Country number 9 and back to trying to speak Spanish. First stop in Mexico was Tulum. Personally I didn’t think the ruins in Tulum were that good. You couldn’t get near alot of it and it was fairly touristy, with it being so close to Cancun it’s an easy and popular day trip. I also overheard a guide talking about Mayan human sacrifices and how the heart of the sacrifice was ripped out and held up for the gods. Not gonna lie, I’m abit sceptical about that happening. It was also high tide on the beach at Tulum ruins so couldn’t even enjoy that really. Ah well. Back in the touristy area of Tulum there is plenty of street art to wander round and look at. I also went walking around the non tourist area, but couldn’t find any street art.
There are also plenty of Cenotes around Tulum. But decided to skip these as would be visiting Cenotes later in the week, and instead nursed a hangover and watched crap on YouTube. For anyone who dunno what a cenote is, it’s a sinkhole that is full of water that you can swim, snorkel or dive in. The Yucatán is full of them.
After Tulum went inland to Valladolid. Here I visited a few Cenotes, as well as doing my first ever open to bus city tour. Can’t say I’ll be rushing to do another any time soon. Valladolid is also home to a massive private collection of Mexican Art which you can visit with a tour every day at 10. This guy has serious money. The art collection is massive, the house is massive and swanky. But the owners also do alot of charity work, so it’s all good.
Also happened to be the start of Carnaval. The night I was there this mainly involved deciding on who would be Queen of the Carnaval. This started of with each the contestants one at a time walking onto the stage (at which point their fans in the crowd shouted, cheered and held up banners or started playing drums), walked round the stage in their best model like walk, before giving a short speech about why they should be Queen.
Shortly after both contestants had given their speeches, they each had to do a dance show with other dancers supporting them. At first I thought it’d be one dance routine each. But no I was wrong. It ended up that they each had a half hour routine that involved multiple costume changes and changes in music style and therefore dance style. Each time I thought it was over, it wasn’t. It was just them holding a pose for a few seconds before the start of the next routine. It was tiring just watching it, let alone doing it. And the work that must have gone into the routines and the costumes must have been alot. Following the efforts of a Carnaval Queen is a Channel 4 documentary waiting to happen.
It was also Carnaval time in Merida when I went there the following day. As I was watching the parade go through town, I turning around and saw one of the Scottish guys that I had been with over Xmas and New Years! So ended up spending first night in Merida having a drink and catch up with them. Next day a small group of us braved the grey sky and threat of rain and headed out to Uxmal ruins. Nice set of ruins not far from Merida that isn’t too touristy, has stuff you can get closer to and generally enjoyed these ruins much more than Tulum. Even if it did start raining as we were finishing up.
The next night a different group of us headed out to watch the night Carnaval parade on the edge of town. Even though it got of to a slow start with the second float breaking down, it turned out to be fun. Also managed to join in some conversation with the locals so my Spanish had definitely improved in four months of travelling.
One bag thing about Merida was that when we went out to watch the Superbowl, we got stopped from leaving because we “hadn’t tipped”. When it comes to tipping I’m like Mr Pink from Reservoir Dogs, it’s gotta be earned not expected. We had left a little tip in the way of leaving the change, but apparently this wasn’t enough. Thank you America for this expected tipping culture, didn’t actually think that people could get stopped as they are leaving. In the end we upped the tip, just to save arguments.
Moving on from Merida, was time to go to Campeche. Although when I got to Campeche I lost my phone. Sure it fell out my pocket as I was getting out the cab I got from the bus station to my hostel. Not too fussed about losing the phone, it was a rubbish one I got in Panama to replace my proper phone that got water damage. But it means I’m without Google maps and translate when I’m out/on buses. Bit of a shitter, but on the up side it was also Carnaval time in Campeche! But on the downside the parade was small in comparison to Merida. So after watching a small bit of it, I left to go and get dinner. Decided to try beef belly. Won’t be trying it again, really struggled to stomach it. But going walking after dinner I found out that Campeche has a colourful water fountain that also has music playing out of it. And then found some local style dancing going on so had some fun watching that.
The next day it was time to get my Mayan ruin fix again. This time going solo to Edzna ruins. A small, compact set of ruins that haven’t been excavated that much or that long ago. But easy enough to get to for a visit.
Then in Palenque I also visited the ruins there. Was tempted to get a guide, but thought was abit too expensive by myself and couldn’t find anyone else who was there at the time to split it with. One of the downsides of travelling by yourself, it can be expensive to do stuff if you can’t find people to do it with. But the ruins were good. There is plenty to look at, wander round and climb up. If you’re there early it isn’t too touristy. You also get to hear howler monkeys making plenty of noise as you walk around. And the museum located down the road from the entrance is also interesting, giving more background into the the site, those who called it home and some of the find from the site.
However after hitting up so many ruins in a short space of time, I think I’m now ruined out.
Joe From Bow 
The ruins look amazing! Must have been fascinating!
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Some of the ruins are really good. Really enjoyed Palenque ruins, in the middle of the jungle!
And yea they are fascinating, so much history and culture. It captures the imagination
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