Friday, January 4 continued… We hopped into the car and drove a short distance through town of Tuxtla Chico to the main highway. We passed a herd of goats wandering the streets.
A very short way down the highway, Miguel turned into a driveway and parked. He announced we were at the historical Mayan ruins. Directly ahead of us was a small pyramid.
We realized that since the Mayan ruins were literally on the outskirts of town, that meant that Tuxtla Chico has been an established town for thousands of years.
Miguel picked us up from the marina at 0800. We drove for about 45-minutes to a town named Tuxtla Chico, but Miguel kept referring to it by its nickname, Chocolate Town. Along the way, Miguel chatted non-stop, explaining to us what we were seeing along the ways (what each of the buildings were, what produce was being farmed, what kinds of trees were along the road, etc.) and about Mexico’s economy, history and culture. Miguel was a history buff and enthusiastic about his own heritage, making him a wealth of information.
Our first stop was a park that was a tribute to the town’s Mayan heritage. In the middle of the park was a sculpture depicting a ring and a black ball, which were the components of a game that the Mayans played. In the game, the ball was made of rubber (rubber trees grew in the area). Embedded into the ground around the sculpture was a ring made of small stones that had etchings at regular intervals.
It was a 20-minute ride back to the mouth of the bay in their fast panga, as opposed to the over 1.5 hours that it had taken us with Kosmos yesterday. It was the perfect day for whale watching, with light, variable winds and totally flat seas, thus making the whales easy to spot. Only licensed tour operators were allowed to get close to the whales, so taking our dinghy back to the mouth entrance in hopes of seeing them on our own would have been illegal.
Here is the nearly-full moon during the sunrise on Monday, January 9.
We arrived at the Museum of Whales and Sciences of the Sea at 10:15. Our friends on Sirena met us there. The entry fee was $2.00 USD per person, with an extra $1.00 USD per person for the guided tour. We opted for the guided tour. The museum was small, but the tour was detailed and informative, lasting about an hour and a half. In addition to whales, the museum also had displays on dolphins, sea lions, manatees, turtles and more.
We started in the evolution room, where the guide explained that ocean mammals, such as whales and dolphins, were originally land mammals that went into the sea for food and eventually evolved to live in the sea. He talked about how the different sea animals have evolved. For example, whales nostrils evolved from the front of their face to the top of their heads, and whales have a tiny foot that is currently evolving away. He talked a lot about how similar the bone structures of sea mammals were to various land mammals, especially humans.
Many people have asked us why they should buy our book if they can read our blog for free. Just like Part 1, the book is very different from the blog. Here are a few of the differences between the two:
Prologue: Picks up where the Prologue of Part 1 left off. It focuses primarily on the research we did as we planned for our journey and addresses the majority of the questions we were most frequently asked.
Several new stories from the journey – And there are some really good ones!
Many details have been added that were best left undisclosed while we were still on the journey (sometimes we didn’t want our parents worrying about us; sometimes we didn’t want to incriminate ourselves!)
In Retrospect sections with great insights — so you can see the situation through the eyes of a newbie as we learn, while simultaneously seeing the same situation through the eyes of experience.
Streamlined stories – some complained our posts were too long and detailed, the book is a condensed version they will enjoy more.
Formatting is first person, through Christi’s eyes – Some complained they didn’t like the third person format, so they will enjoy the book more.
Actual dates on each post. On the blog, the dates are not real time, which is a significant piece of information for anyone hoping to follow in our footsteps.
All profits will go to our cruising fund. The more books we sell, the sooner you can start reading about our next journey! So, buy one and get all your friends to buy one, too!
People have also asked us why we broke the series up into four books instead of only three. We had very different experiences in each of the four world regions, so it was best for each region to have its own volume.
In the South Pacific, Part 1, we spent most of our time in sparsely populated areas communing with nature. And we did a lot of rough sea time, learning about boating the hard way.
In Asia, Part 2, we were mostly in densely populated areas building cultural bridges. Our sea experiences were also different from the Pacific, with both our best and worst passages occurring in this region.
