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Published: September 19th 2007
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Chichen Itza
This is one of the temples that has been restored So I´ve spent the last 10 days exploring the Yucatan peninsula. In hurricane season. Luckily I didn´t experience one myself but we were told to expect rain everyday and so we´ve actually been extremely lucky and hardly had any. Although the weather does have a habit of going from bright sunshine to torrential rain in the space of a minute, which unfortunately I discovered on my walk to the internet café this morning.
The tour started off in Cancun and there isn´t much to say about the place - it has a very westernised hotel strip stretching for about 10 miles where all the McDonalds are located. We were staying downtown which gave us a slightly more authentic experience but I still managed to find Burger King. We only stayed one night before heading off to Chichen Itza on a first class bus. It sounded like a good idea to be traveling first class except the drivers seem a bit too intent on having the AC on maximum so you need to make sure you are equipped with some socks and a jumper, despite the fact it is in the 100s outside.
Chichen Itza is an ancient Mayan city
which was abandoned around 900AD and has just been declared one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It was absolutely huge despite the fact that only a small portion of it had been restored, most of the buildings were still covered by vegetation. And its amazing to think how they built the huge stone structures in the heat when I was sweating like crazy just standing still listening to our guide. It was then back on the icy cold bus to Merida, which first appeared to be a small quiet town but actually had a population of over 1 million. While we were out for dinner that night we came across a salsa dancing class in the middle of the street, and I think the youngest person in the class must have been about 50. It was quite tempting to join in but they were all a bit too good at it!
We took a day trip from Merida to the Senotes - underground caves with pools of clear fresh water in. There are some famous ones all over Mexico but these were in the middle of nowhere and so few tourists seemed to have found them.
Probably due to the fact that it was a mammoth journey to get there. We had to walk through town to a minibus stop, these buses leave whenever they are full and pretty much drop you off wherever you want to go. You then just have to hope that they come back and pick you up when you ask them to. We had a 2 hour journey to what seemed like someone´s house in the middle of a village, we then had to get on horse drawn carts that run along tracks for a very bumpy ride to the senotes. We visited 3 in total, each getting progressively harder to get down to (the last one was reached by going down a steep wooden ladder into what looked like a pitch black hole). But the water in them was incredible - crystal clear and cool which was very welcome on such a hot day.
We then took the bus to Palenque where we were staying in cute little cabins in the middle of the jungle, which was good apart from the huge population of hungry mosquitos. We took a day trip to some waterfalls, one of which you could
walk behind (and get soaking wet!), and another which was famous for its clear blue water, although it was more of a chocolate colour when we were there due to the rainy season. There were also ruins of an ancient Mayan city near Palenque -much smaller than Chichen Itza as only a tiny portion has been uncovered and most of it is still in the jungle. And speaking of the jungle, our guide took us on a little hike through it to try and find some wildlife. Armed with mosquito repellant and with my eyes glued to the floor on the lookout for snakes I was actually relieved that we didn´t see too much, although we did find some recently-made jaguar tracks. Plus we could hear the loud roar of dinosaurs. Yes dinosaurs. The howler monkeys that live in the jungle make a strange roaring noise which was actually used on Jurassic Park as the sound of the dinosaurs. And even though I knew it was just the monkeys, it was slightly disconcerting to be walking through the jungle and hear the sound of a T-rex right behind you.
We had a 12 hour overnight bus journey (still freezing
Inside one of the senotes
...sorry its a bit dark, but it was a cave cold) to Tulum, again another Mayan ruins sight, but this time right on the coast. This was actually the first time I´d seen the beach in Mexico and it was incredible - turquoise water and white sands. And we also saw some of the effects of hurricane Dean which had hit a couple of weeks earlier as the wooden steps down to the beach had collapsed. We were staying in an ecolodge in the Sian Ka´an biosphere, a protected area along the coast. We had a huge white sandy beach all to ourselves and a hammock to relax in, what more could you ask for? And it did seem idyllic until we discovered a huge scorpion in our room. Luckily the owners of the lodge acted a bit more calmly than we did, and held it under a stone so they could remove the sting from its tail.
The last stop on the tour was Isla Mujeres, just off the coast of Cancun. We arrived on September 15th, Mexican independence day, which meant free shots of tequila with dinner and a huge party in the main square. We saw some traditional dancing where the men and women have to
spin round balancing bottles on their heads. They were also giving out inflatable green sticks which when clapped together make a loud noise, but most of the kids were running around using them as light sabres and hitting each other (and to be honest so were we).
From the island we took a day trip to Contoy island which is known for its amazing snorkeling. It was good fun despite the fact I got completely sunburnt plus had to face my fear of crabs. Unknown to me, a huge population of hermit crabs were living in the bushes just behind the beach and while we were eating lunch one of the crew from the boat decided to tear up a tortilla and throw it onto the sand. Literally 200 of these crabs scuttled out of the bushes, I couldn´t bear to have my feet on the sand and so had to stand on the picnic bench until it was safe to run away.
I am now staying in Playa del Carmen, it’s a bit of a westernised resort with lots of posh hotels (mine isn´t quite so up-market) but I´m quite glad to get the chance to eat
some western food, fajitas and enchiladas were great for the first few days but I´m not sure I´ll ever be able to eat them again. I have also just had the personal triumph of squashing the mosquito that has been hanging out in my room for the last 2 nights, and has taken a few huge bites out of my leg. Its funny how the little things in life can make you happy.
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