Just one quick window snap - these people are cooking and dining al fresco but they are sitting in the middle of a busy roundabout underneath a flyover. I think the Day of the Dead tablecloth is most appropriate given the amount of fumes they must be consuming.
From Campeche we had a two hour drive to the archaeological site of Uxmal, an important Maya city which flourished between
the 6th and 10th centuries AD. Incidentally whilst I've been researching/ writing this, I've noticed that BC and AD have more often been replaced by BCE and CE - Before Common Era and Common Era - apparently this is to avoid offending non Christians!
Following an extensive restoration programme, Uxmal is the best preserved of all Maya sites and it possesses some of the most outstanding examples of Terminal Classic (AD 750-1050) architecture anywhere. However, it is now the umpteenth site we've visited and I have started to lose the will to live, plus we now have Coco to contend with (who irritates me to death) so here are some pictures of big piles of stones.
Most people are using phones to take their pictures and as a consequence tend to stand far closer to things than I need to, so we waited ages for this clear shot. And I'm very glad that many sites no longer allow visitors to clamber all over these sacred buildings.
Maya Arch
I think there was far more decorative work on these buildings than we've seen elsewhere.
Most guides stand their clients in the shade whilst they're giving lengthy explanation, not Coco - this is our bunch roasting in the hot sun.
Without doubt the best Maya Arch we've seen.
And a fabulous Ball Court
This Ball Court was different, however, as it's the first one we've seen with the stone rings on it. I've done a separate post trying to explain how the game was played, as it seems to have been a fundamental part of Maya life for over 1,000 years.
And looking back to the Ball Court and main structures.
Coco thinks it hilarious to jump into peoples' pictures uninvited.
As we were wandering around I noticed a couple of chaps carrying similar camera/lens combination to mine so I stopped to have a chat with them along the lines of "Hello, nice to see fellow idiots lugging this lot around in the blazing heat!" They too had brought their long lenses in the hope of seeing wildlife but warned me that they'd not been allowed to take them into Chichén Itzá as they were classed as "professional".
Luckily there were a few iguanas around to spark my interest. Some of them are actually quite attractive.
Nonchalant expression on this face!
But this one .................. I think he was rather old.
Lunch was included today and the itinerary said we'd be eating at a typical Maya home, so I made sure we stocked up with biscuits last night! A few of the group had run out of water but Coco told them not to buy it at Uxmal's shop as it was too expensive and would be much cheaper at lunch. It was about 1 1/2 hours drive and towards the end we started to wonder if the driver was lost as we seemed to be driving around back streets for ages, but eventually he found the place. It wasn't anyone's home, it was a restaurant! At least the loos were spotlessly clean.
We sat down at one big table so I made sure I was on the end and could escape if need be (it's embarrassing sitting with no food when there's nothing I can eat but others are happily tucking in) and large jugs of fruit juice were produced which we all helped ourselves to. We were given menus which unsurprisingly were only in Spanish, but whilst John John and I speak/read a passable level of Spanish, given that the food was Maya we did not feel proficient enough to translate possibly obscure Maya ingredients and risk people ordering the Meso American equivalent of witchetty grubs! So we turned to Coco for assistance and translation but all he did was declare that the food was chicken or pork (seemingly interchangeable in his mind) and that the dish was delicious - it was then a complete lottery as to whether people ordered something to their taste.
Coco and the driver sat on a separate table and were served very quickly. Eventually the other meals turned up and of course no one knew what was what so it all took a while
The fruit juice had been replenished several times without anyone asking and so naturally we all assumed they were part of the "lunch included" as a bottle of water had been on Day 17. Much to our collective astonishment at the end of the meal we were presented with a bill of c.£26.50 - whilst this amount between 11 people is not of particular consequence, the lack of choice and explanation from Arturo was unacceptable, as was his inability to translate the menu.
We then continued to Mérida for our "walking tour of the White City", on the outskirts of which Arturo announced that we would be doing a quick tour in the bus and then getting out for an hour's walk. So I put my walking shoes on and waited whilst we drove around and he mentioned a couple of buildings' names as we drove past and I tried to get a few snaps through the windows.
After a while I realised we were on the outskirts of town again and so asked what about the walking tour - "no time" was Coco's response, "as we have a long drive to Chichén Itzá". Given the length of time it took to get from Uxmal to lunch and from lunch to Mérida we can only assume the lunch involved a huge detour and quite frankly it was a complete waste of time and we all would have preferred to visit Mérida. The traffic was horrendous as there were extensive roadworks and it was pitch black by the time we arrived at the Villas Arqueológicas, our hotel for the night near Chichén Itzá.
The rooms were set along an internal colonnade and ours was one of the tiniest I've ever stayed in; the beds, which were different sizes had to be offset to get them both in (Internet Image).
As far as we could tell from the drive in, we were nowhere near any other eateries so headed to the open air restaurant area to find something to eat. There were only a couple of other tables occupied but the two waiters appeared already quite harassed and seem surprised that we'd arrived. I found a pile of menus and we ordered quickly which I'm glad about as when the rest of the group turned up I thought the waiters might have a complete meltdown. I can't remember what we ordered but it was perfectly edible and soon after we turned in for an early night.