Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, we drove the 56 miles (90km) to Mérida, the capital of the state of Yucatán. We seemed to drive endlessly
on the new ring road, but eventually found the only campground there. It was exhaustingly hot so we waited until 4pm
to go shopping at a nearby supermarket and to change money.
On Tuesday, Kirsten took a bus into the town centre whilst Helen stayed to tidy and clean up so that we were ready to
leave at 2pm. We drove out to the coast to the small fishing village of Celestún and parked up by a boat dock at the
sea. The sea breeze cooled the temperature down to a more comfortable 30° C!!
On Wednesday, we got up at 9am and drove straight to where the boat tours would leave from. Celestún is in the middle
of a wildlife sanctuary abounding in resident and migratory waterfowl, with flamingos as the star attraction.
We wanted to go on a boat tour to see the flamingos, but if we went alone it would be very expensive. The boats take
up to 6 people, so we wanted to wait and see if we could join others to share the cost. We thought we would have to
wait some time and wanted to have breakfast whilst we waited for other tourists to turn up.
But as soon as we arrived, another car pulled up with four occupants - a perfect boat load!! So we arranged to go
with Vera and Arnold (from Manchester UK, but who now live in Ontario), and Gerry and David from Ontario. Vera works
for a company who are building villas on the coast, just north of Celestún. If you are interested take a look at
their website - www.playamaya.net.
Vera organised a boat with an English speaking guide for $10 US each and we set off for the 1 hour tour, which ended
up being 30 minutes longer. We sailed along the river and saw great blue herons, egrets, white pelicans, and of
course, hundreds of flamingos. There were probably thousands of them, but the boats aren't allowed to get too close.
But we were close enough to see some of the mating ritual.
We went through a mangrove tunnel and then Kirsten went swimming a fresh water pool that was really a mixture of
fresh and salt water. We also saw shrimp fisherman, who walk in the water pushing their boats so that the nets dredge
for the shrimp. At first, we thought they'd fallen out!!
Flamingo tour in Celestún.
Later, we drove back to the beach and met up with Gerry and David for a very enjoyable meal. They are both teachers
and David teaches political science which made for a very interesting conversation! Afterwards, we returned to the
boat tour car park for the night.
On Thursday, we left Celestún and drove back to Mérida and then further east towards Cancún. We took a side trip off
the main road to visit Izamal, nicknamed "the yellow city" because all the buildings are that colour. (Maybe the
paint fell off the back of a lorry and the locals put it to good use!)
In ancient times, Izamal was a centre for the worship of the supreme Mayan god which probably inspired the Spaniards
to build an enormous Franciscan monastery that stands today at the heart of the town. The Pope visited in 1993.
Then we drove further to Chichén Itzá, the most famous and best restored Mayan site in the Yucatán. We went to see
the sound and light show which was a bit disappointing. Fortunately, the moon made it a lot more impressive.
Afterwards, we drove to a Pemex for the night as we weren't allowed to park at the car park overnight.
Sound and light show in Chichén Itzá.
On Friday, it was Kirsten's birthday. (Don't tell her I told you, but she's 39 - hard on the heels of 40!!!). So we
went to see the ruins by day. The "time temples" are supposed to reveal the mysteries of the Mayan calendar - which
remains a mystery to us!!! This Mayan city was abandoned in the 9th century, resettled in the 10th and then invaded
by the Toltecs whose culture was fused with that of the Maya. There are images of Chac-Mool, the Mayan rain god and
Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent. It is still unknown why the city was finally abandoned in the 14th century.
We spent about 2.5 hours wandering around and trying to keep to the shade. Then we drove further east and stopped at
the cenote at Dzitnup where we went swimming - a great way to cool down!
Cenotes were actually formed because of the meteor that struck the Yucatán peninsula 65 million years ago which
destroyed the dinosaurs! Eventually, cracks formed below the crater and rainwater began filling the cavities that
these fissures created. Later still, the surface layer around the underground chambers began to erode and crumble,
revealing the intricate vascular system of underground rivers and cenotes that lay beneath.
Marine anthropologists have since discovered that these cenotes were used for sacrifices (usually virgins or captured
enemy warriors) and also for sending off the dead. They are full of skeletons!!! Had we known all of this beforehand,
we probably wouldn't have gone swimming there!!! Happy Birthday Kirsten - fancy swimming in a grave??? Oh well,
something different!
For lunch, we celebrated by going for a wonderful 3 course meal in a lovely hotel, whose restaurant is in the
courtyard. To finish off the day, we drove to Cancún. We hit a tremendous rain storm on the way and went passed the
scene of quite a bad accident - 4 cars, one in a ditch.
We finally got to Cancún - Mexico's mega resort - and stopped at Wal-mart for the night!! A birthday to remember!
It's hard to believe that 35 years ago Cancún, literally didn't exist. In fact the whole of the Yucatán peninsular
wasn't on the tourist map because there weren't any roads!! But the Mexican Government wanted to build a tourist
resort to match Acapulco and after looking around for a while, they decided that a deserted spit of sugary sand,
just offshore from a tiny fishing village was going to be the place.
Vast sums were ploughed into landscaping, infrastructure and development and Cancún was born. Soon the pace of hotel
construction could barely keep up with the demand for rooms and the tourist success of Cancún quickly surpassed that
of Acapulco.
It may be a world-class resort, but it's not really our thing. So, on Saturday, we drove south along the Riviera
coast to Xpu-Há and stopped at a campground on the beach for the next 3 nights. When we arrived, Peter and Irene were already
there and on Sunday, Helen went with them to take a look at other campgrounds whilst Kirsten got sunburnt on the
beach!
In the evening, we all went to Playa del Carmen which is the fastest growing city and a rival to Cancún. We parked up
and then had to wait for a heavy rainstorm to subside before wandering along the pedestrian area and then going for
a meal. Its very touristy and hard to believe that you are still in Mexico!
We got back to Winnie at 11pm and disaster had struck!! We had left our sky lights open - the mattress and boards
were soaking wet, and the carpet at the back by the toilet was absolutely drenched! It was our own fault, but it had
been a scorching hot and sunny day. When we left for Playa del Carmen, no one would have believed it was going to
rain.
We were facing a massive operation, but by midnight, we gave up. We'd planned on moving on tomorrow, but that was out
of the question now. Somehow we were going to have to get the mattress, boards and carpet dry!
