Wandered round a bit to see the place and maybe find a hairdresser and was getting so hot I couldn't resist stopping off for a beer. I need to be up earlyish (9am pickup at the hotle) and I didn't get much sleep last night on the bus so I guess I have kind of rotated my day round a little.
I do need to try to upload some more photos to the web and to my PC at home to free up space on camera memory cards tonight.
I am going to have a quietish drink and read "Round the world in 80 days" and then I will blabber about the ruins and so forth.
17:00. I will waffle generally and probably come on to the ruins. Hell, let me just waffle.
I am feeling oddly guilty, even though I behaved with an almost unprecedented if slightly bungling efficiency about seeing the ruins this morning. I mean, I was there at 9am, albeit in a foul temper, normally I wouldn't even be conscious then. I think the bus (just the lack of sleep and so forth) didn't help.
I have this lingering and totally unjustified feeling I am resented here. I think it's some mixed up ideas in my head from the guide book about Zapatistas and some vague notions that indeed things probably did suck down in this part of Mexico after independence more than elsewhere (qv my comments on the murals the other day). Everyone has been perfectly pleasant, though probably due to being rather off-balance all morning I have had enormous difficulties with understanding what people have said to me. (I half wonder if this is the distinct local accent Zheyla warned me about, though it probably isn't,) I have a feeling I was unintentionally brusque when collecting my bag and checking into the hotel properly at 1:50ish, when in reality I was just knackered and hot and sweaty and off-balance.
I have some vague idea there is a small group at least of people down here who don't really like the idea of being part of Mexico. Not that it's relevant, after all I'd still be a foreign tourist whatever. In some way any possible "we don't want to be Mexicans" attitude here is a non-issue for me, it would maybe be worse if I was Mexican. Just part of all these half-baked ideas and guide book fragments running through my head.
I also had, in that 'half awake and feeling shit' phase on the bus, some vague memories of reading warnings about Chiapas on the F&CO web site. (And yes, I know that's the state, but hell, I am in that state.) Also some idea, possibly not from there, about Zapatistas kidnapping ecotourists. Not that I am an ecotourist, but would they know? I then found myself muzzily debating the ethics of ecotourism in my head with a hypothetical kidnapper. (I mean, stereotypically I have this unfair idea they're a big smugly tree-hugging. But even were that true, how are they worse than regular tourists?) Man, I sometimes wish I was one of those people who just snaps fully awake.
I kept telling myself it's not like I came here against active advice. The two waiters in Merida didn't suck their teeth when I said I was going to Palenque, and the Belgian guy said he had lived in Chiapas for two years and had no problems. Anecdotal sure, but still.
The problem with the ruins, apart from being fresh off the bus, or rather decidedly un-fresh off the bus, was that since I had no chance to repack to just take a bottle of water and the guide book in my back pack (not having a room to dump stuff in, and even had I wanted to do it in reception, it would have been a struggle to put all the unwanted items in the bulging suitcase), I had a choice between putting it in storage at the hotel and lugging my fleece (round my waist), bulky guide book and bottle of water around separately, or taking it as it was. I chose the latter. So I found myself trekking round the site with such essential items as a kilo of Panamanian coffee, folders containing various travel documents, my mobile phone charger, a small novel and three or four back numbers of the Economist, on top of the expected stuff. Consequently the backpack both weighed a ton and was stuffed to bursting point, both of which made wearing it uncomfortable as hell and not to put too fine
a point on it you could have wrung sweat out of the back of my shirt. (It was probably stuffed similarly, if not quite as bulkily, on the Isla del Sol walk, but at least then I knew I was lugging the stuff round for a reason.)
And of course, while in general it's a pleasant change from Chichen Itza, you are allowed to climb up the majority of the temples and such like at the Palenque ruins, adding to the inconvenience of the bulk and weight.
(It was at least moderately cool due to being there relatively early in the day, though still warm.)
I started off in a foul temper but just about got a grip on myself, aided by the fact that the ruins are very cool and I think frankly a lot more impressive from a completely tourist point of view than Chichen Itza, for all that the latter is more famous.
I think I saw everything pretty well, but I can't deny there was a continual undercurrent of "hmm, is it late enough to get into my hotel room yet?" and "well this is cool but I am sick of lugging this back pack around and still have to get all the way back into town and then to the hotel and then collect my suitcase and I'm a bit hungry too". I really don't think I skimped and I think I did see all I could, but maybe that in part makes me feel guilty just in case I didn't, or if I could have appreciated it a bit more in better circumstances.
I got a cab over there from the hotel (MXN70) and got a collectivo back (MXN10) to the bus terminal, where I had that just passable fried chicken and chips and then got a cab (MXN20) back to the hotel.
Then although there was no way I could have done anything else this afternoon, it is irrationally annoying that I may want to stay here an extra night to give myself time to do both the waterfalls and the other not-so-close ruins (the latter being a 6am-7pm tour). It's not something I could work round, but the fact that the Oaxaca bus goes at 5:30pm means I am likely to 'waste' most of a fourth day here, as I can't see much to do on that fourth day. Even the waterfall tour finishes at 4pm, which would be pushing it even if I hadn't ruled out doing that on Friday instead of Thursday. I will need to take the backpack with me and will be arriving back with wet towels and stuff and that isn't compatible with being able to just pick up my suitcase at 4pm and jump on the bus for 15h.
I booked the waterfall tour tomorrow as if I can't or decide not to extend my stay here by an extra night, I would much rather see those than the other Inca ruins. Don't get me wrong, Chichen Itza and the Palenque ruins are both cool, but another day (and a long one at that) haring around after ruins might tip me over the edge without something different in between.
Really I should relax. It's not as though I have a tight schedule or anything - of course I don't have all the time in the world, but I also have no fixed plans to squeeze in.
It would be nice if I could go somewhere at say 10am on the day I leave (be that Friday or Saturday), but except for possibly San Cristobal I am not sure there's anywhere in vaguely the right direction of major interest. And while San Cristobal might be cool, I am not that keen to use up one or two more days/nights so close to here. (As I have said before, conceptually it's good to save some stuff for a subsequent trip, and I do vaguely want to move on to a slightly different region.)
It of course occurs to me that if I am stuck here for most of Saturday (or Friday, if I don't stay and do the other ruins tour) I could go back to the Palenque ruins for lack of anything better to do. But I both feel it's a bit unnecessary and although I could repack slightly, the fact I'd be doing it after checking out of the hotel while leaving my suitcase in storage until I get the bus would effectively make the encumbrance situation nearly as bad as today.
I just need to relax and remember this is supposed to be fun. I think the largely wasted day pre-bus is the big annoyance. But I guess it can't be helped, unless I decide to put in at least one night in San Cristobal.
The only SC bus I know of leaves at 7am, though I suspect there are others (it's only a few hours away if memory serves). I suppose in principle I could get that on the 'wasted' morning, leave my bags in left luggage somewhere and then get a Oaxaca-bound bus that night. But that seems sucky from a personal comfort level, and if I am going to visit San Cristobal I should probably give it more than just a few (well, maybe 10, I don't know) uncomfortable and rushed hours between buses. Better not to go (and sort of 'spoil' it as a potential visit on a subsequent trip) than to do that I think.
I guess I need to see if I can extend my stay here by a night anyway. That seems fairly reasonable whatever if I suppress my irrational urge to clock up miles. I kind of need to be at the same hotel to avoid enormous inconvenience, but I will see if I can make a separate on-line booking for the extra night (Friday, if I am not getting confused) tonight. I'd rather not ask at reception if I can help it as I suspect they'll charge me the rack rate.
It is at least nice to have shedloads of tour companies offering these excursions. It's kind of cool to do thse things under your own steam, but at the same time the stress is greater (e.g., on both counts, Los Pozos de Caldera).
17:55. Just seen a crudely emblazoned 'driving school' VW Beetle go past. I must have seen learner drivers elsewhere on the trip but right now that feels like a first.
18:00. Just ordered food here. I didn't eat too heartily earlier and although I am feeling more chilled (no doubt the four beers have helped), it would be nice to get the J K Jerome effect to kick in fully. :-)
Slightly weird conversation with the waitress as I try to convey I don't want any sauce with my steak but onions and tomatos are fine as long as they are not the constituents of some sauce. Fingers crossed. (And hey, check my bad Spanish out! I'm not one of your Mexican oppressors! :-) I hope that joke isn't in poor taste, I mean it only in the light of my half-baked doubts earlier.)
It's not unbearably hot here under cover but it is warm. What actually bugs me most is the way my hands get all sweaty and sticky. It sucks elsewhere on my body, but there's something about sweaty hands that grates particularly.
Waitress just asked if I wanted it 'con o sin chile'. I said con, assuming this means fried or grilled green chilis. I didn't try to clarify that, I think we've both had enough. :-) I will take my chances.
I suspect it isn't that much hotter or more humid here than it was in Merida, though maybe it is. I guess it will be interesting to see what it's like at night.
18:30. Well apart from the fact the waitress took my not-quite-finished beer away, the bistec a la mexicana was excellent and the portion just left me pleasantly stuffed. Small chunks of steak (probably) fried with onions and peppers. Even a big dollop of some thick brown stuff on the side of the plate was nice, I wonder what it was. I might suspect frijoles, but they are normally lighter, runnier and (the big appetite killer for me) stone cold. I suspect the latter may not be officially how they are supposed to be served, though it may be, but in practice it seems to be the case.
I just asked the waiter who cleared away. He said they were 'beans' (in English) but I pursued the matter and I gather they were 'frijoles negros'. Useful to know, that. I suspect not being served stone cold is still dependent on the restaurant... (I have also, ever since a memorable meal one Xmas with the Barcap PB team, been unable to totally forget someone's description of the lighter-coloured runnier frijoles as 'like cat sick'. Not a big deal but it never makes them seem any more appetising.)
18:45. Just ordered another beer. Will probably go after this, I need to see if I can extract the wi-fi password from reception, see about booking that extra night and then try to shunt a few photos back to my PC in Skegness to free up some space for photos tomorrow. I may be weak and pop back out to a bar nearer the hotel later (especially if I can leave the laptop uploading stuff) but for now probably best not to be out too much longer.
21:00. Just come back out to Restaurante Maya Cañada practically next to my hotel. Instrumental recorded pseudo-jazz doing that "perhaps, perhaps, perhaps" song. Still, it's a beer and it's convenient and though MXN45 for a michelada isn't cheap, it's no worse than that expensiveish bar in Merida.
Uploaded some more photos to flickr, left some others going and also left an upload going to my PC back in Skegness so I can hopefully free up some camera card space.
Booked OK for the same hotel for Friday night. I will talk to reception tomorrow to confirm I can keep the same room. (Bit of a bugger if I can't, but I can't see why it should be a problem. It's a bog standard room AFAICT and it saves them an 'intensive' between-guests clean.) I need to book up for the Friday 6am tour tomorrow sometime but I suspect all the tours are the same, so there's no reason not to use the same company I am doing the waterfalls with, and that they will make it easy for me to book. Failing that we are due back at 4:30ish so I should have time to pop in somewhere and book, I doubt these tourism businesses all shut dead on 5 anyway, and there are loads of them. (I went with the one I did mainly because they are next to the bus terminal, flyered me and then they are at least shown on the map in my guide book, which I take as at least a slight nod of approval.)
It is a bit cooler but still a little clammy. I may be deluding myself but I think - possibly just luck rather than innate climate - the nights in Merida were pleasanter.
Slightly concerned my wafflings above may be offensive, but I am inclined to say sod it. Firstly, no one who is likely to be offended will ever read this, most likely. Secondly, I haven't been deliberately offensive to anyone and I don't see why I shouldn't scribble down my random thoughts without self-censoring. It's not like I'm claiming to speak from any detailed informed position. Most of it is about my barely awake meanderings.
Did feel just slightly self-consciously drunk as I walked back earlier. A bit odd coming on like that.
I feel a certain ill-defined dissatisfaction, even though I seem to have got a few things sorted out. Ah well.
21:35. This michelada isn't hitting the spot. Maybe it's me or maybe it's the drink. Might as well switch to a simple and cheaper bottle for the next one.
It occurs to me that maybe I am feeling oddly dissatisfied just because I'm a bit tired. I am not obviously tired but now I think about it I can sort of feel I am.
22:05. Will have one more at least.
It occurs to me that my muddled impressions earlier may in some part indicate (not to be too wanky) a certain powerful impression from those murals the other day. Though I think without the accompanying text they would have made a far less significant impression.
Fair amount of mingled if quietish musical noise from nearby bars/hotels. There are quite a number of them round here.
23:05. Smooth jazz saxophone versions of "My Way" and "Two for Tea" emerging from the distance. I think that captures the slightly naff elegance the area is giving off. Not that it's unpleasant by any means, but just for atmosphere. (This bar seems to lack music of its own. Probably for the best as it would just clash irritatingly.)
A little stupidly I may have one more then go. I have a few preparations to make for tomorrow but I'm sure it's all good.
23:30. Just asked for the bill. Feel a little drunk but not much, more bloated than anything. Will ask for an alarm call at 8:30 just in case I am inclined to oversleep after last night but I think it will be OK. I will probably drowse on the bus whether I want to or not...
00:50. Ended up having a minor surf. Must force myself to bed. Asked for an alarm call but there is no phone. The guy seemed to agree slightly oddly so I suspect my request will be translated into a knock at the door.
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