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!