Amsterdam - January 2016

Amsterdam

Finally! It's time to catch-up. I haven't blogged since 2015 and much has happened since then. The first blog I have is of our trip to Amsterdam in mid-January.



In spite of our apprehensions of going to Amsterdam in the mid winter, Diane and I decided that seeing Isla (and her parents) were worth the cold and wet Amsterdam weather we were likely to encounter. And so off we went.




We got the same Airbnb flat we got last year. It felt like home. Then, with Meredith and Elliot's help, we got their extra bikes and soon we felt like regular Amsterdammers.



One of the things we helped out with was grocery shopping and preparing some of the meals - but even in this case, Isla was always ready to help out.

Isla appears to have a keen sense of the concept of monopoly.

On one of the days there, Isla was invited to Kit's birthday party. It was a small affair held at a public school (cupcakes for the kids, beer for the adults - so Dutch!).







In the past, we never had the chance to celebrate a birthday together. So we decided to go out on Diane's birthday and have a proper dinner celebration at the Rijsel, one of the nicer yet local restaurants near the Amstel River. We all had delicious meals.





Taking Isla for a stroll to the market for shopping or to the nearby Sarphatipark is always a good choice. She loves hanging out in the sandbox that has all kinds of playground toys (and if they're some other kid's trike, she'll use that too).





Even though we got bogged down with colds, Diane and I managed to get to three of the numerous Amsterdam museums. At the Hermitage we saw the exhibit of the Spanish Masters, at the Stedelijk Museum there was a special showing of Isa Genzken's Nefertiti (and some other pretty off-beat things she did), and lastly we stopped in at the Willet-Holthuysen Museum, which had been one of the exclusive canal homes of one of the elite families of Amsterdam (sorry, no photos).

Stedelijk Museum

Isa Genzken's Nefertiti 

The very cool Beanery Bar installation at the Stedelijk Museum
Check out more of this installation here: http://www.stedelijk.nl/en/exhibitions/exchanges/the-beanery-1965

We also spent a few days visiting with our friends Maarten and Ineke, at their home in Loosdrecht, just outside of Amsterdam.  We enjoyed good conversation, nice wines, great walks and good friendship.

This was a remarkable scene as we walked along the wooded path.

This is not Photoshopped - it was pretty nearly his color. 

This dinner photo was actually taken at our flat in Amsterdam.

Tulum, Mexico

After our week-long stay in Playa del Carmen, we rented a car and drove an hour south to Tulum. The hotel we had booked was right on the beach and offered small yet comfortable bungalows.

The room came with breakfast. It was served in their restaurant on the beach. We had our choice of an American style pancake breakfast, a fruit and yogurt one or a Mexican breakfast. We always chose the Mexican style. But we saved the Coronas for later in the day.

For the most part, we really took the time to relax around our lovely beach setting. We enjoyed going into the town center of Tulum, where we had lunch. On another day, we drove around to research which other activities we were going to do.

An iguana getting some sun on the roof of the bungalow next to us.

A full moon lit up the sky.

In the previous blog, I chronicled my diving adventure in a cenote. Diane, during that time, went on her own excursion to Sian-Ka'an, a nature reserve right along the ocean that is run by the local Muyil community.

Sian-Ka'an is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In Mayan, Sian-Ka'an means the "Origin of the Sky". It has dense rain forests, mangroves and marshes and is home to howler monkeys, pumas, ocelots and jaguars. Birders enjoy the reserve because it offers sightings of hundreds of bird species. Sian-Ka'an also has a number of Mayan archeological sites.

Under the watchful eyes of Muyil guides, the reserve offers activities such as floating down mangrove-lined waterways, boat excursions and forest treks.

Groups float along the mangrove-lined waterway. The float lasted about 30 minutes. I could have kept going much longer! The water was crystal clear, warm and so relaxing.

A Mayan temple.

Diane at one of the Mayan archeological sites.

A view of the reserve's dense jungle from one of the platforms.

A view from the dock.

Diving a Cenote in Tulum, Mexico

Note that all the photos shown were provided by the dive shop.

I arranged my cenote dive with Motmot Dive shop the day before. I spoke with the dive guide, Scott, and got the feel of what I was to expect on the dive. If I was lucky and no one showed up for tomorrow's dive, I would have a one-on-one dive with Scott. Incidentally, Motmot is a type of bird that is often found at the entrances of cenotes and it's how the Mayans typically discovered new cenotes.

When I showed up in the morning, I got the good news that it was only going to be Scott and I that were going to dive. Good. I was little rusty in my diving skills, not having gone diving in two years. I needed all the one-on-one experience I could get.

After getting outfitted with my diving gear we drove to the Dos Ojos (two eyes) cenote. For those who don't know what a cenote is, in the Yucatan, cenotes are typically underground freshwater pools made of limestone. Some are open water pools while others are enclosed, more like caves. Dos Ojos is surrounded with dense jungle vegetation with a partially enclosed cave. Some of the above ground tree roots penetrated the roofs of the cave system. It looked like a perfect background for a Spielberg Jurassic Park movie. 

The entrance to the cenote.

Roots coming through the roof.

After looking around the area, Scott meticulously went through the rules and regulations of diving a cenote. It's a little different diving a cave than diving open waters. Dos Ojos has numerous veins that stretch for nearly one hundred miles. So not following the guidelines could get one into serious difficulties.

The difference in diving a cenote versus open water diving are such things as the way you kick - you don't kick up and down because that stirs up the soft bottom. Instead, you use the kick of the breast stroke and kick horizontally. Also, there is a bright yellow line stretched along the diving path. You try to avoid touching the line as well as the limestone formations, the stalagmites and the stalactites.

One of the other rules pertains to oxygen utilization. When you are half way into the dive, you should have two-thirds of your oxygen remaining, leaving another third to exit. The last third is there only for emergencies. Thus, in most cases you come out with a third of you tank unused. 

After getting suited up, we walked down the steps to the cavernous entrance of the cenote, weighted down by all the gear. After one last briefing, we jumped in, got our flashlights on and checked our buoyancy. Initially, I had trouble staying down, so Scott gave me an extra two pound weight, and off we went.

I must admit that in spite of having done numerous dives for over 35 years, my initial comfort level gave way to a very claustrophobic and somewhat unnerving feeling. I felt closed in and it seemed that I was using up more oxygen than I normally do in a dive. I was very uncomfortable - to the point that I wasn't sure I'd do the second dive. It was the deeper and darker dive of the two dives.