FunShine & RussTX-Oct 16-23 * 2008

[FunShine]

DAY 1

Oh the excitement…TODAY IS THE DAY!!!! After 8 loooong months of waiting, we will finally be in Playa! Up at some ungodly hour, throw our stuff in the truck and head out to the Austin airport. It’s chilly and dark as we walk from the parking area to the terminal, but who cares?! It’s easy to be chipper on the way out – the day coming back is what’s always torture, right?! Direct flight on VivaAerobus, added bonus of separate terminal in the airport makes getting through security and on the plane a breeze.

Aside from a man who emitted what can only be described as evil in gaseous form, the flight was not bad. (Yes, it was without a doubt him, and this will come back into play later) Although we got a shuttle for our arrival, I will say the ADO is really the way to go. The shuttle took a while picking up another passenger, and the poor people already in it had to wait on us AND another passenger. This other passenger also just happened to be staying at a resort that the dirt road into was apparently assaulted with mortar fire at some point, reducing us to a heavily rocking 3mph (what’s that in km’s? about 1?) We are the last to be dropped off and we are just bursting with excitement!

Get to our hotel and the grounds look gorgeous and the staff is extremely kind and helpful. Our room is not exactly what we had booked but we thought they were trying to be nice and “upgrade” us…well, it turned out to be pretty bad. In the hotel’s defense, we had already planned to spend the 2nd half of our stay at another hotel so we didn’t say anything about the room and thought we would just stick it out so we wouldn’t be “the a*holes” and also have to move our stuff again. I won’t mention the name or post any pictures to be fair to them since we didn’t give them the opportunity to make it right.

Unpack a few things and we are off! Hop onto 5th and decide we are starving so we pop into La Parilla for some food and drinks.

I know I will be in big trouble for this but we just could not manage to take any pictures of our food. I don’t really know what our problem is, we just couldn’t remember to do it! I have tried to take some pictures of my shopping goodies to make up for it. Good atmosphere in this place, very nice waiter and had seats upstairs overlooking 5th which was perfect for people watching. Great food, a little pricey…the 2 for 1 beers was a very good thing! JMO - Pass on the margaritas, they are awful.

Back to the room for a bit and we take a stroll along the beach. Walked along the beach a ways to the pier and back, checking out the waves & the people and recognizing some hot spots we have seen on the forum. Pop into Tequila Barrel for a mango margarita for me and a beer for Russ. Called his mom and she saw us on the webcam! Some shots along the walk:



We have a reservation with Thrifty car rental so we walk to the place and get set up with a nice Altima. They were very friendly and helpful, specifically a nice lady named Ms. Pacman. I forget her first name but I knew I wouldn’t forget her last name – she gave us many helpful tips on buying gas, getting in and out of the street with the poles, etc. I find it very amusing that we had an “Aaahhhh” moment when she told us to just ask the cop to move the poles – that never occurred to us! DUH!

First time driving in Mexico and God bless Russ, he was such a champ. He was able to maneuver the busy streets without killing anyone, not even the bicyclists or moped riders that materialize out of nowhere right upside your car. Who the heck stops at stop signs or gives someone the right of way? We do… not for long though because we soon realized it’s dog eat dog and we were getting looks like we were out of our freakin’ minds. Lanes? Pfffftttt…..cars go where they go, lanes are more of an idea than an actual practice. Turning right out of the left lane? Sure thing! Yielding? Not a chance! Russ’ fantastic driving gets us to the Mega!!!

We passed by WalMart and couldn’t believe that it was like a full blown carnival in there! You think WalMart is crazy in the US, you haven’t seen anything like this. Rides, games, prizes – a real event. Into the Mega to get some supplies for our road trip tomorrow and we are set. Back to the hotel where a really nice staff member is kind enough to help Russ squeeze the Altima into a parking space half the size of the car. It took several minutes and many a 1” back and forth but we are technically “parked”!

Now we are hungry again so we decide to head out to Dr. Taco for some dinner. A beer or 2 and some very delicious tacos later we are stuffed. The man that runs (or owns, I don’t know) the place is extremely nice and attentive. I can’t get enough of the cabbage on the tacos, how good is that stuff??!! Super reasonably priced and yummy!

We’ve had a really long day, it’s getting late and we have to get to sleep to wake up bright and early for our Chichen-Itza road adventure!

[HAWKEYE]

Very nice start.
Have a great time.
Craig.

[Felony]

Nice pictures! Keep it coming!

[FunShine]

Thanks guys! We had such a great time here, we can't wait to go back!

[TXMichelle]

Awesome!! Can't wait for more!!

[FunShine]

On to day 2! Lots of pictures this day.

DAY 2

WOW it’s early. YAWN! Gotta get a move on! It’s Chichen-Itza day! Up around 5:30 and get our snacks and backpack ready, clean up and throw on some clothes and we’re off! Luckily the 2 other cars we were wedged between have left and we are able to make a smooth getaway. I need some coffee but we are running a bit behind – thankfully we are in desperate need of cambio and I have a legitimate excuse to ask if we could maybe get some change at Java Joe’s? Ok, now for real, we are off!

We decided not to take the cuota either way and take the regular roads because they seemed more interesting and possibly a bit quicker. We had iPods and portable speakers – if you decide to make a long journey and you need some music I strongly recommend getting some, the speakers I bought were around $20 and took 4 AA batteries. They sound pretty good and the batteries last for a long time. This made the trip a lot more fun! The scenery stays the same for quite a while, interspersed with a few small towns and overall a pleasant drive.


There is one stretch of road that has some of the most insane potholes we have ever seen – it was all about staying alert because some of these could seriously damage your car, they are that big. We were entertaining ourselves with jokes like, “That cenote we just passed look pretty nice” and “I’m pretty sure I a Chinese man just stuck his head up and waved at me.”

We finally arrive at the majestic Chichen-Itza! We are there around 9:30 and it’s not that crowded. People are there but it’s not feeling cramped or hard to take a few shots without people in them by any means. I thought this sink was interesting - it was just one flat slab and all the water went to the back crack there.

This place is really spectacular. It’s just incredible to see it for the first time, even after seeing it in pictures. The detail, the artistry, the intelligence and strength conveyed is really beautiful.



The Plaza of a Thousand Columns is HUGE.

Detail on some of the columns:

Another impressive building:

One of several still clearly marked jaguars:

Chac Mool statue:

Another small structure with serpent detail:

The Haunting Wall of Skulls - a pretty big platform.

The enormous ball court area:


Warrior detail:



There is so much detail still there to see, I'm trying to pick only a few here and there but it's hard!
Jaguar throne:

To be continued!

[Sol]

Great pictures!! Keep the report coming!

[FunShine]

Day 2 Continued:

We took the walk down the old sacbe to the sacred cenote and it was a gorgeous path, ending with the dramatic platform still there at the edge. The cenote is impressive standing there near the edge.




I thought this piece was really nice, it is machine etched (salesmen will tell you they’re hand made, beware) out of stone instead of resin. What a nice reminder of our great visit.

We need to get going, we still have a lot to see! As we are leaving the crowds are coming.

Due to time we had to choose between spending time in Valladolid or seeing Ek Balam. We decided on Ek Balam. No disappointments here. There were about 2 other people there and we barely even saw them, very affordable entry fee and then a beautiful walk down what used to be a sacbe.

Some very interesting ruins along the way to the main structure.



The Ball Court:

Then, oh my goodness, there it is. The main structure is huge.

The main structure viewed from across the way:

You are still able to climb this one and it is a death defying act in my opinion, in Russ’ opinion I am a fraidy cat and he took this picture of me coming down to prove it.

To add to my fraidy-cattedness I couldn’t even make it to the top. I made it to the platform where the amazing carvings are and that’s all I could manage, and they are breathtaking and so is the view!

[Sol]

That is cool that you stopped at Ek Balam also. I like this place a lot. How long did it take you to get through Chichen Itza? I am trying to figure out how to squeeze a visit to CI while we are in the area in January.

Thanks for posting your pictures and providing a report. It takes some time to do this.

[FunShine]

Thank so much Sol! This is my first trip report so I'm trying to get the hang of it with sizing and everything! I love reading other people's so I really wanted to share.

To be honest we kind of hurried a bit through Chichen-Itza, not because we wanted to, but just due to time. We were there about 2 hours and we could have spent more time there. The locations we stopped at, we felt we would have a hard time going out the 3 hours again on our next visit because they are all kind of close once you get that far out. It was a long day but very fun and worth it to squeeze in Ek Balam if you can.

[syl]

yea!!!another trip report...thanks for taking the timelove the pics!!!

[FunShine]

More of Day 2!





Russ made it all the way to the top and almost fell to his death when an iguana tried to jump him. The view from the top is incredible. This site is small but amazing, don’t discount it if you like ruins, it’s a really cool site. We make a quick tour and have to head out.

View from the top courtesy of Russ:


Next stop cenote Dzitnup! We roll in, grab our tickets and head down. Steps down:

At several points had to duck down low to get through the passages and it was going down steeply and quickly. We are the only people in there and as our eyes are adjusting to the darkness we keep hearing little chirps…what is that? Yeah, I hear it…do you see anything?…OMG it’s bats!!! Lots and lots of bats. Thankfully there was an attendant in there to at least have 1 other person with us. Yes, the bats swooped close to my head a few times. Yes, I’ll be honest, it was a bit freaky. The attendant was so nice he even helped adjust the settings on our camera and take pictures of us.



He lead us into the back parts of the cave and showed us great formations and shapes on the cave walls. We head out after a fascinating look at this natural wonder. Really, you’ve GOT to go, it’s incredible.

Back on the road to head to Playa. A few shots as we whizzed through Valladolid:



We still have a long way to go. By the time we get back to Playa, we are beyond stinky, beyond tired. Russ still had to return the rental car and he brought back a Dr. Taco burrito for us because we couldn't possibly go anywhere. We were in bed by 9 for sure! We had an incredible day and it was well worth it, we had a wonderful adventure!

[mocha2]

Fabulous Report! I can't wait to read more. We are going to have to see Ek Balam. It looks amazing!

[syl]

how much was the rental car??

[Sol]

Wonderful pictures of Ek-Balam and Dzitnup! I love those huge carvings at Ek Balam. The arch is so cool as well. Dave loves to climb up to the top of pyramids or structures. I always chicken out. I will climb about half-way and then give up.

Thank you again for sharing these.