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Published: January 5th 2008
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Coba
The ball court We took a second class bus to Coba, standing all the way. At Coba we tried the only budget hotel in town. It was acceptable for P$250 (US$24) so we decided to stay. We had a lovely breakfast in the restaurant and headed off to the archaeological site. It was a quick walk. Going past the lake we saw a man feeding a rather large crocodile. We started down the pier but when he said it would be P$10 each to see the croc we turned around.
There were only a few small tourist vans in the car park when we arrived. It was still early. It was P$45 each entrance and we walked in saying no to offers of a guide. The Lonely Planet had a wee map that was enough for us. After seeing the first group of structures we walked the 1 km to the next group visiting a few other structures on the way. We could have taken a bike for P$30 or a bike taxi for P$95 but it was a lovely walk. At the group were lots of worn stelae. It was hard to see the pictures but it was interesting. Returning to the
Coba
The ant hill .. or the Nohoch Mul temple junction we walked up to the main attraction, the 42 meter high Nohoch Mul temple. On the way we had to dodge larges groups on bikes and arriving at the temple we were shocked by the crowds of people. The temple looked like an ant hill with lots of people scurrying up and down. We didn't go up. It was a pleasant visit, just a little busy. Leaving, we bumped into the Australians we had meet in Tulum on the biosphere tour. They had just arrived and faced sharing the site with many more bus loads of people.
Back at the hotel we found no water. We had asked earlier and been told 'momentito' but still no water. They suggested we use the bathroom of another room that was not inhabitable. Not impressed we got our money back and left. Trouble was we just missed the 12 noon bus. According to a taxi driver the next was 4:30 pm. Not believing him because it was in his interest for us to take a taxi, I wandered off to get confirmation of the times. I asked some others guys and found there wouldn't be a bus until at least 4
Coba
Crossroads temple pm. I also checked out the posh hotel in town and found it a bit pricey at US$80. Returning I saw some tourists feeding a croc who was very big and could have easily grabbed one of the small kids who were standing way too close. We agreed to the P$250 taxi fare for the 70 km ride to Valladolid. Not bad considering the distance.
In Valladolid we were dropped at the Hostel La Candelaria but it was closed for renovation. Heading toward town we ran into the Belgium guy, David, who was also on our biosphere tour. He recommended his hotel so we trotted off to the Maria Guadalupe .. I think .. one block west of the main square. It came with TV and bathroom for $220, a good deal. Just a bit noisy with windows facing the street.
Towards dusk we took a stroll to the Church and Convent of San Bernadino. It was beautiful and we walked down a lovely street to get there. Pots in the street and pretty colourful houses.
The next day we visited Chichen Itza. While planning our holiday a year earlier and not sure how to pronounce it,
Valladolid
Pieter hanging out in the central park. This is the first time we saw the love seats ... well, don't know if that is what you call them but we will call them that. we were calling it Chicken Pizza. It was quite a moment to arrive. And we arrived early, knowing that bus loads of cruise ship tourists would be arriving later in the morning. It was P$95 each entrance. The first thing we saw was the famous pyramid know as 'El Castillo'. We were prepared for a climb but it was not permitted. But at least that meant we could get photos with no 'ants' on it. We visited the largest ball court we have even seen and began to realise the sites importance. Lots of carvings were still intact and the scale was impressive. We walked through the court of 1000 columns and explored the furthest reaches of the site. As we left people were just setting up their tourist tat stalls, preparing for the people visiting with the big bucks.
We moved hotels that afternoon to the much quieter San Clemente for P$350. Big room, pool, very pleasant.
The following day we visited Ek Balam. It had been easy to get a bus to Chichen Itza but only taxi collectives went to Ek Balam. And we could tell it would be a while before more people arrived so
Valladolid
Church and Convent of San Bernadino paid P$100 for the 30 km ride. Not a bad price for the distance. A cheap entrance of P$27 made up for it. Surrounded by shrubby forest the park had a nicely planted garden. The site was not huge but the main structure was something quite unique. A big high staircase with a beautifully carved temple facade half way up. Slogging to the top in the hot sun we were rewarded with a fantastic view. But I (Rae) got a little panicky going down. It was really steep. At the bottom we sat under a tree and started talking to a retired American couple from LA.
We took another taxi for the same price back to town and spent the afternoon exploring a bit, walking to the church of San Lucia. We noticed here that people here were not so concerned with locking gates and doors. That was a refreshing change. At dusk at the main square we saw a team of police men taking down the huge flag. We sat in their fantastic love seats and listened to the deafening sound of the birds and wondered about the lady selling blow up toys. She had been there all
Valladolid
Calzada de los Frailes day.
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