When the mountain seems so intimidating!!!!

A few years ago....FOUR to be exact...I climbed a pyramid in the ruins of Coba Mexico.  I was so scared to move when I got to the top...that I just sat there trembling and looking outwards to see the heights of the trees & jungle.  I didn't move at the top, just sat  there shaking & trembling at the fear of heights that I had accomplished at that moment.

At some point over the next few years...I had this inkling to go back and re-climb it.  So, this year as we took our trip to the Riviera Maya....we made our plans to hit Coba last thursday. :)  Herez the deal though...they don't take you right to the mountain/pyramid.  You have about an HOUR or more before you even go there...along with hearing stories of the Mayan culture...and seeing symbols, learning about them and their practices.  By the time we made it into the woods before Nohoch Mul...i was like "dude, take us there already!" hahahaha.  So after he was done telling us about the number system & calendar....(which, by the way the world is not *ending* in 2012, the calendar just started over.  Silly people)

We walk up to the pyramid and I had this attitude of OK, i'm going straight up with very little stopping!!!!!

Here is the picture I took at the bottom...

We were coming out of the clearing of the jungle...and out pops the mountain. :)  Seriously, you cannot see these ruins while standing in the midst of them....you can only see them when they come into view through the trees. :)  As you can see, it is still pretty covered by trees. :)  Chichen Itza and Tulum both don't have the trees around them, they have all been cleared out and trampled by the gazillion feet of tourists that pass through there.  Here in Coba - less people travel there to see it.  I wonder why? :)

I don't want you to think just by looking at these photos that these steps are small...they are NOT.  They are probably anywhere from 6inches high to over 1.5 feet high.  Needless to say...the rumor I heard about why they are so huge is that the people traveling up and down needed to be in a "less than" god-like stance going up.  In other words, they didn't want them climbing like we would normally climb stairs.  You know, facing forward, legs up & down...and marching right & left upwards.

When walking upwards, it is easiest to just lean forward and crawl up hands & feet.  (kinda feels like a monkey) hahahaha!!! I leaned forward...and grabbed the pyramid with my hands & feet and monkeyed my way all the way up and moved in and around others only stopping to catch my breath and watch my footing.  You know I had 2 cameras on me...and trying to be mindful of equipment AND others and still make my way up.  It was challenging going at the pace I was going. :)  But I only looked up to make sure I wasn't going to run over someone, otherwise I had my head down & focused on each step....and as I'm climbing I glance up to see that I've reach the top.

Out of breath...I stop long enough to have a quick break at the very top and THEN push further to the very top!  My knees were not shaking, I was not nervous anymore.  I looked around up top and looked back down at the jungle and the path I had walked to get there and the other pieces of the ruins we saw before getting there. Isn't this just like life?  Isn't this such a huge symbol of how our walk in life is?

As we were up there, of course! There were a great handful of people also taking pictures...so we squeezed in for a few ourselves...my shirt is wet from SWEAT people. hahaha!!! The jungle has very little wind and HIGH humidity!  That, is the truth.  LOL  You can see a tip of another site next to me on my right.  From this pyramid, it looks so squatty & small, but a majority of these are not small.  Everything back then was just HUGE and people wonder how they built the pyramids of egypt too right?  All of this stuff is amazing. :)

You see that little green speck at the top?  That is ME. :)  I'm actually sitting on the stairs about to come down...and I let zak go ahead of me so he could take a picture.  I snapped one of him going down....

He liked the rappeling better....you see there is this lovely rope from top to bottom that helps you on your ascent or descent.  Thankfully since you can still climb this one...you have some kind of help going up/coming down.  I found it easier just to go down on my butt than try to walk backwards.

Course, by the end of my journey with my SLR on my lap going down...i opted to stand back up and walk sideways down. :)  I'll upload the video so you can see. :)

While at the top steps waiting for my climb down....I opted to do a quick self-portrait...and tried it several times and was happy with this.  I couldn't get what i was wanting by holding it up and pointing it at myself.  So i set the self-timer and just saw what i could get.  I love this so much...because it gives me that accomplishment satisfaction where I'm sitting relaxed at the top...and you can see a tad of texture of the pyramid and the landscape of the jungle.

The day ended with a comedown of the pyramid...and walking all the way back to the beginning.  In total, the entire walking of the ruins is about 2 miles. :)  It was hot, it was HOT and it was HOTTTT.  I was drenched by the time we left and we drank our 4 bottles of water we brought. :)  Course, we didn't spend the $6 on the bikes/transport to get back...we just walked. :)

I had a blast...and thanks to the love of my life for going with me...married for 5 years now...and loving every minute.  :)

Herez the quick SIDEWAYS video! hahahaahahah :):):):):

enjoy and may all your dreams come true this year!!!!