Ek' Balam

We loaded up on the bus this morning and drove for 3 hours to the ruins at Ek' Balam.


These ruins were dated much older than the ones we saw yesterday.


At the top of this one...


...we found what looked like a baptismal font. There was a drain at the bottom so they could let the water out.


The view from the top was really cool.


This one was the 2nd tallest of them all. Danny climbed to the top...


...and gave me a "Fire Power" pose.


The kids felt cool air blowing out of this hole in the wall. They were curious so they stuck their camera (with a flash) into this dark hole, took a picture, and then looked to see what was inside.


There was a staircase!


So, we looked around to make sure the school administrators were not looking. Then, we got the skinniest and most daring boy in the group and encouraged him to climb in!


He climbed in and used the flashlight on my iPhone to explore it. He climbed to the top of the stairs and took a few more pictures. He noticed sunlight in the distance and wanted to continue exploring but a Mexican curator noticed the commotion and started to come towards us so we told him to hurry and get out. He grabbed a golden head and then this giant bolder tumbled down after him. As he was running away from it, he managed to grab his hat before a big stone door closed. Then an old friend showed up with a bunch of natives and took it before he could get out. OK. My son Danny may have embellished the story a little. What really happened is his sandal fell off as he was scrambling out. The worker guy seemed to notice he was missing a shoe and suspected the kids were up to something. We distracted him and when he turned his back, the boy dove in and got his sandal and then walked away. When he saw the boy walking away with both sandals on, he gave him a frowny look. The boy said it was the most exciting part of the whole trip for him! I'm just glad the thing didn't cave in on him or something!


This looks like a baby in the womb of this statue. The statue looks like it has wings. I wonder if this is the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus? It's very fascinating.


The school administrator who has seen a lot of ruins said that he has never seen paintings like this before. He says that the color usually fades over the years. This looks like a white guy sitting and teaching other dark skinned people. I wonder what it means!


It's tough to see in this picture but the tallest structure of them all was the one covered in trees pictured here. Apparently, that's what these ruins look like before the archaelogists get to them. They're just huge mounds of boulders with trees and brush growing on them! The Mexican government doesn't have the money to restore them so they just sit there like this. It was pretty amazing to see. I can see how restoring that would be a major undertaking.


We made some new friends on the trip. Brian and Amy Kunz and their four kids go to the same school. They have three boys that are the same age as our three youngest boys (sitting at the table behind us). The 6 of them had a great time playing on this trip and Kathy and I enjoyed getting to know Brian and Amy. Brian is the founder and president of Northridge Publishing; a very successful business that is similar in many ways to mine. We're kindred spirits!


In addition to making new friends, we really enjoyed this Crem de la Crem de la Kathy (Creme Brulee). It was a nice, light Italian dessert. It was the perfect finishing touch to the Italian dinner that we enjoyed this evening.


The teenage kids talked us into going out on the town later this evening. We went to Mextreme and had a great time!


We enjoyed coconut ice cream served in a frozen coconut...


...and pineapple ice cream served in a frozen pineapple.


The kids all danced and had a great time.


Then a Mexican witch doctor-type guy came out and cast a magic spell on the boys from the school. He sat all four of them down on these chairs...


...and then had each one lay back and rest their heads on the knees of the person behind them.


He cast a magic spell on each one as he did it.


When they were all laying down...


...he began removing the chairs one by one!


When all the chairs had been removed, it seemed as if the boys were floating in mid-air!


Finally, he backed up to get a running start. Then, he ran up and jumped on them and knocked them all to the ground! It was pretty hilarious. We all loved it. It was so fun!