Well we have a lot of specials these days… In the meantime, my freshly jacuzzied and showered behind – so chlorined and desanded – is sitting on a luxurious office chair in the hotel close to Cancun airport. I’m taking it decadent before starting for the last nomad trip with three airplanes back home. Almost like going home from New Zealand. Except for the sad fact that Delta offers wine in Tetra packs, which actually makes me drink sparkled water with lemon 🙂
Anyhow this is serious business as far as the special topic is concerned. I did not manage to cut down the amount of pictures so hold on to your scrolling devices… In terms of writing, I’m too lazy to check the correct spelling of all the ancient cities I’ve visited, so mind you I’ll take things with ease as do Mexican bus drivers and just write what it sort of sounds like in my ears or rather in my memory…
Ouuuuuh my dinner just entered. Bad luck for the blog. With FRESH PAPAYA JUICE. I overheard tourists talk about that. „There’s no real taste to Papaya!“.
Hello?
I know you can discuss taste but honestly – in this case – are you nuts or what. Bavarian bad language is slowly trying to re-enter my brain but I’ll swallow it for another day or so.
Great I’m not sure the pics uploaded in chronological order which means I’m lost again. Well guys. Before you start making comments (really really nasty one, dear United Kingdom I am sort of waiting for it now, you realize that?! Maybe try find a nicer word for verbal diarrhea please, if possible, Montezumas verbal revenge as a first proposal) — if you wish proper information, come over to my place to eat Oaxaca worm powder on naranjas and I’ll prepare myself properly. In some barbarian way.
Anyhow wherever it is – think it’s Mayan and if I have to take a guess, might be Kabah in Yucatan where there is this cool temple with the local Mayan rain god (it was the equivalent of Tlaloc but he’s named differently) covering it all over. He has a famous crooked nose and our guide – Wilber (or Wilbert??) kept telling us about all the phallus symbols Mayans used. Which got me kind of obsessed. So I finally take a tour guide instead of killing a small bag of chips in a shadowy place (which became my ouh-its-hot-another-ancient-city-ritual) and he keeps telling us about phalluses. And how you have to use your imagination. Like the archeologists. If they smoke enough „good stuff“.
This is Uxmal and the only oval pyramid with round corners. I hesitate to say „in the world“ as you never know what lies yet hidden under Mexican jungle (selva!)…. But I really like that. I skipped out on Chichen Itza after the hotel lady told me you don’t have a minute to yourself thanks to all the vendors. They couldn’t find a compromise on how to regulate it, so they ended up not regulating it at all. Which means I did not get a second chance after Teo to find myself a jaguar-making-sound-device (which I was firmly planning to use in Munich)…. but I very much enjoyed Uxmal, which I originally wanted to skip. Plus Kabah (as we assume above) was included on the tour…
Talking of imagination – take a second look and see the face around the entrance on the top – you’ll be entering its mouth…
Mexican archeologists are really cute. Uxmal was I think the one done best in terms of renovation – nowadays they use the old methods to rebuild stones and wall instead of concrete, which actually makes it real fun to watch.
In turn, this means you can count stones. I thought that was funny. Given the opportunity to put a small number somewhere on the stone (which may end up in endless searching, now that I start to think about it), you do have a nice wall at the end – with looooots of numbers. „Number driven“ gets a whole new meaning. Ouuuuh I shouldn’t have said that, office thoughts keep popping up!
Some gods, some old masters of Mayan desasters – who knows. I just love the picture.
As I have mentioned sooomewhere before Mexicans also invented cartoons. If you don’t like something you can find on this picture, noone can help you any more in terms of humour. I took pics cause I think it’s a great inspiration to find logos – very different style to what’s currently in. This was in the Palenque museum and I’m not sure cause my Spanish was not good enough – I think they redid a copy of the original, it just looks too good…
I really liked Palenque as well. And if you go there – take the exit to the museum not down the road, but through the jungle, there are signs on the pyramid-grounds. You pass by beautiful waterfalls – which actually reminded me of Pamukale (however you write that) in Turkey. Nope you were not allowed to bath…
Palenque. British lawn. Beautiful. What else is there to say.
Actually that might have been the one I climbed up. All on my own. A little scared. To go down…. I was a little sick (thanks for asking – it was a cold thanks to San Cristóbal aftermaths and thanks to touri-bus-airconditioning, I’m not American enough to tackle that), so I took it slow that day. And declined to climb the one in the background. Which made me angry later cause I think this might have been the one where you can enter on top and climb down (on the inside) to see some – I bet my sombrero on that – empty tomb. Well. Put that on the list of reasons to come back.
Jump to Yanchilac. This is how the stairs look if they’re not all taken care of. Sort of leading a life of its own. I like that. By the way Mexicans are a little obsessed with stairs. We know where it comes from, huh…
Views.
If you see decent sun / rain protection, you know archeologists are at work. There were actually hammering around, probably repairing the stairs in a good way. Which is why you were not allowed to climb. Honestly I didn’t feel to sorry about it, think this would have needed external hand-holding help against my fear of heights.
The tomb of the red queen – la reina roja. Yes they did find a skeleton in there plus loads of things – all in a museum now. As usual I wonder and hope nobody digs out my remains after a lot of time and exhibits them in a museum. And naaw you can’t just walk up to it – there’s a fence in front of the room-entry, but I found a slot for my camera…
Welcome to Bonampak. Famous mainly for one building with three rooms covered with another Mexican classic – mural paintings. Now we know those were invented by the Egyptians (…), but this is as far as I understand the only place in Mexico with a decisively different climate where you can still see the original colours and get an impression of how all of the old cities looked like. In one way or the other. The pyramids were all coloured, oftentimes in bright dark red, and the carvings must have been colourful as well…
Already in D.F. in the antropological museum I figured the Mayans were a little —- insane. I mean seriously. Their art has a way of not being quiet but rather disturbing, but in a sneaky sort of way. Then again it’s cheerful in a morbid way, as if expressing shamelessly a military and seemingly not too human regime.
Seee the skuuuuull…?! Nice hairdress. I mean like the hairbangs I got in D.F., maybe I should not talk about being lunatic.
The eyes were destroyed a lot of times – haven’t found out (yet) why, so I tried to post pics WITH the eyes – I think they are really expressive.
This is Bonampak from the outside. The sight is small, but as usual loads of stuff is hidden around in the forest. Yeah this might sound exciting to go and explore and you can quite easily do so on your own or with a guide. Just that once you hear about Mexican beasts – namely the MOSQUITO (special award goes to the Isla Holbox breed) – you might still consider. But once you’ve gotten to know them personally and you know it gets much worse in the jungle, you’ll just consider where to have your next meal and no more.
This is Yaxchilan (yes now I looked it up…) , actually in wrong oder (but I am still too lazy…) – this is what we saw after having climbed a mountain of stairs. Yanchilac was by far my favourite place to go – right here on the border to Guatemala and with inexplicable beauty right in the heart of the jungle. Like a preserved breath from faraway times…
I realized the strength of the light only when seeing the photos, who have turned out ok but not half as beautiful as real life. If you do have a chance to pass by this city, do it – this is a clear recommendation. What follows is the view of the mountains of steps and mind you it’s real difficult (I am exaggerating but so be it) to climb up, watch your step, keep looking around AND wave away hords of mosquitoes. Was good training for Isla Holbox so.
This is the river which takes you on a wonderful 30 minute ride to get to Yaxchilan – the sesason for high water level so the top of the trees were looking out. I kept watching for crocodiles but whenever I thought I saw one – it was a plastic bottle. Anyhow not a lot of those… And apes instead. Photo proof for that will be found in my special on Mexican beasts, if I still make that. Guys I wanted to watch tv tonight now I’m caught up in another neverending story. Better that way. Well go fetch a taco if you’ve had enough reading!
Next one is a test.
The only oval pyramid in all of Mexico (so far). Now if you have a déjà vue, I compliment your smartness 🙂
If you’re not allowed to use the stairs, you can of course try alternative ways. Montezumas revenge is yours, but I think he was no Maya, so fine with this one.
Okay. Here come my success pics like any good Mexican tourist has to offer *yawn* of Uxmal. I climbed the pyramid and I had great company to do so, or I would have gone for the bag of chips at the bottom… But while you are there and you get convinced and I had people to comfort me on the way down. Well anyhow. The truth? You can tell I’m darn nervous cause I cling to my head. It was a little windy but the thought of my hat flying aaaaall the way down to the stairs RIGHT BEHIND ME made me know I’d never go to save it. And I really like that sombrero.
Had I been on my own on this one, I would have been stuck on the top. This was beyond my comfort zone and I did it, so as usual if that happens barbarian pride at its best.
Which is worth mentioning after having been tackled down with a camera by – as it turned out – GERMAN or dutch tourists on my way down. They were taking pics of my advanced climbing method.
Which involves down on your bud. Next step. Next seat down on your bud. Next step. And just hold on with your hands to the steps above you. Next time I’ll bring a cushion. A nice slippery one with textile design of Chiappas.
In case you wondered: the hat got stored safely in my backpack…….
Now I’ll tackle down my dinner.
Just thinking I’ve always wondered how to climb those Egyptian pyramids and if I’ll be able to make it in terms of height fear. I think the steps are much broader, aren’t they…..? I have no excuse any more to skip out on that one, as well as I am now a trained mosquito survivor. That opens up a whole new palette of travel destinations – oh joy!