The Ramblings of a Superficial Mayan Expert

Following the Campeche debacle, we journeyed on to Merida (and later Tulum) to immerse ourselves in ancient Mayan culture by visiting three more famous ruins - Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and Tulum.We felt it was best to use Merida as a base and take day trips and given that we had already melted under the midday sun in Palenque, we rented a car so that we could visit the ruins at early in the day.This meant that we woke up to a 6am alarm every morning and drove two hours over bumpy back roads to get to the ruins by 8am when the ruins were tourist-free and the weather was mild.So with our Lonely Planet in-hand we explored every nook and cranny until the heat started to become unbearable.

One would think that after one Mayan ruin the rest would start to seem samey, but thankfully they were significantly different.Uxmal is covered by hundreds of iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks and birds have taken over the inside of the buildings and they dove around our heads as we walked around.Chichen-Itza has a stunning pyramid at the center that represented the Mayan calendar.And Tulum sits impressively on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea.In all three, many of the buildings had been restored to make it easier to imagine, and appreciate, what these great Mayan cities would have looked like in their heyday.Walking around we needed to keep in minds that everything was built without metal tools, work animals or the wheel and all were painted bright gold, red and blue which would have been marvelous.

As impressive as the ruins were, by mid-day Antony and I were good for nothing but we managed to enjoy an additional activity or two.After visiting Uxmal, we drove to the Gulf of Mexico coast on a road more pothole than asphalt and took a boat ride through mangroves to see hordes of beautifully awkward flamingos.Standing in the shallow water, with their long necks they pecked and plucked each other and occasionally we were privileged to see a take-off or landing that showed off their huge black-striped pink wings.The following day after visiting Chichen-Itza, we ate some delicious BBQ chicken at a dusty roadside stand and took a refreshing dip in a 150ft deep cave pool.

Once the sun went down and the sidewalks cooled, we found Merida to be a lively city.Needing no other excuse than a weekend, the streets surrounding the main plaza are closed to cars and the restaurants spill out into the streets.Bands playing popular Mexican music are on every block and couples show off their best moves in their best digs.But on Sundays, the locals pull out all the stops and the plaza is filled with street performers and delectable food stalls selling a range of sweet and spicy dishes.And as if Sunday was competing with Saturday, a whole street was blocked off and on either end stages stood where bands took turns playing for the hundreds of people dancing in between.With only a few tourists wandering around, it was clear that these weekend celebrations were not just for the 'season' but for locals year-round.

All in all a great few days, ancient Mexico by day and the modern by night!

Rachelle & Antony