And the petting of the turtle part ...

The beach was wonderful as always ... saw a great sunset ... one that makes you just stop and take a deep breath and be thankful that you are alive.
So on the tour we went on we docked on a couple of islands. On one of them there was a natural fresh water pond ... and blurp blurp blurp up swims a huge turtle. My giggling and excitement turned into shock as the guides grabbed his little flippers and pulled him out of the water. I petted a turtle ...and looked into his ancient eyes. Incredible! There was also a rainbow that came out as we were flying across the water ... of course I perched at the front of the boat and let the wind play with my hair and the sun kiss my face.
The following day I went off on my own to Chichen Itza, some of the tons of Mayan ruins around here. Aside from it being so freaking hot that I think I caught some sort of heat rash on my tummy it was a pretty humbling experience. We just do not have history like this in Canada ... we are so young and to see such history really reminds me of what a small part of the big picture of humanity that I am. There were a number of sites, but the main one is a huge pyramid that surprised me in its grandeur as I walked into a huge open field from the pathway lined with Mayan artisans.
I did a lot of people watching. I got to thinking about how funny we look when we have pictures taken of ourselves in front of places. I do this all the time ... but why? So we can remember that we were there? So we can prove that we were there? So we can see what we looked like in that moment, in that experience? Do we miss experiencing when we look at new worlds through a lens? I think that some people do ... at least some seemed to be. I left my camera at the Calgary airport (stupid story) and finally felt that I should purchase a disposable for the ruins (which by the way was stolen and returned by a young Mayan girl). But I found myself with little desire to take pictures ... hmmmmm?
There were tons of beautiful, brilliantly colorful butterflies (Mariposas in Spanish)that continually had me looking like a freak as my head whipped around following them in flight. And then the huge iguanas that scared the crap out of me numerous times.
One thing that struck me as odd was this ....there are bus stops on the highway that have only forest behind them. Where are these people coming from that catch the bus at these stops? I don't know.
Finished a book about anorexia called Skinny. Wrenched my heart because an old and dear friend of mine suffers from this disorder. The girl in the book dies.