Cenot Ik Kil

This sinkhole is located near Chichen Itza (a separate post on that coming up), a large archaeological site built by the Mayans.  It is not the main sinkhole at Chichen Itza where sacrifices were made, but we were told it is one of the prettiest.  There was a large sprialing staircase to take us down to the level of the water. 

This is the view across the top of the sinkhole from the staircase entrance.  You can see the gift shop on the other side.

And this is looking down into the sinkhole from the top.

There was an opening in the staircase behind some vines.

And we are at the water level!

Looking up just a bit.

And looking up at the opening from the water level.

Another shot of swimming tourists.

And a close up of the vines.

Botanical Gardens

Yesterday, I went to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens--what a nice way to spend a free evening.  You may be asking what kind of gardens can Cleveland have in the middle of winter?  Well, to be honest, most of the gardens are under snow at the moment, but they do have a glasshouse with two large garden exhibits.  The first was modeled after Madagascar and had a lot of spiny plants.  The second was modeled after the Cloud Rainforest in Costa Rica and it's where my favorite picture of the day (seen above) was taken.  My favorite part of this exhibit was the colorful butterflies and birds flying all around us.  Too bad they moved too quickly for a good picture.