Horses and Mayan Ruins Xunantuich

 This adventure took my breath away.  In a few ways!  Last night I woke a few times in the night to hear rain pounding on the roof.  I was worried about the clothes I had left outside to "dry" (so much for that) and what the rain would mean for our adventure today.  We were riding horses for about 8 miles to a set of Myan ruins called Xunantuich (tuna sandwich, Chunan TOON eetch).  The rain stopped and started a few times in the 30 minutes we were getting dressed and ready to go.  Will checked with our guide who said "rain or shine we ride!".  Our guide was, once again, fantastic.  He picked us up at our hotel and drove us out to the ranch/farm where we got set up with our horses.  Colter was on the lead horse, Kish.  Clare was second on Noah, I was third on Baaratt, Adell was behind me on Keturah (the only girl horse) and Will brought up the rear on Jacob/French Fries.  Will got the slowest horse.  We were told out in the fields he likes to pretend he is the boss of all the horses and run all over the place but as soon as it was time to work, he refuses.  He just wants to sit and watch the other horses go and he won't go unless he wants to.  I was worried when the first brought my house out, he reared up a little bit.  But he ended up being the sweetest horse.  He was a good boy.  

As we set out the rain started falling again.  This was actually my favorite part of the trip.  The first half of riding was through farms and kind of plains with jungle/forests far off.  We passed through several gates between properties, and the views were stunning!  We could see a rainbow in front of us at one point.  The lushness of the grass and plants was shocking and so beautiful.  The rain falling was warm and gave the whole atmosphere an extra layer of magic.  I loved it!  Then we rode along a river for another 3 miles or so.  That was cool but we were in forest/jungle along a river so there wasn't as much to see.  However, we saw three toucans!  It was amazing.  They were in the trees right above us.  They were small with a mostly black beak and a bright orange bit on the top of their bills.  We also saw a gigantic iguana across the river.  Our guide, Ellio and Kendal, were so helpful and fun.  It was great.  Then we had a mile or two on the town road and then we took a hand cranked ferry across the river to the road that lead to Xunantuich.  We had to dismount and lead our horses.  It was scary but the horses were good.  

At the ruins we learned a lot about the Mayan culture and times.  The Mayan had a detailed and correct calendar and astrological understanding.  They had months that were 20 days with the last month being 5 days totaling 365.  They had calendars going back thousands of years.  The good looking elite class had their heads forced into cone shapes, crossed eyes, teeth ground flat, and stones placed in the teeth.  They had a God for everything and one God that was the creator of it all.  They had an impressive Queen leader at one point.  They went out and made alliances with people in Tulum and other areas.  They attacked other areas.  They were polygamous.  They knew how to create fuel from the crushed berries of a certain tree.  They knew how to make novocaine from the allspice tree.  They were masons and builders.  They are thousands of years old.  Like dating back to 3000 BC I think.  Our guide, Kendall, speaks Spanish, English and Mayan.  His parents sell produce in the market.  The clouds broke and we had beautiful sun while we walked around the ruins.  A couple got engaged near us at the top of the main castle/pyramid.  It was sweet and fun.  

On the ride home, as soon as we got to town the sky opened up and it started raining buckets!  Like torrential rain!  It came down in sheets and sheets.  We were quickly soaked in rain.  It was a blast.   Xunantuich

I am scared of animals.  I don't know why but I am.  I never feel fully at ease around them, all kinds.  I just get spooked easily around any and all animals.  So you can imagine how excited I was about riding a horse for three hours today.  I took the approach of an out pouring of "good jobs' for Baaratt.  Congratulations, and thanks, and you are doing such a good job.  Were my constant speech.  It helped me feel grateful for what Baaratt was doing (hauling my butt in the rain) and helped me calm down after Baaratt would trot fast or get away from my control for a little bit.  Horses are supposed to be able to tell if you are freaked out and will respond.  I guess they can sense your heartbeat?  Anyway, occasionally I would imagine Baaratt running wild and be getting bucked off, or worse, dragged.  I would start to freak out and would have to pull myself back to the very present moment.  I was safe, Baaratt was being so good, and I didn't need to worry about that happening.  What a trick!  Colter on the other hand, was cool and all but would get easily frustrated with his horse.  His horse had different ideas on what to do.  He wanted to stop and eat grass, he wanted to take Colter under the trees.  He wanted to go fast or slow.  Colter would try and stear or stop Kish and Kish would not listen.  The more frustrated Colter got, the more willful Kish got.  I don't know if Kish was responding to Colter so much as I know Colter could have helped himself out by not getting so frustrated.