Uxmal y Campeche

Well I left Mérida bright and early Monday morning and caught a bus down to Uxmal. Up until that point Uxmal was my favorite ruins that I had visited. I like getting to the ruins early so that I don’t have to deal with people in my pictures, or more, waiting for people to get out of my pictures. Two, because I really don’t like crowds, especially tourist crowds. I got to Uxmal at about 715 am and waited for the park to open at 800. I was waiting by myself for awhile, then right before it opened a few more people showed up. After a few hours I made it through most of Uxmal and decided it was time for me to leave because it was starting to get crowded.

Iguana at Uxmal

Ruins of Uxmal

From Uxmal I sat on the side of the highway waiting for a bus to come by. I didn´t have to wait too long before I was able to catch a bus to Campeche. I got to Campeche at about 2 or 3 pm and realized that this was one of the moments that I REALLY, REALLY wished I spoke even a little bit of Spanish. I hopped a taxi from the second class terminal to the first class terminal only to find out that the next available bus to Palenque was not leaving until 0220 am. So I had 10-12 hours to wait and nothing to do and I couldn’t really ask anyone what there was to do either because no one around spoke English. No one except Rafael. Boy was I glad to see Rafael. I met Rafael the previous night in the hostel in Mérida and spoke with him for just a couple minutes before going to bed. Well this is one of those faith strengthening moments for me. I felt very lost and in all honesty there was just a little bit of fear, not a lot, but I was not comfortable in the situation that I was in. Well Rafael saw me standing there in the bus terminal, I´m sure I looked very lost, and came up and started talking to me. He said they (he was with a friend who was from Mexico City) were heading to the Monkey Hostel and asked me if I wanted to share a taxi with them to the hostel. I obliged since I really didn´t know what else to do. Rafael is from Campeche but has been living in Mérida. He came back to Campeche to say goodbye to his family because he is going to be traveling to Canada for 6 months. The Monkey Hostel was cool. It was on the second floor of a building overlooking the Zócolo and then it had roof top access also so the views were awesome. Almost all the colonial towns here are built around a central park, which is usually next to a cathedral, called a Zócolo. For 25 pesos I was able to drop my bag in the hostel, shower, and hang out until it was time to hop on the bus to Palenque at 2 am. After dropping by the hostel, Rafael, and I took a taxi to a local fort overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. We then went to a local market on our way back to the hostel and he showed some of the local fruits and something called a Marañon. It looks like a red pepper and they make a drink out of it. He said that Campeche is pretty much the only place you can find it. We walked around for a bit longer then stopped to have something to drink. One of my favorite things about México is all the juice you can find to drink. I got a coconut drink and Rafael got a Marañon. I had a sip of it and it is good. It tastes kind of like a red pepper. I decided I would get a refill of it. It was very refreshing. I have decided if I had juice like this in the states I don´t think I would ever feel a need to drink soda. Speaking of soda…before I left I hadn´t had any soda for about 3 weeks, or was it 2. I don´t remember but I digress, I hadn´t had any soda for awhile. Since being here I broke my rule for 2 reasons. One was because they have a drink down here called Manzana Lift. It is kind of like Apple Beer but I like it much better. Anyway, I had to have one when I got here. The other reason is strictly for health reasons. I have heard from more than one person that the carbonation helps to kill bacteria that may be in the food. Now, I don´t know if that is true or not but it seemed like a good excuse to have a soda. I have only had I think 3 sodas since being here though. That is pretty good considering my previous soda consumption rate.

A view from the roof of the Monkey Hostel in Campeche

Cathedral in Campeche