Well, another update from sunny(¿?¡!) Mexico:
The weather last night and the night before was unbearably hot - the first time since I´ve left Inglaterra that i´ve really thought it was just too hot for me to sleep. it was about 35´C - ugh! in the end i ran my sheet under the cold tap and slept with a wet sheet on me! it was all i could do to cool down, as putting the fan on (you don´t get air con for 100pesos (5 quid) a night) was like putting a hair dryer on. Anyway, i survived (and slept!)
Yesterday I went to Chichen Itza - a Mayan ruin from about 1000 AD ish. The weather was gloriously hot and sunny - over 30´C, which is nice during the day time) and the place was pretty incredible. grey granite rocks built into perfect geometric pyramids 25metres tall, as well as multiple dwellings and other buildings from the same period. One notable remaining structure was an I-shaped ballcourt, where the object of the game was for teams to hit a 5-kilo (or 5 pound?) ball through a stone hoop 10 metres off the ground, using only the shoulders, elbows, knees and hips. The losign team were put to death - but don{t be too shocked, it was an "honourable" way to die, apparently! The place was beautiful, and filled with market vendors giving ridiculous discounts on amazing items - eg $1 US for a 12 inch mayan mask carving. but there were so many of them that you just got complacent and were like "no gracias" no matter what they said. i ended up not buying any carvings, but now wish i had! i did buy something, but have to think of luggage and the item filling up my bags for the next 10 weeks, i guess :(
today my plan was to go to Coba, and then Tulum - two other Mayan ruins. So, i got the bus to Coba, and the guy stops the bus seemingly in the middle of nowhere and shouts "¡Coba!" and so i got out, but could see no ruins, no signs, and basically nothing distinguishing this road from any other road in Mexico. I asked some randomers on the road (the only people who were there, i might add) if there were some ruins, and they pointed me in a direction, so off i toddled.
got to a car park, asked a few more people, and found a tiny entrance which was less well signposted than the toilets were! Got ticket, went in, and it starts to rain. 600-quid camera in drybag, crappy binliner poncho on, and i wandered round some rocks piled up on one another, with no info plaques or anything. Stood under a hut for a while to try and stay drier.... wandered round the small and info-less ruins and got wet... Hmm... Big long walk to get to the next set of (presumably small and info-less) ruins, i decided i might just head straight for Tulum, which, according to the font size on the photocopied map i have (all i´ve got!) Tulum would be bigger. i asked about the buses though, and it seemed that the next bus to Tulum wasn´t till 1.30, it being 11.30 when i asked. Ho hum, i may as well hang round Coba (still raining a bit, i´m soaked from the waist down, not sure if my camera is dry, but don´t wanna check and risk letting more water into the bag. CBA walking all the way round the place, so paid 30 pesos (1.50) for a bike, and cycled it. still raining a bit. saw some other slightly bigger and more impressive but still info-less buildings. but then, the piéce de resistance - a massive 42 metre-high structure which the great unwashed can traipse up - woo! So i parked up the bike, and the heavens opened as it lashed it down with rain onto me, my one-pound poncho, and 600-pound camera, as i ascended the 1000-year-old monument with one small rope at ankle height (WTF?¡) and a torrent of water gusign down, and signs saying "climb at your own peril" and picture of someone falling off the top! at the top, i was rewarded for my efforts with a beautiful view of the surrounding area - dense forest in the piss-pouring rain! I´m writing in a complainy-tone, but it was good really, in spite of the weather. No me gustan la lluvioso.
when i finally got the bus, after being told to walk into town (in the pouring rain) because the bus didn't come to the car park, then i got the bus at 2pm, and it drove down to the car park i´d just come from (grr!) and by the time it got to tulum it was gone 3pm and still raining, and the bus i was on was going to cancun, so i just paid more money and went straight to cancun. Cancun was dry ish, and i bought some foodie supplies (fruit and chocolate mainly) and then headed back to the office where i´m spending the night... and spending time uploading Jalova videos to Facebook. :D
More adventures next week!
PS - my big camera survived dry as a bone in the drybag, so thanks to Herman or RAchel - whoever it was who left it in our room when they went. The little camera and video cameras were fine too, in ziplock food bags. :D
Those little ziplocs are lifesavers!!
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