm focusing on two towns near Merida -- Progreso and San Crisanto.

Progreso is about a half hour drive north of Merida, and it's a decent sized town of about 50,000 when you take in the surrounding areas that have grown into Progreso. Even though I've been to Progreso often on my visits to Merida, my main experience with the town is simply the malecon area. It's where the people go to walk along the beach, and it's where you'll find most of the restaurants and vendors. A few of the restaurants even have pools, so your kids can swim while you linger over drinks and conversation.

The gulf waters at Progreso tend to be a bit wavy, and there is usually a fairly brisk breeze coming off the water, so in my opinion, it's not really the best place to go for a dip, but it is a nice beach for a stroll. 
As you can see, the beach is a lovely white, and it is really quite smooth on the feet. The long pier you see in the photo is the world's longest pier at 4 miles in length! Progreso is a port town, so there exists a need to allow ships to dock here, but the water is really shallow very far out, so the pier had to be really long to reach the deeper water for large ships.

About twice a month they open the pier for people to go out and stroll on it and enjoy the sunset. We made plans to do this on one of our last days in Mexico, and I had really been looking forward to it; however, as luck would have it for me, I wasn't feeling very well. Let's just say I couldn't get four feet from a bathroom, let alone four miles! So, while we didn't wander out very far on it, we did go a short ways -- far enough to snap a few photos of us on it and the sun behind us.
    
 
Bless the people handing out bags of water! Yes, bags of water. Not only did they quench our thirst on a hot day, but they also made for good fun for my daughter to squirt my boyfriend and best friend with very cold water! Don't worry, they definitely returned the favor!

I'm showing you this picture because 1. -- you can't go to Mexico and not have at least one margarita (and this was the only one I had), and 2. -- this is on a beach restaurant right by the long pier and at the very start of the malecon. Like many places in tropical regions this has a palapa roof, and I love them. You'll find them shading single beach chairs on beaches, covering homes, and cooling diners while they eat. They block the sun but still allow the lovely breezes to flow freely.
 But when it comes to Mexican alcohol, nothing beats a Sol cerveza! I like beer above any other type of drink (except a Bloody Mary), and I especially like Mexican beer. Dos Equis and Sol are my favorites, so when I saw this giant Sol, naturally I had to stop for a photo! Here is a photo of a stroll along the malecon part of Progreso.

Now, the real reason I took the photo was to get a shot of the white car with a toy car strapped to the top of it. It made me laugh, but in the end, I just like the photo for the lighting and the activity it shows (and for the peek at my best friend's tatoo -- ha ha!).


You can't have a port without a lighthouse. This one is actually located a few blocks inland, which I thought was odd, but what do I know about lighthouses!

Not too far east of Progreso is a very small town called San Crisanto that carries a bit of fame in the world of tourism for the mangrove tours offered there. We had been there before, but my boyfriend had not, since this was his first trip out of the country, so we revisited it, and I'm glad we did because sometimes you get more out of a second visit than you do on the first one.

First you have to find the palapa covered building where they sell the tickets to the mangrove, which is called manglar in Spanish. Then, after you pay, a man on a bicycle will lead you down a sandy road to the grove itself and a nice shady place for you to park your car.


The start of the trip down the sandy road.


Getting closer.

When you arrive, you get in very small boats that can accommodate no more than six passengers. We were five, so it was o.k., and one of us was a small child, so that made it even better. The guide then pushes you through the swamp canals with a long pole, so it's sort of like riding in a gondola.

  

As you glide along in this very quiet place, you see what appear to be gigantic globs of poop in the trees.  
These are termite mounds, and they are very prevalent throughout the mangrove. Part of why people like to go through this mangrove is to get to the ojo de aqua, which means eye of water, located in the heart of the mangrove. Apparently, according to our guide (who didn't speak English as most of them do not), there are over forty of these ojos de agua throughout the mangrove, but all but one of them are located in areas where it's just too unstable of ground for people to go into them.

Basically the eye of water is a place that lets ground water come up and make a natural small swimming hole. 
Here my best friend, my daughter, and my friend's daughter enjoy a refreshing dip. She is perched right over the hole, so it is deep where she is. The bottom of the swimming hole is quite slimy actually, and it feels funny on your feet, but the water is very nice. They've built a walkway around the hole, and a palapa covered shady spot for people to rest. The guides just wait in their boats for you to swim and take your time.


The following photo is the road leading away from the mangrove, and I just really like the photo, so I'm going to leave you with it. I'll be back to tell you all about my very favorite place in Mexico, Holbox Island!