Stormsail

Up early again had breakfast and checked out although left our bags in some lockers. Leaving on a night bus today so headed to CAME bus station to get our tickets early – Good job too as there was a problem with our tickets and struggled for ages to get someone to understand us, thankfully a lovely man came to our aid. Finally got it sorted and we wondered back to town through the hustle and bustle and found a quiet café for lunch. It was the Day of the Dead festival today so we wondered around the square where all the festivities were taking place, mostly offerings of food to the spirits. We sat for a bit and watched the world go by. Wondered back to the hostel to read etc but got really bored! So went back to the fun bar for drinks and burritos whilst having a heart to heart. Finally we got to the bus station with our stuff and got on the night bus to Palenque. The bus left on time and we dozed our way through the night.

Up very early yet again with a quick dash to the loo for Andy and went out to the community area of the hostel for our ‘free breakfast’ of toast and coffee. We then sorted ourselves out for the day trip to Chichen Itza. The coach took about 2 hours. Once we were there our tour guide Francisco took us around the site telling us the history and interesting points about the Maya civilization. Fascinating. The main structure called El Castillo was phenomenal, standing tall in the heat of the sun and once facing the north side echoed the sounds of an eagle when you clapped. You have to experience it for yourself. It is a structure of architectural, mathematical and astrological genius, quite amazing. It is a pyramid structure with 4 sides each side representing a number of months of the calendar. There are 91 steps leading up to the top and these represent the days in the month (I think but can’t quite remember). During the summer and winter solstice the 4 corners of the pyramid depict the shadow of a serpent travelling up the pyramid. Serpents, jaguars and eagles were all sacred animals and were important in the relationship the king had with the Gods. The buildings in the site itself were also positioned to represent patterns in the stars. Quite remarkable. After seeing most of the sites we stopped for lunch at a restaurant where they gave us a ticket for an all-you-can-eat buffet which was fantastic, they even had Mexican dancers entertaining us. We then headed back to Merida. Once back at the hostel we chilled for a while before heading out for drinks at our favorite balcony restaurant bar. Didn’t stay out too long as we were too tired to do any more roaming around. We did spot all the locals building temporary wooden constructions for the Day of the Dead celebrations tomorrow though.

Up early again and peered outside, still overcast and very windy. Had great breakfast again and then went to check our mail at internet café. Back to Hotel, checked out and headed off to get the bus to Merida. Four hours later we made it and then walked, what seemed like miles, to the Nomadas Hostel which we booked for a couple of nights. We dropped our stuff off and went out to explore the town and find a suitable place for a drink. Merida is the capital of the Yucatan Peninsula and a city of cultural and arts heritage. Very interesting and beautiful (although Andy wasn’t so impressed). We found a beautiful restaurant with tables in individual little balconies overlooking the streets below, plus a church and a large tree that housed a number of very raucous birds! After we relaxed for a little while we found another rather lively bar to sample some Mexican tequila (the local stuff) which went down surprisingly well. We then found a busy restaurant for some food. We soon discovered all of the homeless cats and dogs as we were made to feel very guilty by a number of kittens that were manoeuvring around our feet under the dinner table. Headed back to the hotel and again, totally collapsed.

Woke up early (2am local time) as my body was still in UK time. Went back to sleep and then woke up again at 7.15. Showered, phones STA to complain and had breakfast which was great – re-fried beans, tacos, scrambled eggs and bacon. Scrum. Then left to find an internet café to arrange out first lot of bus tickets with Bamba Bus Company. Then thought we would wonder into town which actually took over 1.5 hours in the heat of the day before we found a bar to have lunch in and nurse our new blisters. Walked around and sat on a small stretch of white sandy beach for a while chatting before heading back to the hotel where we chatted some more before falling asleep at about 5pm and not waking until the morning!

Up at 5am to catch the tube from Pheebs’ house to Heathrow. Checking in was a nightmare, the queues were huge and just about made the plane! 10 hours later we made Dallas Fort Worth for a 3 hour transfer wait. Had a couple of beers and some food before boarding another plane for the 2 hour trip to Cancun. Got there and went through immigration very quickly but going through customs took a while. It seems customs here are more careful about what gets brought into the country. We managed to get a bus to our Hotel Club Verano Beat but were rather annoyed that STA hadn’t got our booking through to the hotel and after 21 hour day of travelling and no sleep that was rough. Pheebs threw a wobbly but we still had to pay for the night even though we had already paid in full. Hope to get a refund tomorrow. A beer by the pool later (in the gale force hot wind) it was then time to crash out.