Mérida Mexico

COBÁ MÉXICO

So on Tuesday I hopped on a bus to Cobá and it was the last bus into the city. When I arrived I asked the local hotel if they had any rooms available and he said no. There was one other hotel that I ran over to trying to beat the bus leaving and luckily they had a room. I paid 200 pesos for a pretty nice room with 2 double beds. Cobá is very quiet at night with not much going on...I mean besides the stray dogs fighting and that dang rooster that was crowing at night. I thought they were only supposed to crow in the mornings. Maybe this one had too much tequila. Anyway, I did laundry by hand that night. It was only 2 days worth but it took FOREVER. So, Mom, I just want to say thank you for doing my laundry all those years. I realize you used a machine most of the time but I remember many trips to the laundromat when it was broken. I don´t think I fully appreciated all those times you did that until now. I woke up at 6am to be packed and at the entrance to the ruins by 7am when it opened. I was the only one there and didn´t see another person for at least 2 hours. I probably didn´t come across more than 20 people the whole time I was there which was nice, however when I got back to the entrance there were a lot of people just getting there and the tour buses had just started to arrive. I HATE CROWDS. So I am glad I didn´t have to deal with them. I think it was a totally different experience being there by myself than had there been others there with me. There is a unique feeling that comes when you are walking through buildings that are 1700 years old and you are all alone. I did a lot of pensivating while I was there and just took it all in. After getting finished at Cobá I hitched a taxi back to the bus station because my foot was KILLING me. I don´t know what I did but it hurts really bad and has been hard to walk around on. It is still hurting me a lot. I may end up seeing a doctor if it doesn´t stop hurting.

Sometimes the Road is Lonely.


Ball Court of Cobá.

Circular altar at the base of temple in Cobá.

The main temple at Cobá. The highest temple in the area.
You can see over the whole canopy when you climb to the top of it.

From Cobá I rode the bus to Valladolid. The taxi drivers and bus station person at Cobá told me that the bus wouldn´t come until 12 and kept trying to get me to take the taxi for 300 pesos compared to a 45 peso bus ride. Well the bus ended up coming at 10:50. I am wondering if they wanted me to miss the bus so I would be more inclined to take a taxi. Oh well, it didn´t work on me. I met a girl from Germany on the bus and we hung out when we got to Valladolid. We went to a cool cenote (sinkhole for swimming) that was smack dab in the middle of the city. It definitely ranks up on my list as one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Someone told me it is not even that good of a cenote compared to some of the others around. Still, I thought it was AWESOME. Especially since it was in the middle of the city. While at the cenote a guy jumped off the edge and I thought...I have to do that now to. So I did. I ended up talking to him after I jumped off. He was from Oregon and there traveling with his girlfriend. We talked for a few minutes about cool places to cliff jump.

Cenote at Valladolid. I jumped off from the gap
you can see in the wall then jumped off from the
top of the wall on the far right side of the picture.

That night I went to dinner at a nice open air restaurant in Valladolid. I had some of the best chicken I have ever tasted. Two tables away ended up being the guy and girl from Oregon. I asked them what they were doing the next day (Thursday morning) and they said they were going to Chichén Itzá. I asked them if they wanted to share a cab and they said they had a rental car and offered me a ride. The girl from Germany came with us also and we all headed to Chichén Itzá early Thursday morning. Once again we got there bright and early to beat the crowds. We were finished by the time the crowds started showing up. The three of them dropped me off in the town of Pisté close to Chichén Itzá and I hopped a bus to Mérida which is where I am now.

Kukulcan at Chichén Itzá.

Alex and Lily, the couple from Oregon that gave me a ride
to Chichén Itzá. They are big Trailblazers fans and I guess
the Trailblazers give stuff away to people who submit
pictures in cool places with their gear on, so
they packed it along with them.

Mérida is a cool city with lots of culture and history. The oldest cathedral in the Americas is here in Mérida. It also happens to be Semana Santa (Holy Week) and so there has been a lot going on and a lot of the stores have been closed down as the locals are away at the beach. Yesterday I hopped a 2 hour bus ride with a guy here from Mexico and a girl from Germany to the town of Celestún to go and see the Flamingos. Well the tide had risen too high the previous night and the Flamingos had flown to lower waters so there were none to be seen, so alas I saw no Flamingos and decided to head back to Mérida on my own. I got to have another fun 2 hour bus ride. I was bummed because I had wasted a whole day and didn´t accomplish much, but you know what they say, nothing ventured nothing gained. At least I tried.
When I got back to Mérida I stopped to take some pics of the LDS temple here. Then headed back to the main park and got there right as the Catholics were doing a procession around the park. I got some good shots of that stuff and the people around. Now before you go saying that I was irreverant to be taking pictures in a cathedral, I observed the locals doing it and considering the news camera that was there covering the event I figured it would be ok to take pictures inside. If this is not the case then will my Catholic friends stand up and let me know.
All in all, Mérida is a cool place that I would recommend to anyone wanting to experience something a little more Mexico than Cancún. One word of caution, getting around Cancún and the Riviera Maya without speaking spanish is not that hard. I thought it was at first, but compared to here it is much easier. It is a different story here. Not many people speak english. However, don´t let that discourage you from coming.

Mérida México Temple.

The only flamingos I saw on my trip to Celestún. Five
hours on abus to take a picute of this sign. It rocked.

Holy Friday Procession.

This is the oldest cathedral in the Americas.

I'm Finally Here

Well I have finally arrived in Mexico. I am excited to start this journey. I was anxious to get here before I left so I am glad I am here now. I arrived yesterday and things went incredibly smoothly. A short line at immigration, then my bag was coming around right as I walked up to the pick up. I breezed through customs which was nice. No red light for me (those who have flown into Cancun will know what I am talking about. After that I went to get a bus ticket to Playa Del Carmen and it was leaving in 5 minutes so I didn't have to wait hardly at all for anything at the airport. I got to PDC and walked around for a bit, bought some sun glasses and then hopped a bus to Tulum. I arrived at my hostel, The Mayan Hostel Tulum and had a 4 bed room that I shared with a girl from Finland. She was the only other one in the room with me. After I got settled in and checked my email I walked a couple miles to an Argentine restaurant and had a steak. It was SO good. My plan was to hit Tulum at about 6 am to beat the crowds and to have the best lighting for pictures but I ran into some people last night in the hostel and started to talk with them. They were playing Phase 10 in the commons area. It turned out they were from Utah and Arizona and came over from a city in Mexico where they have been teaching english. We stayed up pretty late playing Phase 10 and I wasn't exactly ready to get up when my alarm went off this morning. I got up and the 4 of us took a taxi over to Tulum, walked around the ruins and then went down to the beach and hung out there for awhile. I am slightly sunburned but not too badly. We hopped a taxi back to the hostel to pick up our bags and then we parted ways. They went to PDC to head over to Cozumel and I am just about to catch a bus to Coba. I am hoping to find a place to sleep tonight in Coba. I am running a little later than I wanted to get out of here and the last bus leaves Coba at 6 pm. I think I am on the last bus there as I should arrive at about 5:45 pm. If I don't find a place to stay then I may be sleeping in the jungle. Oh well, that may be fun. Till later, Ciao.

Two Weeks...What am I Thinking?

So I leave in two weeks from today. Sometimes I think I am nuts for doing this. Oh well, we all gotta be a little nuts sometimes. I found my PADI dive card today that I had been looking for, so I am stoked about hopefully going on a couple dives while I am down there. The unknown awaits and it is kind of a cool, and at the same time scary, feeling.

Making Plans

So here I sit all by my lonesome making plans to head off on at least a 2.5 month journey to central America. I am leaving on April 6th, 2009 and will fly to Cancun, Mexico. From there, well, the world is my oyster. I don't really know what the heck that even means but someone always says it to me. I guess what it means to me in this situation is that I have NO clue what I am going to do when I get there or which direction I am going to head. Life is an adventure and this is definitely going to be a new experience for me.