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Saturday, September 18, 2010

Seeking shadows in tropical places


On our tour from the Mayan Riviera in Mexico's Quintana Roo state to see the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza in Yucatan, we stopped at this restaurant for lunch. It wasn't easy to find a shady place in which to sit at noon in the tropics.


There was a little bit of shade near this beautiful yellow flower, but not a lot.

In the neighborhood of these gorgeous pink blooms, though, we found a little more shadow, if not exactly a great deal of shade.


Earlier this year, Dick and I joined my brother Clint and his wife, Maria, for a week at a resort on the Mayan Riviera in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. They flew to Cancun from Vancouver, while we flew there from Calgary via Houston, Texas. We spent a night in a hotel near the Houston airport and got our flight to Cancun the next day. I have trouble with long plane flights, and long days spent traveling.
As I've mentioned before, and will undoubtedly mention again, this is one of the best pieces of advice I can offer other unfitties who travel: stop and rest for a night, don't try to do the whole trip in one day. You'll be glad you did. Instead of trying, and failing, to get comfortable in the seat of a plane, you can eat in a restaurant, sleep in a bed, have a good breakfast, and take another comparatively short flight to your destination.

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear. Posted by Kay Davies for Shadow Shot Sunday.
Hey, thank you, Harriet, for choosing our shot of a Galapagos gull and his shadow for your Shadow Gallery this weekend.

21 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Such lovely flowers and delightful shadows for the day! Wonderful captures, Kay! Hope you have a great weekend! Thanks as always for stopping by and your comments! They are appreciated!!

Sylvia

Chubskulit Rose said...

Love those flowers!

Ferrari Shadows

Cassie said...

Sumptuous Shadow Shots! Tropical beauty combined with shadows = magnificent photos!!

Ralph said...

Who can get really comfortable in a 17-inch wide airline seat?? The sub-tropical flowers are beautiful, and the shadows within add a beautiful depth to this beautiful flora. Very nice!

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

Lovely 'floral' shadows! Although, I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear about the food!

Just like Martha said...

Wonderful shadows - looks like a great place to visit! Happy SSS

EG CameraGirl said...

The tropical flowers are lovely! Wish I had been there too!

Beverley Baird said...

What gorgeous flowers! They sure make lovely shadows!
Great advice for travelling as well!

Jo said...

Beautiful flowers, Kay, and excellent shadows at tropical noon. Not easy to find I can imagine.Glad you had a comfortable trip. Blessings and hugs Jo

Unknown said...

Wonderful set of flowers SSS :)

Mª Zélia said...

Deve ter sido um ótimo passeio, ao ver estas belas fotos! Fiquei feliz ao reconhecer as duas plantas que são comuns nos parques e jardins aqui do Brasil. A flor amarela se chama Alamanda (Allamanda cathartica) e a rosa é de uma árvore popularmente conhecida como Pata-de-vaca (Bauhinia variegata). Provavelmente temos climas parecidos.
Tenhas uma feliz semana!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Did you drive south from Canada? In 1976, my friends and I drove from Windsor to New York. (Corrections, my friends drove, i was a passenger, they won't let me drive, and I didn't dare.)

Linda said...

Glad you found a bit of shade at the Mexican restaurant. Nice shadow shots.

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

tropical flowers—
a rainbow soul-festival
and feast for the eyes

Shadowy St. Whoever

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Beautiful photos. Many moons ago I went to Cancun and Chichen Iza was one of our day trips, I loved it. Another time we rented a Jeep and drove down the coast. We pulled off some desolate road to hit what we thought was going to be a gorgeous, deserted beach.

Well, the beach was gorgeous, and there were not many people there. But we discovered way too late that the people who were there were naked. All of them.

robin. said...

lovely flower shadows...and the shadows from behind the sign. good advise on the traveling!! give me good food and a comfy bed anytime!!

Janet said...

Good advice, even for shorter trips.

Anonymous said...

Love your shadow shots, Kay! Chichen Itza has been on my wish list for years...can't believe I haven't gotten there yet...

And I do like your travel advice about not pushing too far or too fast. I have also learned the importance of drinking water in warmer climes. I've posted more Egypt pictures today, and must admit I was a physical wreck there with the heat...kept giving my water to the horses and dogs, and had no stamina as a result!

Your flower photos would make lovely cards..great post...:)

Lynette

Linnea said...

You sure get around Kay in spite of being an "unfittie!" The older I get, the less I enjoy flying. I idea of breaking up the trip is appealing to me too! The Yucatan is a lovely place indeed, but very hot!! Hope you found lots of shade along the way...

Powell River Books said...

Before we discovered Powell River, Wayne and I used to travel a lot in our Piper Arrow. One summer (not the best time to travel to Mexico I know) we flew down to Cancun. We went to Chichen Itza and I thought it was fascinating. We had to fly early in the morning because the thunderstorms would start about 10:00 and we had to be out of the air. We got to the airport at Cancun just at sunrise. We walked into the flight plan office and no one was there. Then a man rose up from behind the counter. He had been sleeping on a cot. A bit groggy, he finally got us a weather report and gave us the flight plan we needed to get in the air. It was a very memorable trip for lots of reasons. - Margy

Kay said...

Very pretty flowers. This post brought back fun memories of Cancun with our kids. I got paralyzed on Chitzen Itza. I looked down and just froze. That was scary!