Our first week in Cozumel

And what a week it has been! Our place here (lets call it ‘blog central’) is great. It is right at the back of the only town on the island (San Miguel) right in the heart of local life. Our neighbours live in shacks mish-mashed together with concrete, wood, corrugated iron and any other useful junk they can find. The kids drawing table for instance is a board of wood roped onto the front of an old motorbike, which they sit on as the scribble away. Our house is really the only building that you’d recognise as a ‘house’ on our street and the kids love it! Every evening they come and play on our little patch of grass at the front, as if it were the best toy they could have! They are all very friendly and talk to us in Spanish through the kitchen window while we are washing up. We don’t understand most of what they say but they have introduced themselves one by one, very cute. The town itself is very much a ‘locals’ Maya/Mexican town like this until you get towards the water front; literally the pavements, walls, buildings etc change two blocks before you reach it. Along the main promenade are a long string of jewellery shops and big American chains like Ron Jon’s Surf Shack. This district is where the Americans from the big cruise ships shop (more money than sense?) and they don’t really seem to venture any further in. It is nice to have some Western amenities though. We have a cinema here that shows films in English so yes we did go and see Indiana Jones on our first day … hmm, we don’t know about aliens but we sure have seen some interestingly shaped skulls whilst we’ve been here in the Maya heartland.

We will report to you first hand if we encounter any more supernatural goings on. Yesterday we went to one of the beach clubs on the south-west coast. At first we were astonished at the price of a cocktail, until we saw the size of the glass and just how much alcohol went into it. We only needed one for the whole day!

Adam informed me that he’d never been on a banana boat ride so I frog marched him down to one. The guy in the boat thought we were drunk cause we fell in twice! To be fair we probably were a little. The whole falling in thing was great fun until we remembered that there were sharks in them there waters! Eek! No limbs lost yet though (I think that makes me two up on Jaws now). Anyhoo, it seems that one Long Island Ice Tea makes Adam fearless as he then suggested that we should go parasailing, having never done that before either. So, we did! It was amazing. The sea is just sooo blue and its really sort of peaceful whilst your up there, well I thought so anyway!

Now we are in the Caribbean we decided to experiment with Caribbean cooking. So far we have mastered one rum cocktail and a delicious spicy chicken meal with coconut and mango. Can you believe that we actually made perfect coconut rice! We will have to make it for you because it was so damn delicious. Best start preparing your taste buds!

The Ultimate Day in the Yucatan

On Friday we ventured out with a couple of very nice people we met in our hotel the day before (hey to Robert and Helen if you are reading cause that’s you!). This was going to be our last day of doing stuff in the Yucatan before we ventured out to Cozumel so we decided to do as much Yucatan stuff as poss. So after a hearty breakfast of huevos (eggs) a Mexicana (Adam had cake instead) we grabbed a cab and headed off to Ek Balam. This is a relatively small and only recently excavated Mayan site – after our b*tch session about Chichen Itza it was just what the doctor ordered! It was empty, we could scramble all the way to the top of the main pyramid temple where there was amazing view over the rest of the site and the lush, green jungle.

Excavation on it, it turned out was so recent that it was still going on while we were there (hence the blue tarp in some of our photos). It was great to see two more large structures still partially hidden under the foliage. Very Indian Jones. After a little enactment of scenes from Apocolypto (I’m sorry, but it had to be done) we went to explore the nearby cenote.

To get to it from the site we had to cycle a couple of kilometres through the jungle after which we were confronted we a big, open green pool with a rope swing for the brave (me and Helen) to swing in.

What more could you want! As the afternoon kicked in we made our way to Rio Lagartes to give flamingo spotting a second chance. We arrived late and were told that there would be no buses or taxis for us to get back so had to carouse our flamingo boat tour guide called Elmer to drive us. Disaster diverted we headed off on the boat in search of pink. Just as Adam had decided that the flamingo population of Mexico was seriously depleted on the horizon arose a sea of pink. WHOOP! Finally, check out more of the pics on flickr!

On the route back Elmer took a detour and showed us some salt flats, The water here was red (very creepy or biblical or summat) and made you float like in the Dead sea. Once me and Helen had had a swim, thought we saw a crocodile and fled, we Elmer with his hand down a hole in the ground! It turned out that he was retrieving some posh mud for us to apply all over our bodies. Who needs a rip off spa?! So we caked ourselves in it and felt baked and crisped in the sun as Elmer took us off in the boat once more to a fresh water spring to wash ourselves off in. My skin felt lovely and soft, it was a wicked extra!

Elmer was true to his word (and the cash we’d offered him) and saw to it that we got home safe and sound. After all this we had our second meal of the day (it had been about 12 hours!). We ate in the most posh and expensive restaurant in town. Can you believe we had to spend £4 on a meal with drinks! Oo, and I tried some of Helen’s shark pie (hah, one up to me Jaws!).

Tess

Todays lesson children .. if you do not ask you shall not receive

Hey

Well we arrived in Valladolid (pronounced Vhy - ath -o -leeth or something like that) on Tuesday which is one on the earliest colonial towns in the Yucatan. Its nice, small, bustling and we have a pool in our hotel! From here we are busy busy busy as its well situated to see Chichen Itza, Ek Balam, another flamingo breeding ground, lovely cenotes blah blah blah. So Thursday we went to see the local cenotes ... and now back to the lesson. We got all the usual pics of the cenotes as you'll see on flikr, but just as we were about to leave I noticed a dark stairwell carved into the cave. We venture up as the explorers we are and there we found a man sitting in the shadows. We asked him about what was up there and he pointed us towards a small, mangled cave. We asked if we were allowed to go venture up; he looked us up and down and then spotted Adams big camera. his face lit up, softened as he had obviously decided we were worthy for a bit of an expedition.

He whipped out a small spotlight and took up scrabling up and in to the nooks and crannys of the cave. It turned out that he was a keen photographer (of cenotes at least) and we discovered that this was all in aid of us getting the best possible photographs of the cenote from hidden ledges in the cave above the pool. This was just an incredible experience, and it seemed like we were the only people he was willing to show it to (as a group trapsed about being us looking for something of intrest at the top of these stairs). Anyhoo, we got some great pics and this bit really made the trip for us. We are constantly being suprised at the kindness of the Yucatan people. Despite having to put up with so many tourists, some of which seem to be quite hostile towards the locals, they are ever patient, friendly and seem to genuinely want you to adore their home as much as they do. Its very cool. And so ends todays lesson, if we hadn't have asked, we would not have seen the secrets of cenote Dtiznup.

Blog bitchin time!

hey all

so it couldnt last, it had to happen and damm it im going to say it. Sit yourselves down, get a cuppa tea (or your beverage of choice) and prepare for a blog bitch (man i love moaning). no one else will tell you the truth, they are scared and feel presured into enjoying themselves, they fain wonder where it is not due, and gasp in awe at a sight that is unworthy. Thats right....im going to bitch about one of the 7 wonders of the modern world, the most vistied site in Mexico and a cultural icon of the Yucatan..yes its Chichen Itza.


So i got Tess up at 6.30am to make sure that we beat the crowds and the heat, and it paid off the site in truely amazing and archaeological wonder, its what is happening to it that gets me. So, we arrived at opening time and had the main pyrammid structure to ourselves for all of 10 minutes before the first tour group trooped in ... and I mean trooped ... think Germany going into Poland here folks. Urgh. This was the most amount of white westerners that we've seen in the last month! and this was just the beginning. We expected tour groups, It is a wonder of the world afterall but by the time we left at 11.30am 50 coaches had already parked up and more were waiting to get in. It is not that there was a huge number of either; its the fact that they have more right to be there than anyone else. Par example, while trying to take a photo I was whistled at (as you would a dog) as a command, apparently, to move. What do you know, it seems that the one foot square of ground that I took up blocked the path of the hoard behind me (we were standing in the middle of a dirty great field. Secondly, God forbid you would be allowed to go near anything. There were ropes, bars, fences and no entry signs around all the buildings... every other site we went to, including Uxmal (the other really big one) allowed people to interact with the site.



This was in all respects NAF. As we wondered around we heard the odd tour guide tell wondrous stories about interesting features that were either within, above or behind what you could see from a 'safe' distance. well, we thought, at least it'll be explained, depicted etc with all the finds in the museum ... right? WRONG! the museum Tess was idly told 'shut down years ago!', how silly of us! of course it would be! God forbid you see anything detailed or more obliquely interesting. Here size and scale was what was supposed to awe you. Nothing about who build and lived at the bleedin' thing. To make thing even better the site was flooded with 'artisans' trying to sell their wares - problem -- all six hundred of them had the exact same stuff for sale, mmm perhaps no so unique after all.


To be totally honest with you, even in these respects Chichen Itza is completely outshone by Uxmal, however that is another hour or so away from Cancun so we can't really expect the majority of tourists to venture that far into the wilds of Mexico. So, here is my bequeathal ... Uxmal is far more interesting, awe inspiring, rewarding and quiet than the dare I say it... overrated Chichen Itza. Sorry.
ps. we got our first military check on the bus today. Big guns, kinda scary.
pps. got our first rain yesterday! was cool.

Sexy New Blog!

Howdy folks
Welcome to our sexy new blog, designed by Tess (with muchos help from adam!). God, we are creative genius'... to start things off here is a quick slideshow of some things that we think sum up Merida (which we say goodbye to on tuesday). Notice how 1 certain brand seems to be all over the city! Anyhoo -there is music, a song called 'A Yucatan' its sung all over, in bars, restaurants and by Trios in the square. We have no idea what its about apart from the Yucatan (the province which Merida is situated).
Adam

Some little things about Merida: the incidentals.

As we have spent so much time here, and only written about the big day activities that we have done I thought I’d jot down some of the smalls incidentals about it here that have given it its charm. So, thing 1:

People talking to you on the street:

There is a man selling his goods on the streets. He approaches us every day in one place or another, whether it be a bar, café or just as we are sat on a bench. He obviously really enjoys his job and tries really hard to make his ‘wares’ seem novel and appealing. Every day is the same routine (he must have a really bad memory for faces); First he pulls out a fan and shows it you, then he raises his eyebrows and, which dramatic pause as if he is performing some sort of magic trick he flays the fan and shows you that it makes wind! We laugh a little and shake our heads saying something like ‘no, pour el momento per favour’. So next he takes out a box of cigars with a nudge-nudge at Adam. He says something or other in Spanish to the effect of ‘go on, I know you want them, eh, eh.’ Adam, again shakes his head, ‘no, no’. Finally, as if he has saved the best until last and that we could possibly refuse the next item, he pulls out a little wooden bat with a group of five wooden chickens which he makes peck the board by squeezing the handle together. Bizarre! The first time we giggled a bit at this one, which the man took as a sign that we liked them and joined in with the most roaring laugh! He looked very disappointed when we did actually refuse the chickens afterall. But he continues to offer us the same three items every day apparently oblivious that we have ever seen his performance before.

The seaside

Hey all

just a quick note after the longest blog ever! (sorry about that, you may all blame tess...no you may not!). Today we went to progresso to escape the heat of Merida, its a small seaside town (how very British, nowhere else in the world has a 'seaside' I mean, really, can you imagine an LA surfer heading to the seaside to catch a wave?) 20min north of here. anyhoo as we arrived at the bus station we waited in a que to get the tickets, as we reached the desk the woman without looking at us passed two tickets and some change, we looked quizzically at her untill she looked up and shouted for the next in line. Now we have no idea what happened here, but BUS COMPANY 0 ADAM & TESS 1 hell yeah! this is public transport that i can enjoy!

The Biggest Blog EVER..... maybe

First off – sorry for the ridiculously long post (over 2000 words), Its really 3 posts combined because we didn’t get to the internet, its also a mix of me (Adam) and Tessa writing, you can normally tell which is which!

The following takes place between 7pm Sunday the 4th and 1pm Friday the 9th of May.

Mexican rock:

To experience proper Meridan culture we made the decision to start going to some of the free local events in the ‘cultural centres’ dotted about the city. On the weekend we chose a music show, what we thought would give us some idea about the sorts of sounds developed in Latin America. We went expecting some Mexican rock music, their version of guitar-based wailing and youthful angst that you expect from the genre but with infamous Mexican guitar intricacies and, well, lyrics. What we got was not this! We queued for about 30 seconds to get in, and were seated in a beautiful white building with a fabric dome as a roof, well kept shrubbery, a girl playing the violin and a man giving what must have been a very stirring speech backed by the acoustic guitar; not quite rock city I hear you say.... The audience consisted of two rows of teens who sat very orderly and sensibly at the front. Behind then sat their mothers, fathers, grandparents or other responsible family members to keep on eye on what they got up to. We tried to figure out what was acceptable behaviour for a teenager from Merida, was holding hands with a boy too much? It seemed to be because in the first 10 minutes a women sitting next to us stormed to the front, picked up her daughter by the ear and dragged her out of the venue. Then the bands began to play, dressed in white, flailing across the stage with their electric guitars, head-banging along to the hardcore tones of the Beatles ‘Yesterday’. At the end of each song, (all American), the audience (still sat) muttered a respectable ripple of applause. If this is the underground rock and alternative culture of Merida then everyone else must be actual saints! I’m not going to lie, we were a little disappointed, our search continues for the ‘real Merida’, the grit and the angst, surely it can’t be sweetness and light, right? So the next day we headed off to Celestun (to the west of the city on the coast).

(we should also note that during this period we met up with Gemma, who use to live with Tessa, and her friend Kay, who lived in Solihull before setting off around the world)

Celestun:

Celestun is said to have the one of the largest population of Flamingos in the world, and at times 25000 birds can be seen in the mangroves and low waters around Celestun. Upon arrival we headed to the beach to find the fisherman coop, which provides the locals an extra income, fishermen take tourists out to see the birds, this option seemed better than the big tourist chains that provide the same tour. As we walked down the beach a cry of “FLAMINGO, FLAMINGO” from a group of men in boats let us know we were at the right place, we decided to wait for some other English speakers to fill the boat up (and split the cost), and so to pass the time we sat at a near by bar to get some drinks. This for me was the starting point when the cracks in the Yucatan sweetness began to appear. We sat for a while and a young man came over to take the order, then he simply disappeared….gone….vanished…..so we sat, and sat waiting with idle conversation. In the end (no idea how long had passed) some more English speakers had arrived and the boat was leaving so we left drink less and got on the boat.


Considering how much effort the man on the beach had put into getting all the English speakers into one boat, we had expect an English speaking guide, nope the guy didn’t speak a word of it, and neither did we. He did however insist on giving his tour (didn’t matter no one on the boat understood a word he said!) and so off we set to the petrified forest. Too cut this long story short we saw some tiny crabs, like 12 flamingos (this is this the biggest flock I’m worried about the state of the flamingo population, well not that worried, I’m still going to sleep ok) some pelicans and fishermen pushing there boats around (seems no one told them about oars or engines).
The highlight was the fresh water pool which was a brilliantly tranquil blue pool in the heart of the mangroves, well it was until Tessa and Gemma jumped in! Full of fishes and bubbling springs, it was really amazing!


So after the 12 flamingos we headed back to get lunch, we tried several establishments, one in which no one would serve us as they watched Tv in the kitchen, the one we settled with gave us our drinks quick enough, but no food menu (this was a restaurant) so when we finally got one we had to go looking for a waiter to take the order… and at the end trying to get the bill and pay involved us waving at several members of staff who just waved back with a smile until we started getting up and leaving. Also they split my beer on my lap and over Gemma, so that half the bottle was gone, didn’t get me a new one or apologise or take that one off the bill. It seems the service industry hasn’t really got to Celestun (or am I just so use to American style service?)
Anyhoo we headed home, vowing not to return.

Cenotes:
Yesterday we went to find our first cenotes. Do you know what cenotes are? I’m sure I didn’t before I studied them… well, the Yucatan is basically a huge limestone outcrop, completely flat and riddled with holes which act as entrances to a vast underground river system.

These holes are called cenotes (se-note-ehs) in Mexican and sinkholes in English (Our language really is beautifully evocative isn’t it?!). Anyhoo, they look a bit like caves filled with big pools of clear, fresh, indigo blue water illuminated by shafts of light from the holes in the rock above. Often the roots from the trees above stretch down to the water, as do stalactite looking rock formations. They are really beautiful, mystical places, which the ancient Maya held sacred. They used to place votive offerings of jadite plaques into them and worship in them. When you see the photos you’ll probably understand why, but also they are also the only means of getting fresh water in the Yucatan (cause its so flat there are no normal rivers!). So we decided to go see what all the hype was about. We chose not to go with a tour operative (very oddly after our experience at Celestun), but to support another one of these eco-sustainable- local cooperative thingys. We caught our first combi bus from merida. This was an experience in itself! When any normal person would consider all the seats taken, the driver this was only half satisfied and continued to cram more and more people in. I don’t know if you have ever had the pleasure of thigh on thigh contact with the people around you in 90 degree heat; its definitely a bonding experience! I didn’t know whose sweat was whose … at least if we’d crashed we’d have not moved in our seats as sardines in a can springs to mind! The driver, having taken one look at us knew where we (as opposed to all the other locals) were going and kindly offered to take us a little closer to the site for a small additional fee. We literally tumbled out of the van, peeling ourselves off of the people next to us, sweating profusely; it was all very attractive and paid the driver a meagre 20 pesos (£1) each for the hour long trip. As the combi pulled off we were left to negotiate with the local chaps a price for the next leg of the journey. This was really the best bit! The cenotes are reached by horse drawn wagons on an old rail system (left over from the 1900’s when they were used to bring precious natural fibres from the jungle – the strongest in the world). Ok, I know the picture you have conjured up in your minds; something resembling some kind of stage coach I bet. You’re sooo wrong! It was definitely more like a cart, or one of the wheeled boxes you see in mines in the movies. We almost fell out at every corner. The horse obviously thought it was far too hot to be pulling along four English tourists and fought every step of the way, rearing and bucking and intermittently galloping as we jiggled up and down, side to side, almost head butting each other on a regular basis. And so we made our way down, deep into the jungle. I’ve no idea how long it took to reach the first cenote. Fear for my life and the distracting itching as my sweaty thighs vibrated along with the cart must have messed with my sense of time, but as we arrived it was soo worth it! The driver cast as ominous gesture in the direction of a small wooden platform (resembling the gestures of the ghost of Christmas future in ‘A Christmas Carol’). Dubiously we trekked off and descended into the ground.
It was absolutely incredible, truly breath-taking and within seconds we had stripped off to our swim clothes and dived in. I’ve never felt anything so refreshing. The water was crystal clear and fresh, not salty or chloriney, just delicious and reviving. We spent the full half an hour swimming around the cave and pulling ourselves out just to jump back in again from the platform. It was really deep and there were little fishes swimming about that would come and investigate you if you sat still enough. The colours and the cave rocks were mesmorising. Check out the pics. We reluctantly returned to our cart and were taken to the second and then a third cenote. While as the first had been in a large-ish cavern that had been made easily accessible by wooden steps down from the surface, the second and third were progressively more precarious. I don’t mean dangerous at all but just much more restricted access with only small entrances, the second you’d have to duck under the rock or you would hit your head! The third was fully enclosed except for a small hole through which a vertical ladder took you into the darkness of the cave. At first we couldn’t see anything and I had to feel my way down into the water. Scary stuff! Gradually our eyes adjusted and we got some of our best pictures in the cave. By the end of the day I had done so much swimming that I could barely keep myself afloat! We took our cart back to the village; every now and then having to disembark as another cart came the other way! Finally, to get us back to where the combi would pick us up we paid some poor guys to cycle us for 20 mins in the heat, back to the bus stop. At least they were getting fit for the £1 they earned! Truly I’m beginning to feel like a colonial English explorer. This was my best day so far (sorry about the excessively long blog!). Tomorrow we have been here three weeks … we are yet to see any rain or Mexicans dancing on their hats (I’m beginning to think that you may have got the words to the song a little wrong…maybe.)

some arcaheology (at last)!!!

Howdy!

well i decided i should finally do a blog, dont want tess having all the fun!. Also, im currently suffering from montezuma's revenge (more commonly known as the 'trots' the 'runs' or just plain diarrhea, and so writing this helps take my mind off the stomach cramps and what not....)anyhoo that should really be enough about my bodily functions (if you insist on more information email me at toiletdestroyer@merida.com). What i have learnt is that the water in some of the less touristy locations may not be as clean as it appears.
The last few days have been a whirlwind of archaeological fun and frolics (that does make it sound like we did things at some pace, what it should be - a whirlwind of sweat and intolerable heat). We went to the Ruta Puuc, which is a series of less well known mayan sites south of merida, the bus ride took us through jungle (like on tv!) and we arrived at literally small openings next to the road, with small shacks placed under the shade of the canopy that enveloped the surrounding area, after leaving an entry in the guest book we took the small walk through the trees to the sites (each of the 5 sites had a very similar 'visitor center') . The sites rose up out of the jungle after a 5 minute walk, the beautiful blue skys and the bright sun made the white stones almost shine in the morning light, and arriving in the large bright openings from the shade and relative darkness of the canopy made them seem even more imposing and impressive!. The sites we visited were Labna, xlapak sayil and Kabah. Instead of me attempting to describe each site, i have placed the best photos from each on the Flickr page (i also have some panoramas i need to stitch together).


From these smaller sites we traveled onto the more touristy Uxmal, here the site had a real visitor center (with shops and everything!), as you leave the center you must walk up a hill that hides the site from your view, so that as you reach the top and look ahead you are confronted with a massive mayan pyramid, temples, palaces and ball court. We clambered round the site for several hours, taking hundreds of photos, climbing to the top of several building and just sitting on the bottom of the stairs enjoying the landscape. What made this site perfect was what was missing, when you look at the pictures try and guess what it was, think of the big touristy sites in the UK and Europe. It made the experience even better, and as we clambered around overgrown walls looking for mayan 'treasure' we truly felt like little explorers.
after all this trecking round in the heat, yesterday we were well worn down (the 90f heat is taking it toll!) so we headed indoors to the modern art museum. Now i have to admit that i was disappointed, i wanted unmade beds, vomit on canvas, things in jellly and empty rooms with people staring at the walls with a dignified look, what we got was history of artistic styles and more contemporary work (according to tess, i just enjoyed the AirCon)
anyhoo today is a festival/ market day here (as is every sunday) so there are people dancing in the streets and live music, street performers, and cool looking food, anyhoo my belly is feelin better (and in need of a beer!) so i shall be off
adam
ps we also think that a 'happy meal' here is called an 'el chavo' LOL how fitting

los dos cooking

We found an apartment! Yay, its not the most wonderful thing in the world, it has a live electric cable to heat the shower … so we will only be having cold showers for the next 3 weeks or so! But we have a kitchen, double bed, dining table, sofa and air con in a gated and safe building. Next door is an American girl who has been living and teaching here for the last year and seems quite nice and makes us feel better about the place. It is also really central to town so will be handy for various trips to the archaeological sites, cenotes, caves, flamingo beaches etc etc. We don’t have the internet here but we can get it free in one of the many near-by plazas so we are still very contactable!

We did our first real ‘activity’ in Merida yesterday! It was great fun. It was a cooking course at the Los Dos school of Yucatan cooking. It was run by an American chef who basically took an early retirement here having renovated his beautiful central hacienda. The course was really personal, there were only 6 of us, and was within his house. He gave us a big talk about the history of food in the Yucatan, The Mayan influences, the Europeans ones and stuff, then took us out to the market to buy all our ingredients. So now, we have some sort of an idea about what to buy there, and from which stalls! Then we went back and got cooking! Some Mayan ladies taught us how to make proper, fresh salbutes and panuchos which are kind of a cross between pitta bread pockets and tacos/nachos (made of corn meal!). For this we made various dips, notably one made from the hottest chilli in the world (habanero chilli) which is 350000 scoville heat units! We were both very brave and gave it a try. He asked us to try and describe the flavour like we would for a fine wine … the other couples said really evocative words like ‘woody’ ‘grassy’ ‘tender’ … Adam boldly and very Britishly said ‘bloody hot!’. Then we made a three course Yucatan meal with all the ingredients we’d bought from the market (which he had paid for of course). I tell you, the food was incredible! The chicken we spiced, and wrapped in a banana leaf before cooking them in a make-shift pib. A pib is a pit in the ground that it is traditional to use as an oven. We didn’t desecrate his beautiful solar though, we mimicked the pib by smoking wood in a big sealed casserole pot lined with foil! But it made it so deliciously tender! Oo, for pudding we had corn sorbet which sounds gross but was actually really good, it tasted almost like a really rich vanilla one. The other couples were really nice, both American (we are yet to meet any other British travellers yet) and we might meet up with them again on Saturday at a big street parade on the main route into the centre. What is really great about this city is that they don’t seem to have any qualms about shutting off major roads to traffic. It makes it such a cultural and bustling place. There is also a really high police presence so it feels really safe.
cya later (we may put some archaeology in soon?!)