Yucatan

The last week I spent in the Yucatan. I must be getting better at traveling, because even after a week of relentless heat and spending multiple nights in an uncomfortable and crowded van I could have kept going.

The BCA group met Easter afternoon to begin our TWENTY HOUR drive to Celestún, a small town a few hours from Mérida. Our hotel was right on a warm, shell-filled beach, and that’s how we spent our first day (provided you don’t count that sleepless ride as our first day). We made s’mores on the shore that night. It was nice.

The next morning, we took several motorboats around the area, stopping to see a flock of about 1,500 flamingos and, later, a swamp. Then we were off to Mérida, where we were given a tour of the city.

Wednesday, we woke up early to beat the crowds and heat at Chichén Itzá. We weren’t entirely successful in that goal – it’s a hot and busy place. That may have contributed to my being less impressed with this famous site than I was expecting. Rob thinks the main reason that Chichén Itzá was named one of the Wonders of the World rather than Teotihuacan was because it receives far more tourists, being close to Cancún. The astronomical alignment and lighting tricks are really neat, though. I mean, I saw pictures. I missed seeing the snake-shaped shadow in person. People aren’t allowed to climb the pyramids here anymore (since 2006; you went at a good time, Kate). Another thing that is different from the other ruins we’ve visited this semester is the green grass covering the site.

The afternoon was spent in Dzitnup, where there is a huge cenote that people are allowed to swim in. So we crawled underground into a cave and swam in a pool of very clear water with some fish.

Yucatan is Mayan country, so Thursday we went to a human rights organization to hear someone speak about the Mayans’ current situation. The rest of the day was ours to check out the markets and stores in Mérida. I noticed that Yucatan is also tourist country, and that I’ve gotten rather pompous about my being a student, NOT a tourist, in Mexico. Several times I was hit with strong feelings of superiority when I saw people buying (in English) what I consider crappy, trinkety souvenirs that could be found in the streets hand-made for a tenth of the price. Regardless of my arrogance, I used my meal money to buy a hammock. Other purchase of note: Rob bought a blinged-out maquech beetle. My friend Rachel had pointed them out to me in a store earlier. Someone took time to attach jewels to these bugs. I still don’t quite understand the concept, and I saw them.

At about midnight, the group piled back into the vans for an eight-hour ride to the city of Palenque. We visited Agua Azul, a beautiful tourist trap with natural, clear waterfalls. There were a lot of places to explore, jump off cliffs, and eat mango.

The bungalows where we stayed that night were in what I would consider the jungle. One of my friends slept outside in his newly-purchased hammock and reported waking up to see howler monkeys. I kind of wish we would have had more time to hang out there.

Saturday, we toured the ruins at Palenque (about 2 minutes from our cabins – I’m telling you, this place was perfect). The neat thing about this site was that we got to go into a part of the palace where people lived, and could see their stone beds and toilet holes and all kinds of nifty things like that.

After our tour, we were guided through the jungle area next to the ruins and saw some monkeys! I was reminded of the pictures I saw from the Costa Rica interterm trip last year.