As expected, the trip for Connor, John and I was long enough. John didn't sleep at all on the Pacific crossing and Connor and I got an hour or two. We transited through LA, where our terminal was being updated and it was pretty bad. The staff were directing people by yelling at them above the noise of the crowds. They were quite rude and weren't all that patient with the confused passengers. We spent ages in a really long queue waiting to have all our fingerprints taken (not just the thumbs any more). And we were only transiting! We were glad to be done with it.
We were especially excited to arrive in Cancun in Mexico because we were meeting Courtney there! Courtney has been backpacking around South America for 7 months and we hadn't seen her since she left home. It was so great to see her. She looked fantastic - tanned, blond and dressed in funky clothes. She was grinning from ear to ear.
We overnighted in an airport hotel and were surprised how warm and humid it was. I had watched Jersey Boys on the plane and everyone here looked like Frankie Valli! The next day we picked up our hire car and drove to our first destination - Ek Balam. We are staying in a small village in a place run by Canadians. The rooms are quite ramshackle and made of all different materials but they're comfortable enough. The kids are sleeping on our balcony behind a curtain which is a bit weird but also cool! There is zero privacy beween us all but everyone seems to be handling it ok.
The big problem here is the dogs. There are hundreds of dogs in the village and they all seem to bark at night. There are plenty of dogs in our accommodation too, and they often join in the barking. It's shocking! We can barely hear the roosters above the noise of the dogs!
The first day we explored the village. The people are really friendly. We watched a woman and her daughter making tortillas and soon we were munching on fresh tortillas straight off the fire!
There is a bit of a programme happening here where the locals make hammocks to sell, so brightly coloured hammocks are strung under verandahs.
Many of the houses are concrete blocks but some are painted in lovely colours. Many have kitchens or rooms that are made of sticks with thatch roofs. It's a real mix of fairly ugly and absolutely gorgeous.
A cute boy in the village.
We had our first margaritas - they were huge! Courtney and I weren't real fans of them though. We later found better drinks ;)
After a terrible sleep - we were all awake at 3am! - we set off to explore the nearby ruins of Ek Balam. Both the ruins and the village have the same name. This is Mayan country and the ruins were amazing. They were set in a peaceful setting. The walk in was beautiful.
The old Mayan pyramids were largely restored. It was so cool! We went early to avoid the heat and the crowds and it largely worked.
The largest building was this pyramid. It had amazing carvings on one side.
We could walk up the pyramid and it was so steep! My legs were cramping coming down. From the top we looked out over the scrubby jungle.
Connor took a lot of these photos. He did a good job!
We found some iguanas sunning themselves on the stones.
There are some amazing trees in this area.
Not far away was a cenote. Cenotes are unique to the Yucatan area of Mexico. This is limestone country and there are many caves. Sometimes the caves collapse leaving a large sinkhole. These fill with crystal clear water, leaving amazing places to swim. They can be spectacular too. We were blown away by our first one.
The steps in were so steep that they had to cut them in a special way so we could fit our feet on them.
Down through the rocks we went.
Ther were boardwalks and paths around the edge of the water.
It was spectacular!
Tree roots draped over the edge of the cenote forming a gorgeous curtain.
There was a rope swing and we had a great time on it.
Water spilled from the top, forming a small waterfall. This water was pumped up from the cenote but the effect was still great!
Birds flew around the waterfall catching bugs. It was lovely!
Above the cenote was a basic restaurant and a few hammocks under the shade. I like this Mexican way of thinking!
We then discovered there was a zipline above the cenote. It was only a short run but it was fantastic! Whizzing over that gorgeous cenote was a wonderful feeling. It only cost about 7 Aussie dollars for two rides!
The walk back from the cenote was peaceful.
We had a short rest at home then headed out to a local house to learn how to make tortillas and hot chocolate. Courtney, John and Peggy, an American woman staying at our accommodation, all went. The kitchen was a typical stick and thatch building. We soon realised that these buildings are probably used to let the smoke from the cooking fire out.
Our teacher was Guadelupe, a real character. Like most people around here, she was of Mayan descent. Typically, they are very short people with rotund torsos.
She had a great laugh!
The items she used to grind the chocolate and corn are over 100 years old. They had been handed down to her through the generations. The stone rolling pin was really heavy. We all had a go at this but after 20 minutes between us we handed the gruelling job back to her!
The hot chocolate was interesting but it's traditionally made without milk. That suited Courtney fine, as she's vegan.
Guadelupe then showed us how to make tortillas and we had a go at making them, Our tortillas were all uneven while Guadelupe's were perfectly round and even.
We collapsed into bed that night!
The next day we headed off to a big festival that was being held in a nearby town. Peggy joined us. First up we went to the fair. It was like a fair that we would have at home, only with a Mexican influence. We saw no other gringos there, which was great.
First up, we found the food! These were mangoes on sticks, carved into cool shapes. Courtney elected to have chilli sprinkled on hers and said it was ok!
You could sit on this very quiet bull and have your photo taken.
Many women were wearing what is obviously the local clothing. White dresses were embroidered at the top and bottom and worn over white petticoats. A shawl was often draped over the top. The colour was very impractical for the dusty day but they looked great!
This was an agricultural show so there were tractors, saddles and horse demonstrations. There was a musical ride with four horses, some of which were magnificent andalusians, but the riders were terrible. This guy trotted around on this tiny pony. He was a full grown man and he wasn't really too big for the pony!
We then went into town for the rest of the festival. Flags lined the streets.
This was the Three Kings festival. I didn't know the three kings were Aussies!
We wanted to check out the church but the queue to get into it disappeared around the corner. It was obviously an important part of the festival. We found an old building nearby with a gorgeous courtyard though.
That night Courtney and I both started feeling unwell. I had a cold and Courtney had aches and pains. Maybe it was variations of the same thing. The next day Jennifer from our accommodation took John and Connor for a walk in the area while Courtney and I took it easy.
The walk looked beautiful. This was the local school.
After a slow morning we thought we'd check out two other cenotes that weren't too far away. Again they were incredible! Both were quite enclosed and had stalactites hanging from the ceiling. It was like swimming in a cave. It was so cool! They had old tyres there for swimming so Courtney and I used them to keep as much of our bodies out of the water as possible as we still weren't well.
The second cenote had even more stalactites. Check them out just at the entrance!
Inside, a spiral staircase wound its way down from one of the holes in the ceiling. There was a rope you could swing off and a high platform you could jump from. We were very lucky that we avoided a few busloads of tourists that arrived just after us!
All the centotes have ropes strung on top of the water. We can only guess that these are for people to hang on to. Check out the amazing stalactites next to John.
On the way back we saw a dog that had been killed by a car. Around it were all these buzzards. We've seen these flying a few times.
We've woken up today and both Courtney and I feel much better. This is just in time as it's John's birthday today! We are moving onto another town so we hope to find a nice place to celebrate tonight.
We hope all is well with you all.
Adios!
Heather
Amazing experience enjoy! Sal
ReplyDeleteThanks Sal :)
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