Yucatán - Day 06 - Ek' Balem

Went off to another ruin site today, hopped on a collectivo for 40 pesos and headed to Ek' Balem. Somehow this site gave me a more authentic feel than Chichen. Unfortunately I can't go up to the main structure again :( Why do they have to fix everything all at once?
After the ruin I walked about 1/2 hour to the near by Mayan village. A few traditional Mayan huts and brick houses made up the village. It was much smaller than I expected. People are very friendly there, they greeted me 'hola' wherever I went. I then had a quick lunch at the only tiny comerdo there, had a Pollo soup for 60 pesos, definitely a tourist price.
All day there just seem there weren't a lot of people. There were even less solo travelers, and travelers depending on public transit. At the end I had to wait for a whole hour for the collectivo to collect enough people to come back!

Yucatán - Day 05 - Chichen Itza

With Valladolid as my base, I headed to Chichen Itza for a day trip. I took the long distance bus there and arrived with no problem. The weather was perfect, they say this is the coolest winter they've seen. I arrived at around 10 am, not too many people were there yet, most of the shops were still setting up. Some mentioned to me they only spent 2 hours there, but I managed to spend a good 4 hours there. Having seen Angkor Wat, seems to me Chichen Itza frails in comparison. None of the structure were opened to public, so can only view from outside. Never the less, it is magnificent. The story behind the structure were mysterious, and fascinating with all the human sacrificing rituals, and gave me a weary feeling. There were two deep cenotes in the site, which said the site where live people were flown into as sacrifices to the gods. I swear I can see bodies floating on it's lake.

Afterward I headed back to Valladolid and tasted some local food across the main square. My host in Cozumel gave me a list of local food to try out there. I think I'll eat the rest of my meals in Valladolid there!

Yucatán - Day 04 - Vallaadolid

After Cozumel, I traveled inland to the west and arrived at Valladolid. I took the first class bus and arrived without difficulties. Things are cheaper here, many small old streets, but relatively more polluted air, and got my first mosquito bite.

Compare to my hostel in Cozumel, the hostel I'm staying here seems to be a run down. I'm a little bit regretful not spending more. Never the less this seems to be an interesting colonial style city, with lots of photo ops.

My sore throat is not going away, hopefully it won't affect my trip, not even half way through yet!

Yucatán - Day 03 - Isla Cozumel

My second day of diving, first time diving through tunnels. I was quite worried about my skill at first as this is only my 4th dive, and first deep dive. But I made it through and it was fantastic, and magical! I saw sharks, turtles, but the most magical thing was all the colorful fish, big and small, lone and in groups swimming in unison. There's no other experience like diving. And I can see it can get addictive. Once you're in certain depth, you wanna go deeper.

And this concludes my stay in Cozumel. At the end I didn't get to tour around the island, traffic was a problem too as it happened to be the Iron Men competition today, but the diving trip made it up plentiful.

Yucatán - Day 02 - Isla Cozumel

Freedom 37, at least temporary, having the whole house for myself, put on little jazzy music on my smart phone, lying in the open lounge, documenting my 1st day in Cozumel, as the host couple themselves are out partying in downtown. Well anyway there isn't much to document, such is the life in Cozumel, it's always tranquilo, relaxed, nothing is marked on stones until last minute. Main activity for me today was scuba diving, a refresher course from my host himself, the first time I see reefs in real clear water actually! I wish there were more fish, but this is good enough for a refresher course. Afterward, after we docked, while the other customers went away, we just remain sitting on the boat chilled and chatted away with beers in our hands. They were speaking Spanish most of the time, which I didn't understand, but was able to guess some of the more obvious jokes. I just sat, observed, laughed, and enjoyed life with them.

Stuff here is not exactly cheap, almost North American price, but most people here are friendly and honest. Business doesn't seems to be very good. "It used to be better" seems to be what most loccal would say.

Yucatán - Day 01 - Isla Cozumel

After 5 hrs flight, an hour bus ride, 45min ferry ride, and lots of wait time, I'm finally here at my hostel in Cozumel. I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm the only guest here, and I get to have the big room! I had problem with my bank card and the host provided me free long distance call to rectify the problem! I'm soooo lucky I brought some cold cash with me!

My bus ride to the ferry turned out to be a share taxi ride, paid more than double 'cause I can't find the bus station, and I was too tired so I got tricked to take the taxi, but still pretty good for taxi. Amazingly turned out the other passenger is a native from Hastings, who used to do all kinds of drugs but came clean. Now he's doing the bucket list, and helping people to come off drugs too! This is really an amazing experience, even though my mind is too tired to grip the whole meaning of this special encounter.

Now I'm super tired. I'm stuck between going diving tomorrow with my host or sleep all day. Such a nice hostel here, especially I get to be the only one!

Yucatán - Day 00 - Depature

Oh it's that feeling again, the familiar anxiety of standing at the gateway into the unknown, into a brand new country, a new city, a new language, a new culture, a new airport, a new transportation system. It is at the same time intimidating, wanting to retreat, yet knowing needing to move forward, using will power to wipe out all fears, hoping and looking forward to a fulfilling and satisfying end of the journey.

Getting there is always the most stressful. This time I'll need to make many transfers in order to get from the airport to my first destination, Isla Cozumel.

I have to say this trip is one of my least prepared trip. So far I have only planned out my transportations. In 2 weeks I'll visit 4 cities. I have a rough idea what to do in each, but do not have a solid plan like I had in previous trips. Inspired by the other backpackers I've met, I'm hoping my itinerary this time will be more fluid. Hopefully I can gather enough information when I get there, and won't end up sitting in the hostel lounge all day.

Safety is another big concern for me this time, as there has been lots of stories of theft and violence, told personally to me and through the Internet. I hope being alert all the time won't spoil this supposedly relaxing de-stressing vacation.