Yucatàn in the Sun

Well the next stop on our Magical Mexican Mystery Tour was Mèrida in the north west of the Yucatan peninsula. Mèrida has a population of 690,000 slightly bigger than that of Glasgow`s but has a sleepy Sunday feel about the place, we had planned to stay here for 3 or 4 days and use it as a base to visit Chichen Iza and Uxmal (2 Mayan temple Sites) both just over an hours bus journey away.


We decided to not bother with a taxi and walk to the hostal, bad mistake as it was quite a bit further than we thought and it was oppresively hot in the afternoon sun. Luckily we once again managed to get a reasonably cheap hostal, you could never say the place was luxurious but it was clean and had a large ceiling fan which managed to keep the huge room cool. Everywhere you go in Mèrida people are trying to get you into some shop or other to sell you hammocks & Panama hats, with every shop telling you that they have the best hammocks in Mexico or that their hats have been the choice of Mexican leaders since Montezuma. First night we found a cool cafe called Pop which sold decent cheap mexican food in cool 50`s jazz style decor, before wandering around the many shops in the archways that surround the plaza.

Next morning we decided to head to Uxmal which is 78km south of Merida on the local bus. The site at Uxmal was first excavated in 1929 and now has some spectacular restored buildings, but much has yet to be discovered. On first entering the site you see the 39m high Casa del Adivinio (The Magician's House) with it's smooth sloping sides and steep stairs. We then walked carefully about the site trying not to trod on any of the large iguanas baking in the sun. Uxmal doesn't seem to be as heralded as much as some of the other Mayan and Aztec sites we have read about but with so many beautiful temples and lavish grounds it's a place we really recommend to visit if you are in the area.


Again there was plenty of steep steps for us to climb up and down, but at Uxmal you get to see a lots more bas-reliefs on the buildings and not just in the museums like some of the other sites. The site wasn't that busy and we managed to roam about ourselves for a few enjoyble hours before the sun started to get too hot, at least it was a change from the rain of the previous week. That night for something to eat we went to a small local place that sold big pizzas and small beers that where big on taste and only made a small dent on my wallet.

Saturday Morning was a real early rise (5:30am) so we could get to Chichen Itza before the crowds and before it got too hot to wander about. We arrived at the site about 8am and headed straight to El Castillo the 25m high pyramid which is the only structure you can climb at Chichen Itza. We climbed the 91 steps to the top which was very steep and some of the steps where quite slippy due to the constant humidity. Once on top you have great views of the site and the surrounding forests, it was also quite good watching all the people getting up and down the steep sides of the pyramid. One family we'd seen had four kids under the age of 7 and managed to get up quite quickly but really struggled on the way down as two of the kids took vertigo and refused to take another step.


The El Castillo pyramid is actually the Mayan calendar formed in stone with each of its nine levels divided in two by a staircase, making 18 seperate terraces that commemorate the 18 20-day months of the Mayan year. The four stairways have 91 steps each and when you add the top platform the total is 365. We also climbed the dark dank narrow stairway inside the pyramid to see the red jaguar throne, which was not for the claustrophobic amongst you.

We also went to the ball court which is so much larger than the others we had seen in the previous weeks. Some of the stone reliefs along the ball court show players wielding bats and others being decapitated. We then wandered around the rest of the sites many buildings before we escaped from the thousands of bus loads who appeared about 11am, big tip try and get to here early as it almost impossible to climb the pyramid when it's busy.


Back in Merida and after a few hours catching up on the net we ventured out for dinner, we went to a busy place we noticed the night before whilst in the pizza joint. What followed was another less than average meal which was washed down by the most disgusting of concoctions passing itself of as a drink. We can't remember what it was called but we had seen quite a few people drinking them in Merida on the previous nights, the drink consisted of beer and a syrupy ginger monstrosity.

After escaping from our meal we then failed in findng a reggae pub/club we had seen advertised in a flyer earlier in the day proclaiming to play the best Jamaican music in the Yucatan with the best of Ska to Dub and a little Rock Steady mixed if for good measure. They might have had the best music in town but their directions left a lot to be desired. We eventually ended up in a bar on one of the main streets (Calle 60) across from where they where setting up a stage. At 9:30 the police closed the road and about 50 tables appeared from nowhere and before too long these were all filled and the band mobbed the stage. The band were your typical cabaret band and seemed to care more about their dance steps than their singing but the crowd loved them. We stayed in the bar watching the band for about an hour before deciding to call it a night. There's only so much cabaret a boy can take.

Next morning it was back to the Pop Cafe for breakfast before having a look round the many markets which are on the closed streets before having to get our bags so we could catch the bus through to Cancun.