Yucatan Peninsula (the bit that sticks up at the bottom)

So, we have driven all the way down through Mexico and have spent the last couple of weeks in the Yucatan peninsula where we have enjoyed more Mayan ruins, birds and some amazing sinkholes. Also many more tourists than anywhere else we have been in Mexico.

We arrived in the Colonial city of Campeche on Tuesday 12th July and installed ourselves in our hotel room, a rather knackered old colonial building, with a fan and broken down shutters but with a nice balcony overlooking the zocalo.

View of our hotel (blue building) from the zocalo

View of cathedral from city walls

Much of the history of Capeche seems to be tied up with pirate attacks, mainly from the English. From this side of the coin they talk about the ravages of the dastardly pirates who sacked the town so often that in the end they had to build a 25ft wall around the place which effectively put a stop to that sort of thing. After doing a bit of essential admin on Wednesday we went to have a look at the Museum of Archaeology and had a walk on part of the remaining city walls.

On Thursday we decided that we would have a trip to a Mayan archaeological site called Edzna, this turned out to be not quite on the scale of grandeur of Palenque but, nevertheless, very impressive. One of the main features of the place was the large numbers of iguanas which were sunbathing on rocks, climbing trees and generally behaving as though they owned the place.

Mayan ruins at Edzna

Iguana at Edzna

In the evening we were enjoying a very pleasant supper at a restaurant when there was a series of flashes of lightening, claps of thunder, the rain started and the road turned into a river. The river was flowing at about 6 knots carrying coke bottles bobbing along like little boats.

There were more delights waiting when we got back to the hotel because our room was under a couple of inches of water. This was probably at least in part because we had left the shutters open. We re-located to the adjacent room which was similar in all respects even down to the balcony and falling to bits shutters.

We left Campeche after lunch on Friday 15th, having first visited a colonial fort and then Skyped Casper (Alan's grandson) to wish him a happy 7th birthday.

Fort at Campeche

Sue in fort lookout at Campeche

We arrived in Merida, Yucatan's capital city, some 3 hours later and found a very pleasant and reasonably priced hotel which cost us all of £15 a night, including air conditioning and secure car parking. Merida is essentially a large city which is quite touristy in the centre, but it made a good base from which to visit surrounding places of interest.

Busker at Merida

On Saturday we made our way to the town of Celestun on the coast. This place is in the middle of a 'biosfera', in other words a protected area for wildlife, this one comprising a river estuary which is very rich in bird life. We did a deal with a boatman to get an entire boat to ouselves for a two and a half hour boat trip which took us from the beach area up the estuary. We were not disappointed, spotting amongst other things a group of about 30 pink flamingoes, some nesting magnificent frigate birds and roseate spoonbills.

Flamingos at Celestun biosfera

Osprey at Celestun biosfera

Frigate bird with young

Brown pelican

Roseate spoonbills and white ibis

We spent Sunday pottering around Merida and visiting the Sunday market, one of our favourite pastimes. In the evening we went back into town which had miraculously come alive with dancers and singers and bands, entertainers of all sorts and we found a delightful Italian restaurant (we are getting rather tired of Mexican food).

We were up early on Monday morning to visit another Mayan site at Uxmal which, as usual, did not fail to impress. The carvings on this particular sight are a lot easier to see and to understand and we think it was probably from a slightly later period than some of the others that we have seen. There were also many impressive iguanas on this site, probably up to about 4 feet long.

Rattlesnake carving at Uxmal

Temple at Uxmal

Ball court with goal - Uxmal

Carving at Temple of Macaws - Uxmal

There are about 6,000 cenotes (natural sinkholes) around the Yucatan peninsula so we have been very keen to vist a few whilst in this region. On Tuesday we went to see if we could find the Cenotes Cuzmala which are described in the Lonely Planet as being off the beaten track and accessed by a horse drawn rail cart.

Horse drawn rail cart - transport to Cenotes Cuzmala

After taking a few wrong turnings we arrived at the 'departure' area and climbed aboard our carriage which went rattling off down the railway line for several kilometres to the first cenote. This was accessed from a steel ladder which descended about forty feet. At the bottom was a wonderful round hole which apparently is 27 metres deep and about the same across with a small hole up in the roof where the light comes streaming in. There were other people there and it was a glad occasion with folks jumping off the sides and swimming around, the water was cool and it was a delightful place to swim.

Cenote with tree roots

Sue emerging from cenote

After this we got back on the rail cart and drove another few kilometres to the second cenote which was very similar except that it was accessed from a narrow hole down a vertical ladder. On the way back we stopped at the third cenote, this was different in that it was accessed by climbing down basically through the roots of a tree and then down a sort of ladder into a cave which was in complete darkness. The swimming hole here was long and narrow and Alan swam the length of it by torchlight but Sue wasn't brave enough!

The whole thing was a really good experience, much of the delight being the interface between the hot, humid, steamy, fly ridden ground level of that part of the Yucatan and the cool, fly free, dark subterranean pools with their crystal clear waters. We can understand why the Mayans thought that these sink holes were the entrance to the underworld, they certainly have an ethereal quality about them.

On Wednesday 20th July we left Merida and drove east to Ek Balam where there is another Mayan ruin and a sink hole, the X-Canche Cenote, nearby. We were able to set up camp right next to the cenote, the campsite being a piece of cleared bush but the facilities were spotless, even the cold shower.

Campsite at X-Canche Cenote, near Ek Balam

The cenote here is open, about 90 feet deep and you access it down some rickety wooden stairs. One of the main attractions for Alan were the motmots which were nesting in the holes in the limestone cliffs.

Sue swimming in cenote with catfish

Cenote at X-Canche

We were up early on Thursday morning to walk the 2 kilometres to the ruins at Ek Balam whilst it was still cool and before all the other visitors arrived. Here there was an amazing carved entrance to the temple, it was basically the open mouth of a jaguar with teeth, very impressive.

Mayan ruins at Ek Balam

Mouth of the jaguar at Ek Balam

Yet another early start on Friday, this time so that Alan could photograph the motmots at the sink hole just as the sunlight was starting to touch the nesting holes in the side of the cliff.

Motmot with locust at X-Canche cenote

 

Motmot at nest hole at cenote

We upped stakes at about 10 o'clock and drove north to the coast to another biosfera at Rio Lagartos where the mangrove lined estuary is home to many bird species and some crocodiles.

Friday night we got no sleep at all, we were in a nice hotel overlooking the estuary but it also turned out to be on top of the central party spot of Rio Lagartos and all night there was music and squeels of laughter and pounding bass drums going on under our feet. We were then up at 5.30 am (this travelling is getting to be quite hard work!) to get out on the estuary by 6 am.

The boat trip was very, very good, it was wonderful watching the sunrise over the estuary and we saw lots of flamingoes, wood ibis, egrets, black hawk, osprey, pelicans, frigate birds, roseate spoonbills, a boat billed heron and a crocodile.

Flamingo preening itself at Rio Lagartos

Frigate bird drying its wings

Roseate spoonbills

Croc looking for a spot of bovver

Black hawk with fish for breakfast

Osprey looking for fish

We then drove back down south to Valladolid and found ourselves a nice cabana beside a cenote just outside of town. Our main reason for coming here was to visit the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, the pyramid here being one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

As per our familiar routine we were up again at the crack of dawn yesterday (Sunday) to get to the ruins as soon as they opened. The pyramid and the rest of the ruins are indeed impressive but we didn't enjoy the experience much. Chichen Itza is a very big tourist attraction and it wasn't long before the tour buses arrived and the place was also teeming with vendors trying to attract our attention and flog us tatty Mayan souvenirs.

Pyramid at Chichen Itza

Group of a thousand columns, Chichen Itza

Snake finials on staircase

Snake carving at Temple of the Warriors

Carving of warrior with severed head - Temple of the Warriors

 Platform of the skulls

Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza

We have visited several cenotes whilst we've been here and swum in most of them, the deepest being 60 metres deep!

Tomorrow, Tuesday 26th July, we will be on our way again back towards the coast for our last few days in Mexico.