Tulum (Day 22 -19/1/14)

Ruins by the Caribbean

There's not much to do in Tulum, which suits me just fine. It's a quiet coastal town on the verge of developing into something much more commercial. You can feel that the locals are ready for it, there are a plethora of shops around that sell carbon copies of the same range of items. The locals are relentless in chasing me for a sale... "Almost free," "I give you good price on three cigars", and "Only a dollar". When I emphatically state that I'm not interested they still continue. A selfish Australian part of me wants to just shout "Get out of my personal space. I'm Australian, we need space!" I don't shout anything though. It becomes tiring, I refuse to make eye contact a lot of the time but it still doesn't stop the dogged haggling. 

The one thing that is worth checking out in Tulum is their Maya ruins. These ruins aren't particularly grandiose but they sit out on a beach cliff top, overlooking an impossibly blue sea. This is the Caribbean, the Atlantic Ocean... we eagerly head down to the small white sand cove to touch the water.

Gulf bridged. I have now touched another ocean. I have gazed out onto the Caribbean Sea and it's really beautiful.

The ruins are crowded with tourists, not as many as Chichen Itza but still a substantial amount. These ones are mostly loud and crude... every time I spy some wildlife a lumbering American or careless Mexican will shout and come crashing over, scaring it off. It's frustrating, but I also feel like a hypocrite complaining about it - obviously I'm a tourist too and this isn't my country. Should I be annoyed when I see a group of 20-somethings climbing onto off-limit ruins to pose for photos? Honestly, it drives me mental. Why can't people just be more cool about things?

One great thing about the Tulum ruins is that they're covered in Iguanas. These lizards seem to be claiming the city as their own, lounging on the ruins, pathways... yawning indolently as they get their photo taken. I estimate that we see at least 30-40 of these lizards.

I also spot an Agouti off a more secluded pathway, but no one around us seems interested in the shy cat-sized rodent.

Agouti are found throughout Central America. They are exceptionally strong for their size, and can open Brazil nuts with their teeth and hands. They are a relative of Guinea Pigs, Capybaras and Chinchillas.

After the ruins the Duck and I return to Tulum, drink pina coladas, get sunstroke, feel sick. The day spirals down gently as the sun sets in a palette of pinks and oranges. We take a taxi back to Luna Llena (our accommodation) and laugh as the driver makes an unannounced stop upon seeing some guy on a bicycle. He apologises in halting, sheepish English to us, and flags the bicycle-guy down. They talk for a few seconds, the bicyclist opens up his backpack and pulls out about 30 CDs. They discuss something and then our driver pulls out his own CD, and they swap discs before saying goodbye. Random.

Our hostel in Tulum. Dog came free with accommodation.

These shops are everywhere.

Nice Turtle street art.

 

These guys climbed up to the top of this pole and then dove off the top to spin around on some short ropes. Terrifying.

Chichen Itza (Day 21 - 18/1/14)

The Pyramid at Chichen Itza

Duck has woken up with bite marks all over her. She's convinced she has contracted Dengue Fever and wont stop googling symptoms. The thing is, her body always reacts this way to mosquito bites.

I have decided that from this point on I will only wear thongs. My shoes currently have the most heinous of stinks... they haven't dried properly since Palenque and I refuse to wear them while they smell like jungle. I am not someone who usually has smelly feet so I take this blow to my footwear situation rather badly. I try to convince the Duck that I can climb pyramids in thongs or barefoot. After all, I'm sure the Mayas never wore runners.

Today is a day of meeting other travellers. At breakfast we meet an Australian expat and her retired Canadian husband. We chat with them for about half an hour and he gives us his card, inviting us to visit if we're ever in Canada. Is that weird? At the time it didn't feel weird, that this stranger (whose wife shared our nationality) would invite us to come stay at his cabin. But now, thinking about it, I don't even remember his name. Would he remember mine? I doubt it. Is this what travellers do?

Later, on a small bus en route to our next destination in the afternoon, we chat with Camilla and Josh, a newlywed couple from Massachusetts. It's like we're latching on to anyone who speaks English, eager for an easy conversation without hand signals. It's funny how language can be taken for granted. I have also noticed that there are a lot more white tourists around this part of Mexico, that the locals have also learned enough English to sell you their wares, that the entire Yucatan peninsula might just be the most touristy part of Mexico.  

We get to Chichen Itza today, a one-time capital city for the Mayas, and one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. There are 7 buildings accessible to the public at Chichen Itza, but the actual city itself is much bigger. Only 6% has been restored for the public to visit, and the rest is still covered by dense jungle. Owing to its grand stature in the world, Chichen Itza is by far the busiest of the 9 archaeological sites we have visited so far. The place is absolutely thick with people, and this is the off season! The hawkers rim the outskirts of the site - all selling the same T-shirts, handmade masks, obsidian blades, weirdly erect penile sculptures, etc., with a combination of begging and aggressive selling. One of the more laidback hawkers greets us as we walk past, and decides on a different approach to his peers.

"The best thing about this stuff? It's not made in China!"

The Duck laughs politely and we make to move on, but he isn't finished.

"We don't sweat! We don't smell!" He laughs. It's very awkward. I guess appealing to the racism of white tourists is one way to make a buck...

The ruins are impressive but I guess it's the sheer size of the entire site that accords it such a high status. The main pyramid and the ball court are genuinely mesmerising feats of architectural acumen - unlike other American ruins we've seen, these are constructed with interlocking square blocks and even have some curved outer walls. Most surprising is the fact that the Chichen Itza pyramid is built over the top of a smaller pyramid. Actually, that's not the most surprising thing at all... our guide claims that Vikings were the first Europeans to visit Mexico and uses a Maya carving of a long-haired man with horns as proof.

I've known for a long time that the Vikings landed in Canada roughly 500 years before Columbus got to the Americas but have never heard of any such Nordic landing in Mexico. I'm sceptical because our guide tells us they landed on west coast Mexico, which makes zero geographical sense in terms of the direction the Vikings would come from or where we're currently standing. Besides, the Vikings never really wore horned helmets.

The hoop in the Maya ball game is incredibly high. The game was played by warriors, and the 'winner' won the right to be sacrificed.

 

So yeah, Chichen Itza is cool and all but I think I preferred Teotihuacan and Palenque. They're equally as amazing (heck, Teotihuacan is a bigger pyramid and you can climb it) yet nowhere as tourist-flooded or overpriced to visit.

Afterwards we visit a cenote; a sinkhole that opens onto an underground river. It's a strange sight, and apparently Yucatan is riddled with these instead of regular rivers - the majority of the area's water flows through caves under the surface. We watch as people more daring than ourselves jump ten metres into the unfathomably deep cavern of water.

Cenotes are dotted all over the Yucatan peninsula.

Our hotel tonight is in the coastal town of Tulum, on the other side of the Yucatan peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo. It's a much smaller town and we begin to worry when our cab driver pulls over to ask locals for directions twice. After wending our way along some very dark, bumpy dirt backroads we finally arrive at a strangely-hidden but fresh and new hostel.

Our room in Tulum came with a towel-swan.

Tulum's answer to Flavor Flav

Palenque and Aluxes Ecoparque (Day 19 - 16/1/14)

A Yucatan Amazon gets acquainted with my hat

Palenque is a bit of a craphole. It's full of white tourists who just want to buy cheap crap and eat at Westernised restaurants. There are no beautiful churches, which reveals the fact that that this pop-up town owes its existence entirely to tourism. Everything is plastered with pictures of the Mayas. There's a Best Western Hotel nearby with a huge statue of a Maya, the contrast between the hotel and this indigenous representation perfectly summing up the crassness of this city's further exploitation of an already exploited people. The main street is cheap and nasty, countless shops all selling the same things, and even the zocalo is underwhelming. There's no soul, no Mexican colour. I'm glad that we aren't staying here much longer. 

You can't see it here, but there is a roof dog on a building just out of shot.

 

We get out of Palenque for part of the day by heading to a local animal refuge, the Aluxes Ecoparque. It's a non-profit zoo for wildlife found in Chiapis and the Yucatan peninsula - deer, crocodiles, spider monkeys, manatees, jaguars, toucans, etc. One of the unexpected highlights is a trip through the aviary where a Yucatan Jay starts pecking at the Duck's feet. It then lands on my head and begins drilling at my hat. When I see its beak swinging down over the peak towards my eyes I know it's time to try and get the bird off me. 

 

Much like Bearizona in Arizona, I really enjoy this park. It's a genuine opportunity to see local wildlife in their native habitat. Whether it's Macaws flying overhead, or watching the water to see the dumpy nostrils of the manatee break the surface, this is how I like to see animals. 

Our hotel

Our hotel in Palenque has nice staff. They do their best for us despite our lack of espanol (the words we've learned so far prove to be useless as the accent is different in the Yucatan peninsula) and are happy to keep our luggage for us all day even after we check out in the morning.

So - that said - it rankles me when a loud, elderly American man comes over to the checkout and points at a woman working there.

"You... you speak English?"

She only speaks a little. The worker next to her offers to help as he speaks both languages well, but the American ignores him and continues to talk to the woman.

"I'll be checking out earlier now. I'm going to leave next week".

"Okay", she replies.

"I don't want you charging me for longer!"

The bilingual guy translates quietly for her and she nods and smiles. The American continues, "That's all I care about. I'll check out Monday so don't go charging me beyond that. Understand?"

They understand perfectly and continue smiling. I don't know why they're so nice to him. Not only is he unreasonably brusque with the staff, but there's something undeniably racist about his assumption that they will rip him off if he doesn't explicitly tell them not to. You're in their country, pal, try to be a little less prejudiced. The only stereotype being fulfilled here is that of the brash, xenophobic American.

Panthers are really just Jaguars with really dark skin. If you look closely you can still see the familiar Jaguar pattern.

 

In the centre of this photo is the Manatee. I waited 15 minutes to get this shot, LOL

 

A White-Lipped Peccary