Cenote Jardín de Eden

I had been wanting to go to a cenote and we finally went and yesterday, inspite of threatening skies due to the effects of hurrican Ike out over Cuba. We decided, at the suggstion of Tanya and Carlos (the couple who manages the hotel, daughter and son in law of Emelia) to go to the Cenote Jardín de Eden. After a quick ride in a collectivo, which is like a big van that drives down the freeway and drops passangers wherever they would like to be dropped, and a bit of a hike through some forest we arrived at a clear blue pool of water surrounded by all sorts of green lushness, with small fishies, some kind of white large duck like bird, and baby ducks to boot. The name, garden of eden seemed apt. We sat with our feet dangling in the cool water and were quickly startled by small fish who came up to curiously nibble our toes, and then stuck around to nibble our feet. We decided they were the kind of fish we had read about that they use in spas to give pedicures and that they were eatting the dead skin off our feet. I have no idea if this is actually what they were doing or not, but after quite a while of idilying away just relaxing in the beautiful setting with fish nibbling our feet we seem no worse for the wear (nor for that matter do my feet seem particularly devoid of dead skin). We both swam about some and used my googles to look at some fish, although the water was so crystal clear that you really didn't need to put your face in at all to enjoy them. We had this paradise practically to ourselves with the exception of some workers who were building a new stair case and eventually a family that arrived and was teaching their daughter to swim, what a place for first swim lessons! As incredible as I think the ancient ruins are, the nature here is what really impresses me. I have to say, that if I had to choose to be a human living before modern times I might choose to wind up here in the Yucatan. With the sea offering as much fish as you could want and fresh pure water literally bubbling up into sacred pools for your use, and fruit just hanging off the trees, it seems like someone without all our modern convienences would have it made.

As an update to my spanish learning, I am getting much better at using the correct verb tense and am learning to conjugate and use the subjunctive, which as my teacher keeps reminding me, is mi mejor amigo. Right now I am really working on my agreement between gender and number, trying to pay attention to it in my everyday speech. It is a skill that is really hard for us english speakers who really dont have masculine and feminine words and pronouns etc. I just took a little breather from reading either my spanish childrens story that I bought or my giant feeding text book and read one of Michael's thrillers he brought with him, but now it is back to work and I am going to continue with my spanish reading and getting ready for my return to Tucson and my new job by boning up on feeding related OT stuff. We love comments and hope you are all well.