We had arranged three of our tours through EcoTurismo Yucatan (EcoYuc) and a week or so before we left on our holiday they sent me vouchers for each of them. According the first one, our Uxmal/Kabah tour would be handled by Meri de Mexico S.A de C.V. Obviously, EcoYuc in this case acts more like a travel agent instead of providing its own tours and guides. I corresponded with a very patient and flexible representative in Ms. Lorena Cortes over the course of over a month as my initial holiday plans evolved from an "Indiana Jones" style expedition with my bro to a more relaxing getaway with my wife. Ms. Cortes is fluent in English and easy to work with. I highly recommend EcoYuc as a means to arrange everything from day tours to customized multi-day excursions throughout the Yucatan, especially points south and west from the Riviera Maya area: http://ecoyuc.com.mx According to the voucher Ms. Cortes sent me via email, our pick-up time would be at/about 9:00 a.m. We wanted a good start to our day, so we needed to wake up in time for a leisurely breakfast at the Main Street restaurant next door. The alarm clock on the nightstand went off at 7:30 a.m. and after fixing ourselves up we went out to the restaurant. Main Street is definitely a restaurant catering to tourists...well, English-speaking tourists. All the signs are in English. All the menu's are English/Spanish, and it appears the waiters also are bi-lingual. T wanted an omelet off the menu, but apparantly that wasn't descriptive enough for our waiter. We asked what kind of omelets were available, and he went down a list in Spanish. Am sure among those he mentioned included ham and cheese, but when he said finally, "And 'al natural'," we got confused. Well, of course T wanted a natural omelet...not one of those "Egg Beaters" things you can get at IHOP. Turns out the term "al natural" means just a plain ol' egg omelet...nothing added. Needless to say T was disappointed, but we learned something new that morning. I ordered a breakfast sandwich--egg and ham--which turned out to be quite good in my estimation. I forgot what we drank for that a.m...I probably had an orange juice. While we sat there, a street vendor walked up to us. He was carrying several bags of hammocks. Immediately he began his pitch, and while we didn't intend to buy anything like that soon into our vacation we were interested in the product. Merida and really that area of the Yucatan is known for three things at the least, if you are thinking of taking anything home with you with real local significance: hammocks, panama hats, and guayabera shirts. This vendor said his family lived in a small town outside of Merida and their livelihood was all about making hammocks and then selling them on the street here. He showed us a picture of them and pointed out his six sons and daughters. As we sat and ate, he pulled out of a bag a nice-sized hammock that he said could fit two people. He showed us how the cords were double-weaved to provide strength and endurance...if one cord broke, the second cord was still there to provide support. And tangles were easy to solve: just grab the cords on either side of the tangle and yank them apart with one hard pull. The actual material he said was sisal, which was much stronger and more preferable than hammocks made of cotton. All of those he was carrying with him were white...bleached, perhaps. I forgot the price he was asking for one, but like I said before we had no plans to make a purchase of anything like this just one day into our vacation. Perhaps later...we asked him if he would be in the area on the weekend and he said he was. We all knew the chance of meeting again on the street around here in five days was pretty slim, but he thanked us for our time, packed up his hammocks and lugged them around the corner towards the great zocalo. All this time, our waiter just stood back and watched the whole negotiation without interfering. However, once the vendor left he came up and said that hammocks that are offered on the street are not the best and that if you wanted the best you need to go to a local store. He recommended a shop just a block or so away. It's easy to find...at the corner where the Burger King was (we never ever went to the BK, am proud to say), we turn left and halfway down that street would be a large green building across from "Pancho's." This was either a government-run or government-subsidized store, which apparently was desireable. I don't think the waiter was working for a commission or some kind of referral fee, as he never gave us a card or his name to work with if we ever visited the store. There was a little time to waste still, so we just sat there and people-watched. It was quite evident that a large university was somewhere nearby. Maybe located in several buildings all around us. Many students with backpacks, bags, and laptops were walking down the streets and through the plaza to their classes. At some point, T and I--in our American-minded impatient mode--were looking at the time and began worrying. Surely they meant to pick us up by 9:00 a.m., and not after...then they would be late. I went into the hotel next door and asked the morning desk clerk, a woman this time, if she understood a little English. She indicated she did, but I still told her in Spanish that T and I were waiting next door and that if someone came by asking for us to direct them to the Main Street restaurant. She said, "Perfecto," meaning both that she understood the message and that my Spanish was fine. However, minutes later we closed the bill and wandered back into the hotel lobby to wait there in one of the antique chairs. Sitting there, we decided we could get something done while we waited...such as sunscreen and mosquito-repellent. I felt ickey and gooey right after we were done, but I thought at least we were well-prepared. The only thing was that T did not bring a hat on the trip. Just after 9:00 a.m. I went back over to the desk clerk and asked her if we should be concerned that our guide hadn't arrived yet. She assured me that we should give the guide at least 30 minutes after our scheduled pick-up as they were likely stopping for other tourists on the way here. I sat back down with T, who pointed out that we could see the sky through the ceiling. The natural lighting was excellent, almost like the sun was immediately over the glass roof. But, no...T said there was nothing between us and the sky. So I really looked up there and saw she was right. Now I figured I understood the musty smell of the lobby area. Seems to me that when it rains, it rains right into the center of the lobby. I spotted a drain or two in the floor, so I guess all the water would go out that way. However, with no breeze to clean the air immediately after I figure that a few microorganisms must've tried to make a home somewhere therein. Peeps could still walk around the center of the lobby when it rained in order to get to/from the glass doors to the plaza. After a few anxious minutes ticked away, we finally saw a man walk through the doors and come straight to us. "Meeshel F***?, " he asked (hehehe). We identified ourselves, and he then asked us for our voucher. I had printed it from the email EcoYuc had sent to us, and apparently it was acceptable. We followed him out the door, and I think at that moment he recognized T's slower pace. He told us to wait for him near the taxi stand while he went to get another couple who had also signed up for the tour. He quickly made off for the Hotel Caribe. I looked towards where the taxis were and saw a white van with the side door open and another couple already seated. I told T I was sure that was our transportation and we went right up to it. Just then, our guide appeared from the other hotel with a white couple. We boarded the van, taking the middle row of seats, while the newer newcomers got the back row. In moments, we were off for Uxmal! Our guide was also the driver, so he began to introduce himself and the other passengers to each other while looking through the rear view mirror. He informed us that our fellow passengers were a couple from Aragon in Spain, a couple from Texas (us), and finally a couple from England. Since we were not fluent in Spanish and the peeps from Spain were not so hot with English, our guide said he would repeat everything in both languages while he drove. He introduced himself as Gabriel, "but you can call me Gabe, Gaby, whatever you like..." I saw we were driving south, as we passed the small Merida airport. When we were away from the busy, small one-way streets and right around the city limits, Gabriel pulled over in front of a small cafe/hotel, and I thought we were going to pick up some more people, but he assured us we were "it" and proceeded to explain the itinerary for the day. Basically, we would first drive into the Puuc hills and arrive at the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal. There, we would have a period of time to be accompanied by a guide and thereafter a few more extra minutes for us to explore on our own. We would then get back in the van and drive to another Mayan city of Kabah and spend a little less time there as it was a smaller site. Finally, we would be driven back to Uxmal where we would enjoy an included lunch. What we had paid for this little day trip was $45.00/pp, which was competitive to other quotes I had seen in my research. So, we continued. Merida population-wise is about the same size as Dallas, Texas...just over 1 million souls. Unlike Dallas, however, there are few if any large satellite cities/towns past the city limits. So on our way south from the city, very quickly we found ourselves on long lonely stretches of road through undeveloped rural areas except for a couple of towns. The most noteable of these is the first town we drove through, Uman. Soon after we entered the little town...teeming with little three-wheeled taxi carts, which appeared to be the primary means of transportation for the locals...we stopped across the street from an old church. I think it is called the Iglesia del Nazareno Primera. If I recall everything correctly, Gabriel explained to us that this church was founded by the Franciscans and like most other centuries-old churches in the Yucatan it was built using stones from ancient Mayan temples in the area, and quite possibly even on the site of the temple that was destroyed. I was eagerly waiting for the moment he would stop the engine and let us all out to take pics, but after a few moments Gabriel picked up speed again. We drove by an outdoor market, that was very busy and was very appealing to T and I. Among the produce we spotted on sale right up to the sidewalk were "star fruit" and "dragon fruit", which looked basically like something out of a sci-fi film. No stops here either, and we eventually made our way out of the town and back into the country. Lots of little things were seen in the country...too many to cover, so I won't (hehehe). But basically, other than the road there wasn't much that I observed which made me think any significant development was going on. Looks to me that for a long time this area will remain off the beaten track for the kinds of tourist hordes you normally see along the Riviera Maya, which I think is a good thing. I was hoping to spot some wildlife on the way, and we did...you have to keep your eyes open, cause stuff happens quickly. A roadrunner streaked across the road in front of the van and the British dude and I had to explain to the ladies what just occurred. No other appearance from nature's subjects was noted on the way to or from. When we got to the Puuc hills, I told T that we were basically on the highest point in the Yucatan penninsula. The Yucatan is basically one large flat area, like a table-top and the only real deviation from that was here. These are definitely hills...in the sense that they are NOT mountains. Hard to explain, but but this is a range of hills that are fairly large and in many places very steep. But I know for a fact that I can climb to the top of one and back down in the span of a half day. Uxmal and Kabah due to their proximity, perhaps, shared similar characteristics in architectural style. These cities as well as others in the area (Sayil, Labna, X-Lapak, and the grotos de Loltun) are grouped together into what is called the Puuc Route, or "Ruta Puuc." To make it worth your while, you really need to break up the visit to the area over two days at the least as there's lots of walking and climbing involved. Most tours are organized as "Uxmal & Kabah" and then "Puuc Route," which is everything else. For those who are short on time and/or are in incredible shape you can take in everything in one day. There is a special bus that drives along the Ruta Puuc beginning with Uxmal...you just buy the bus ticket, and you are responsible for entrance fees and your own meals. Other than at Uxmal, you have to be satisfied with less than an hour at each site to locate the most choice sites, climb ruins, take pics, and run like h*ll back to the entrances to the parks to catch the bus to the next destination. Something I thought I might be able to do before T changed my plans...and I'm glad she did. Weaving in and out of valleys and around hills, we continued following signs to Uxmal when we finally drove up to a large parking area. On one side was one of the hotels/resorts my bro and I had considered in our initial plans, and on the other were the shops, restaurants, and administrative buildings for Uxmal. We pulled up to the gate for parking and the guard waved us through. Once we were parked it was a short stroll to the entrance buildings, past some stalls where local Mayan women were plying their wares...mostly T-shirts and traditional dresses. We were interested, and decided to stop here once we finished with Uxmal. Gabriel went to the ticket office and procured tix for all of us. Actually, they were bracelets similar to those we are all familiar with when you take a local tour out of Cancun. Gabriel then introduced us to "Guillermo", who would serve the English-speaking contingent. Apparently, Guillermo was there with three Australians and needed to flesh out his group and Gabriel would handle the couple from Spain. There were other guides lounging near the entrance waiting to be hired...I don't know the charge for their services. If I find them online later, I will post about it here. After exchanging pleasantries with our new friends, we went to a young lady who collected stubs from our bracelets (I think), and waved us towards the archeological site. This was the first test. To get to the site you have to climb stairs up the side of a hill. Not steep like those on a Mayan pyramid...just many, many long steps. About halfway up these, T was slowing down and hurting so we started falling behind from the rest of the group. At some point they paused and I thought they were deliberately waiting for us, but no, we had come to the first stop on our guided tour. We were introduced to a choltun. As Uxmal did not have any running streams/rivers or cenotes (features found elsewhere in the Yucatan), the people of the city collected rainwater in large underground containers called choltuns. The same goes for most of the ruins in that part of the Yucatan, and acheologists had counted hundreds of these total over several ancient cities all around the area. The larger the city, the more choltuns would be needed to supply the inhabitants with water. I don't recall exactly how the people would draw water out of these containers, but figure they would have done it the same way as one draws from a well. Onward and upward. T and I at this point deviated from the stairs and began walking up a ramp that ran alongside them. It was easier for her to manage and was also not very steep. We could have taken these from the very bottom of the hill, but didn't realize the toll the stairs would take on T. At the top, we stood in awe of the Pyramid of the Magician, (AKA Pyramid of the Dwarf AKA Casa el Adivino, etc.). It felt so right that the very first archeological ruin we would see and explore would be the one that was the most photographed and representative of all Uxmal. It is the tallest structure in the city. I was in awe. The pyramid is very complete...as much as the Castillo at Chichen Itza is. However, it does have different features. The sides are steep and rounded instead of at angles, for one. And the entire base of the pyramid is elliptical. I dunno about the "optical illusion" this is supposed to cause, but others have observed that the resulting appearance is that this is a pyramid with right angles. Ok. Whatever. Like other Mayan pyramids, this one was built in stages...one temple on top of another and again, and so on. I forgot if it was on this side of the pyramid that Guillermo made a little demonstration for us. For those who ever visited the ball court in Chichen Itza, you know that there was some kind of acoustic effect that was achieved by the particular style and materials used in its construction. Certain echoes, or elevated sounds, or I don't recall. But anyways, Guillermo told us to be silent and listen and then he clapped his hands together sharply. Echoing back at us from the pyramid was a single chirping sound like that of a bird. I can't say whether this was one of the intended results of the Mayans when they made the final design for the structure, and I can't say I understood any significance. Clap your hands in or around certain parts of my house, and you may hear an interesting echo there as well, and I don't think it was something the home builder had designed for intentionally. If there was some kind of research or discovery explaining its significance, it was not passed on to us on that tour. Oh, well. Apparently, we were looking at the back end of the pyramid. Guillermo led us around to the front...and I became even more awe-filled. This structure appears to be even more steep than the Castillo at Chichen. The wide staircase up looks like it is at 60 degrees, with no handrails, of course. On along either side of the staircase on its way up were carvings of masks of the rain god...you know, the fellow with the long nose curling up like an elephant's trunk? Pics pics and more pics here. Unfortunately, we saw how the whole pyramid was roped off to discourage climbers. Gabriel had explained to us on the road how it was closed off due to some kind of restoration. Yeah, right...didn't see any evidence of that sort of activity there. Another "oh well." At least we knew we could climb the "great pyramid" located in another part of the site. Now Guillermo led us away from the pyramid towards some other buildings. We had to walk around these to an arch in the middle of one to reach a hidden plaza on the other side. This was a little bit tricky. The ground was paved with stones that were very uneaven, and slowed T and I even more. Not to mention we walking next to a steep drop. A stumble here could send you falling several feet. However, we got to the arch, which was a typical Mayan feature, resembling an inverted "V". The paving stones in here were even more difficult to negotiate, if possible. We paused under here, out of the sun, so Guillermo could point out for us hand prints left by the original designers or painters of the structure underneath the arch. The prints were not exposed to the sun and rain, and so had survived for hundreds of years. Finally, our guide led us into the Nunnery Quadrangle. The Quadrangle is a square-shaped plaza bounded on each side be long buildings with several entrances to each. Apparently, they resembled cloisters for nuns and so this cluster of buildings was given this nickname. Once inside the plaza, we were guided along the south building (the one with the arch we crossed through) and took our places about halfway towards the east building. Guillermo began pointing out all the different details of each of the four buildings of the Quadrangle. The one we were standing immediately in front of--the south building--featured sculptures of typical Mayan huts (similar to those you see in the country even today) and on top of each was a mask of some kind of god or creature. The facade of the east building had stacks of Chac Mool masks and many small serpents gliding across. Across from us, the north building was even more impressive with more than a dozen stairs leading up to its main level...actually it was a split level structure, as there were other entrances to it on ground level with pillars. Several masks adorned this building as well. Finally, the west building also had masks but also featured a very, very looooong snake weaving back and forth across the entire length of the structure. All four of the buildings featured cross-hatches like thousands of "x" marks between all the masks, serpants and other unique items. Guillermo suggested that these represented snakeskin and underscored the importance of the snake as a symbol in the Mayan religion. During our guide's discourse, I had ducked into one of the rooms in the south building where we were standing. Nice, dark and cool...and there were a few bats hanging from the ceiling. I warned T not to go in there. We were given a few minutes to walk up to each structure to take a closer look and to take pics. I took a few more here...a choice one or two also of the Pyramid peeking between two of the buildings. Excellent shot (hehehe). Didn't stray too far from T, as I didn't want her feeling isolated. The uneaven ground here and there prevented her from becoming too adventurous without an escort. So it's back straight through the Mayan arch towards the ballcourt. The Quadrangle was built on a hill...looks like a manmade hill...so to get to the ballcourt, we had to decend some fairly steep stairs. Just after T and I took a breath before the plunge, one of the Australian chaps kindly offered his assistance, and to T had a gentleman on either side of her to guide her down. Very steep and uneaven stairs, but not a long staircase as you would find on a pyramid. The ballcourt is in bad shape. I guess I was spoiled by the one at Chichen, as that one is virtually completely restored. However, the one at Uxmal appears largely unrestored...I don't know why someone decided to mount artificial hoops on it other than to help identify the little ruin for what was. Didn't spend much time here, and kept walking through the court to face a monster wall of stone at least three stories tall. Obviously this was an artificial hill that had been shaped so that stones could be stacked in this way. On top of the hill were more structures, and Guillermo led us around to the left for a long walk...bringing us to even more stairs going up! Oh, maaaaaan. Mr. Australian dude gave us another hand here, and it took forever for T to make it all the way up to the next level. She is hurting, but is such a trooper. At the top we had only a moment to take a breath before we had to try and catch up with the rest of the group. They had turned right and walked next to the edge of that monster hill towards a smaller structure. Guillermo informed us this little building was named the House of Turtles...and I could see why. Across the top of the building, on the facade, were little stone turtles about the size of my hand inserted here and there. Hanging onto the side and not seeming to be an actual part of the edifice...much like the appearance of a broach hanging on a shirt or blouse. Pics of these, as well. Shots from the House of Turtles: We're tired, but Guillermo keeps pushing us onward. I see the Great Pyramid beckoning, but our guide takes us on a roundabout...to take a gander at the Governor's Palace. Now, this building is massive, long, and occupies an entire hill of its own. It's absolutely awe-inspiring and I later learned this is just about the best example of Puuc architecture in the entire Mayan world. It is very very intact and includes Mayan symbols and writing on almost everything. Long stairs reach to about half the length of the whole thing, and these we saw were being repaired/renovated as a workcrew had put up "Do Not Pass" tape on a section of the lower stairs. All of us just stood and looked at the structure, snapping pics as I guess we were just too tired to climb another set of stairs. If ever I return to Uxmal, climbing up to and exploring the Governor's Palace is on my list of things to do. Finally, Guillermo takes us around to the other side of the structure and pass it to stand next to the Great Pyramid. This is a massive pyramid that appears to have been built up the side of a hill, so it is not a truly free-standing building such as the Adivino or Castillo at Chichen. It is huge, but I have read it still is not as tall as the Adivino. This is where our guide left us, saying we had some time (I forgot how much) to explore the remainder of the site. There were some areas he said we could not venture to such as the "Cemetary Group", which was within sight, but Guillermo stated the path was not easy to find/follow and tourists have gotten lost. I have to stop here and mention that while the Great Pyramid was the last actual structure we explored, there was so much more left to see. Overall on this tour of Uxmal, we only got to see about half of the buildings that have been excavated and identified. Next time, I intend to stay at one of the resorts/hotels on site and do a more extensive exploration of the area. So here we are next to the Great Pyramid. T obviously does not intend to climb it, but she understands that I must (I did, I really did!). And as it turns out, the climb wasn't bad at all. Maybe the stairs aren't as steep as those at the Castillo at Chichen, but also I started almost halfway up. It's weird, but as the area is basically covered with natural and manmade hills, we were already standing on the hill crowned on a rise by the Governor's Palace...and this was immediately adjacent to the other hill with the pyramid. With a little hop, all of a sudden I was starting to climb it starting halfway of the stairs already. Like I said, easy climb. I don't recall any rope for peeps to hold onto on the way up/down. When I reached the top I posed for a couple pics T took of me from down below with the camera, and I took a couple panoramic shots from my vantage point. Great view. Awe-inspiring. Could spot just about every place we had already explored and then some. At the top of the hill...err, pyramid...there was some vegetation crowning either side of the topmost part, so I didn't venture to see what was on the other side. View from the Great Pyramid: I few more moments later I was on the way down. Didn't know how soon we would be leaving for Kabah, but T and I would def. be making a slow, long walk back to the main entrance and could be late for it. When I got back to T she told me she couldn't resist and went ahead to ask one of the Australian gentlemen if kangaroos really did roam around everywhere on the continent. He kindly stated that they generally stick to the country and away from human beings. I thought that was cute. Somehow we made it back, just the two of us. There were at least two long stairways we had to climb down on the way back, and we took them...one step at a time. Literally. Then on the long path back from the Adivino, we used the handicapped ramp which made it sooooo much easier to walk. Once at the tourist/info center at the entrance we ordered some coconut ice cream and a refreshing agua fresca. There was at least one restaurant on site and a couple vendors who set up shop to serve tourists in the little patio surrounded by the park buildings. There are also some gift shops selling all manner of things, but we avoided these. I was more interested in literature about the city we had just explored. These could be found just around the corner from the ticket office: pamphlets, maps, postcards, etc. not only of Uxmal, but of several Mayan sites in the Yucatan. I purchased a small booklet, but in retrospect it wasn't that up-to-date and didn't include that many wonderful pics...but it was better than nothing. I had been hoping for a coffee table-type book. Maybe someday they will put one together. Guillermo and Gabriel were taking a long time to show, so T and I went to see what the Mayan ladies were selling outside the tourist/info buildings. Luckily we weren't the only ones taking a look...all of a sudden WE the tourists were the objects of attention. "Amiga, amiga!" they were calling out to us. We hardly had the opportunity to see what they were selling besides what was hanging on the outside of their stalls, since if we gave any little indication of interest in anything they started piling shirts of different colors and patterns in front of us. I started feeling put off again, as I don't like being victimized by any "car salesman" technique when all we wanted to do is browse. At some point Gabriel came up and rescued us from the onslaught, and thankfully the Mayan ladies didn't appear to know any English so all they could do was call "Amiga! Amiga!" after us as we walked to our van parked in the lot. Gabriel assured us we would return here to have the included lunch and we would be given time to shop. In the meantime, we had to get to the next stop in our destination...the Mayan city of Kabah, AKA Kabahaucan ("Royal snake in the hand")...
APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE! Thanks, Michael, for taking the time to share your adventures. :claphappy: :claphappy: :claphappy: :claphappy: :claphappy: :claphappy:
Thanks, ladies! And no you don't, Greta! :lol: Just look at me...it has taken me a month to write just the first three installments covering only a day and a half of an eight day holiday. Thanks for reading and giving me the motivation to go forward. I don't want to give up halfway like I did for the honeymoon TR!
I just read that, janie! :lol: :brick: Scanned and posted the first pic. Took forever to do just that...can't wait 'til we get high-speed internet at home. Two more weeks! :wink:
It took you six months to post ONE pic!!! :shock: I'm leaving for Mexico soon, I'll probably have my trip report done before you post your second picture! :lol: :lol:
