Mexico. Water, Whales and NIGHTLIFE!!! Part 2 of my trip to Mexico.

(Sorry for no photos on this, ive been having loads of problems with blogspot lately and photos are not working..., also most of this blog occured in the water and thus no photos... sorry)

I had just left Xpujil after a few days staying there and seeing all the local Ruins. I was over the ½ way mark on my trip on the motorbike I had planned so needed to begin to head back to Cancun.

The drive from Xpujil was mainly uneventful apart from a few police and military road blocks but lucky nothing happened like my encounter before Merida, they just waved me past. I arrived in the beach and boarder to Belize town of Chetumal. That evening there was a local market on in the center of town. The local football was also on, I was going to stay here 2 nights as well as there was local ruins and they forecast rain for the following day.

The next morning I was up early and shot out of town to the Chtumal ruins. Just as I arrived the downpour hit. The site wasn’t as impressive as the ones I had already seen so I rushed it. Heres a few pictures of the site never the less.

That afternoon, I sat at a market shop with a TV with a few locals and just watched soccer while drinking a beer and eating taco’s, Mexico was playing a game (can not remember who against, but it was fun).

I had 4 days left on the bike, I headed up the HWY towards Cancun and got into a nice rhythm. It was HOT I figure it was at least in the 40oC, I stopped 200km from Tulum at lunchtime at a bus shelter for a cat nap. It was just to hot to drive. There was nothing interesting on the road either.

I reached Tulum and checked in to the local hostel, again I decided to spend 2 days here. But this time it was beach and relaxing. I was getting very tired of riding the roads in mexico, as fun as it was I was use to the heights of Asia and seeing nice lookouts here there was nothing it was just flat.

After my 2 days of beach and relaxing in Tulum I had the ½ day ride back to Cancun and the hostel I left 2 weeks earlier.

The next day I returned the bike L bye bye bike, I ended up spending a few days just relaxing again, heading to the beach and watching the euro cup (Soccer/football).

During the night time I would go out and experience the other side to Cancun… the clubs. Cancun had some amazing night life and I visited one club called Coco Bongo’s, it was ½ performace like circus and ½ night club. Very special and fun event. I didn’t bring my camera however as I didn’t want to get it lost or stolen and without a phone as my small camera it was a bit limited so heres a pictures ive found on the web.

I also visited a club called DaddyO’s it was a large arena style club with a dance floor that spins around. Very cool.

Both Coco Bongo’s and DaddyO’s had all you could drink deals so when in Cancun…. Or is it Rome?

After a few days I booked a trip to see Whale Sharks, with a group from the hostel. The next morning we had to get up super early (6am) and we were picked up at the hostel.

We were taken to the harbor and boarded a smallish boat, there was only 6 people on the boat, plus our guide and the captain. After a hour of sailing out to deep ocean water, we finally came across the wale sharks there were about 20 boats floating in the area. The group was broken up into groups of 2 people. 2 people plus the guide in the water at a time and then we were dropped off just ahead of where the wale sharks were swimming to so they would swim right up to us. We did this about 7 times over the space of 3 hours. It was AMAZING!!!!!.... we were literally centimeters away from these mammoth size fish and they were swimming so slowly.  Sadly my waterproof camera was broken (broke in korea) so I only have photos above the water.

After the swimming with whale sharks there was a small snorkel at Izla Mujeres but this was more drifting and there was really no coral to look at.

The next morning I had met someone from Korea who wanted to go snorkeling at Izla Mujeres, I had heard that they had some nice sites not like the one from the whale shark trip and because they only had a few days left in Mexico and I had never been, I offered to take them to the island and go snorkeling as well. It turned out to be a great day trip. We had a wonder around the local markets and them did 3 hours of snorkeling on the reef. Again sadly no photos as no waterproof camera but the day was a blast, there where so many fish and it was brilliant weather.

That evening I booked a trip down to Xcarat a theme park south of Cancun, with the people from korea. Again never been and going to places like this is much much more interesting when your not on your own. We also went back to Coco Bongos, I enjoyed the frist time, the second time was ok as it was only me and 1 other person who wanted to go (again playing guide) but it was still a nice night. But getting home at 4am and having to get up at 6:30am for Xcarat was hard….

We arrived at xcarat and went and got our snorkeling and water gear. Xcarat was built on a system of caves and under ground rivers.

We walked around for ½ hour then decided to head to the underground river and just drift, not only where we tired from 2 hours sleep but also hung over from coco bongos all you can drink. The drift was relaxing and refreshing.

After the river we found ourselves on the beach out to the Caribbean, and there were hammocks in between the trees… exactly what was needed. A quick hour sleep and we were all right as rain again.

We spent hours at the beach and had a buffet lunch was amazing. The park also doubled as a marine resuce center, where they either breed or nurse injured marine animals back to health. We wandered around the aquarium and the turtle pools for a while before heading back to pick up our gear and return the snorkeling gear before they closed the lockers. 

Towards the end of the day all the interesting things in the park started up.

First was a mayan smoking ritual dance around a small river and mayan ruin, they had first and were burning what looked like chickens (but doubt it was), they were all dressed up in traditional and singing songs.

After this was a maxican horse show. In a horse arena the performers made the horse to patterns and move in between each other it was very well done.

But the last thing for the evening was by far the best. It was a Mayan Ball games show followed by a small story of how the Mexican culture has changed from mayan times to now over the hundreds of years.

The ball game started off with just a plain leather ball, they had to hit it from one side of the court to the other with there hips. Then the team that got it past the arena and other team had to get it thought a hoop to score.

Once this game was played the lights were dimmed and then the ball was lit on fire and they played the same game but with hockey type sticks. This went much much faster and the ball of fire flying though the air was so cool.

Once this had finished the story started, first with conquistador and the Christians then on to the rest of the Mexican history, all was performed though dance and music. It was very nice to watch and get a bit of taste of Mexican cultural history.

I still had a week left in Cancun, so I decided to put my time to something productive. I booked my self in on my advanced scuba course which took 5 days (again no pictures all water activity L )

Following the course I came down with a flu or something which nocked me out for a few days, I ended up spending my days sleeping (very boring) and nights watching movies with the staff at the hostel, which I didn’t mind at all.

Once I was semi ok/ tired of being inside, I spent the last 2 nights in Cancun hitting the clubs with the other people from the hostel, we hit up DaddyO’s again and my last night in Cancun was a pool party. Possibly the most fun I have had at any night club… I’ll leave the stories of the pool party for my own telling though its not for blogging ;) But had a great time!!!

I left the pool part at 3am and headed back to the hostel, 6am that same day I was on a flight to the USA to catch up with my dad and a friend for my next trip… Oh man it was a long flight…

Anyways sorry for the lack of photos, the water activities do leave a gap there…

But till next time, HAVE FUN!

Steffen

   

New content, New Continent. Press Play to continue! MEXICO!

Well I’ve moved from Asia, to north America. I have now arrived in Mexico, Cancun. My goal is to see the Mayan Temples scattered around the place.

To make this blog easier to understand where I am I have included a map of the area, numbers represent the days in the blog.

The flight from Hanoi to Mexico was a grueling 29 hours flight, I was extremely happy to know my “delta” flight had changed to Korean airlines. Not only did the plane have power at the seat but also internet access. It made the trip go past so quickly and nice.

Anyways I hit Mexico and it was hot,  after 2 days of jetlag I was finally awake enough during the day to explore the town. 


There was a large stretch of hotels and resorts along the beach called the “hotel zone” this was very very touristy, loads of clubs and bars. The next day I hit up a island off the coast of cancun called “Isla Mujeres”, it was a hot spot for snorkeling and spending time at the beach. Today I was more just relaxing, so I rented a scooter and went zipping around the island.

The island wasn’t very long at all, it only took me 15 min to drive to the other end (with my very safe driving J ), at the far end of the island was a lighthouse and a outdoor art exposition. It was also home to some large iguanas.

After standing on the furthest east point of Mexico, I headed back into town and found a nice little pub that was on the beach and relaxed the rest of the day. After all I was in the Caribbean.

The next day I had finally decided on how I was going to see Mexico… on 2 wheels. I scouted around for the most of the day till I found a shop that had a good deal on motorbike rentals. I hired a Suzuki 150CC cruiser for $45 a day. It was rather expensive for what I was use to paying in Vietnam but it was cheaper than a car or even other bike shops.

That afternoon I practiced driving the bike, this would be the first time I had driven a fully manual motorbike with clutch and the lot. It was a lot easier than I though, and I got the hang of it in no time.

The next day I packed a day bag and headed south, I was still not sure what the roads in mexico were like so going on a long trip was still a bit iffy… but a day trip to Tulum a town some 200km south would be a good way to practice riding the bike and see what that roads were like.

About 50km out of cancun there was a police checkpoint. They were heavily armed with machine guns. It was ok, they checked my bag for drugs and things and I was on my way again. A few hours later I arrived at a place called Xel-Ha, a group of ruins on the side of the road. There was a theme park next door but I wasn’t interested in that…

Mosquitoes on my leg... 

The ruins were my first taste of Mayan ruins and I was pleasantly surprised. You could walk around freely in the buildings and see what you liked. It also happened to be my first taste of the jungle and its mosquito friends… I had to keep my jumper on as my arms and legs were black from the number of mosquitoes on them.  The area was also crawling with iguanas, everywhere you looked there were lizards as large as the goanna’s at home.

I kept cruising down the coast till eventually I reached the Mayan ruins of Tulum. The ruins were set on a cliff top overlooking the ocean. The large area had been cleared out of all trees to open up the ruins.

The area was amazing to wonder around, there was also a beach below one of the larger temples people could swim at.

The larger temple was a small building raised with a grand staircase leading up to the top.

Before I could finish viewing the entire area a large storm started rumbling on the horizon, and I had no wet weather gear, and still had to get back to Cancun that evening. I cut my losses and headed back to my bike as quickly as possible. I was ½ way back to Cancun when the wall of water hit.  I ended up buying from large garbage bags from a shop and put all my things in my bag inside that and kept riding. I was like a river when I walked into the hostel that night.

The next morning I checked out of the hostel and headed west, My goal was to see a place called “Chichén Itzá”, the distance was a bit longer than I had expected, the rain also made it slow progress.

With the bike I have many more options to what I can see than if I was on a tour bus or transportation bus, there was a sign off the main Hwy to a place called “Ek Balam”. With the sun high in the sky I figured I would have loads of time to see this, so I turned off.

This was definitely off the beaten track, the village I drove through was very run down and people were staring at me as I drove through on my bike. Eventually I found the ruins and started exploring.

As these ruins were more off the track than the Tulum ones the area wasn’t cleared or as open. But I liked it that way it added more atmosphere to the place. The site featured more than one pyramids, and temples. It was all open to climb up on and look over. The buildings all had extravagant corner artwork and looked amazing.

The next thing I visited on the site was the “ball arena”  or games arena. Its 2 walls with a slope and 2 hoops that are vertical (not like basket ball). It was quite large and very impressive.  

Beyond the ball arena was the first Mayan pyramid it had a makeshift roof covering some special carvings and figures. The climb to the top of the pyramid was well worth it as the view was amazing over the rain forest.

That evening I didn’t manage to get to Chichén Itzá that afternoon, so I pulled into a old colonial town called Valladolid. Rolling into the town it was like nothing I have ever seen the streets were narrow,  and very old. The center of the town revolved around the church, which was a grand conquistador style church.

That night the town was one big party, with fireworks and people dressed up and dancing in the streets. It was a festival for one of there saints and I just happened to be in town the day it all kicked off.

The next morning I was off early heading towards Chichén Itzá. It didn’t take me long to arrive at the site. It was very touristy but I was expecting this, the site was quite large and took me hours to walk around.

At the center of the site was a giant Mayan pyramid, it was definitely the center piece of the site.

Walking around I came to a large Mayan ball arena. The walls were all decorated in carvings and the hoops were still there. It is apparently the largest ball arena in the world.

The site also had a number of smaller buildings each was very well preserved with stone carving on the wall.

There where some large buildings to the other side of the area, they had 1000’s of pillars all with carvings of them.  

There was a large number of other buildings but each one was far smaller than the main buildings. Ive included a few photos of them on the sides. All up i walked around the site for a good 2 hours. It was amazing... but very very touristy.

After leaving Chichén Itzá I headed towards Merida, my next stop for the evening. About 5km outside of merida there was a large army/police check point. 


They called me out of the queue of cars and I pulled up to the officer. He didn’t speak a word of English and I didn’t speak a word of Spanish.It somehow went very bad very quickly when I was pointing at my guide book as to where I was going because all of a sudden I was face down on the ground with guns pointed at me, while the officers pulled all my belongings out of my bags. The papers for the motorbike were not with me, and the bike wasn’t registered so after 2 hours on the ground finally I got though that I was a tourist and I was heading to the town and had not booked anything… they fined me $20 for the registration and noted all my Passport details then sent me on my way… I have never been so scared before… the guns were large machine guns.

I arrived in merida and found the center of town. There was again 2 large church and a square to make the old town. The center of town was also marked by old buildings with sculptures and patterns on the front. Very impressive.

The next day I headed towards another ruins called Uxmal, and a loop of other Mayan ruins. The road in between them was very uneventful, sadly the roads were flat and not pretty to look at, it was all jungle and extremely hot to ride.

Uxmal was another extremely large site but much less touristy than Chichén Itzá.

It had not just one pyramid but 3, one grand one and 2 lesser. It also had several large plaza’s and courts. Rather than explain the lot heres a few pictures.

From Uxmal, I drove around a road that looped a bunch of Mayan sites, like Kabah, Sayil, Xlapak, and Labna. Each one was very small only 20 min stops, and almost no toursits.
 But because they were less touristy it was more jungle surrounding them and more atmosphere when exploring the ruins.

Some where palaces, some where courts and plaza’s, others market places. All were part of a larger city that spanned 100’s of kilometers once, or smallers villages with higher classes living there.

Towards the end of the day the storm clouds rolled in and it was tine to stop the tomb raiding again.

The next morning I was up bight and early, I had a long drive today, I was heading to a town called Xpujil, some 300+ km away. No visiting mayan things today just driving. The trip started out fine but I got worried when I had not seen a car or a town for 2 hours… it happened I was driving through the jungle national park. Anyways I managed to reach the town and find a hotel just on sunset so it was all ok in the end.

I took a ½ day off from riding and relaxed at the pool at the hotel it was hot… over 40oC and humid. I was going to stay at the hotel for 2 days just to relax. That afternoon I headed out to a remote ruin, it was on some serious wet rain forest jungle roads, the bike struggled to get any grip to the road as all the rotting leaves made it slippery. 


The ruins themselves were nice, not very large but they looked like a old castle but with mayan faces and gods on them.  There was a bunch of wild monkeys playing in the trees around the ruins as well which was cool to see.

As I left the Google streets view team drove up. They were doing imagining on all the sites as well, so I got talking to a few of them before they had to get back to work.

That afternoon I headed to 2 more temples much closer to my hotel, one had a large pyramid, and the building at the back of the site looked closer to something from Angkor than mayan with 3 pillars.

The second site was a large city like area, they had palaces and temples and a pyramid. They even had paved walk ways and coverings and tunnels  to get around the city.

I was able to climb up the top of one of the pyramids and it gave a amazing view over the entire forest.

Heres a few pictires from them both.

The next day I left Xpujil, but that’s for the next blog post…

Till then HAVE FUN,

Steffen.