Buenos dias,
Yesterday was a very long driving day which reminded me a little of the
"good old days" of roadtripping! Of course I had to learn driving all
over again... but that was a part of the reminder too!
I started out eating a big breakfast at the hotel (overlooking the blue
waters of the Carribean Sea and Gulf Of Mexico -- fantastic)... then
started driving -- I was on the road before before 8am.
It took me until past 10 to get out of the Cancun area! Thanks to the
couple of you who reminded me.... here's the part about driving in
Mexico: Its almost as bad as India! On the city streets, there is an
unofficial "every man for himself" attitude -- which would be FINE if
the cops weren't around who are trying their best to maintain some
level of traffic safety! There are a lot of the "alpha male" type of
drivers who think they own the road (you know.... people like me), and
others who are actually trying to follow the rules (you know... people
like me) because they dont want to get stopped by the police in a
foreign country! There are speed bumps on practically every street, and
these are NASTY! I had originally reserved a convertible on this trip,
then changed that to an SUV a couple days ago when I saw a lot of rains
in the forecast The weather has been great on this trip, but I'm glad I
didn't have a convertible -- these roads are not for cars with low
clearance! On a couple of the speedbumps my cd inside the car's player
got ejected! Thats how bad they are!
Of course in the middle of all that there are people (you know.... like
me) who are trying to get in front of everyone else and will squeeze
through any open spot they find on the road to do so. At least they
dont go up on the sidewalks so that's good... but in a few places the
shoulder or oncoming traffic side is not off-limits to accomplish this
goal. The signs are a little confusing inside towns, but once on the
open highway they're about the best direction signs I've ever seen
outside of U.S. (of course I've yet to see any country whose roads are
as well-marked as in the U.S.)
There are two parallel roads that go from Cancun to where I wanted to
go today -- Chichen Itza. In my tourbook and a couple of websites, I
had read that most people follow Hwy 180 which is the slower road that
goes through all the towns. The faster "freeway"-type Hwy 180D is a
toll road that bypasses all towns, and the charge for the full length
is $300 ($30 USD, at a 10:1 exchange rate). ... Up to Chichen Itza is
$252 each way. So I started going on 180... or tried to anyway. I dont
know even now if I really joined that highway or not! I have a map of
Cancun which is actually only a tourist map and shows the eastern half
of the city, with an arrow at the end of one of the roads "To Merida"
(the direction I wanted). So I started going on that road.
Somewhere along the way I saw signs to Chichen Itza with arrows
pointing straight ahead. So that was reassuring. After a while the same
signs on the same road had arrows pointing the other way, as in "make a
U-turn". Ok so I did that, coming back towards the city.... but then
nothing else about Chichen Itza... I tried going back on the same road
again but again turned around and came back to Cancun...
Finally I decided to hell with all this, I'm taking the freeway... of
course getting there was an adventure on its own!
After detours through the hotel zone (where the driving is much more
like in the U.S. because its all American tourists), and even a small
detour through the airport terminals, I thought this was getting
ridiculous, the map shows I should go THIS way and I'm at the
airport!!! I had almost given up on going to Chichen Itza -- then I saw
the sign for Hwy 180D (the toll road): "MERIDA CHICHEN ITZA ---->"
I took it. This road is EMPTY! Like the roads in the Nevada desert,
except its a freeway with 2 lanes in each direction. Apparantly
EVERYBODY was taking the slower cheaper alternate!
Well not everybody -- the people like me were on this road... The speed
limit here was 110 km/h, and I was going 120-130 until I saw a couple
of people getting pulled over by the police. Then it was at 110 all the
way to the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza.........
Chichen Itza was recently voted one of 7 wonders of the modern world
(http://www.new7wonders.com/classic/en/n7w/results) The fourth one
I've seen so far.... 3 more remaining and those are the tougher ones to
get to!
After taking the exit the road goes through a small town with no
traffic but lots of speedbumps. I found my way to the archaeological
site without any problems... parking was $10 (=$1). The entrance ticket
was also fairly cheap (I dont remember now). There were a lot of guides
offering their services for as much as $600 (=$60) for a 2-hour guided
tour. And there were a HUNDREDS of people who had just got off TENS of
tour buses! I dont like big crowds in places like this. A lot people
approached me offering their "tourguide" services... I thought about it
but finally decided not to go with anybody... I'll do this at my own
pace...
Good decision.
Good place too -- well deserving of its "7 wonders of the world" spot
because the 2 pyramids there are incredibly well-preserved after about
1000 years! What I did not like was the marketing... dozens of locals
selling their (sometimes home-made) arts and crafts and napkins and
sombreros. One lady asked me to buy a sombrero -- "$20 american... but
for a handsome man like you, $15..." Like everywhere else I shook my
head "no" and started walking away, when she came after me and offered
"$10 american"... I told her "dos dolares" and she agreed... I'm sure I
would have got it for $1 USD or less! But I'm not handsome enough for a
$15 sombrero, just a $2 one.
It was a hot and muggy day -- 5 minutes outside my car and I was
sweating. And I had forgotten my cap in the hotel room so the sombrero
was useful (even though it kept falling off my $2 ugly head at the
slightest gust of wind).
The ruins at the site are really good, compared to Greek or Romans
ones.. The Maysn civilization dates from about 800-1200 AD so they're
about a thousand years old, 1/2 the age of the Roman and 1/3rd the age
of the Greek ruins... But still quite well preserved.
I started hovering around big tourgroups, overhearing the guides give
their speeches -- that is until I was asked to leave and go to the next
group.... but some of these guides were really AWFUL! "Batt. Hott batt.
Sauna" was all one of them told his group at a building which was used
as a public bath. Some of the other guides were much better though,
probably more worth their fees of up to $600!
I also witnessed some sort of religious ceremony by what appeared to be
"modern-day Mayans". But I couldn't quite make out what it was... it
was just ... SOMETHING.
Some interesting stories told by the guides I was hovering around, most
of which I knew from my own research (they invented the most accurate
calendar for their time, they were excellent at mathematics, astronomy,
astrology...) but other things I had never heard of (they invented the
wheel, but only used it on toys, no one ever thought of making
full-size vehicles like chariots). That last part got some surprised
"wow"'s from the audience, but it really got me thinking -- what good
is a chariot in a dense forest? To my knowledge they never really
cleared out trees to make long roads!
Anyway,... I spent of lot of time lingering there sitting on some rock
under a tree and staring at one of the ruins imagining what it would've
been like back then -- something that would not have been possible if I
had joined a guided tour. But the heat and humidity were getting to me
in the end,... by around 2pm I went to the cafeteria for my lunch --
and a pina colada.
I got back to the car (for the A/C) and realized I cant drive back
yet... waited until 3pm for the effects of that pina colada to wear
off! (Thanks to those of you who kept me company :)
I joined the Hwy180D going East toward Cancun instead of West towards
Merida and more ruins at Uxmal. It was too late to go to Uxmal now, so
I thought I'd try for the beach town of Tulum -- more Mayan ruins
there. There's a $200 toll to be paid at the Yucatan-Quintana Roo state
border crossing. Right after paying that, armed guards were stopping
everybody and asking some questions. When my turn came, the guy asked
me something in spanish which I honestly did not understand -- and I
told him that... "No entiendo... habla ingles?" The frustrated look on
his face was PRICELESS!!! I wish I could have taken his picture! He
just waved his hand and told me to go! :D
Its more than 100 miles by freeway from Chichen Itza to the coast, then
about 100 km from there to Tulum on a local road (where local driving
rules apply). I knew I'd be late getting to Tulum but wanted to drive
down that road anyway -- looked like it was going by the ocean all the
way down. Well, it wasn't. Between the road and the ocean are towns and
hotels and restaurants and gas stations and police cars and police
officers shining flashlights into your eyes to see if you're drunk!
And lots of speedbumps.
And sudden speed limit changes from 100kph to 40kph for what appears
like just passing a building, then back to 100kph again!
The drive up from Tulum to Cancun was completely in the dark with all
of the above. From Tulum to Xcaret the road is actually pretty good --
about 100kph, but after Xcaret all the way down to Cancun is
stop-and-go...
I got back to the hotel at around 9 or 10, then went to dinner next
door ... 2 margaritas and 1 bellini later I was fast asleep back in my
room!
All in all a great driving day yesterday :) ... This morning I'm taking
it easy and heading straight from here to the airport.
No pictures uploaded on the website yet... I'll do that later.
http://www.callmewanderer.com/northamer/mexico08/index.html#TOP
Over there again, but probably not until tonight... I have something
like 150 pics, mostly from yesterday.
So until labor day weekend from Switzerland,
Auf weidersehn/ciao/au revoir... but probably ciao,
-me.
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| June 6 | Contents | June 8 |