Where to begin.
Took my daughter and her girlfriend on a spring break trip to the Yucatan. I had been there 20 years ago and remembered it as magical — until I got to Cancún. So we will avoid those big resorts — the girls have agreed to do some pyramids and ruins and then end with 3 days on the beach — the latter is hard for me but they’ll love it. Doing nothing is a skill I am still learning.
Here’s a postcard-style view of the Uxmal ruins. At times one can sense how they must have appeared to Stephens and the other Westerners who first came upon them — massive mysterious things looming out of the thorny tropical forest.
Of course I adhere to the “tradition” of not showing the various tour group members who were lurking around the site. At certain times of day the busses pull up and Italians, Germans, Mexicans and Yanks scramble over the stones. But then, after a while, they all go away. There are times, and there are parts of the sites, where one is left alone with one’s romantic thoughts of ruins and the rise and fall of civilizations (more on that later.)
Got lost yesterday. Attempted to take a shortcut from Uxmal, south of Merida, to Chichen Itza, due northeast. It takes us down two-lane roads through tiny Mayan towns full of thatched huts and women in embroidered ternos. Interesting that the dresses have the same name in the Philippines. A man’s guayabera style shirt in a Merida shop window made of abaca fiber is the same as the barong shirts in the Philippines. It is called a Filippino in a shop window.
In each little town I have to find the correct road out that leads to the next one, as they are not clearly marked. My Spanish is OK but it seems many locals have their own ways of getting form town to town. I’m trying a connect-the-dots route, which works for a while then suddenly I am routed onto a new highway that isn’t on my map — and it takes me miles away from where I need to go. So to make up time we skip Chichen Itza (it’ll be crowded anyway) and head for the ruins at Coba.
