Our Cruise Progresso (Chichen-Itza)

If you haven't figured it out yet. It is best to read the text at the bottom, then look and read about the photos. I haven't figured out how to get the photos at the bottom yet.

Above is Dad at Chichen Itza. He got too hot and tired and had to leave the group early and go to the entrance where there was a place to sit. We were there less that 2 hours.

Person on the left is Helaman. (The other man is someone on the tour.) His parents joined the Church and from then on all of their children were given Book of Mormon names. Helaman lives in Cancun. He has one daughter under the age of 18 who lives in Mexico City (26 hours away) to go to the Church school to get a good education. Helaman said he used to not like to do LDS tours because he didn't know the answers to a lot of the questions. Then he was called to be a seminary teacher for six years and had to read the scriptures everyday which helped him to understand and be able to answer the questions. Now he and his family pretty well do LDS tours exclusively. He is very busy.

This is Dad and I a football field's length in front of the pyramid. It doesn't look very tall like this, but it is 75' tall. They used to let people go into the pyramid, but 3 years ago the government discontinued the practice in an effort to better preserve the ruins.

Above is a stand of the natives selling their goods at the entrance to Chichen Itza. There were many many such stands.

This is me with one of our towel sculptures - an elephant today.

On Wednesday we went to Chichen-Itza (chee-chehn eet-sah). We docked at Progreso, Mexico which is on the Yucatan Penninsula. There is a temple there, but we didn't see it because we didn't go into the city. Our tour guide, Helaman said it was about 40 minutes away right in the city.

David got us right off the ship at shortly after 7:00 AM. We had to take a bus to our bus. Only certain buses are allowed to the ship because there is a 3 mile trip over a causeway to the mainland. I think the water is very shallow around Progreso. We then got on our charter bus and rode for 2 hours to Chichen-Itza. The ruins are very impressive and the pyramid (Kukulcan's Pyramid) there is probably about the same size as the pyramids of Egypt (I will have to look that up). It is astonomically correct in that during the equinox (March 20) and the autumnal equinox (September 21) at about 3 PM the sun bathes the western balustrade of the puramid's main stairway. This causes seven isosceles triangles to form, imitating the body of a serpent 37 yards long that creeps downwards until it joins the huge serpent's head carved in stone at the bottom of the stairway. Our guide Helaman pointed out that the feathered serpent was a symbol of the Savior to the ancient people (just as the children of Israel where saved if they would look to the serpent while they were in the wilderness.) He also said that on April 6 the serpent is more complete than on the day of the equinox. (One ofcouse doesn't get such enlightenments from most quides to the area)

The problem with Chichen-Itza is that there are evidences of human sacrifice everywhere. The people had, of course, apostatized by this time. Their alter for human sacrifice is called a Cholah. On him is a "broken heart". Helaman said that they perverted the teaching of Christ to come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit to mean human sacrifice. He said coming to Chichen-Itza is a dark experience for him. He pointed out several places where Christ is depicted in their carvings, not as a serpent, but as a person. Ofcourse the rest of the world doesn't interpret that way because they do not believe there was ever a knowledge of Jesus Christ on this continent.

We had to be back on the ship by 2:30 so actually most of the day off the boat was spent on the bus, but it was worth it.

Below photo is Dad in our "stateroom" with the towel sculpture of the day. It was better in person - a dog. Guess they thought we missed Dolce.
Below photo is us waiting for the opening show in the Blue Sapphire Lounge - the ship's auditorium where they serve drinks and or appetizers before and during the entertainment. No photos are allowed during performances, so there are no pictures. It was western song and dance. They ended with the song "God Bless Texas" which really thrilled the audience, many many of whom are Texans.

Below is a blurry photo of David Beagley talking to us about Book of Mormon lands on Tuesday. The back of the head is Stewart Lewis, brother of Tye Lewis from Monticello. He and his wife Betty (Barton) have lived in Snowflake, Arizona most of their married life. They were there with another couple from Snowflake who immediately announced that Stewart is their bishop.

Tuesday, January 6 was a day at sea. In the early afternoon, we met with 13 other couples and our tour director, David Beagley. He said that the reason to visit probable Book of Mormon lands is the same as other Christians visit the Holy Land - to walk where the people in the scriptures walked. The ruins we were to see do not date back to the time of the Book of Mormon, but it is commonly believed (in the Church) that it is on this same ground that the Book of Mormon peoples walked.

The Cruise

First photo is Ruth standing on one of the the levels of the "Grand Atrium" of the ship which is 9 stories high. This is the 5th level. It is dark outside so the neon lights give everything a blue look. The second photo is Don eating lunch right after we boarded the ship.

The weather in Galveston was kind of disappointing on Monday. It was in the 50's and trying to rain, however, by evening an hour or two after the ship left it was much warmer. The weather was great for the rest of the cruise.

Tuesday was a day at sea. This trip seemed much calmer than last year's Mexican Riviera Cruise. The ship did not sway nearly as much. The ship "Ecstacy" is almost identical to the one "Elation" that we were on last year for the riviera cruise. We had a meeting with David Beagley, our tour director, Tuesday, which I will tell about later. The Internet costs $.66 per minute on board the ship, so I wasn't able to post until this evening.

It is after 11:30 PM right now in Amarillo, Texas. We travelled over 600 miles after getting off the ship today. Will tell more later. It is after 11:30 PM here and the room is starting to feel like the swaying of a boat to me.

Sunday January 4, 2009

We travelled all day today and arrived in Dickenson (near Galveston) about 5 PM Central Time. Not much else to tell about - Sat in the car all day. We did listen to Ether of the Book of Mormon on CD.

It was really very cool (25 degrees this morning in Childress - it was not so cold last night) until the last 50 miles or so. When we got to the motel in Dickenson it was 72 degrees and had been raining. We travelled all the way here from Blanding on dry roads. I will try to post on the cruise.

Dolce (the dog) got sick the day before we left Saratoga Springs. Monica said they would take care of him anyway. I called and talked with Monica last night. She said Dolce was doing okay now. Kirk had made meat flavored rice for him and Monica cleaned up his messes. We are so happy and thankful that they and their family helped us.

Snow and Erica and Baby at Home

Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, it snowed for several hours in the morning. Here is Dad trying to shovel us out and a photo of the table on the deck buried in snow. We got a snow-thrower because it took us all day to get the snow off the driveway.

There is also a photo of Erica and Deakyn here taken on Jan 2, 2009 while Duane's family was visiting. I will try to do a better job when I figure this out.

Tonight we are in Childress, Texas. The land is very flat. We have seen lots of cotton fields. There are booths advertising apples, peaches and cherries. I would think that it is too cold for cotton if they can grow those fruits. The temp. was as high as 70 as we drove from Amarillo to Childress. Tomorrow we drive to Dickenson, which is between Houston and Galveston. We will also try to find a church meeting along the way.

Duane's and Shana's family who happened to be up in Blanding from Queen Creek to visit and play in the snow are at the bottom of the blog right now. Duane and Shana built a 9' diameter igloo - apparently so he would know how for his scout troop while the kids played on a ramp that Brian (Shana's dad) had built. They came over Friday afternoon for lunch, then we went to Grandma's to celebrate her 91st birthday. Erica and family stayed home with the babe. This doesn't make a lot of sense. I will fix when I am less tired.