Bus is fairly empty.
Got up at 11:45 and checked out just on time. Got to bus terminal about 12:05, having just missed (tho no big deal) the midday bus. Bought a bottle of water and a couple of Snickers at a kiosk at the terminal, then in the apparent absence of any kind of cafe I left the terminal (still wheeling my enormous suitcase), fought my way through the horde of taxi drivers and managed to spot a 'Chicken Factory' across the road.
The street outside the bus terminal is lined with diagonally parked cars and taxis to ensure there is no chance of you crossing the road at the point you want to if you have even the smallest item of luggage. You have to go down to the end of the street. Here crossing is facilitated by six-inch high kerbs and a couple of fast food stands.
The woman in Chicken Factory was very pleasant but they clearly cooked my (somewhat overly crisp) two pieces of chicken and chips to order. I only had about 30-35 mins by the time I got over there and I think it took about 10 for the food to be ready, maybe even 15. And of course as it was freshly cooked it was damn hot. So I wolfed it down as best I could, washed my hands in their toiletless bathroom and fought my way back across the road to the terminal.
I would have gone for a piss at the terminal (not that I am desperate, just as a precaution) but apart from the fact they charge you and I was a bit pushed for time, it is helpfully upstairs. With today's anti-gravity suitcases that is a snap, but it must have been a nuisance back in ye olden days.
We have left anyway. Bus is pretty empty. I have a nasty feeling they will not tell me when we get to Piste but who knows.
I also have a suspicion this is one of those buses that will acquire more passengers en route.
While it lacks a toilet (which I did suspect would be the case) the bus is OK. It's air conditioned and it's more of a coach than a bus really, I have just got into a bad habit of calling everything a bus.
Stupidly spent a little time listening to music when I go back last night, it was actually light outside when I went to bed (about 6?). Still, no big deal. I got up OK. I sort of hope I don't want to sleep on the bus due to doubts about them telling me when we get there.
Oh, I oddly have two lumps which I assume are mosquite bites, one on my arse and the other on the small of my back. I have to assume the damn things managed to get under the sheet overnight, although I find that a bit implausible.
While fending off the cab drivers I caught myself saying 'no' in the English way. Man, it's hard to break the habit.
14:20. If I didn't already mention it, I could have got a nicer and faster bus, but there's one a day and it leaves at 9am. So even if I hadn't been out so late, no chance. I'd rather have a slower journey starting at a civilised hour.
I just hate the uncertainty in knowing when to get off. I am safe for about an hour more and then I think it will really start to prey on my mind.
14:25. Technology to the rescue. I just dug up the latitude and longitude of Piste on the web and put them on my GPS, so although I am still slightly dubious, I can now have some kind of clue as to where we are. We are currently 134km away which seems a bit close given I have a vague idea this is a four hour plus trip (though I didn't ask, that is based on my guide book). But maybe the bus is going to take a very indirect route which will waste time.
I finally took off the peeling screen protector which has been on the GPS since I got it. Amazing how sharp the display looks now.. :-)
15:20. Bus about half full, so having a double seat to myself starts to feel a bit awkward. I am getting hacked off by people continually shuffling up and down the aisle (not always the same people of course). I don't mind the frequent stopping and starting too much but now the bus is fuller the flow of passengers is more intrusive.
Fired the GPS back up, a bit over 100km away so I reckon I'm 'safe' for at least another hour.
16:05. 67km away. Feeling a bit tired and cold. Think I did drift off for 15 mins, woken by an enormous jolt as we drove over some kind of speed bump. It's raining quite heavily, I hope I am not going to end up in the middle of nowhere. I suspect there's still at least an hour to go but it becomes a little less comfortable to assume it.
Jesus. The street in this smallish town (maybe Chemax, judging from a few signs) we are stopped in is about an inch deep in water. There are waves on the surface FFS.
16:45. We just pulled into Vallo-whatsit bus terminal, it actually had a sign (though I can no longer see it). We are 40km from Piste according to GPS.
Engine turned off, I trust this is just a toilet kind of stop and not a mandatory one. I don't need to go and I'd rather not leave the bus somehow. It's probably an hour absolute tops to Piste now. Man, I am so not looking forward to that. Horrific visions of no taxis.
This place is not tiny by any means, either based on recollections of my guide book or just looking around. So I guess if push comes to shove I can probably flag a bus down and come back here tonight. Really don't want to as I'd probably manage to forfeit my rather expensive hotel room while still ending up paying for it. But it's good to have options I guess.
Valladolid. That's it. It just will not stick in my memory though.
18:00. OK. This bites. I am at the hotel.
Naturally the bus didn't stop in Piste, or if it did we stopped for 5 seconds in some hole of a town where no one got on except an itinerant vendor. We pulled up at some vaguely museum-y structure where I noticed a sign saying 'taxis to Piste' so I got off there. I could swear the driver said 'Merida'. I have no idea where that place was. Maybe it was Chichen Itza. I doubt it because Chichen Itza doesn't seem to exist in any definite place.
I got a taxi OK for 70 pesos, or damn near as much as it cost me to come all the way from Cancun to the weird white museumy building..
Driver knew the hotel and was nominally helpful but told me all sorts of incomprehensible stuff which just worries me. He also seemed overly keen to sign me up for tours but I wasn't being taken in while disoriented.
The ruins may be 3km from the hotel. Something is 3km from somewhere, 5km when you add a bit extra on, according to the taxi driver. According to the hotel web site the ruins are a 10 minute walk.
Of course the ruins are fucking enormous so I have no idea how you manage to see them all when you don't have a car or tour.
The hotel is foul. It's way too fancy and has "gouge you for cash at every opportunity" written all over it. The room is OK if not fantastic, and the door won't lock from inside. there is no keyhole or bolt. Just one of those 'allow the door to open a bit and no more' security gadgets.
The guy at receiption took a blank signed imprint for my credit card. That seems dubious but maybe it's just the low tech equivalent to them taking the card as a deposit. I wanted to pay today but he said to pay tomorrow. Because yeah, I want to dick around with that tomorrow morning. Some incomprehensible crap about paying any restaurant bills at the same time. I mean, that makes sense but at the same time he said they had some special offer which included (if I remember rightly, I was drowning in information and a sense of financial insecurity at the time) breakfast and dinner for some number of pesos that flowed over me but you have to buy a ticket for that in advance at reception. Why can't that go on the bill?
The hotel seems near deserted (not that I came here expecting to meet people), a couple of languid and rather offensively something twats lounging around.
I have no idea what I am going to do about food. I have no idea how far Piste is but if it's that hole which is the closest habitation the bus passed through I cannot eat there, it looked the sort of place where the only dining places are intimidatingly local. And of course it would probably cost 50-200 pesos at a guess to get a taxi there and back.
But I don't want to eat at the hotel, it is too fancy and I don't expect any of the food to be edible.
I don't think there are any food places at Chichen Itza either although I didn't really understand what the taxi driver told me.
And of course the hotel is in the middle of nowhere and I am far from convince Piste will have a regular grocery store, so even making do with biscuits and the like seems dubious.
I am sure I'm just reacting badly but I really do feel frankly stranded and lost. I am not even sure how the fuck I get out of here, since Piste probably doesn't run to a bus terminal. I suppose I would have to get a taxi from the hotel to the white museumy building, wait there for some random bus to turn up and then try to make a connection from wherever it takes me. I suppose I could maybe go to the optimistic extent of assuming I could get a bus to the unmemorisable Val-whatsit place and connect there.
So it's 18:10 and I have nothing to do and no reliable prospect of anything to eat tonight. The latter is no major deal but it's annoying. I'm lugging enough reserves around on my waist not to have any severe worries and I have those Snickers bars I picked up at the terminal and I did already eat once. I think I am going to go for a sullen walk out at the front of the hotel and see if I can see any signs of civilisation.
Oh, fuck knows if there is a bar here. I dare say it will be ridiculously overpriced but at least beer is beer and they can't wankify it up to make it undrinkable as they can with the food.
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