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Tuesday 16th – Chichen-Itza

Simply stunning.  Pictures can’t really capture it, and nowhere near enough room to give you a guided tour.  Instead, a few photos interspersed with some interesting random thoughts from Raphael, our guide.

     

  

  Oops – not sure what happened here.  Some might say “simply gorgeous” – others may beg to differ ….

 
This one is intended to remind me to tell you that if you clap your hands right in front of the steps, the echo resembles the sound of a bird.  Amazing but true.

 
  Just to maintain the standards ..

  Here is the arena for the famous Mayan game.  Aim is to get a 2-3kg ball through the high hoop.  7 players per team, and no hands allowed.  Games took between 1 and 5 days and the scorer of the winning goal was executed (seen as a real honour apparently).

This one shows the slight incline in the wall of the arena.  It means that when you clap it is echoed 7 times – true.  So generated an even better atmosphere.

 

  This is a wall depicting skulls – not real ones but presumably showing those who were executed.

This one reminds me about wheels.  Apparently they were well aware of wheels and have been shown on children’s toys, but can’t be used by grown ups for work because it would be disrespectful of the sun god.  So all the rocks to build the temples were dragged by hand.

 And they predicted the sun and planets all lined up in 2012 – eat your heart out Galileo and Copernicus – and others!

 Looks like an observatory – mainly because it was.

 The University.

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Tuesday – Izamal

Before leaving Chichen-Itza we had a short stroll to the local cenote.

Not sure if it’s swimmable – didn’t seem to be any way down.  And ran the gauntlet of hundreds of stalls – well almost ran the gauntlet – succumbed once after some great bartering …

Then to Izamal.

  If we’re honest, a bit of a disappointment.  So many had told us beforehand that it was an amazing little town, and either they’re wrong or we missed it.

Having said that, the monastery in the centre (built on top of an old Mayan temple that the invaders knocked down and built on top of) is pretty amazing – and you might notice bright yellow!
 

  Enjoyed watching the kiddies practising football in the monastery grounds.

  A couple of final reflections today:

– refried beans – every course, not just every meal!

– driving is fine.  We ventured onto smaller roads today.  The speed bumps are staggering – you have to physically stop and crawl over to stop any damage to the car.  And the potholes are pretty large – makes for numerous interesting swerves when doing 50mph.  Fortunately there is virtually no traffic so haven’t hit anyone yet!

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Monday 15th – Mayan

A couple of things to start with.
1.  Hope yesterday wasn’t too confusing.  Due to technical issues I wrote it in 3 parts and parts 2 and 3 were the wrong way round.
2.  For reasons we don’t know, there is an hour’s time difference between Cancun and Valladolid.  No idea where it will change back.  So we are now 6 hours behind the UK.
3.  For a few seconds, Eileen thought she had taken a selfie.  However, false alarm.  That remains an unfulfilled experience so far!
And so to breakfast in our lovely little hotel, only 3 minutes from the main square.
Then the first of many.  We said the main theme of the holiday was to hunt out Mayan ruins in the jungle.  This is Ek’Balam, about half an hour away.
Symbolises the mouth of the earth – see the teeth at the bottom and the nose near the top.
The nice thing about Ek’Balam is that it is quite small and you can still climb the ruins – not a lot of elf’n’safety going on here …
…but magnificent views from the top.
Then on to Cenotes (pronounced sen-o-tays).  Brief description below – try Wikipaedia if you want to know more.
Here’s one only about a mile away that you can swim in, abseil down to or zip-wire over.  Or contemplate all of those things over a cold beer 😎.
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Monday – continued

View from the Ek’Balam summit
Then off to a Hacienda (Kaan Ac).  It’s meant to be a 5-star hotel, but appeared totally deserted apart from a guard on the gate and some other staff.

Who made us a coffee while we sat on the terrace.

And finally St Bernadine Church – fortified!

I haven’t really talked about food, apart from our coffee-maker last night.  Think Mexican, and you’ll be there.  No shortage of refried beans – especially yummy with breakfast.  But the fajitas, nachos, marguerites, tacos etc are well up to scratch, and better.
Chichen-Itza tomorrow.
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Sunday 14th – Cancun

There is a bit of a technical hitch, so doing today’s blog in bits.  Firstly a huge thanks to Andreas, our host on the first night.
He had noted the flight was early, but had no knowledge of the ensuing chaos nor our lack of IT skills when trying to contact him.  Anyway, we met up at last and he was a superb host – including a terrific breakfast and checking over our hire car when it was delivered.  Thanks, Andreas from two tired travellers who picked us up and got us going.
Guess where!
As we were close to the beach, we went to have a walk – beautiful and temperature in the mid to low 20s.
Found a friend.  Wonderful watching them diving for fish but photography skills not up to recording that.  So here is one resting, just to remind us.
You remember the Cancun sign?  Look closely at mid-right and you can see it.  You can also see the massive queue to have photos in front of it.  I kid you not!
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Sunday 14th – Evening

If Rick can eat there, so can we.  So a short walk across the square.
Cheers.
This is what happens if you let a pyromaniac loose.  One Irish coffee ..
… and an apple crepe.
Brilliant meal and incredible value.  And just to prove that the master of selfies has nothing more to learn!
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Sunday (again) – Valladilod

Then the first real taste of Mexican driving.  Actually probably not.  100 miles to Valladilod on a straight dual carriageway with one exit and fewer than 10 cars.  So dull doesn’t even come close!
Then to a beautiful little town – Valladilod.  For any of you who might have watched Rick Stein’s Mexico Journey on BBC2 the other week, he ate at the darker red restaurant.
In the courtyard.
More of that later.  For now a few views of the town.
… and us.
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Saturday 13th – We’re Off

Only 9 hours 37 minutes to go (which is already an hour less than we thought/feared).
9 hours and 30 minutes later things are looking good.
2 hours later, a bit less so …
It may be a brand new airport but it does help if you staff it properly.  There’s us thinking an hour to get through passports is a real pain but at least the bags will be there – ha ha!  It ended up taking well over 2 hours – that’s longer than Los Angeles.
Holiday starts tomorrow.
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Sunday 29th – Last Day

Nearly the end.  We fly home tomorrow, so today is the last day.
The Getty Museum in Malibu was the main expedition.
You can probably spot that for the first time the sky isn’t blue – perhaps trying to prepare us for home!
And even worse in Malibu, although at least it’s warm.
Another traffic jam on the way back – even mid- Sunday afternoon.
Watching the game.  Still don’t fully get it, although at the time of writing the Dodgers have just gone 8-11 down after leading all night.
And a roast dinner for our last evening.  Thanks, Huw, for everything.
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Saturday 28th – Lower Key

We’re getting towards the end of what has been a fantastic holiday, and so beginning to wind down a bit.  Had a bit of a shock when we woke up – grey skies!  However, happily not for long.
The Huntingdon Library in Pasadena is about 40 minutes (+ traffic jams!) away.  Being a Saturday it was bad, but not too bad.  Look up the Huntingon if you’re interested, but it’s essentially a combination of a library (Gutenberg Bible + other stuff), a couple of art galleries and a National Trust  house and garden.
The house.
And used as a film set.  For those familiar with the West Wing, this is where the limousines drop off visitors to the White House.  Apparently in 24 hours of filming, they have hundreds of vehicles arriving dropping off various actors in different costumes at different times of day, which covers an entire series.
Bonsai trees in the Japanese garden.
General view.
Then Huw took us for a drive through the cemetery opposite his house.  Rita Hayworth and Bing Crosby amongst others.
And, of course, it’s Halloween.  One of Huw’s neighbours has been hard at work for ages.  They obviously do it properly here.
Then Bethan and Pat came over in the evening.  And the Dodgers have just pulled back to 2-2 with the Astros – life is exciting!