Yucutan Mexico
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2008
1
21
Trip End
May 05, 2008
Merida,
Yucatan Peninsula,
Mexico
Friday, April 25, 2008
I crossed the border in my usual way,.traveling without reservations or schedule. I had planned to stay in Corozal, Belize another night, but during lunch at a Chinese restaurant I got excited about staying in a town with a more active night life. Around 2 that afternoon I walked back to the hotel, grabbed my backpack and started hitchhiking. I rode a public micro bus to the border. Belize now charges $17 to exit and Mexico charges $26 to enter (normally the airline travelers get hit with the fee when they exit) so it was the most expensive border crossing I have had. I didn't even get a Mexican stamp in my passport. There was a 1/2 mile walk between the two customs stations, with a bridge crossing a river that was the border.
Playa Del Carmen
Two buses and 6 hours later I was in Playa Del Carmen where I found a $25 hotel next to the pedestrian walk that is party central. Along the walk their are numerous gringo hot spots such as Senor Frogs where I spotted a group of 20 loaded people all staggering around together. It was loud, fun, and so NOT the real Mexico.
The town is already built up, the best time to buy here was 20 years ago. The beaches are beautiful white sand, the water deep green and blue. The coast north and south is being developed by large hotels and resorts. I think this would still be a good investment for people that want a winter getaway, because it is hot, your by the coast, the beaches are nice. You can buy a condo with swimming pool for $150K if it is not near the beach. Beach view condos are starting in the $300K range.
The next morning I was going to catch an 8 o'clock bus to the Mayan Ruins of Chichen Itzal. Unlike most of my travels I prebought the ticket the night before. That morning when I arrived at the bus station I discovered that my watch was an hour off and I had missed the bus. It seems that Mexico is on daylight savings time and Belize is not (or is it the other way around?). This proves my reasoning that it isn't good to prebook, it just messes with your head, better to arrive at the station and then buy a ticket. The ticket agent took pity on me and put me on another bus at 11 a.m., though I ended up losing $20 in the ticket exchange. Incidentally the price of bus travel is about $4 per hour here, as opposed to Ecuador and Peru at $1 per hour.
Chichen Itzal
So I finally got to Chichen Itzal that afternoon. As it turned out, I was able to see the entire site in 1.5 hours. This is because the site is more compact than Tikal. When you first enter, you run through a gauntlet of vendors selling the usual trinkets like cloth, colorful stone masks, Mayan calendars, etc. After a 5 minute walk you arrive at the site. The pyramids are impressive in size, and because all the nearby trees are cut away you can take lots of photos. The ball court where the losing team's captain had his heart ripped out and sacrificed to the gods is the largest in the Mayan world. There is also a ritual sinkhole where jewelry and sculptures where thrown in (not people). The site is the most visited by tourists, and there were lots of buses and people there.
Overall, the architecture is impressive, but it didn't have the same mystical feeling of Tikal where you walk through the jungle to the site.
Merida
I was able to travel to Merida that afternoon, and secured a private bed in a hostel right on the Grand Plaza. Merida is large with 700,000+ people living here, it is in the center of the Yucutan, and it is a real Mexican city. They have lots of little parks. Lots of little shops with small pedestrian walks between. At night the lighting become soft, yellow, spots across sidewalk tables and musicians playing the guitar.
If you like cities and want to be in the real Mexico, you should visit.
Uxmal
I decided to pay for a tour of the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. This cost $35 for the day, but it was worth it because the minibus picked me up at the hotel and there was an english speaking guide. I liked this site better than the last one, maybe because the guide was there to discuss the history and architecture. It was my first guided tour of ruins in Central America. This site had been cleared of trees, similar to Chichen Itzal. The architecture in Uxmal is as impressive, the stone carvings are better preserved, the artistry more refined. One guide book compares the two sites as roman vs Greek architecture. We also saw a smaller site whose name escapes me.
Later we had a free lunch, but the drinks were $3 each. Seems like a raw deal to include a lunch in the tour but not drinks, especially when everyone has spent the last 3 hours walking around in 90 degree temperatures under the hot sun.
Oh yes it is hot there. There are cactus growing with the trees and scrub brush. This part of the Yucutan is higher than the coast, and water is not readily available. The Mayans had to migrate a number of times during long droughts.
My final night in Merida was spent playing cards with a German man and two english ladies. I liked the dark one, and the German man liked the blonde, but alas the two ladies retired together.
Next stop Cozumel Island and back to the USA.
