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Published: August 24th 2006
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Campeche Zocolo
The view from The Monkey Youth Hostel, Campeche State, Mexico. The Yucatan is HOT and comprises mostly marsh lands and jungle. Campeche is on the Gulf Coast which from an oceanic perspective is also as flat as a pancake (no waves).
Two nights in Campeche / Edzna Ruins
I stopped in the town of Campeche, as it shortened the bus trip and provided a base to see the Edzna ruins and also study some more local history. Campeche was an offensive / defensive outpost built and used by the Spanich. A sizeable militiary force was setup here complete with canons. The walls of the various fortresses are 2 to 3 metres thick.
For me, however the highlight of Campeche was the Monkey Hostel where i met this Portuguese guy called Paulo, we got talking and ended up spending the next week traversing the Yucatan. The hostel itself was quite nice and had a fanstastic view of the Zocolo complete with balcony where you could sip a cold one and do some discrete "people watching".
I was pretty keen to see Edzna as i had read a little about these ruins and from their location considered that they would be less popular with the tourists. In hindsight
Campeche Coast
The gulf of Mexico, Campeche. i think i was a bit gung-ho.... i got up at 5.00am to catch a 6am bus. Anyways, i headed out of the hostel at about 5.15am navigating the dark alleys of Campeche with my trusty guide book and compass... the bus station was about 20 minutes walk + navigation and "wrong turn" time. After a couple of loops around where i though i was supposed to be, i asked a few locals and they told me the bus comes down the street i was on at 6am, so i thanked them and stayed put. Sure enough by 6am, a large old bus chugged down the road, as it got closer, i noticed that it had 100% tint on all windows (you would need to put a torch to the window to see in) complete with an "all surfaces" polished metal chrome finish. If gangsters drove buses, they would look like thi. At the time it had not occurred to me that this was my bus until the driver stuck his head out the window and yelled (at me because there was no one else around at this ungodly hour) "EDZNA!!"
No choice i guess, so on i hopped.....after
The Mayan Ruins of Uxmal
A Mayan Military Academy. some broken spanish i figured that the bus doesnt leave until 7am so i sat on board for an hour waiting patiently. It really is quite surprising how effeciently the public transport system operates in some of these places, they really do leave precisely on time ( i have a sneaking suspicion that the overall operation of all public transport systems in Central America are run remotely from German head quarters in Frankfurt). Sure enough 7am on the dot, off we went. Note that by this time several locals had hopped on, so i was pretty sure this guy was not a gangster, well none of the locals had guns anyway.
Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes later the driver dropped me at a deserted "T" intersection with a sign for EDZNA Ruins 1KM. The place was really deserted, i mean i was not just the only foreigner, i was the only person there except for the guy at the EDZNA "ticket office". I prefer places without lots of tourists but this was ridiculous. With map in had i headed into the jungle.... it was quite pleasant really, the sun was out but it was still early so it
More Uxmal
Parliament House and the two headed jaguar. was not so steamy. The jungle walk in was also very scenic until i felt a mozzie having a go at my leg.... when i looked down there wasn't one mozzie but about six. Then i looked on my arm and there was another six! Looking to my right i saw a small swarm of the them... it then crossed my mind that i did not bring any repellent (now that may sound silly, being in the Yucatan jungle without mozzie repellenent, but you have to understand after visiting several other ruins in different jungles i had neither seen a mozzie or been bitten so i figured EDZNA would be no different - WRONG!). After swatting a few, i did the bolt and basically ran at full speed towards the ruins which were in a much larger open area. I was thinking i would be safe from the mozzie bombardment in a larger setting. Wrong again, the buggers followed me, after swatting at least 10 of them i had a 100m sprint view of the EDZNA Acropolis (1 minute) and then headed straight for the park entry gates! They followed me the entire way until i got to the road.....
The Ball Court, Chichen Itza
Notice the height of the rings! No hands were used when playing this game..... so here i was, 5.00am start 1.5 hour bus ride only to get eaten by bloody mozzies. On the way out of the park, i managed to ask the guy at the entrance (between swats) when the next bus comes, it wasn't due for 4 hours!! When i got back to the T-intersection, i saw 1 car pass by, then nothing for about 15 minutes before a collectivo pulled up and shouted CAMPECHE!! (my saviour) I dived in and headed back to town.....for a "well earned" breakfast. I would have to say this has been by far my most unsuccessful out, however i did learn something.....
Merida / Uxmal and Chichen Itza Ruins
Merida City was really pleasant. The general wealth level here is certainly higher than some of the other places i had visited and there were plenty of restaurants, cafes and live music. In fact every Saturday evening they close off all the streets in the city centre and people literally dance (salsa and merengue) in the streets. There are various live music genres to choose from such as Latino Salas, Flamenco and even Andean/Chilean folks music (complete with pan pipes). Now i am quite proud to
Sacrificial Stones, Chichen Itza
Each stone represents a sacrifice (there were hundreds). Notice the main pyramid in the background. admit that i do not have a single record or CD in my collection which includes the use of the pan pipes (this is a very personal kind of thing), however it was quite different to see the Andean guys in action with pan pipes and recorder (you know like the ones that you used to learn on at school).
From Merida, i was going to head to Tulum, a beach area of the Caribbean, however i thought it would be better to just go straight to Belize so from Merida, i jumped on a bus and headed for Belize city....
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Yogy
non-member comment
A whole wide world out there
Guten Tag! Its only when you take the time to stop for a while and think (in your case, travel) that you are reminded of the relatively massive size and diversity of this planet. Street salsa, merengue, andean folk music etc...all too alien for me. Could learn to live with it given the time and incentive, i'm sure. Watch the mozzies though, something a bit more close to home:-)