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  • Day 152

    Merida Part Two

    April 13, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Following a similar theme as the day before we were starting a busy day with some Mayan ruins, except the day's were much larger and further away from Merida. We arrived at the ruins of Uxmal (Oosh-mal) by mid morning and when we entered the first ruin that we saw is the 37m tall 'Magician's House'. Unusually for Mayan temples or palaces it is rounded, but was topped with a very ornate structure that at one time could have been entered and is quite typical of this type of building with a big difference being that we could see the ornate carvings that covered every bit of the building. As we continued walking through the complex the next part we came to is named The Quadrangle - it is a large parade ground like square surrounded on all sides by long buildings, almost all of which are set about 5m above ground level by solid stone bases. As we entered the square we saw the incredible detailed carvings that reminded us of those at Angkor Wat. The buildings and decorative carvings had clearly been very heavily restored to demonstrate what they would have originally looked like, and wow they were impressive! Every inch of the hundreds and hundreds of metres of stonework was covered in carvings depicting the rain god Chaac (very important to the Mayans in this areas as it's basically a desert for most of the year!), serpents, jaguars and other animals that held power in their culture. We were awed by the square and could see over the nearby jungle to more of the site which we spent another couple of hours exploring. By the time we'd reached the far side and end of our self-guided tour the complex had amazed us with the level of detail and number of restored structures and it was by far the best Mayan site we visited in all of Central America!

    It was now lunchtime so we drove a short distance to a nearby Hacienda that has been converted into an events venue and restaurant. We parked up and walked through the lovely gardens to the main building which now houses the restaurant. We sat surrounded by fountains and a courtyard full of colourful flowers and enjoyed the buffet lunch the restaurant is well-known for. The theme was, of course, Mexican food with lots of Yucatan specialities we'd both tried and been keen to try. The food was really good and we ate plenty, then feeling the need to work some of it off we walked around the rest of the grounds and found both a swimming pool and a cenote...why not have both! 10 minutes up the road from the gorgeous Hacienda is a famous cenote, and having gotten suitably hot and dusty at Uxmal we needed to cool off and relax so we followed the signs that led us down a few miles of bumpy dirt track before we found a few dozen cars parked around a hole in the ground that was starting to become recognisable to us. As fast as we could we changed into our swimming gear and descended the wooden staircase into the cenote. It was similar in size to the first at Cuzama but that was the only similarity really as this one was so full of other tourists it wasn't very relaxing, although it was still very beautiful. One half of the water was shallow enough to stand and the other had a few people bobbing around in it, but mainly the deeper sections were reserved for something else. Half way up the stairs to the entrance was a larger step that, if you climbed through the wooden handrail, was the perfect place to jump 5m into the water. I watched a few people do this before having a go myself, twice! The jumping itself was great fun but climbing through the barrier required me to lean out quite far over the edge to get through the small gap (not so fun!), but it was worth it.

    Back in Merida that evening we had dinner and a marquesita - how could we not, when they're so unique?

    Friday was our final day in Merida and we hadn't planned too much what we wanted to do, however feeling exhausted from the busy week we had a slow start and then headed to one of the closest Mayan sites to Merida, Dzibilchaltun. Another significant site in it's heyday we were hoping for another impressive site and we weren't disappointed. The majority of the structures here were smaller and more like pyramids, including one that was over 100m long. In what would have been the central plaza there was also a more 'modern' looking building, which we found out was the remains of a church that was built in the 16th century by Spaniards using the stones of the ruins that surrounded the building. This was the second time (the first was the monastery at Izamal) we'd seen this in the week in the Yucatan area and that gives an indication of how widescale this practice was in the country.

    The highlight of the Dzibilchaltun site is a large, pyramid shaped structure named 'The Temple of Seven Dolls' (after the seven dolls that were found inside...) that is 10 minutes walk away from the main structures and we reached it by following a long limestone road that had also been excavated at the site and impressively it was in fairly good condition considering what it's made from and how old it is (about 1000 years!). The temple we reached at the end is incredibly popular during the spring and autumn equinoxes when, at the right time of day, the sun can be seen in the centre of the building atop the pyramid. This would've been an incredible sight to have seen, but the building itself was impressive and we imagined what it would have been like during a Mayan festival in all it's grandeur. As we reached the temple it was well into the heat of the day and we realised our mistake in having a lie-in and missing the cool of the morning, so feeling completely exhausted by the heat we made our way back to the car, stopping on the way at the very good museum which contained hundreds of incredibly well preserved and restored artefacts from around the site including a pok ta pok goal-ring and a huge 8ft tall stellae.
    We'd originally hoped to swim in the open-air cenote that can be found in the midst of the Mayan structures however it was closed sadly, but at least we got to see it at it's picture-perfect best! We headed back into Merida for a late lunch where Beth ate a kilo or two (I am NOT exaggerating!) of loaded nachos then fell into a food coma - she did have some help from me too... As it was going to be our last afternoon in Merida we relaxed in the hotel and both enjoyed an incredible massage. That evening we knew that the Mayan game of Pok ta Pok would be recreated in a weekly event in the Main Plaza of the city, but sadly there was really heavy rain that meant it was cancelled so we took a more relaxed approach to the evening and prepared ourselves for one of our last journeys of Mexico and the trip the following day to Valladolid.

    Phil
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