More Adventure- with Nephi! PART FIVE

By the way, this was the day we had fun taking silly pictures, so be warned!

Friday Feb 1, 2008 was the most amazingly coolest day ever! We did have to be ready at 7:30, just in case we docked early. We didn’t. I had been up early and we ate breakfast at 7, so we were ready, but the ship was actually a little late docking in Cozumel, Mexico. There was a big crowd to get out too, and then we milled around a bit, then we walked and walked and walked. It was a fair distance to the ferry. It did seem silly- we arrive on the island of Cozumel, and then take a ferry to the mainland?! That is what we did. We landed in Playa del Carmen, which I think is in Cancun, but I’m not sure. We walked a few blocks to our bus. It seemed like every day we spent more time traveling than at our destination!

Still, that day it was totally worth it! Our tour guide was LDS from an LDS family who did tours of Mayan ruins and gave the Book of Mormon perspective. Nephi was our guide on the trip out. He told us how his grandfather had joined the church and named all his post-baptism children after Book of Mormon people. So Nephi’s Dad was named Helaman, and had followed the tradition. Helaman was the guide for the other half of our group on the second bus. Nephi was so great. He pointed out thing of interest on the 30 minute ride and shared about his life and was just a neat man.

We got to Talum and went in to see the Mayan ruins. We had a short tram ride to get from the gate to the building structures there. Before we went in, Nephi told us that if we had come looking for a testimony, we would not find it here. We had to find it in ourselves first, and then seeing the ruins would en it. The ruins would not give us a testimony though, external sources can’t do that; it has to come from within.

Then we went in, and WOW! It was truly amazing to me. I loved it! Nephi talked about how it related to Book of Mormon times. Talum is actually post- Book of Mormon time period. Nephi explained how these were built after Christ came and went- a few hundred years later. This was a time when the righteous had apostatized and become wicked. He showed pictures that had been made during that time, and they showed white and dark skinned people together. He told us that archeologists can’t explain why there are 2 skin colors, but as LDS know, they are Nephites and Lamanites. The picture he had seemed to show that the Nephites were subservient or slaves to the Lamanites.

He also had some great stuff about how they probably apostatized- After the 200 years of righteousness, the high priests probably became proud. That corresponds with the time when the colors and decorations of the buildings became more brilliant and intricate. So they became proud and worldly. To get around the Lord’s desire for a “broken heart “ the priests began to offer up a literal broken heart- hence the human sacrifices. They also literally partook of flesh and blood.

In Mayan carvings and pictures, the feathered serpent represents Christ. The snake is usually associated with Satan, since that’s what he was in the Garden of Eden. However, when clothes in the Quetzal feathers, it represents Christ flying back into the heavens. So the serpent means a fall to earth (Christ became mortal) and the feathers represent ascention into heaven (Christ’s resurrection)e feathered snake is a depiction of Christ.

When the Spaniards arrived, all they saw was human sacrifices, cannibalism, and worshiping of Satan (since it was a snake). So they thought the Mayans were Satan-worshippers and burned all of their records which is why there is really no records of the Mayan civilization. There was also a thing about red hand prints. The Mayans had a legend of a white god who would heal people with his hands, and they show that with the red handprints. Archeologists explain the red hands by saying it is the architect or artist’s signature.

Nephi also suggested that initially the Mayans may have worshipped one god. Just like we have many different names for Christ and the Lord, they may have had many names for one god. Then it became the god of corn, the god of, rain, the god of crops…. May have become different gods they worshipped, or it may have still been one god with many names.

One other neat thing Nephi said was that when asked why the did what they did by the Spaniards, the Mayan priests said it was because their fathers and father’s fathers had done it. He said that when he was a boy, his friends asked why he went to church and he said it was because his father did. Then he realized that was not good enough, so he studied and prayed and gained his own testimony. Now when people asked, he knew for himself. He bore his testimony so strongly without actually saying all the usual repetitive things, and it was really impressive.
Then we got to explore. Oh, one funny thing- Nephi kept pointing out relatives of his who were conducting other tour- Lehi, Lemuel (“He’s a good Lemuel!”), his sister, Alma, and even his cousin Abinidi! How cool is that?!

Talum is right on the beach and a lot of people were out there in their swim suits. It was darn hot, especially since we were dashing around, trying to see everything. There were a million iguanas out there too. They would perch on the top of the structures like living gargoyle-like decorations. Some were enormous. We saw the structures, but you were not allowed to climb them or really to touch them. It was really amazing. These were more complete than Altun Ha, and were just fantastic. Despite the time crunch, I had a blast trying to come up with new poses for each picture we took. It was a good time, and the Spirit that I felt there was wonderful.

We didn’t have time to check out everything as much as we’d have liked. We didn’t have time to visit the beach either. That was a bummer, but not a huge deal to me. I got lots of fun pictures, so what else did I need?!! We spent our time looking at things, and forfeited shopping time for that. A fair trade, I’d say. We hustled back onto the bus and enjoyed a sack lunch, courtesy of Subway, so we were all happy. Much better than the ill-fated lunch of the day before! Plus, we busted out the chocolate chip cookies we’d brought along, and all was well.

Helaman, father of Nephi, was our guide on the way back. He was as cool as his son. He also had a friend who make replica’s of the ginormous “Tree of Life” rock carving. The nice thing is that there is an explanation of the scene on the back. Naturally I had to purchase one! It is pretty neat, and how cool that the Mayans had a carving depicting Lehi’s Dream!

We got back to the ferry just in time. We HAD to get on the 2pm one, as the following ferry didn’t go till 4pm. The crossing took 30 minutes and the ship was set to leave at 4:30, so we had to get the 2 o’clock one! We did, and arrived in Cozumel at 2:30, which gave us plenty of shopping time. We’d been told that Cozumel had the best shopping. I felt quite mislead. It is true that it had the most prolific shopping, but it was by far the priciest as well. They did have $1 flutes, so I got some for Kera’s kids. I also decided I needed a lovely sheet of fabric that was a swim wrap. It was so pretty, and Mom looked so cute with hers. I also found a carving that I liked. It had been priced at $45 somewhere else, and I got a slightly smaller version for $12 and was happy. I did however use the credit card on that purchase, so I hoped if USAA called Dan that he would say yes, the credit card was out of the country and probably being used by his wife! With that, I spent all the money I had brought and was down to $1.50. The best part is that I still loved everything I had gotten. Rarely do I still like everything later!

We were on the ship 10 minutes before the required time and I ditched Mom and Dad and went to get an ice cream cone. So delicious after such a hot day! I hit the shower next and had some time before I had to get dressed up for dinner. We had decided to get dressed up at least once for dinner, and we were going to the Italian (5 courses!) restaurant for the first time. So I wore a dress, and even put on make up. We had a 6:45 reservation, and Sandra came with us. So we were a party of 6- Mom and Dad, Steve and Kathy and me and Sandra. The food was pretty good… all 5 courses. The desserts were to die for. They had a sinful chocolate cake for dessert, and it was truly sinfully delicious. The waitress was a hoot too. Dad asked if he could have a second one and she said yes. She asked did he want two, one to take back to his room? Dad’s eyes lit up and the waitress said “When you get to your room you will have to confess, because it is so sinful!” It was funny. And Dad did take them both back to his room for later.

After dinner, I changed and went back to meet everyone in the theater. The show was kind of a talent show by the cruise staff. They recruit heavily in foreign countries, so there were a lot of people from other countries. (And every single one of them was so nice and friendly!) The show was mainly cultural dances: 2 from the Philippines (my favorite), an Indian (from India) one, a Polynesian dance, and an Indonesian dance. There was also some singing and a juggling bartender. It was fun and I’m glad I went. The grand finale featured a number of crew members singing, and the captain came in and spoke briefly and introduced some of the important people- like the head chef, who had waxed mustaches!