Memories of Past High Adventure

BASS FISHING

After three hot days of baking in the scorching Utah sun,
The prospect of a river trip appealed to everyone.
We broke camp at Entrada and headed into town.
A bus would take us way upstream so we could float back down.

Two kayaks and three rubber rafts were pushed out on the water.
Most wanted to get wetter, ‘ere the temperature got hotter.
Each raft had two large buckets. Each raftsman had a paddle.
The paddles were for paddling. The buckets were for battle.
Two rafts were manned by heroes clad in shirts of tasteful gray.
The other by some Oremites, of whom there’s more to say.

In between the rapids, where the rolling waters roared,
We tried to make amusement so we wouldn’t get too bored.
So if an unsuspecting crew was slow at looking back
Their rivals in the other raft would mount a sneak attack.
At a time of inattention, while not picking any fights,
The raft where rode Nick Goddard was assailed by Oremites.

Brother Goddard was a soldier, just returned home from the war,
And wasn’t really in the mood for fighting any more.
Water flew from buckets; the paddling was intense.
We tried hard to repel the force of those aggressive gents.
Our ineffectual paddling didn’t move us from the fray.
The Oremites came up onside and we became their prey.
A coward leaped upon our raft, took hold of Brother Goddard.
Both victim and assailant fell beneath the murky water.
Emerging from the muddy stream, Nick sucked a gulp of air
And grabbed his hat and sun-glasses and shot the jerk a glare.

As he stared down his attacker (who he didn’t feel like kissing),
His sight was out of focus for one sunglass lens was missing.
From the depths of his frustration, Nick roared a mighty yell
That shook the rocky canyon walls and echoed down the dell.
He’d recognized his favorite hole for catching large mouth bass
And pointed out to everyone just what had come to pass.
We floated ‘round the basshole, tight-lipped and reverently,
Knowing that we didn’t spell it with that silent B.

No further skirmishes ensued against the Oremites.
No unkind words were tossed about. There would be no more fights.
We floated rather peacefully, there were no further clashes.
But if we see those guys again, we’re gonna kick their butts.

- May 13, 2005

Don't forget the sunblock

From Tulum, looking back toward Cancun. Tulum is a huge archealogical site about an hour south of Playa del Carmen. It was hot, but fascinating.

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from our trip to Mexico in June. I've forgotten that the first items posted get pushed ahead. In this case, the photos appear in reverse order as they were taken during the trip. This is the Mayaland Hotel, a hacienda built in the 1930's, within the national park of Chichen Itza. We had 1/2 of this nifty little stick/stucco/palm leaves cabin very close to the main building.

Wendell and Emily in front of our cabana.

The great pyramid at Chichen Itza.

Our tour guide, Esteban Mejia from Puebla speaks. Deanna listens intently.
At a pyramid at Ek Balam. The Carvings look fresh and new because this pyramid was covered with vegetation until just recently. A shade of posts and palm branches has been erected over this entrance with its beautiful carvings to protect them from the elements, now that the protective vegetation has been removed.

Esteban, our Mexican certified national tour guide, explaining something fascinating.


Wendell @ Ek Balam, standing at the top of 90 steps on a pyramid that is 1500 years old, overlooking other recently uncovered structures. Our guides told us the current estimate is that there are 63,000 pyramids in Mexico, most of them still covered with vegetation. Any hill seen rising above the canopy is an ancient structure, since the Yucatan is essentially a large, completely flat limestone rock, no mountains, as it rose from the sea about 1500 years ago, raising a land bridge to the rest of Mexico.

It was a long way up... and a long way down.

Along a path to the bathrooms at Ek-Balam.

Our guides.. Esteban Mejia & Jerry Ainsworth. You can see Jerry's work on Book of Mormon sites at http://mormonsites.org/.

New friends Lura & Tracy (grandmother & granddaughter)




The swimming pool at the resort, the Wyndham Viva Mayan.
The amazing buffet at the resort. It was really hard not to gain weight. Well, actually, we did gain weight.

Sunblock is your friend. I forgot to do my front, arms and legs.

Emily enjoyed dancing with staff members at the evening shows at the Wyndham Viva resort. Handsome, young people, often very well-educated, speaking multiple languages, very courteous and kind, who thought of this as a working vacation (15-hour days, cranky tourists).