Chichen Itza...NO CLIMBA DA PYRAMID!!! (Craig)

We are spending our last couple of days in Merida, truly a nice city with lots of things to do. But on the way here, we stopped in the most famous of all Mayan sites, Chichen Itza, yesterday. Now here is word to the wise. Whenever you come to a major site like this, COME EARLY, at 8am, exactly. At Chichen, that will give you exactly three hours to roam the ruins almost by yourself. Just a few others in this large place. At exactly 11am, the HORDES arrive from Cancun and Playa del Carmen. And I mean hordes. About 20 buses arrive near 11am, maybe more, that is what we could see. Its amazing.

But before that, its really nice. Except for one major thing. You cant climb on ANY of the buildings, not a one. They are all blocked off by rope. Now, Amy and I love climbing the ruins, especially the big pyramids, its a lot of fun. But they get so many people at Chichen, that the ruins were in danger of crumbling away. That, and the fact that in 2005, some old tourist fell to his death from the top of El Castillo, the famous pyramid there. Thump, thump, thump, all the way from the top to the bottom. That gave the authorities a good excuse to close it, but they closed everthing else, too. But its still worth a visit, although I thought Palenque was a much nicer Mayan ruin. And locally, Uxmal is the best.

We got to Merida in mid afternoon, and after checking into our wonderful hotel, Luz en Yucatan, we went out hammock shopping. If you stay in Merida, then Luz en Yucatan is the place to be. Only a few blocks from the Zocalo, the Luz is run by two ex-pats, Tom and Donard, two really nice guys who know what we westerners want....good plumbing, coffee in the rooms, good lighting, etc. AND they have a small bar with about 5 bottles of various booze that you can partake of for free, although it is nice to leave a little tip. We have had a really nice apartment, bedroom, living room with hammock, dining room and kitchen, for only $65. They also have a pool. You can look them up at www.luzenyucatan.com.

My friend Stevie B told me to check out Aquacate for hammocks. Its a great place. They have hundreds of hand made hammocks of top quality there, all sizes from a single to an extra large California king size for the entire family. And you can try them right there...the owner strings the hammock up and you can lie in it. Dont go to a hammock place that wont let you try the hammock you are going to buy, it can make a lot of difference. We also went to Hamaca Rada, closer to the Zocalo. This is more of a warehouse place that exports hammocks to the USA. But they also let you try the hammock and they have a great selection. Cotton is the best material, the nylon doesnt feel all that great...kind of slippery. And the colors are wonderful...bright reds, yellows, greens, blues, oranges, and all colors inbetween.

For lunch we went to a really cool little tiny place, with about5 four tables, called El Cangrejito. Its a fish taqueria, no meat, only things that swim. We had tacos from fish, octopus and conch. There is a big picture of Pope Jean Paul II on the wall and we later learned that the Pope actually ate in this tiny place. That must have been exciting for those guys. You can see the two taco makers, they make the tacos right in the middle of the restaurant, and they are so fast putting together the fish, salad, tomatoes, guacamole, etc.

Last night, after a really nice dinner of baked eggplant and cheese, pollo pibil, coconut ice cream and a lovely Argentinian malbec, we headed down to the local church dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, as last night and today are her days. Wow, what a scene!!! Thousands of pilgrims from all over, singing songs, partying and marching. It was almost like a big college game. These teenagers would march along and chant, ¨Gimme an m, M!, gimma an a, A!, gimme an r, R!, gimme an i, I!, gimme an a, A!...whats that spell, MARIA!!!, whats that spell, MARIA!!!, what that spell, MARIA!!!!! Totally bizarre, but totally cool. There were hundreds of bicycles from the pilgrims we have been seeing on the road and many were crashed on the concrete sleeping. I dont blame them at all.