**i'm sure there will be way more information in this post than anyone really wants to read, so you have my permission to just look at the pictures**
day 2 (thursday june 10th) was a busy day.
my dad wanted us to see some mayan ruins while we were in the mayan riviera.
makes sense, right?
he actually found an lds tour guide named alma who provides a variety of tours to the various ruins throughout the yucatan.
alma was amazing- she is lds, from mexico city, and part mayan.
i can't even tell you how much i learned from her.
she had an amazing testimony of the book of mormon.
she knew so much about the mayan history, archeology, and anthropology.
she brought the stories in the book of mormon to life--
that was a real first for me.
if you ever travel to the mayan riviera- book a tour with her or her family. holy moly. you will leave a much more knowledgeable person with a desire to dive into the book of mormon and learn even more. i know i won't even come close to mentioning all the things i learned about the parallelisms between the book of mormon stories and the mayan civilizations, but i will do my very best to give you a little intro and you can go to mexico and get the full experience in person :)
the tour started bright and early (7am). we were picked up and drove about 45 minutes to coba.
my dad chose coba over tulum or chichen itza because it's not as excavated or reconstructed as the others, it has the highest point in all of the yucatan, you can actually climb the largest structure, the ruins are located throughout the jungle, and because you can rent bicycles and ride through the canopies to keep cool :)
the civilization of coba dates back to 600-900 a.d. and there were an estimated 100,000 people living in its domain.
these are the rickety bikes we rented for the day. we were so grateful to have them! not only did they keep us from walking all over the jungle, but they kept us cool and were fun to race!
one of the first things we stopped to see are the ball courts. the ball game played an important roll in mayan society and most cities had a ball court, which is basically a corridor of two stoned walls. the game was played between two teams, using only their hips and elbows to get a rubber ball through a hoop. there are inscriptions and other pieces of art to show that human sacrifice was part of the game.
this is what we looked like for most of our excursion- everyone huddled around alma as she related the history of the mayan culture and civilizations to the stories of the nephites and lamanites in 3 nephi. here, she showed us various stelas. stelas are free-standing stone slabs with engravings on them.
she then told us about stela #5 which is nicknamed "the tree of life stela". the stela was found in 1941 and about 10 years later, m. wells jakeman (chairman of archaeology at byu) created a drawing and interpreted the stone as representing "lehi's dream". the area where the stela was found was at the crossroads of america- an area where it is believed lehi first landed. the stela is believed to show the tree of life which represents the love of God, happiness, and eternal life; the river representing the barrier of evil between people and happiness; the rod of iron represents the word of God; lehi is believed to be on the left side of the tree, preaching the word of God to his family; sariah is behind him, supporting him; laman and lemuel both have their backs turned to him; and nephi is believed to be to the right of the tree, heading the words of his father.
if you know the story of the tree of life, it is absolutely amazing to see this stela, which is believed to have been carved between 300-100 b.c. the timing fits to what we believe is the time that lehi brings his family across the ocean to the americas.
the nohoc mul pyramid is the tallest structure in the yucatan at just over 126 feet. there are 120 steep stairs you can climb to get to the very top. the view from the top is absolutely amazing- you can see over the jungle canopy for miles and there are unexcavated temple mounts peeking above the trees.
that engraving above the door opening is a carving of the mayan god, the "feathered serpent". they called it that because it had the ability to live on land and in the heavens.
alma finished the tour by sharing a beautiful testimony on the importance of scripture study in the book of mormon, temple work, and the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
she then sang us a song from the children's songbook and the spirit was so strong.
How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us?
What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son,
Help others on their way.
What does he ask?
Live like his Son.
after spending a few hours at coba, we decided it was time for some grub. alma took us to a local restaurant where we had a buffet style lunch. the food was delicious (chicken, pork, fruit, veggies) and the homemade horchata was to die for. we also gulped down some ice cold coca-cola light.
after lunch, alma took us to a local cenote. a cenote is an underground body of water, a sinkhole that was essential to the mayan's survival. how do you get to the cenote? you enter through a narrow hole and steep steps that the mayans carved themselves. the water is a blue green color of unknown depths and there are stalactites of blood red limestone above. this cenote was absolutely amazing and is a sight that pictures will never do justice. i have a video of us playing in the water, but that will have to be uploaded at a later time.
that night we had reservations to the seafood restaurant at the resort. it was delicious and we feasted on shrimp, crab, and lobster. i also got everyone hooked on the virgin pina coladas- they were to die for!
after dinner we were all exhausted from a full, long day in the sun. we spent a little bit of time walking around the resort, watching the ocean waves crash on the beach in the moonlight, and listening to the musical entertainment for the evening at the amphitheater.
we went to bed early because trent had another full day of mayan ruins planned for friday.
day 3 to come...
