November 2001

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Castillo at Chichen Itza

Group of the thousand columns

Heads of Chac, the rain god

Temple of the Warriors

Thursday 22 - Friday 23 November

Chichen Itza is tourist central. There are hoards of americans bussed in from Cancun, some of whom are so fat they are unable to make it up the 91 steps to the top of the Castillo and have to shuffle down again on their backsides. Apart from that, the site is still very interesting, being built during the classic Mayan era with a strong Toltec influence and has the largest known ball court at 30m wide and 150m long.

'Mite or 'tite?

Cool reflections

The bat cave

Driving towards Cancun, we visited Balankanche Caves, a place where the Maya left offerings to their gods. There is a large limestone cavern with a tree-like central column which is wicked. When we left the cave it was almost dark outside so we headed off through Valladolid, intending to find a quiet spot to camp.

Xalau...

Somos pobres, no me robar

Mayan audience

Turning off the main road into the tiny village of Xalau, we asked if we could park just off the main street and sleep there. A drunken Mayan said we were welcome to stay beside his house and all would be tranquilo (peaceful). However we soon had half the village watching, the women and girls from a respectable distance and the men and boys gathered round asking all sorts of questions in spanish, punctuated by much excited chattering amongst themselves in Mayan.

A couple of men riding bmx bikes and sporting 'police' baseball caps arrived and asked us what we were doing. A little later a pick up truck full of ten hastily dressed policeman drove up and asked us why we hadnt announced our arrival in the centre of the village and that we must register with the 'mayor'. All was in good humour, they had never had to deal with two English guys staying in their village before and werent completely sure what to do. The mayor was a really nervous guy who could hardly speak spanish. We had to write down our names in an old school exercise book surrounded by at least 20 curious people.

Then they took us back to the landy where the friendly drunken neighbour guy started to plead with us not to rob him while he slept, cause any violence or perform terrorist acts. We assured him this would not be the case and after a quick lecture about how many parts of cement to sand to mix together when building houses, he left for his bed.

Next stop Cancun, Tulum and Belize!

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