Once again, this could be quite a long entry but bear with us as it will probably be our second to last one! Believe it or not, our time is now running out and this time next week, we will be back in sunny (or not from what we`ve heard) England. Anyway, let`s get back to what we`ve been up to.
We moved on to Merida after only two days in Palenque – we spent that week or so moving around an awful lot! It was about 8 hours and a fairly uninspiring journey in terms of landscape as the Yucatan peninsula is very flat…which also has its advantages as it meant the roads were nice and straight and so didn`t make us travel sick. We did have some films on the bus which passed the time.
When we arrived in Merida, we checked into our hotel and then went for a wander. First impressions were mixed. Although it is a fairly attractive town, we got hassled a fair bit when walking past shops and restaurants, which is never nice. We were also met on the street by a bloke apparently from the tourist office who told us that the best place to buy artesan stuff was from a shop just off the main square, and he took us there. At first, we thought it was nice of him to tell us that the shops on the square were a rip off but then we questioned his motives a bit. The shop was apparently closing in 10 minutes and not opening again until Tuesday (i.e. if you want to buy something, you have 10 minutes). We had a look round but it all seemed quite expensive so we left it. We later saw that it was still open about an hour later and the next day as well. We were beginning to think that the people in Merida were maybe not too honest, which is never a nice feeling. We walked around a bit more, trying to find a tour agency to compare prices with the tours offered by our hotel but were unsuccessful. We therefore returned to our hotel and booked the tour through them to go to the Maya ruins at Uxmal the following day for the afternoon tour and the evening light show! (Chris – we were also experiencing the gradual price rises that come with moving from the Chiapas region to the Yucatan peninsula although they were nothing compared to Playa del Carmen!)
The next day we wandered around a bit more, booked bus tickets to Chichen Itza for the next day and also bumped into Peter and Marita, a German/Norwegian couple, that we`d seen lots of places before though and they also said they were getting a bit fed up with being hassled so it wasn`t just us.
We arrived at Uxmal at about 3:00 and had a tour which lasted about an hour. Yet again, we found that the site was a bit different to the ones we had seen before. The first pyramid/temple we saw (the Shaman`s temple) was more of an oval shape than a square shape. Our guide told us how the shaman (which could be translated as a magician or witch but in a good sense) was incredibly important in Maya society because they were the ones who had knowledge of the sun and the stars. Using these, they could predict solstices and eclipses and things. However, they would tell the people that they had been speaking to the gods and had been told that an eclipse was going to happen etc. and the people therefore believed that the shamans were in direct communication with the gods and should therefore be revered. Our second stop is known as the square of the nunnery as it apparently looked like cloisters to the Spaniards when they arrived. After archaeological investigation, it was actually found that it was the main plaza, with the buildings on the different sides dedicated to different aspects of society. The priests had one side, the rulers and administration another, and the astronomers another. The third side represented the normal people. All sides of the square were different heights and decorated in different ways. The astronomy side was decorated with a design similar to the gamma symbol, which represented the universe, the priests` side was decorated with two-headed snakes in columns of seven rows to represent the seven levels of reincarnation, the rulers` side was decorated with figures of one of the famous rulers there and the townspeople`s side was decorated with pictures of houses. It was all quite interesting and of course, there were plenty of steps to clamber up and down!
From there, we moved on to the ball court, which was quite similar to others we`ve seen and the game seemed to be similar, with the winning captain being sacrificed. There were then some other temples to be explored and climbed up, including the governor`s palace, which is now inhabited by hundreds of swallows and smells like it too! (Chris – It was quite a good time to visit as the afternoon sun quickly lost its heat and also most of the hordes had gone home for the day apart from one group of noisy Americans.)
After our tour, it was time to go to a hotel nearby for a buffet lunch. Unfortunately, we had been plagued all day by a group of very noisy Americans and they followed us to the hotel as well. Nobody had told us to take our swimming things so we were unable to take advantage of the swimming pool, instead sitting on the loungers and watching. We were there for a couple of hours before returning to Uxmal for the light and sound show. We thought this might be a bit cheesy but we also thought it would be a different way to see the ruins and as it turned out, we`re glad we went.
We were sat in the main square I described earlier and the sides and temples beyond were lit up all different colours, with a voiceover telling stories about what it was like to live at Uxmal. Some of the lights were supposed to demonstrate what it might have looked like in its day as it would have been painted various colours, which was quite interesting. The stories were also quite interesting with one describing how they would pray to Chac, the raingod when they were in need of rain and another one describing the downfall of Uxmal. The legend goes that the princess of Uxmal was due to marry the prince of Mayapan, another big Maya city, but she fell in love with the prince of Chichen Itza. On their wedding day, the prince of Chichen Itza turned up and they ran away together, which started a war of Uxmal and Mayapan against Chichen Itza. (I hope I`m getting this all right because it was all in Spanish!) I think Chac was then displeased with the city and therefore there was no rain, which forced the people to abandon Uxmal and move further inland to find more fertile lands. So goes the story anyway. We were also treated to a rather dramatic natural light show with beautiful lightning and I`m not sure which was nicer to watch!
So that was Uxmal and bright and early the next morning (the bus left at 6:30), we were off to Chichen Itza. It took just under 2 hours to get there, which means that we arrived when it wasn`t too hot and also before the majority of the tour buses, which was great! As soon as you enter the site at Chichen Itza, you`re presented with `El Castillo´ or the castle, which is a big, imposing temple…meaning of course that the first thing we did was climb that…more giant steps! We got quite a good panoramic view of the site from the top and then came the tricky bit – getting down! I found that zigzagging down seemed to work but it can be a bit unnerving stood at the top of the steps looking down as they`re quite steep! (Chris – Made my legs turn to jelly, for the first time, didn’t even get that at Tikal.)
We next headed over to the square of the thousand columns which does pretty much what it says on the tin, except it`s not quite a square. Lots of columns though and it`s quite cool that they`ve survived so well. Walking around them, we actually managed to find somewhere without lots of other tourists, which was a nice change. We also came across some carvings of gods with big noses which were quite funny.
Next we made our way to the `cenote sagrado´, which is the sacred cenote. Not sure exactly what a cenote is in English but it´s a sort of natural well. This area of Mexico is a limestone area, meaning that the rain creates various natural wells and underground rivers, which the Mayas considered sacred. The one at Chichen Itza was used to make various sacrifices to the gods, including human sacrifices. It´s a bit green and not particularly picturesque but quite interesting when you consider what might be down there (although there´s probably not much left as it´s been dredged a few times by archaeologists).
After that, we made our way to a different part of the site, where there was an observatory and various other temples which were all quite interesting but we were getting rather hot by this point and there were many more people around so we probably didn´t give it quite as much attention as we might have. (Chris – I thought Sarah might have neglected to mention an ‘incident’ at Chichen Itza. Now, there are loads of people wandering around trying to flog little statues and other artesanias and they come up to tourists and say ‘Wanna buy? Good price’ then if they get no reaction they try ‘One dollar’ to try and get your attention. It’s a trick we’ve come across before so we usually ignore them but on the way out of Chichen Itza Sarah decided she was going to have it out with one of these poor sales blokes. She went up to him after he had done the usual one dollar routine and asked if she could ask him a question to which he said yes of course, obviously thinking this was leading to a sale. Sarah’s question: Why do you say these things are one dollar when they quite obviously cost more than that? The poor bloke was quite taken aback and didn’t know where to look as this was the last thing he’d been expecting. He recovered slightly to say it was one Mayan dollar or something but still looked very sheepish. I’d skulked away hoping that they wouldn’t think we were together!) Sarah – poor bloke my @*$%! After buying a couple of wooden things from one of the artisans there (not one offering things for one dollar), we made our way to the entrance to find out about buses to Playa del Carmen. We found that we had about three hours to kill until the bus and decided to go to the `cenote azul´ or blue cenote, which some Mexican ladies had told me about during the tour at Uxmal and said it was beautiful and great for swimming.
It was only about 5 minutes away and they were right – it was really gorgeous. It certainly lived up to its name and was a beautiful blue colour. I didn`t waste too much time in getting into my swimming costume to go for a dip while Chris acted as the official photographer. There was a kind of platform about 7m up from the water that you could jump in from so I got all brave and went for it. Unfortunately, I hit the water at a bit of a funny angle and now can´t sit down without it being very uncomfortable! I think I bruised my coccyx. I swam around for a while though and the water was gorgeous – a very welcome relief from the heat too!
We returned to Chichen Itza, had lunch and then caught the bus to Playa del Carmen. (Chris – Full credit goes to Sarah for organizing the whole day as I was a little bit worried seeing as we couldn’t get any info about transport from our guide or people in Merida. We’d already paid for the room in Playa so had to make it and we did with plenty to spare.) We had mixed feelings about coming here. From what we knew of the place, we were expecting a resort heaving with American tourists, which is pretty much what it is. However, it does have a few redeeming features…the beach is made of fantastic white sand, the sea is a perfect turquoise and there is also a friendly atmosphere about the place. We are also staying at a really nice hotel on the beach, which is great – a bit of luxury for our last week and a bit. I actually booked it for Chris´ birthday which was the day after we arrived but we decided that we´d stay for the rest of our stay here as well. (Chris – I think it’s a really nice place to spend our last week, just having a bit of an unwind and relax before heading back to England. It’s a bit pricey and the shopkeepers and restaurant owners are a bit keen to get you into their establishments but apart from that its ok. And the view from our balcony is a dream!)
So, yes, the day after we arrived was Chris´ birthday so we woke up and he opened his presents, (Chris – watched the new Oasis video on MTV, still not sure how Sarah managed to arrange this bit!) then we went for breakfast and wandered around Playa for a bit. Chris spoke to his family in the afternoon and then we chatted to them over the internet a bit later when they´d done a photo message similar to the ones we have done in the past, which was very sweet. In the evening, we went for a delicious (Argentinian…oops!) meal and then went to watch Star Wars which Chris loved.
Apart from that, we haven`t really been up to much (Chris – apart from watching the mighty Liverpool winning the Champions League – woo hoo!!! – still finding it very hard to believe that this has actually happened. I came very close to going out for a walk at half time but am glad that I decided to stick with it!) until this morning when we went to Tulum – our final Maya site! It´s about an hour away and we decided to get the 8:15 bus to try to beat some of the crowds but unfortunately, it was late so we failed in that a bit. It´s quite a pretty site but the smallest that we´ve visited by far and heaving with tourists. It´s in a beautiful location though, perched on the cliffs overlooking the Caribbean. Apparently, it was an important port in its day. We spent an hour or so wandering around and then returned to Playa where we had lunch, played in the hotel pool for a bit (less salty than the sea!) and then came to write this! So, that`s about it. We don`t really have any plans for the rest of our time here apart from relaxing and lazing on the beach a bit, and we`re flying home next Wednesday! We can hardly believe that our adventure is almost at an end! We´ll do one final journal just before we leave…
|  | 
|
