Second Week of Journey

Merida

I spent my second full day in Merida exploring the city some and lazing around the hostel, taking advantage of it's hammocks. It's the biggest city on the Yucatan Peninsula. It was Sunday. I stepped into a restaurant and watched some of the snowy Chicago-Seattle game. I had forgotten about the playoffs. I finally found a decent bowl of Sopa Azteca (tortilla soup). I guess I shouldn't expect the Mayans to make Aztec soup correctly. The center of town was closed off to traffic and there was a carnival-like atmosphere with many fair food stands. I met a guy from London at the hostel who is on his way back north on his BMW motorcycle. I noticed him because he had a patch from every country in South America on the back of his jacket. He's been traveling the Americas for well over two years now. He was at most of the obscure places I was at in Ecuador and Peru, including a wicked highway between Chachapoya and Cajamarca at close to the same time as me. His video blog is at brainrotting.com. I haven't had a chance to check it yet. It will be cool to see some of the places that I had my photos of stolen. I rolled into Campeche yesterday. My first time on the Mexican Gulf Coast. This town is a Unesco World Heritage Sight. Most of the walls around the town are intact. They were built in late 1600's to fend off pirates after a particularly brutal attack in 1663 that devastated the city. I'm going to spend 3 or 4 nights here.




Cha Cha in Merida

Main cathedral
Merida

Gran Plaza on a Sunday
Merida

Chichen Itza and Uxmel

Valladolid and Chitchen Itza

I spent three nights in Valladolid. I spend first full day exploring the town, getting laundry done, reading, writing, and drinking beer. It was a pleasantly rainy day so it seemed like the right things to do. On the second day, I went to Chichen Itza. I took the 2nd class bus out of town and arrived to see dozens of tourist buses in the parking lot. Worse than all the tourists from Cancun were all the vendors. They allow them in the park for some reason. It's sad how many people come to this amazing site just to shop and look at the ruins like some kind of elaborate mall decorations. The worst vendors were the ones with just one or two items in their hands. How many times do I have to say, "no quiero" (I don't want) before the guy will get out of my way so I can take a photo. With much patience, I managed to get some good shots with little or no people in them.

Merida and Uxmal

I spend three nights in Merida. On the first full day I spent the morning talking to people in the hostel over multiple coffees. Met an interesting lady from Germany who just turned 50 and is in the middle of a one-year sabbatical. I take the noon bus to the ruins and get there after 1:00. Perfect time. Only two other tourists get off the bus and I see only one bus in the parking lot. Good signs. Past the ticket counter, I notice another good sign; no vendors! I soon get to places where it feels like I have the place to myself. The sky is partly cloudy with fluffy clouds with some dark underbellies. It's not too hot. Perfect weather for exploring ruins and taking photos. I spend nearly 4 hours wandering around slowly. The sculptures are some of the best I've seen on Mayan ruins yet. Very well preserved. There are iguanas all over the grounds. We kept startling each other. It was very tranquil until the end when I climbed the steps of one of the pyramids only to have the peace disturbed by a group of American college students. They get to the top and make a lot of noise as half of them light up their cigarettes. I hear one girl say, "it would be cool if they had a bar up here." One of the guys starts climbing up the ancient ornamentation on the walls. I'm glad there was local security to yell at him or I would have. I was irritated enough to ask, "do you all go to the same high school?" He says, "same college" with a slightly chastised look. "Really," I reply, not letting it sound like a question. "Hard to tell sometimes," one of the ladies in the group said, getting it. Am I turning into a crabby old dude, or was that appropriate? They finally go away and I have peace again. I close the place and take the sunset bus back.

Chichen Itza

Largest ball court discovered in Mayan territories.
Chichen Itza

Observatory
Chichen Itza

First sight inside entrance to Uxmal

Quadrangle of the Nuns
Uxmal

Posing Iguana

Ball Court
Uxmal

Uxmal

House of the Turtles
Uxmal

Uxmal

El Palomar
Uxmal

View from the Grand Pyramid
Uxmal

Casa del Adivino
Uxmal

I have dug it
Uxmal