The next site, Uxmal, was a site not to miss so we made Amy and Rob come along too. It was pretty expensive to get in, the same as Chichen Itza, but I think it was worth it. The architectural style was the same as the sites we saw the day before, which adds to my theory that they are all the same people and the 4 sites that we saw yesterday are just satellite cities of Uxmal. The buildings were way bigger at Uxmal and most were fully restored which is good for tourism and there were actually more people there than I expected. We didn´t get up at the crack of dawn to see Uxmal because it was the only site that we had to see that day and we didn´t need to rush it. Rob and Amy were very thankful for this, but April, Laura and I are used to getting up early now. It didn´t take us as long as we expected to see the whole site and we were back in the car by around 1pm. We drove back to Ticul and just had a nice relaxing afternoon. The others slept, I learn´t some Spanish (which I have been very lazy on) and Laura packed because she got a job offer that she has to start on Monday in Panajachel, Guatemala. So it was a little sad to see her leave that night, but she was excited about her job so thats the main thing. So now it´s just the 4 of us here in Mexico and soon it will be only 3 when Rob goes home.
The next day was a Saturday so we just relaxed for the whole day. It seems that Aprils and my body clock has decided that we have to get up at 7am, so thats what we did, but the others stayed in bed for a little longer. Ticul is actually a really cute little rural town, and I went exploring as I usually do. Found the supermarket and they were having some kind of fiesta so I checked that out. There was also a market in one of the streets that they had closed off which was interesting to see. On Sunday we left for a tiny town called Xpujil (she-pu-hil) as that was the base of a couple of nearby sites and Calakmul about 100kms away. We had originally planned to stay here for 3 nights so that April and I could spend one day visiting the smaller sites, then one day at Calakmul as well, but it was so small and I felt a little unsafe and there wasn´t really much to do so I suggested that after April and I see our sites we should go straight to Calakmul and stay the night there in this eco-resort place. It was a little pricey to what we are used to but it was really nice...well I enjoyed it at least; I can´t really speak for the others. They may have been a little bored actually because there was no TV, no internet, no phones, and absolutely nothing to do...I think thats why I loved it, it reminded me of being at El Mirador, which actually isn´t that far away. Anyways i´ve skipped a day...the Monday April and I visited 3 sites. It was supposed to be 4 but the first one that we went to at the crack of dawn was shut and even though we waited 30 minutes after the opening time, still no one came. So we went to the next one, which was actually in Xpujil...a little disappointing at first because the reconstruction on one of the buildings made it look like a boat, but it redeemed itself when we saw the main pyramid; really cool architecture and different than anything that we have seen. It got even better when we found a secret passage (well it wasn´t really a secret at all), but we climbed through and it came out on a platform at the top of one of the pyramids so we sat there for a while and contemplated life as we usually do.
The next site was Chicanña and was only 11kms from the town. This site was amazing and I can´t believe that we´d never heard about it before. The Rio Bec style of architecture is definitely my favourite and this site has some of the best examples of it. There was this huge serpent head facade surrounding the doorway of one of the buildings and it made it look like you were walking into the mouth of the snake. The best part about it was the preservation; it still had paint on it and the wall next to it still had a painted hieroglyph. I was so in awe of this site, still am actually. The last site that we saw that morning was Becán, which is the biggest site in the region. This too was very impressive and the building style was the same so I loved it. One of the good things about these sites is that you usually have them all to yourself and you can climb almost everything. It´s pretty funny when you rock climb up the back side of the building not knowing that on the front there is a perfectly good staircase that you can use; even has a rope. We got a pretty big suprise when we stumbled across an almost perfectly preserved mask on the side of one of the buildings. It was behind plexi-glass so we couldn´t really get good photographs, but seeing that was amazing! This too had paint on it and all different colours...I can´t help but wonder why this stuff was never taught to us at university?? April and I were just saying today actually how much you learn physically being here at the sites and seeing all the different building techniques and styles, its so fascinating.
Well we could have stayed at Becán all day but we had Rob and Amy waiting for us at the hotel so we had to return to pick them up and drive to Calakmul. The drive didn´t take long at all and I must say that it fells good to be driving again...i´ve kind of missed it and i´m sure April has also. The hotel that we stayed at as I mentioned before was really nice, so quiet and secluded, it was so peaceful. It reminded me so much of Mirador and made me miss it all over again...I don´t think I will ever get over how much I miss that place! Anyways, we had some drinks and had some food, a good night was had by all. The next morning we were up bright and early for the 60km drive to Calakmul. April ordered 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast and once again such a simple task was too hard. They were really runny, not the 10 minutes that she told them, so that was a disappointing start to the morning for her, but it was soon redeemed when we got to the site. Calakmul is in the middle of the jungle, (just like Mirador), but has it set up like for tourists. It´s a really big site so there was lots of walking to do and April and I were off like rockets ready to explore...leaving Amy and Rob in our wake. I think they were happy just to see the main stuff and not climb anything so it was ok that we left them. The buildings were massive and the stela were bigger than ive ever seen before and there were so many! The sad thing was they wern´t protected at all so all the carvings and inscriptions were destroyed and no longer legible. But on a happier note you could climb all the buildings here too and we were really impressed with the reconstruction. There were 2 really big pyramids that took a lot of energy to get up but the view was amazing and well worth the effort. When we were at Mirador, someone told us that you could see it from Calakmul, because its only 20kms away, so we looked in the right direction and think we may have seen it in the distance, but theres no way we could be sure. But I like to think that we could see it...so lets say yes, we did. There was actually people working there at the time doing restoration work and the funny thing was, as April and I were walking around 2 guys asked us if we worked there...I guess we were wearing the same clothes that we wore at Mirador and walking round like we had a purpose...maybe we actually look like archaeologists now. We told them no and that we were only tourists... I wish we could have been working there!
So we left Calakmul around 12pm and started driving to Palenque. We decided that because April and I have already been to Plaenque and all the sites look the same to Rob and Amy, that we would just stay the night then continue on to Oaxaca. We got to Palenque around 5pm then changed our plans again and went to Oscosingo; a couple of hours further on. The drive through the mountains was really nice until it got dark and you couldn´t see the pot holes or speed bumps, which are everywhere. But we fnally made it and got a hotel. Actually the plans have changed again and now, because we have picked up a few days extra by having the car and skipping a site, we have decided to spend 2 night in San Christobel before going to Oaxaca. I can´t believe this Mexican trip is going to be over in 10 days!!! Time has gone so quickly and the next 2 months are going to be over in no time at all. Before we know it we´ll be home and April will be sorting out her honours stuff and I´ll be....well actually I don´t know what I´ll be doing; finding a job I guess. Welcome to the real world.
