I forgot to tell you – the second thing we saw entering Chichen Itza was a Starbucks! Our first.
You may have read in the Journal recently about the 1500km Mayan railway being built to connect the coastal resorts of Cancun and Tulum with towns, cities and tourist attractions across the Yucatan Peninsula.
We had a very interesting morning at Chichen Itza. Took the 30 minute collectivo bus ride to the gates and were met by a guide who said he’d take our bus group of 11, get us no line tickets and guide us for 2 hours for $50 each – $42 for the entrance fee and $8 for his service. It was money well spent. He was excellent!!
The first thing you notice as you are driving in are about 100 souvenir sellers lined up to enter the grounds – some with huge bundles on their backs, others with pushcarts filled with scaffolding, shelves and their wares, which they apparently cart in and out daily. The sellers are all over the place but not very insistent.
First stop – The Kukulcán Temple, the iconic pyramid at the centre of Chichen Itza. (actually 3 pyramids built over each other. The one you see, then inside it, a second one that archaeologists have explored, and the third, inside one which has so far only been looked at with MRI)
I didn’t get a great shot, but the pyramid is oriented so that at sunset on the equinoxes the moving shadow makes the north entrance steps look like a slithering snake
The exteriors of all the structures here have been restored with only original stones that have fallen. No “new” stones have been added.
Another impressive site was the ball court – 225’ long by 545’ wide. Each side of the court has a vertical stone hoop.
The game was played, 7 a side, men and women, with a 3kg solid rubber ball, which they could only hit with their shoulders, elbows, hips or knees. Our guide told us that the winning teams captain was beheaded with a machete – a huge honour and something he had trained for all his life!!
The last cool thing was this iguana eating leaves – I felt very National Geographic photographer. I’m not sure WordPress will let me post video, but let’s try.
I have developed a bit of a case of turista, so we spend most of the day at our hotel. Chichen Itza will have to wait until tomorrow.
OE spent a quiet day – taking care of me, finding a good running route and a tasty lunch place.
After breakfast, but “before it got too hot” we walked over to the local cenote – a sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. There’s around 10,000 cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula. Cenote Zaki wasn’t going to open til 10am so we kept wandering (after deciding that maybe a later dip in the pool directly below our balcony might be just as refreshing).
We did our obligatory church visit at San Servacio on the main square. There was a Mass being said with a full house last night at 7:30pm, so we came back this morning.
It’s pretty on the outside at night, but the inside is very plain.
This sign outside the confessional asks that you take no more than 5 minutes, write down your sins before confessing them, ask the priest if you need advice (he won’t tell you more than is necessary), and basically keep the line moving!
Our big purchase today – radishes the size of golf balls -8 for $1.50. Tasty with just a bit of tang to them 😋
We spent the afternoon reading on our tiny balcony.
Tomorrow … Chichen Itza!
After a decent breakfast at our hotel, with the added entertainment of the hotel peacock, we crossed the street to the bus terminal and continued on our journey.
Our bus ride cost us about $22 each for comfy seats, wifi and 2 movies dubbed in Spanish. The highway to Valladolid is pretty much cut through the jungle/forest. There is little but a solid wall of tall trees edging the road, with the occasional highway construction or tiny house to break the monotony.
We found our hotel easily – a 5 minute walk from the bus depot. Our room is spacious and cool, with the teeniest balcony overlooking a small pool.
We wandered down to the square this evening to watch some traditional Mayan dancers. About ten thousand birds had a shouting match at sunset, virtually drowning out the music.
OE found a guy selling one of his favourite Mexican street foods – esquites – corn, mayo, spices, grated cheese, a squeeze of lime and a shot of milk in a cup
We woke up at 7am to find that our 11:30am flight is now departing at 1:30pm. We postponed our Monicab, OE went for a quick workout,and I did aimless tasks for a couple of hours.
To while away some of the long minutes of waiting, the airport has installed Short story machines. You can order a free 1, 3 or 5 minute story and whiz bam it spits out a metre long tape with your story. My 5 minute story, “Crossing the Line” was about two siblings fighting in the back seat of the car while their mom pumps gas. Not Pulitzer-worthy, but it did put in 5 minutes.
The 5 hour flight was uneventful. We breezed through immigration (having no kids got us into the express line) and customs ( where they opened all 4 of our bags for a cursory look).
We had to wait an hour for the next bus to Cancun Centro, but our hotel is right across the street from the bus terminal. Bought some tacos on the street and Coronas in the OXXO for dinner by the pool, before retiring to our moldy smelling room. We are too tired to care.
In the interest of simplicity, we have decided to continue on with a previous Mexico blog-site, rather than re-inviting you to follow a new blog.
We leave on Saturday for 16 days traveling to three destinations in Yucatan and Quintana Roo, Mexico- Valladolid, Mérida and Puerto Morelos.
Hasta luego!
Less than 24 hours until “home time” – we are checked in and thinking about starting to pack up.
As I predicted, we have done nothing of interest to anyone but ourselves for the last 3 days – one long walk to Los Ayala – the town the Yvonne visits every winter, that she has shared with Maureen and Oscar, and us. The beach along the way has 2 or 3 times as many bodies as we have seen in previous years – mostly Mexican, often multi-generational families, all enjoying the sand and surf and sharing huge meals.
A local fisher was cleaning his catch on the beach and tossing the scraps to an adoring crowd of pelicans – and now we know what those big neck pouches are for – 
We preferred a more palatable burger at our old favourite restaurant, Juan’s, which has moved down from the hillside onto the beach. 
And now we have come to the end of our journey – Delores has confirmed that we are not flying on a grounded Boeing 737 MAX, so we should be home in our last own bed tomorrow.
Adios!
Most of the guests of the Casita took a day trip to Chacala beach – leaving OE and me the run of the place. We had our traditional “first meal in La Peñita” at Hinde and Jaimie’s:
After a few days of mostly eating and drinking, we decide to accept Linda’s brother Garry and his wife Denise’s offer of a walk “around the mountain” behind La Penita. In the 7 or 8 times we have been here, we have never crossed the highway to see what the other side of the town looks like. We took a 2 hour 6.5Km walk – all flat – into the land behind… seeing an iguana, goats, turtles, a small crocodile (Garry and Denise had seen a 16 foot one on a previous walk), pineapple fields, a horse, many cats and dogs, lots of people and an old boat 2-3 Km from the ocean!
Thus ends the cultural portion of our tour …
A first for us – the screens on the plane from MEX to PVR showed the pilots’ view as we took off and landed! They did a good job!
We walked across the bridge from the PVR airport – a zoo of tourists and taxi touts – to call our Uber. A young woman who spoke some English picked us up and drove us to the door of the Casita for about $60 – I think similar to cab fare and very pleasant. (Thanks Adele for putting your MasterCard on our Uber account!!)
We had to forgo our traditional tacos and margaritas at Hinde and Jaime’s in favour of a quick unpack and a grocery shop, as I was invited to join five other women from the Casita to a “Ladies Night” at a restaurant on a hill above La Peñita.
“Ladies Night” turned out to be 5 muscular young men who took turns entertaining the crowd with amusing gyrations while removing most of their clothes – on the dance floor or up close and personal (oh – and wings and fries – but we weren’t there for the food). It was pretty raunchy, but a lot of laughs. Two of my dinner companions spent most of the show in the parking lot – they thought it was “just a bit too much”. I know you’d love to see some pics, but cameras were strictly forbidden. Just take my word that it was a form of entertainment I had not experienced before.
Meanwhile, OE enjoyed BBQ, beers and bullshit with the men of the Casita.
These blog post maybe be a bit intermittent now – I think it will be eat, drink, read, sleep, repeat – unless there is another event like Ladies Night!!
Mexico! 