Greetings earthlings,
I write to you hastily from an internet cafe in the hope that I will finish this post before they cut me off in an unknown amount of time. I don't have too much to report though. Yesterday we arrived in Piste, a small town just outside the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. It's in stark contrast to the over-glamourised ruins (of which I'll discuss shortly), as most people tend to do day trips to the ruins, very few people actually stay in Piste. This means wonderfully local food and ambience, which suits me fine. Our hotel does have a pool though. This also suits me fine.
We walked around Piste which seems to be a run of the mill small Mexican town, bazillions of stray dogs, small food stalls run by friendly locals and not much else. We did have dinner in a restaurant that served me up a strawberry colada, which again, suited me just fine.
Today we walked into Chichen Itza (it was an entire 1.5km. Crazy) to be inundated with tourists and cheesy souvenirs spouted by sadly english speaking vendors. They even bartered themselves down frequently to try to make a sale to the plethora of gringos swarming around the entrance and throughout the ruins.
The ruins ARE the best preserved/restored in the country, but unfortunately lack the magic of Palenque. This may be in part due to the aforementioned tourists, but I think the beauty of the rainforest is something that cannot be replaced, even if you extract the thousands of sweaty tourists. They were nice, I guess, but after having seen Palenque I was just left with a feeling of disappointment and cheap tacky tourism in my mouth. Word to the wise - if you travel to Mexico, either skip Chichen Itza or see it BEFORE Palenque.
Anyway, not much else is going on - I'm headed off for dinner, and tomorrow off to Isla Mujeres where I will be relaxing on Caribbean beaches. I hate my life, I truly do.
Chicken Pizza photos
