Chichen Itza, Ik-Kil, Valladolid and the 3 amigos

---

Chichen Itza... One of the Modern Wonders of the World, in at number 5 according to our guide. Probably described by Karl Pilkginton (An Idiot Abroad – if you haven't seen it, get it) as “all right init?”
That was where I was off to on this bright Monday morning. As I stood outside the hostel waiting for the bus, this Italian guy who introduced himself as Franco came to say hi and we discovered we were on the same tour. Furthermore, we discovered that we had the same plan to jump off in Piste and then make our way to Valladolid (the next main city) for the night. “There are 3 of us. We can all stay together if you want, it will be cheaper”, he said. All-right then, I was liking the sound of companions for a day or 2. I was soon introduced to Barbara and Luca, his friends and then we jumped on the minibus, where a Brazilian lady already was (she didn't really say much all day).
On route to Chichen, it became evident that the bilingual guide would much rather speak Spanish than English, which was fine by me as it meant I got to improve my language skills some more.
After a slight scare at the start because it turned out that the Mexican president had decided hours earlier to pay a little visit to the site on the same day as us (the guide told us he wasn't sure if it would be open!), we made it there in good time and were through the gates (after paying the hefty 166 pesos entrance fee) with no problems. I was very pleased to have the services of a guide and we all agreed it gave us a bit more insight as to what happened (although a lot of it sounds a bit like they could have made it up to sound more interesting). The only downside of the visit was the length of time we had. 2 hours (1 hour guided and 1 hour free) was definitely not enough and we didn't even get to see everything. As soon as you enter, you see the main pyramid (the one you've seen on the postcards) which has been amazingly restored by American and English experts and it feels like you could easily spend half an hour there, just admiring it and snapping it at every possible angle. I was lucky that the Italians were all very keen on taking pictures, so I wasn't the one slowing the group down, we were all doing it together (you could see the guide wanted to move along quicker... Oops!)
But no time to stop, there are more temples to see, more history to discover, from the 1000 columns to the ball court, via the Venus temple and stretching all the way to the observatory. It is a mixture of Mayan architecture (they apparently only did walls and roofs) and Toltecs influences (they brought the columns), the coming together of 2 civilisations who apparently managed to live together better than anywhere else. The guide explained that the Mayans did 3 things: religion, war and business. The Toltecs only did one: war. It was funny because he made it sound a bit like the Mayans were the goodies being invaded by the nasty Toltecs: “The Mayan change, the Totlecs destroy”.
It was great. I really enjoyed the visit (and the company) and the site is absolutely worth every centado (hundredth of a peso), just a shame that we didn't have another hour to look around.

After that, it was time to go to the Cenote of Ik-Kil. A cenote is a water hole, generally very deep, 190 feet in this case. 70 pesos seemed like a lot to pay to see it, but it was very pretty and very quiet when we arrived (then a couple of bus loads got there and it wasn't anymore) and my new 3 amigos all went for a little swim. I didn't because I was a bit scared at the prospect of ending up 190ft lower (not that it matters much, I could as easily drown in 12ft of water!)
Around the cenotes is also quite cool, which is a relief with the sort of temperatures we've been getting, but after an hour, we had to drag ourselves back up the the scorching heat and head for lunch. That consisted of an eat as much as you can buffet in a big room where all the tour operators stopped. I had opted out and eaten my sandwich before hand, but if I had wanted to, I could have easily partaken, nobody would have noticed...
About an hour later, our guide/bus driver dropped us off at the bus station. It was about 3.29 and the next bus bound for Valladolid was due at 3.30 (20 pesos-45 minutes). Luck was on our side again. So at about 4pm, the bus turned up. Well... That was obvious wasn't it? Although I seemed to be the only one to have noticed...We boarded a rather busy bus and settled for the trip, me being glad to have packed extra air-conditioning layers.
Before 5pm, we were sat in Valladolid bus station, deciding which way to go in the hunt for a hostel. I knew of one, which I'd read about in my guide and Barbara was looking at another, which was in her book. As we walked down a busy shopping street, trying to look for a cheap deal, we saw a sign that said “Good rooms – cheap and clean”. Time to investigate... We ended up taking a quadruple room at 350 pesos with our own bathroom and a shared “lounge” which seemed more like a corridor with a telly. It was bang on central and at that price, I wasn't arguing. Obviously, the next day I saw one for 270 pesos around the corner, but that's just the way it goes when you're walking around with your pack, you take the first sensible offer that comes your way.
So after dropping our bags and having a quick breather, we were off to have a look at Valladolid by night. It wasn't late but it was dark already. The central Plaza with the lit up cathedral and the arches all around was looking great and we all happily snapped away. There was a museum we had a look at with some really cool paintings of Mayan scenes and then we just walked around the shops where a couple of items were bought by my travel companions after very intensive haggling (I was paying attention as I'm pretty rubbish at it).
Someone had found out that there was a funfair going on on the edge of the city, so we decided to go there to have a look around and something to eat. It reminded me of my youth, as it was very similar to all the fairs we used to have in the summers when I was a teenager. After a while we decided on a place to settle for our food. We all had a beer and something along the lines of a giant tortilla with various fillings (a bit of everything for me). When it arrived, it was huge. The tortilla covered the large plate and was in turn covered by a steak and some cream and garnish. I thought I'd never finish it. But I did! I just needed some meat! It wasn't the tastiest ever but it filled a hole. It was very expensive (160 pesos each for food and a beer) and just about finished crippling my daily budget; plus the fact I didn't even have enough cash left to pay my full share!
After food, we carried on walking around aimlessly until we stumbled across a stage where there was some sort of animation going, with a bloke talking and some sexy girls doing sexy dancing in turns. So we sat down to see what it was all about. Within a couple of minutes, they had announced that they needed 4 men from the audience to come and take part and of course, Franco and Luca got picked! There was no point in resisting, so they climbed on stage, unaware of what awaited them... First, there was a short interview from the presenter that went along the lines of
“Where are you from?
-Italy
-Where about?
Sardinia
Are the 2 ladies with you your wives?
Yes (???)
Are you 2 staying in the same room?
Yes. In the same bed”
By that point the audience had about doubled and everybody was aching with laughter (I have simplified the conversation, it was very funny!)
It turned out that they had unwillingly entered a dancing competition: them 2 against 2 Mexicans. So the music started and they started dancing, properly having it, as if they were out clubbing. So the music was stopped and the presenter demonstrated what the dancing they were supposed to be doing was: Sexy booty shaking Mexican Dancing. It ended up a bit like a dancing lesson live on stage and it really was hilarious. After our 2 friends had finished, it was the Mexicans' turn and obviously, they were a lot more competent. However, the outcome was to be decided by the crowd's applause and our 2 funny guys had won the hearts of the spectators so got just about a standing ovation and won some hats for their trouble. What a top laugh,
Once we managed to escape, we headed back to the hostel, laughing all the way about how much fun we'd had.
The following morning, we were all up and out by 8am for some breakfast (in the end, what we saved on the room, we sent on breakfast). Check out was at 11am, so we had a few hours to explore the city a bit further. We split in 2 pairs for most of the morning (in fact we lost each other rather than split) and Franco and I ended up going to another cenote in the town (only 15 pesos this time) and taking lots of pictures. Eventually, we returned to the room to pack and leave. We were out a bit after 11am and the owners let me leave my bag for a couple of hours, as my bus wasn't until 2.45pm. I walked with the 3 amigos to the station and we said our goodbyes as they hopped on the 11.30 bus to Cancun. That left me with 3 hours to kill.
By that point, I'd had a pretty good look around and it was boiling hot, so I ended up having a look at a couple of parks and churches, but mainly tried to stay away from the sun and didn't do an awful lot
At 2.45, I got on the bus and left for Tulum, where the beach awaited me...

---

Photos

Chichen Itza
Needs no introduction

Chichen Itza
1000 columns

Chichen Itza
Ball court

Chichen Itza
sensible me!

Chichen Itza
El observatorio

Valladolid
The advert for our room

Comments

[delphine]

But where is Isabelle? c'est la question de Clive... euhhhhh peut etre qu'Isabelle prend la photo!!