Ruins and more

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In Valladolid now - got here yesterday - smaller town and less touristy although yesterday the organized tour buses came through at about 6pm. Hostel here is excellent - good beds, great back yard with outside kitchen, tables, hammocks, and lots of trees and green.

Finally feel like I am getting more adjusted to Mexico, though I must admit not to the midday heat. Here there is less a clear definition between indoors and out, stores and homes open out onto the street, all have grilled windows, doors shut with a padlock. Both the streets and sidewalks are narrow. all is a bit chaotic - but good. Vallodolid pretty well shuts down in the afternoon for the siesta and reopens in the evening. I Feel a bit wierd for I definately stand out as a tourist, and as a woman alone. The mayan women are short- most come up to my chin - and I am not accustomed to feeling tall and large.

Went to Chichen Itza today. The ruins are grand with the temples, and columns and carvings marking gods and their obsession with time. My favorite areas were the more humble nunnery and the old market and baths. The area is set in the jungle - just a grass plaza around the main temple. A bunch of us took the 7:15 am bus from here (though split up when we got there) - about an hour ride - so we got there shortly after opening which was excellent - was cooler and relatively empty. Some peaceful places early in the day (the cenotes - open wells/pools) and some smaller ruins in the jungle where you would see 2 or 3 others, were crowded by midday. Also got to see all the Mayan vendors setting up and in slow motion without the push for you to buy things. It was interesting to watch the dynamics later in the day; the people desended from the once great city (though much of what remains was built in the Toltec days) now peddling mass produced goods to tourists. I didn't manage to get a digital camera so there are no pictures for you, but they can be found on many web sites. I also watched the lizards (iguanas?) climbing on a few of the temples.

On the bus we passed a few villages - again the living mainly outside struch me - small homes of concrete, or of thin wood with thatched roofs, with outside cooking and clothes lines. Some chickens and pigs out back. And of course, the Mexican dogs that wander freely (in Vallodolid as well - smaller, slim built dogs that all look related - I will need to get a picture of them) and just wander around, and sleep on the sidewalks at midday. I.m sure I´ll see more of them.

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