Home » Mexico » Mexico city, San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque, Mayan Riviera

Latin America - part I

Mexico city, San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque, Mayan Riviera

Hector Yague
2005-10-11 10:17:44

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down afterwards with a late evening cocktail named "sex on the beach" or "Elvis is alive". Then, copy/paste that for a week or two and you got your brand new exciting pre-paid holiday package. Yaaaaaawn. That's boring in my book.

Alright then, so Cancun and Playas del Carmen didn't get me wet in the knickers. Well, I took the ferry to the tiny Isla Mujeres, 6 kms offshore off Cancun. Reputedly a pirates and buccaneers hideout in the old times, now a days it's become a quieter, cheaper and more relaxed version of Playas. Still portraying some resorty, gringo-aimed feeling but not as bad as in mainland. Here in Isla Mujeres I got talking to a mid-aged Canadian folk who's opened a pizza-serving stall, years-running now. He likes it in here, you know, slow-pace life, good weather and stuff. He was like: yeah, I cook my pizzas for lunch time, sell them, and then I go back to the office. And then he grins widely and concludes: my office is that hammock you see over there on the beach hahaha! Yeah buddy, I think I could get used to that myself too!

Oh, by the way, here in Isla Mujeres I dipped my smelly toes in the Caribbean Sea for the first time in my life wooohoooo!

Not too far away inland there's the famous Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, which is the most popular among one-day tourists due to its proximity to Cancun and the rest of towns along the Mayan Riviera.

Chichen Itza had been one of the most important e influential epicenters in the Maya world between 800 and 1200 AD, getting abandoned by the end of the XIII century. The main building in the prominent Castle, a perfect pyramid laid out right in the center of an enormous flat yard. Apparently, and only during the spring and autumn equinoxes, a visible effect of a moving serpent can be seen over its steep staircase as the sun rays hit it. I wasn't there during either equinox, so I cannot comment ...