Didn't want to get up of course, was awake anyway due to alarms at 5:15-ish, knock on the door at 5:30, stupidly pushed it til 5:40 then finally got up. Not feeling great but not totally knackered either. I vaguely hope we will get a better bus today.
Didn't go to bed super early but I think I was in bed by about 11. I faffed around a bit letting the mobile charge and setting the laptop up to upload some more photos to Skegness overnight.
The tour description says to bring indentification and the other company's English version says passport. I have the passport in my hidden belt (as nearly always - though I left it at the hotel yesterday in case it got nicked while I was swimming, not that that would have been an issue of course as it turned out) but I do wonder why it's necessary. Some two day tours go to Flores in Guatemala but the one day versions don't. I can only assume there may be checkpoints.
(I did consider a two day tour for maybe 30 seconds, but while I could have stayed yet another day, it didn't really appeal. I have no idea what the overnight accommodation would be like and while for all I know Flores is really cool, it has a slight 'ticking off another country' feeling which is probably in my head but still.)
Sky is only just beginning to get light. Seemed a bit odd, intimidating even, to open the hotel room door and find it dark outside.
06:10. Just picked up. Driver asked if I was '109' (my room number). I am not a number etc..
Minibus lookd superficially the same as yesterday's. My heart genuinely sank a bit. But it's not, the seats lack the little quirks that so harmed the comfort yesterday. For a start there are seatbelts which ignoring any safety benefits may aid comfort if the roads are twisty. The seat also reaches all the way to the wall and has no stupid lumps.
19:10. Down at bar was at yesterday (Saraguato's). Just got back. Going to have one or two then pop back to my hotel and book accommodation in Oaxaca City for Sunday night onwards.
Will waffle about today later. Not a bad day but I am slightly knackered.
19:40. Radio is on here. Some Spanish language song is on but the music is decidedly reminiscent of "Whiter Shade of Pale", although it's clearly not a cover.
21:15. OK. Been back to the hotel, booked a hostel for Sun-Tue nights and left a few more photos uploading.
Bit hacked off as the camera apparently doesn't remember it has taken more than 10000 photos. Filenames include 4 digits and it indicates past that using different directories. With switching cards it seems to have got confused and rolled back the count. So my photos now no longer have unique filenames. This is no massive deal, even if it's annoying, but I need to be very careful about deleting things now.
Anyway, the trip. Sat next to a youngish Japanese woman on the bus out who was getting a transfer to Flores, Guatemala. The itinerary on the leaflet from the tour agency was bollocks but we did at least get everything in.
We stopped off for a half-decent buffet breakfast on the way. After we dropped that woman off at the border post, we (a largish group, although only two had travelled down with me - two women from Mexico City) got some boat down the Usmacinta river (which forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala at that point) for about half an hour to Yaxchilan. That was quite cool, though the boat seemed both rather fast and rather unstable and I didn't get a life jacket. But hell, there would be worse ways to go.
We then had a guided tour of Yaxchilan (MXN50 extra), which was fairly interesting, I got the gist of most of it though some of the details and a lot of the dates passed me by. What wasn't so cool was that we entered the site via some labyrinth about which the guide said (in Spanish, of course) "don't touch the walls as there are bats and spiders". Fan-fucking-tastic. Dark as hell in there, my phone providing no illumination. I was the last in the group. Of course everyone else was doddering along and the guide was talking and I'm stood there in the dark visualising a tarantula on the wall a few inches from my head. I didn't flip out but I came closer than I would like. I did see a few bats but fortunately no spiders. I mentioned how happy I was about this to one of those women from DF later on and she said there were some. But apparently they had small bodies and long legs making them maybe 3 inches in diameter. Which is frankly big enough, but not as bad as I had imagined. And I di
dn't see any, so they didn't exist. :-)
Rather hot and sweaty climbing up the pyramids etc but fairly cool.
There were loads of butterflies around, especially near the landing point. Big clumps of the things on the ground, almost like flies on a chunk of rotting meet. Also got to see some small pineapple bushes. I already knew they grew on bushes, but it was cool to see it with my own eyes.
We then got the boat back (a bit longer, as it was against the current, though I don't know how much longer). I got a lifejacket that time, which was enormously uncomfortable.
We seemed to pick up a few other people in our bus after lunch, when we went to Bonampak. An hour's guided tour there (another MXN50), which was also quite cool if not amazing. (Apparently back in the day you had to fly to visit it - they showed us the grass landing strip. I am not sure it would have been worth it, but it would have been much cooler).
We stopped off at the breakfast place for half an hour on the way back. Despite having had some chat with the two women from DF earlier I was surlily half-awake at this point (having drowsed fitfully on the bus as I was feeling knackered) and l loitered outside reading about Oaxaca in my guide book.
Those two women gave me a few tips, I may go to Montealban (sp) for a day trip from Oaxaca City, though it is not too clear there are decent tours. You can apparently walk it in an hour and a half so I may cab it out and walk back with GPS assistance. We will see
The bar I am at now has chairs that are so heavy they are practically immovable.
Vague plan for tomorrow is to leave everything at the hotel all day. I may go over to the ruins and buy a bottle of water etc there, but I am also keen not to get all sweaty when I have a 15h bus trip etc. So if I check out at 12 and have to get the bus at 5, I may just dine sumptuously and loiter around drinking coffee. Guess it depends how I feel tomorrow.
I don't know if the boat from Frontera Corozal to Yaxchilan was necessary or purely a little bit of extra entertainment.
Everywhere immediately visible round here looks pretty dead (I am near the hotel). I know it's a bit hotel-y but still, it's Friday night! Waiter just asked if I wanted anything else, I hope this is just over-solicitousness not 'drink up, you've been geeking out too long instead of swigging, and we're shutting'.
While at Yaxchilan, before we got to the labyrinth, someone pointed out what I thought she called an 'arañita'. I had to look. It was actually a very small frog (rana, I looked it up just after), so I guess she said 'ranita'.
(Earlier on we saw an incredibly squashed large-ish frog on some path. At first I thought 'that's a squashed frog', then I thought it was a dirty small plastic bag which looked a bit like a frog, then we established it was a squashed frog after all. I was amazed how well the shape had been retained. It was sufficiently old and/or squashed that it lacked the gory impact it might otherwise have had.)
22:30. Left there, they were dead and I knew from asking if I could get the second beer they shut at 11. Down at El Huachinango Feliz (I infer a huachinango is a fish of some kind from the logo) next door now. Far from lively but there are a couple of tables occupied so it seems a better bet. I am not out for a session but given I am probably not aiming to check out before 12 I wouldn't mind a few relaxed ones. I suspect I may struggle and/or have to hop around the bars near the hotel but we shall see.
My electronic dictionary says it is a Mexican word for 'red snapper'. Quite impressed it knew.
The guide at Yaxchilan said we should ask if we had any questions and that maybe his Spanish wasn't great as he only used it for work, as he spoke some local language the rest of the time. He seemed pretty damn fluent all the same. He was chatting away with the two women from DF on the boat back. (I couldn't keep up and unless re-invited back into the conversation contented myself with staring around.)
I think I was the only native English speaker on the tour, though there were two or three French women (judging partly from overhearing but mostly from catching a glimpse of their guide book). It's odd, I have heard quite a few Americans at one or two of the bars near the hotel. Maybe they just aren't doing these tours.
It appears that in this part of Mexico 'michelada' means what I originally thought it did, i.e. a michelada cubana.
Those women earlier sort of implied they expected me to be flying to Oaxaca City. I suspect I could have, and maybe it would have been a smarter use of time, but somehow it seems oddly more appealing to take buses when I can.
Oh, I half got the impression they had hired a car to go somewhere tomorrow and invited me to join them. Putting aside any worries about having to be back in time to pick my bags up and get the bus at 5, I might have accepted, but I simply wasn't that clear they were offering and felt it would be awkward to accept (or to decline overly explicitly, so I hope I didn't seem rude by not saying the equivalent of 'thanks a lot, but no') in case I had the wrong end of the stick.
For the record, especially as I haven't said anything bad about it yet, I am staying at Hotel Chablis. Oh, no response - not even a token fobbing off - from hostelworld about the rip off at Chichen Itza yet. If I don't at least get fobbed off in the next few days I may resubmit my whinge. It was a real fucker. In the meantime I shall delude myself they are talking to the hotel to get their version of the facts prior to reimbursing me. :-)
23:00. They seem to be showing a Hellboy film on the screens in the bar. I have never seen any of them but I recognise the main character from tube ads. Just got another beer here.
Just popped in for a slash. Both urinals have a 'soap on a wire' dangling in mid-air over the bowl. I find that rather odd, what on earth is the point?
Was a small (two inch) lizard on the wall under a lamp. I thought it might be plastic until it moved. They're cool though. I gather they eat spiders. :-)
A couple just turned up and seem to have ordered food. So I might hope I won't be turfed out too soon. I do find it hard to believe these places get enough custom to remain open at this time of year though, given how quiet everywhere seems.
Am strongly inclining towards just pottering around the town tomorrow. I may see if the guide book can offer me a museum or similar, but in any case I'm realistically looking at killing four hours tops (check out at midday, back at the hotel 4ish to go to the bus terminal for the bus at 5), I haven't yet actually stepped into the main square (I never got closer than the side nearest my hotel, for whatever reason) or taken any photos of the town and I did already do the ruins pretty thoroughly. They would be worth seeing again but probably not worth the hassle and sweat of seeing them on a day when I have no hotel to return to afterwards.
As we were approaching the ruins at Bonampak a small grasshopper jumped up onto my hand. I may not be the tallest guy in the world but I thought that was pretty impressive. I mean, I was moving at the time. It remained there passively while I fumbled for the camera with my other hand to take a picture, then spontaneously jumped off shortly afterwards. I swear I could almost feel the impulse as it jumped off.
Apparently you can buy grasshoppers (chapulines if memory serves) as snack food in Oaxaca. I may see if I can give that a try. What I always struggle to overcome with these kind of things is not so much fear of the food as some stupid idea the vendor will set me down as a stupid adventure-seeking tourist. Well, I am, so sod it. Though to be fair I also don't like to eat at street stalls generally not because of fears of poor hygiene but because they seem so much more linguistically intimidating that restaurants. The purchase is more compressed and I am scared because the vendor presumably doesn't want to be wasting time with a linguistically challenged tourist when he has other people to serve.
The apparently dining couple have disappeared. Oh well.
23:30. Waiter just said they are closing. Sigh. Asked for the bill. This feels UKish. Priceyish bar across street I went to the other night looks populated so will go there I think.
Pricey bar/restaurant across road is practically heaving. Charge 'em high and stack 'em deep.
Having had breakfast and lunch I haven't dined tonight. I think I may call in at Cafe de Yara (v near main square) tomorrow for bistec a la mexicana without tomatoes (but with chili). Having had bistec a la mexicana at the falls the other day, I suspect that's what they left out as a result of the sauce confusion. It was certainly edible with the tomatoes but they did to my mind rather overpower things. I don't dislike tomatoes, but they're better in moderation.
Maybe as it's busier they do have their own background music tonight (this is the place I commented on the music from other places). Very low key. The place seems just a touch too genteel somehow. But it's a beer and what can you do?
A shame I will totally miss the weekend in Oaxaca City but with the 15h bus trip I would only have got Saturday night in even had I not stayed here an extra day. My hostel has totally mixed reviews but I gather it may be a little social, I shall hope I can meet people there and that my loathing of smug young things either doesn't come to the fore or can be suppressed. :-)
Oddly enough (to me), judging both from appearances and the conversational buzz, the clientele here are predominantly Mexican, and certainly not American. I suppose Mexicans are just as liable to choose expensive busy places over cheap empty places as anyone else. (I am continually reminded on the trip of the truism that 'no one wants to eat in an empty restaurant'. In my case it's perhaps a bit unusual in that I fear they are not open or that if they are the staff will resent my presence when they could otherwise shut, but still. This is mainly a lunchtime or early evening observation on my part, nothing to do with late drinking.)
I have seen more people with hand-held fans the last few days than I would ever have expected to do outside a Jane Austen appreciation society convention. I suspect they are practical - I know fanning myself with my baseball cap does no good - but it is a little odd.
Yeah, I could probably eat now but I am not that hungry. That meal tomorrow really appeals. Especially if the frijoles negros are warm. Which may just have been luck. I got some with my lunch today but they were cold so I had a couple of forkfuls and left them. I suspect Mexicans don't care or even prefer them cold, given my experience of frijoles, but I'll take them warm or leave them. And if they could manage a bit of bread with pico de gallo beforehand, that would be splendid. Something to aspire to when I drag myself out of bed at 11.
00:15. Emptied enormously. Me and one other group here.
Just asked if I could get another and got an incomprehensible answer which I infer to mean no. I will sit here a couple of minutes and see if a beer or the bill turns up but I expect the former won't and I will have to ask for the latter. Pretty shit. Just got the bill without asking actually. I wasn't going to push it but this bites so much I may have a brief wander.
00:25. One fairly wanky if busy bar in the area open. Having a Corona and feeling pretty crap. Oh well.
Oddly, videos playing are "Don't you want me baby" and "A little respect" (Erasure), tho they have a DJ with a laptop playing tolerable but rhythm heavy stuff. Why do that? Still, it's not as if we don't do it in the UK too. Makes no sense there either.
Probably the cheapest beer I've had here. MXN15 for a Corona, though due to feeling lost as fuck I told the guy to keep the change from a 20.
Video for 'Blue Monday' now. I can accept what the DJ is playing but I'd rather have the soundtrack to the video.
00:50. Just asked if I can get a michelada here. Waiter asked half litre or litre. Turns out is 50 for a litre so ordered that. I hope I don't regret it. But I think reception is 24h, I am not that drunk and I don't need to be up before 11 even if I pack tomorrow morning. Will pay 60 with tip, it's still reasonable. Even if my behaviour isn't.
Just got it in one massive plastic glass. I half expected a litre bottle and a small glass. Oh well. Will pop for a piss and hope it's still here on my return.
It was. The beer mat (!) here advertises 'Modelo Chope'. I wonder if 'chope' is like 'chopp'.
This oversized michelada has a sort of purple (insofar as I can judge colours in this light) slime round the rim instead of salt. But it tastes OK so who cares? Odd all the same.
02:55. Waffle to come but am writing this outside hotel struggling to get in. Thank fk am not off my face tho am clearly drunk. Some radio noise in the distance suddenly implies human activity. Yet no obvious letting me in activity. There is always the bankers solution yet I don't want to be forced to it and don't feel I should need it.
For fuck's sake. A few more minutes and I will throw dignity to the wind and start rattling the gate and screaming my head off. If they have a curfew they should damn well advertise it.
To think I left "Stairway to Heaven" playing
Fuck. Some security guard finally turned up. I got my keys then fell down the fucking steps on the way to the room about half a second before they turned the light on. I may be a little pissed but I am nowhere that pissed. I am sure they think otherwise. Fucking hell. My right arm (having fallen on it) hurts like a bastard. I am not sober but I am writing this without continual deletions. What a load of shit.
Anyway, to be brief, shortly after last entry some guy chatted to me and invited me to join his group. Ended up most speaking to one guy next to me. I was enormously taken advantage of, although at least I was fully aware of it. Huge numbers of fags scrounged and I bought a cylinder of beer for MXN200 and a beer on top of that for the guy who was talking to me most. No signs of any reciprocity. Still, as I say, I was aware of it and I did sort of get to mingle with mostly locals and it cost me maybe 30 quid tops, probably less. I could have walked away but I didn't feel that inclined. Lots of Pink Floyd later on, just as I left I was crooning to "Wish you were here" then feeling I'd had enough I left as "Stairway" came on.
That was at least consensual. Not happy about taking so long to get into the hotel nor falling down that step. If I was blind drunk it would be fair play but as it was the fuckers are at fault. No doubt they will reminisce about the drunk gringo for a while but as far as I am concerned the fault there is entirely theirs.
Probably shouldn't have stayed out but it was cool to be (very) loosely part of a group and with a bit of the Floyd I couldn't resist. As I say I was well aware I was being exploited but I contained it to an acceptable amount. Hell, it's cheaper than some of my sponging friends in London. (They know who they are. Cunts.) Very hacked off about falling down that step at the hotel though.
Anyway. Life continually surprises us. Of all the ends to tonight I envisaged I didn't see that one coming.
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