Merida and Campeche

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Okie dokie,
Net day in Merida, we walked down to the bus station to go to more ruins called Uxmal. On the way we were surprised to see so many streets blocked off to traffic. We asked a policewoman what was happening, she said, every sunday lots of the townspeople walk/run the streets of Merida, just for their health! talk about community. As we spoke some kids ran past and we looked down the street to see a mass of people coming our way, so we took an alternate route.
The bus took us 2 hours to get to Uxmal! the ruins were great though, lots of cool carvings etc and huge mounments, i have to say, the Iguanas were also very cool! and the microbats that have taken up residence in the ruins! Ill post some photos when I can, and you can just compare the pics of each ruins as they are different but same.... The worst part of the day was waiting for a bus to take us back to Merida, we waited almost 3 hours on the side of the road for either the return bus, or any public transport that would take us to the next town of Mune where there were more buses. at least for the first half an hour we were entertained by a young man telling us about the area, then he got a lift on to Mune.
Finally we got back to town, a bit hungry and bored and went to the markets, but they were not there on a sunday. Instead we blew the budget on some lovely pizza!
We walked into the central square (6-8 blocks or so) to find a supermarket to buy lunch for the next day and found a huge stage with a performance happening and people dancing in the streets with lots of spectators enjoying the scene and a few market stalls on the side. We came to like Merida a lot. The streets are all in a grid so its easy to navigate, odd numbered streets in one direction even in the other. Lots of colonial architecture, lots of cathedrals and churches and shops with high doors.
Next morning (i.e. today) we caught a colectivo to Dzibultachun ruins (ill fix the spelling because it is incorrect, but I cant find it now). It was vey small and epensive, plus i got annoyed because after all the fuss of a very uncomfy colectivo ride where i was squashed on a seat for 3 with 4 people on it i wasnt allowed my bag into the ruins and had to carry everything in bulging pockets! then it started to rain while we walked around. But the history of the place rubbed off and i cheered up as we were surrounded by some quite rotund american tourists who were all very nice. There was also a very pretty, small cenote with lily pads and water birds, and lots of fish! I stuck my feet in the water and all the fish would come up and nibble on them, tickled a lot!
We left there and had to walk 1km to the road where a street vendor informed us we just missed the colectivo and they only come every 2 hours. Luckily a tricicle motorbike arrived shortly after to take others to the ruins from the nearby town. We took it back to town where luckily again a colectivo was waiting to leave. We made it back to the hostel after some cheap lunch in a little taco shop on the way to the bank (we had to try 3 banks before finding a working ATM). Grabbed out bags and headed to the bus station to go to Campeche - supposedly a 2.5 hour trip. We got there with 10 mins before the net bus luckily. The buses here are good long distance. We were only able to get a first class bus, no others were runnng but even in the lower/cheaper classes theres aircon-allocated seating and its a comfy ride! the ride took us 3.5 hours and we got there after dark so took a cab to the Monkey Hostel. SO NICE! the hostel is on one side of a town square... this area of the town is within the colonial walls of the city built a few centuries ago by the spanish. there is a giant cathedral on the opposite side, all lit up beautifully and there was a concert on right net to it. Beautiful live band playing and lots of professional dancers. we wandered down after a bit of a watch and had dinner, tomales and torta (which isnt a cake, its a type of sandwich). before heading to the san francis de asis suermercado to buy breakfast and lunch for tomorrow.
The hostel has a rooftop lounge area so the view of the square is great!
Right now im uploading pictures onto a photo storage website, but its going to take 3 hours, its 11pm now, so hopefully it will be a lot quicker than that!
much love, Adios x

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