I almost balked at the departure time, but then figured that was acting like a big whiny baby, and though I'm often a big whiny baby, I didn't want to do that in front of all the Suspects. The only problem I encountered was the fact that I didn't have an alarm clock. Without a phone, I didn't know if the hotel had a wake-up service (I just found out it does...they send someone to knock on your door), and thought about purchasing a travel alarm somewhere, but then I remembered I own a perfectly good laptop. I set Outlook (which I never use for anything) to remind me of a meeting at 6:30am, turned up the volume, and left it on the bed next to mine. It worked, and I was up and ready well before we left.

There were 15 of us going, but the vans only hold 14 people plus the driver so Beth and Jeremy had to go with another driver. We were told that we'd catch up with them along the tour, but that only happened sporadically. The rest of us piled into our van and headed off to Coba.

The last time I took a riding tour in Mexico (I like to say "the last time" rather than "the only other time" because it makes me feel international), it was four hours in a bus with Diego and a number of rowdy (not in a good way) people, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. This time around, with people I know and people I've met, it was a lot better.

The countryside often made me sad, because it seems to alternate between relentless construction and serious poverty. Miguel, our tour guide, told us that the Yucatan hadn't been a tourist destination for a long time, and now they're building up as fast as they can, for economic reasons. I understand the need to bring money into this part of the country, but the cynical part of me thinks that this will bring a lot more cash into the hands of those who already have it, and won't do all that much for the people who have lived here forever.

Our first destination was into the jungle by a large lake (I don't remember the name now). There, we were to take part in a Mayan ceremony, canoe along the lake, ride a zip line across the lake, rapell down a small cliff and then have lunch.

At first, I thought the tour was going to be pretty cheesy; the ceremony struck me wrong. I know absolutely nothing about Mayan traditions, but the shaman seemed to be going through the motions for the tourists (and who could blame him, really?). After the ceremony, we tromped back along the path on which we had started. I wondered if I had wasted my money.

Our second stop was canoeing the lake. We went in pairs or in groups of three. I paired up with Julia, and we had a little time to chat as we paddled along. Miguel told us that we could venture farther out before going to the other landing, but almost none of us did. The water wasn't rough, but (to me), there wasn't too much to look at, and we had so many activities planned that I think most people wanted to see what was next.

With everyone safely on the other side of the lake, there was more walking through the jungle to do. Miguel pointed out various trees and birds along the way. There was a path of sorts, but for the most part, you had to watch your step, because it was slippery and rocky. I liked that about this tour, it felt more like ambling along through the woods than a pre-packaged tour. That may be part of the intent of the tour; if so, it worked on me.

We eventually got to the starting point of the zip line. We were strapped in to harnesses and given a curved stick to use as a "brake". Miguel said it was very easy to do, but to make sure that we didn't stop too soon or else we wouldn't make it to the other side.

I was last for this, which I liked, because I got to see everyone go fist. I love fast rides and I'm not afraid of heights, so I had a great time zipping along over the water. Miguel zipped over to meet us, showing off by zipping upside-down before bringing himself to a stop.

We kept on our harnesses for the next part; rapelling down the side of a hill. It wasn't so much a cliff as a large rock about 20 feet up. The view from the top made it very difficult to see the bottom, which made it seem a lot more adventurous than it actually was. No matter; by that time, I was having a lot of fun, and I thought the skills that I was being taught would come in quite handy when I get cast on The Amazing Race.

This isn't me. I'm not sure who went after me, so I'll just call this "anonymous butt shot."

After the rapell, Miguel asked us if we would mind adding on about a half-hour to the tour, because he wanted us to see some monkeys. We all agreed, so more tramping through the jungle lay ahead. I was sweating like a pig by this time; the first time the humidity here has gotten to me; but I saw a number of interesting things.

There were a ton of butterflies along the way, in many different colors. I tried to capture them with my camera, but only managed to get one shot.

I like this shot. I may use it for my journal header during the Summer months.

We searched and searched, and there wasn't a monkey to be found. Eventually, we did see a couple of them hanging in the trees. They jumped around, hidden under a canopy of leaves, but I did manage to get a couple of good shots of the smaller one we saw.

After finding the monkeys, we were escorted to a patio where we had a number of choices for our meal. I had some beef and chicken, and a couple of great empanadas. The food was excellent, and not just because I was very hungry.

Someone else was very hungry too. Everyone on my end of the table gave in to him, which I'm sure was part of his plan.