Sabancuy beach 7/7

It started raining shortly after we arrived here at the beach. We were catching the tail end of Tropical Storm Bonnie. It was raining bucket of rain and I didn't think we would have the chance to walk on the beach. Luckily however, after lunch the storm broke long enough for me to run down to the beach collect some beach sand and a few shells in a bottle and take these few pictures.

Tanya and I enjoying a few rain free moments together on the beach.

Xpicob's turtle conservation camp 7/7

2 day old baby sea turtle.

Holding tank full of the newly hatched baby sea turtles waiting to be released into the ocean.

This sea turtle had been raised at the conservation center. We had a release ceremony and set her free into the ocean.

Kinsey this one is for you babe. Biggest hermit crab I have ever seen in my life!!

The beautifully clear ocean along side the conservation camp.

Jacques making a speech before setting our friend the sea turtle free.

Mayan Ednza Archaeological Site 7/6

San Miguel's fortress and museum 7/6

San Miguel's fortress and museum

Beautiful view from the top of the fortress looking out across the ocean.

One of the many pieces of Mayan pottery displayed at the museum.

Jade mosaic mask found in a Mayan tomb.

Examples of knives used by the Mayan priests in the many Mayan religious sacrificial

rights.

Campeche, Campeche Mexico 7/6-7/7

The amazing Sunset over the ocean in Campeche on 7/7

Church on the main plaza in the heart of Campeche.

The streets are lined with Spanish Colonial architecture in these very vibrant and beautiful colors.

Sunset on 7/6. This was the view out of my hotel window!

More up to date blog http://stephskiba.blogspot.com/

As you can tell it has been a challenge for me to keep my blog up to date. Try as I might I never seem to have enough time or internet service to get things updated as often as I would like. One of my travel companions has been much more successful. I am going to give you the link to Stephanie's blog. It will not only give you another prospective of this Mexican adventure, she is much more up to date. I will continue to up load new entries as I can and hopefully will get caught up at some point.

http://stephskiba.blogspot.com/

Bacel/ Panama Hats July 5

On our way to the town of Campeche we stopped off in a small town totally devoted to the weaving of Panama hats. Becal is a small very rustic town. Jacques procured us some local transportation. These three wheel tricycles are used by all the locals to get from one place to another. The whole round trip ride cost us each 10 pecos about a $1.oo. We stopped and visited a gentleman's home and workshop. He had been weaving hats for over 50 years. He gave us a demonstration of how the plant fibers are separated with a needle to make the long fiber threads used to weave the hats. The actual weaving takes place down inside of a cave where the dampness helps to keep the fibers nice and flexible. Up to 10 people would sit down in his small underground cave and weave at the same time. The geography of this part of Mexico makes the ground like Swiss Cheese so that almost all houses come with their own weaving cave. He explained the different grades of woven hats. A true Panama hat takes around 3 weeks to weave and uses only the thinnest finest fibers. Those hats are in the $350.00 price range. Sadly I was unable to purchase any hats. The ones he had for sale that day were either to small or looked really bad on me.

Sculpture of Panama hats in the town plaza.

Bacel's church

Local transportation we took to the hat factory.

The plants on the left are the type used to gather the fibers to make Panama hats

This shows how a needle is used to separate the fibers on each leaf.

A partially woven hat-this is about 1 1/2 weeks worth of work.

We are down inside a cave and this gentleman is demonstrating how to weave a hat. They sit for hours and hours down inside these damp dark caves everyday.