My “Ancient Mayan” Day With Christian J. LeBlanc, YOUNG AND RESTLESS
Last month, Soap Opera Digest sent me to cover the first-ever Soap Cruise aboard a massive Carnival ship (I know, tough assignment). The four-day trip was just another Caribbean tour for most of the passengers, but nearly 300 soap fans paid extra moolah to participate in several on-board activities that would also be attended by 12 of their favorite daytime stars. And I must say, they got their money’s worth, as each day was packed with fun events like Celebrity Bingo, meet and greet, Q&A and a trivia challenge, to name just a few (check out Click! in the December 18 issue of Digest for lively photo evidence!).
Since I cover Y&R for Digest, I’m already well-acquainted with most of the cast, but I really enjoyed getting to know star cruisers Don Diamont (Brad) and Christian J. LeBlanc (Michael) even better. On the third day of the cruise, we would be docking on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, so I was anxious to check out the Mayan ruins of Tulum. It was just my luck that I found out that Christian wanted to do the same thing, so we bought our excursion tickets on the ship, then agreed to meet the next day.
Despite all the advance notice, I almost missed the tour bus, then realized that I forgot my excursion ticket back in my stateroom. I madly pushed through the disembarking mob up several decks to retrieve my all-important ticket.
As I headed back down for shore, I thought for sure I had missed the bus to Tulum, but I was elated to see that it was still waiting. Christian, in an appropriate sun-protecting safari hat, waved at me when I boarded. There were only two seats open and one was fortunately directly behind him.
“I was worried you weren’t gonna make it,” laughed Christian.
When I sat down, I immediately noticed that the pricetag was still attached to the top of his hat.
“Hey, Minnie Pearl,” I said. “You left something on your chapeau.”
Christian removed his hat and pulled off the plastic tab. “Actually, I did that on purpose,” he declared. “I thought if we had to find food, I could use this as a fish hook.”
The day was extremely warm, but not at all humid, and the countryside was green and beautiful. We made one stop at a roadside gift shop filled with locally crafted wares like black clay pottery, ceremonial masks made out of obsidian, sterling silver jewelry and beautiful artwork.
We climbed back on the bus and 15 minutes later we pulled into a parking lot near the ruins. “Look,” I gasped in wonder to Christian as we came to a stop. “It’s an ancient Mayan parking lot.”
And so began our running joke for the day. Whenever we came across any modern-day object, it was suddenly a rare artifact (“Look, an ancient Mayan garbage can,” or “Look, a bottle of ancient Mayan tequila” or “Look, an ancient Mayan….” okay, it’s getting old.)
When we got off the bus, we started hiking down a flat dirt road cutting through low-lying jungle that teemed with the weird noises of unseen wildlife. Less than a kilometer later, we came to the ancient wall surrounding Tulum, the Mayan city and suddenly we weren’t in 2007 anymore.
The settlement stood on cliffs overlooking a pristine beach of white sand and the beautiful topaz sea. After taking this breathtaking view in, Christian and I ducked to enter through one of the low, narrow tunnels through the wall. Once on the other side, we were awestruck by the sight of the handful of Mayan ruins dotting the hillside, as well as the many fat iguanas sunning themselves.
We strolled around with the rest of the curious visitors; inspecting, investigating, marveling. When we stood at another vantage point that looked out to the sea, Christian and I were surprised when fellow cruisemates Austin Peck (Brad, ATWT) and Jacob Young (JR, AMC), along with their wives, climbed up the steps from the beach.
“Were you guys on a tour bus?” I asked.
“No, we rented a jeep,” smiled Jacob. “We’ve been driving around on our own.”
Austin looked curiously at Christian. “Where did you get that hat?” he asked.
After another hour, Christian and I left the past behind and walked to one of the restaurants, where we gorged on delicious tacos and tortilla chips, but avoided “muy caliente” salsa. Before we knew it, Lily, our tour guide, was announcing that it was time to return to our ship.
As we walked back to our transportation, Christian couldn’t resist one last observation. “Look,” he chirped, “an ancient Mayan tour bus!”
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