We had a busy week. We met up with old friends and met many new friends in the first week. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Friday late afternoon. The Weston was beautiful and we ate dinner at the hotel. It was Mexican themed and the food was delicious. We were able to board the Viking Neptune mid-afternoon and soon all our luggage was delivered safe and sound. We met up with Kathleen and Michael to catch up on what was happening as we hadn’t seen them since May of 2022. Quickly saw a number of the 21-22 Viking Star WC members and caught up with what they had been doing. On Christmas Day we visited Tulum Ruins and Playa del Carmen. The site was very hot and difficult for Jeff to manipulate but we did see what we wanted and then went to the bus.
Located on the coast of eastern Mexico, the Mayan city was built between the 13th and 15th centuries. The city was a religious and trading hub for the empire. The site was tied religiously with Chichen Itza and the Yucatán peninsula. Our guide, and many of the guides for Tulum, are dependents of the Mayan people. We had Gabriel as our guide and he was superb. We also had lunch in Playa del Carmen where we had a wonderful lunch with empanadas, pork tacos, and pumpkin sorbet.
Our next stop was in Cartagena, Colombia. I visited the national aviary and was astonished by the variety of birds. We had the bird specialist from the ship and a local guide to help us identify the species at the aviary. Here are a few pictures.
