Mayan sites visited en todo

Ek’ Balam
Chichén Itzá
Dzibilchaltún
Uxmal
Kabah
Labná
Edzná
Palenque
Calakmul
Chicanná
Xpujil

Next up: Coba & Tulum

Comida & bebidas

Guacamole is often made table-side

A shot of tequila is good for sippin' if you get the good stuff.

Sangria at a cuban-style bar in Campeche for lunch

Coconut water (is yucky)

Enchiladas (a couple bucks, near the Bécan ruins in the Xpujil area)

Tostadas (4 for a couple bucks, near the Bécan ruins in the Xpujil area)

Eco-friendly Mexico

Sorry my California friends–especially those who might think of Mexico as a dirty, backwards place–the country kicks our asses in terms of consideration toward the environment.

Not only have I travelled through and stayed in many a bioreserve, protected park, or eco-lodge, now I am staying in a beach house that generates it’s own power and water, 100%. Conservation may be born from necessity, but people do it and, what’s refreshing, they don’t flap their gums about how great they are for it.

Gasolina

Went to Edzna today–amazing and barely visited ruins southwest of Campeche. It was populated from 600 BC to 1450 AD. Aside from us, there were only a handful of people there. In addition to the excavated pyramids and buildings, there are mounds (buried buildings), and half-exposed structures partially dug free from the dirt, rocks, and vegetation growing upon them. It’s a good opportunity to see the various stages of uncovering these wonders, and also to contemplate the massive amount of work that goes into piecing them back together and restoring them.

When we got in the car in the a.m. To go there, Benjamin said, “We need gas.” And then we proceeded to follow a route via our gps that on a map would be one of those squiggly lines the width of a hair. The type of back road that has no gas stations.

All the way there, I couldn’t stop my left eye from drifting away from the passing fields and patches of jungle to the gas guage that showed 2 out of 8 bars full. The sun was baking the world outside our car (it’s the hot and dry season), and we were in the middle of nowhere; hopes for a gas station decreased when I saw that the road signage was overgrown with jungle vines.

We made it there OK, and learned from the site attendant there was gas 1km from Edzna. About 1km down the road, we pulled over to ask a family hiding in the cool shadows of what looked like a small store, “Donde hay gasolina?”

There was a lot of Spanish we couldn’t understand in reply, interlaced, now and then, with the words we did know: “aqui,” and, “casa.” The man was pointing next door, but the house on the other side of the small dirt road looked abandoned. Certainly, it was not a gas station; we continued down the highway thinking he meant something else.

Nada.

We turned off the highway, into a tiny village, and ended up circling back to the store where we’d started. The whole family: man, wife, and 2 small children were out in the sun, now, waving their arms at us. “Aqui! Aqui!” the man shouted. Again, he pointed at the abandoned house. He motioned that we should pull behind the house and honk our horn.

Once there, we saw a wonky gas pump. Apparently a resident of small villages such as these assume the duty of gas station. Too bad, though, these people have lives to lead and don’t sit around waiting for people on empty to show up. There was no one there except for an angry dog that tried to eat the car.

We had to head back to Campeche on those 2 bars. We made it, on fumes, with a little knowledge gained; much of the rest of our trip will be on those small squiggles of roads. I now know 2 bars on the gas guage will get us about 100 km at least, and when in the middle of nowhere, someone will have gas in his back yard, as long as we have time to wait for him.

Mayan archaeological sites visited thus far

Ek’ Balam
Chichén Itzá
Dzibilchaltún
Uxmal
Kabah
Labná

Food

Huevos Divorciados (fried eggs with red and green salsas) | breakfast at Cafe La Habana, Mérida (65 pesos including juice and coffee, $5.42)

Sopa de Lima (lime soup; Yucatecan specialty) | Uxmal site restaurant (55 pesos, $4.60)

Meant to be a quick update, but it’s not

Chichen Itza was named one of the new “7 wonders of the world” a few years back…Having been there 10 years ago, I can say that the designation has certainly increased tourism there. Prior to that, a woman fell from the top of the pyramid called El Castillo, all the way down, and died on the way to the hospital. These factors have led to the roping off of all the structures: preservation of both the ruins and lives, though I heard a guide say the decision to rope off the structures had more to do with their preservation than people falling to their deaths. Now, that’s the Mayan spirit (you know, they did practice human sacrifice).

So, watching the pulsing red sunburned tourists bussed in from Cancun in their bathing suits (they probably stop at a cenote to swim on the way), I was happy that Benjamin and I have planned to visit many more remote ruins. On the Yucatán peninsula, there are ruins everywhere, from different periods of time, with varying styles & features to keep from getting “Ruin fatigue.”

Now based in Mérida, we’re making day trips to said remote ruins. Today we visited one I can’t pronounce and can barely type: Dzibilchaltun. It was very peaceful and serene, and free from the crowds at Chichen Itza, enough to imagine what life might have been like for the Maya who lived here, as they gathered to sit on the longest set of stairs in all of MesoAmerica that surrounded the public square to watch the goings on. Now, they would have a view of newer ruins in the square: a colonial-era chapel. So much story can be told by the walls of crumbling buildings.

We’ll be visiting more ruins from here along the “Puuc Route,” a day trip that will take us to a handful of sites (Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, X-Lapak, Labna), as well as through villages and past caves and cenotes (natural swimming holes; there are underground rivers here, exposed by sinkholes in the limestone shelf of land we travel upon).

We’re also going to a place called Celestún, a fishing village, where the thing to do is rent a boat and guide to go out on the river and watch the hundreds of pink flamingos that gather here.

And between all that, Mérida is its own hub of activity (well, with a Yucatecan pace). There are free nightly concerts at the parks and plazas. Last night we went to a “serenade” in Santa Lucia Park; several groups of performers played different types of music–a 15-piece band and dancers dressed in traditional costume kicked off the show. And, these shows are not for tourists; they are for the populace of Mérida, who come in droves and purchase 10″ tall ice cream cones & hot dogs sold by vendors who wheel their carts up to the curb.

Yesterday, we met a couple who’d just arrived in Mérida and were on their way to the bus station to get tickets back to Cozumel. They didn’t think there was anything to do here! Having a car at our disposal helps, but all of these destinations are accessible with public transportation, too.

I have yet to discover the secrets of the Mayan calendar, though. It’s one of my missions while here, given that some think it predicts the end of the world in December 2012. If that happens, I really should stop worrying about the fried foods and cheese prevalent in Mexican cuisine. I’d be OK eating happy and being fat for 2 years if the world were actually going to end…

More food shots

Desayuno Regional (regional (typical) breakfast) | El Quijote at Hotel San Clemente, Valladolid (40 pesos, $3.33)

Burro de Rajas (like a burrito, with sauteed green chili & mushrooms) | lunch at Las Campanas, Valladolid (30 pesos, $2.50)

Pollo Pibil (Yucatecan specialty, cooked in banana leaf) | dinner at Las Campanas, Valladolid (45 pesos, $3.75)

Pollo (off the BBQ) | road side lunch at El Pollo Mexicano, Pisé - just outside of Chichen Itza (75 pesos, $6.25 – for 1 chicken & 2 plates with sides)

Agua de Mélon | lunch at Café Chocolate, Mérida (58 pesos for the pitcher, $4.83)

Panini de Atun (tuna sandwich) | lunch at Café Chocolate, Mérida (55 pesos, $4.60)

Frances de Huevos y Longaniza (breakfast sandwich with eggs & Valladolid sausage) | La Blanca Mérida (72 pesos including coffee & juice, $6.00)

Huevos Motuleños (Yucatecan specialty: fried eggs on fried tortillas smeared with refried beans, topped with peas, ham, cheese & sauce) | breakfast at La Blanca Mérida (52 pesos including coffee & juice, $4.33)

Glad I don’t depend on credit

Thanks, Chase Bank, for noting my travel dates in Mexico and then:
a) declining dinner charges (for under 40 bucks)
b) freezing my account
c) locking me out of online account access
d) inability to reverse the online access restriction for 3-5 days after having made the expensive international call to clear things up

Is it because I’m in Mexico? I gave my travel dates at the beginning of the trip. The customer service agent says it’s not because I’m in Mexico, but because the charges were suspicious. Since when is a $40 charge at a hotel/restaurant in Mexico suspicious when you are reportedly traveling in that country?

Something about usage patterns was mentioned… I guess since I don’t use a credit card that often at home, the flags went up?

Why then, did a charge from my health insurance company for much much more than dinner get accepted? Because it’s an American company? Incidentally, hearing about this charge on the phone call with the customer service agent was not a nice way to find out that my insurance rate has gone up by a hundred dollars or something like that.

What’s the take away here? While I appreciate security, sometimes it can go too far. There should be a better way for Chase to contact me when I’m NOT HOME TO ANSWER THE PHONE before they go and pull the plug on me.

San Miguel Pics

Benjamin, on the road to the top of San Miguel de Allende

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