Got up later than I originally planned as I just couldn't face the apparent effort of visiting Chichen Itza. Eventually made it out of the hotel at 11:15 or so, which was still not bad for me, and I did briefly call my Grandad to wish him a happy 80th before leaving. I asked at reception and they said the entrance was to the right. This did at least make sense as the Mayaland is down there and I saw from the map in the guide book it (and in fact my hotel, under an older variant of the name) is near one entrance. I walked over and the entrance is not particularly obvious, but I managed to ask someone.
The sound and light show is on every night and I think it starts at 8pm tonight, so I was advised by the guy at the ticket office to be there about 7:30pm. I was planning to get something to eat back at the hotel first but it doesn't look like that's an option.
I left a bit after 4pm (it shuts at 5pm) and I think I pretty much managed to see everything. They didn't give me any leaflet or what have you describing the site but I took my guide book (the Mexico one, the Central America one - despite explicitly covering the Yucatan pensinula - has about two pages on Chichen Itza) and the slightly crappy map and list of things at the site make me fairly confident I saw everything I could. I found the auditorium the museum mentioned in the guide book is next to, the museum appeared not to exist but there was a plausibly "in the process of renovation" looking room next to the auditorium so I suspect I didn't miss anything.
I found a few kiosks and slightly bigger huts selling snack-y food and drink and as I had trouble following the map in the guide book I thought they were the snack bar mentioned on the guide book map. I had a couple of ice creams and a biggish packet of crisps. It was only when I tried to find the museum around 4pm that I went over to the west (main) entrance and realised there is actually a small cafe there. It wasn't obvious if they were still open or not and I couldn't see a menu anywhere so I decided not to try and take my chances back at the hotel.
Although I didn't see it from the outside today, I suspect the "white museumy building" where I got off the bus yesterday was the outside of the main entrance to the park. (The east entrance, the one near the hotels, appears to exist mainly to serve the three nearby hotels and certain coach parties. It has none of the facilities of the west entrance.) I suspect I was vastly overcharged for the taxi ride between the probable west entrance and my hotel on my arrival yesterday, but they had me over a barrel. At least I slightly did the bus company as going to Chichen Itza costs MXN4 more than going to Piste, which is what I paid for. Well, if they can't be arsed to TELL ME WHEN WE'RE IN PISTE, what do they expect? And of course, to be fair, the driver didn't say anything.
The site itself is pretty cool, although to be honest what impressed me most were the iguanas. :-) Sadly you cannot climb on any of the structures nowadays. This includes not being allowed into the passage inside El Castillo which leads to the inner building or whatever. My 2006-ish guide book says you can not climb on most stuff but does say you can go into that tunnel. I suppose the restrictions do make a certain sense but it is a shame, especially about that tunnel.
I am intending to go to the sound and light show tonight, especially as I think it has zero additional cost. My vague plan was to revisit tomorrow, trying to get there early to see the place when it's a bit less busy, not that the other tourists were insanely intrusive today. The only other attractions mentioed in my guide book nearby are some caves and somewhere you can swim. Since I can't, the latter isn't of that much interest. The caves do sound potentially worth a visit, though it's about 5km away and I suspect potential taxi problems on the way back, if not on the way out. I may try to revisit Chichen Itza tomorrow morning and then go to the caves later. On the other hand, it seems a little bit silly to go back to CI when I have basically seen it all. But then it's not like I have a huge amount else today, if I do get up early then it doesn't really cut into my time to see the caves and the price of a second entrance ticket is negligible compared to what I've spent getting here in the first place. I suppose I can also get something to eat there now I know about the west entrance and it's associated cafe.
While digging the guide book out at the site to see what else there was to see, I kept accidentally turning up bits for other nearby places. I have a vague idea I will have to go onto Merida from here, which is about an hour, though whether I spend any significant time there remains to be seen. Vague idea is to go onwards via Palenque (if my memory hasn't mangled that, I don't have the guide book on me right now) where there are apparently some cool ruins, then to Oaxaca City. Those are both 8-9h-ish trips and so may be doable overnight or failing that are not too crap to do during the day. Looking further head, I suspect I will have plenty of time in hand when I reach Guanajuato, so I could make then push further west to reach Guadalajara/Tlaquepaque. I may even have time to spare after that, I can imagine I will end up flying back to Mexico City rather than trying to complete the tour by bus.
I wonder if I am being ignored in part because I didn't tip the guy last night. Well, fuck him. I probably would have done if he'd just had the commercial competence to have change for a 200 peso note, as it was I was sort of "jolted" and tipping just didn't occur to me, it wasn't even a deliberate decision.
6pm. Still no acknowledgement of the bare fact of my existence from the staff here. I know I am being a stubborn fucker and I could just try to attract attention, but screw you guys, two can play at the same game.
9pm. Just got back from sound and light show. Come out to the terrace again, apparently all the dining tables are reserved. I have been punted over to some plastic table with no cover, I hope it doesn't rain. I was going to ask to see the menu but since I've been uncermoniously dumped over here, fuck you guys again. I did at least get a beer. At least if all those tables are reserved, unless we've got some Banquo's Ghost situation going on here, those ultra-important people haven't turned up yet and they won't close the bar at 10pm. While I'm not out for ultra tranquility on the other hand, I don't relish the prospect of a large party of presumably 20 or so diners all gabbling away practically in my ear.
The sound and light show was not bad. I didn't fork out the MXN39 for the gadget that would let me receive an English translation, partly as no one else did, partly as I figured it was good practice and partly as I doubted the light effects would really have much to do with the commentary.
As it turned out I maybe understood about 50%, maybe more. I couldn't concentrate properly as a wide variety of FUCKWITS kept talking FLASH PHOTOS of a LIGHT SHOW. Maybe they just got excited about the visual effects and wanted to join in. It was genuinely distracting in itself and then I kept getting worked up about it as well. You'd think they might make an announcement up front or something.
Let me enumerate the problems here, people:
- Firstly, you're being arrogant, selfish bastards. I appreciate a lot of the time that behaviour serves you well and you, let's face it, get a much better quality of life than me, continually worrying as I do about offending people or behaving unreasonably. But you really have no excuse here, because:
- Secondly, your puny camera flash is not going to significantly illuminate a 30 metre high pyramid at a distance of around 100 metres. So you're spoiling the show for everyone without even doing yourself any good. And it gets worse, because:
- Thirdly, the effects you are photographing are due to COLOURED LIGHT being emitted from a projector, not white light being reflected off a pigmented surface. So adding your own white light will at best make no difference and at worst actually wash out the effects you are trying to photograph. Plus, the chances are your camera will decide to underexpose the photo as it detects the flash reflecting off the back of the heads of the people in the row in front of you, further spoling your photo. So you're even hurting yourself by behaving in this way.
I did see the appearance of the serpent down the side of the pyramid, which is moderately cool. I had the idea it was supposed to move, but I suspect I just misinterpreted the term "descending" in the guide book - it does look like a serpent descending the pyramid, in the same way a photo of a man getting off a bus would look like a man "descending" from the bus but would not actually move.
It was slightly creepy walking back to the hotel, the path is illuminated up to the entrance gate but one you get past the Mayaland hotel proper it gets a bit dingy. I also followed the crowd into the Mayaland grounds and had to double back on myself to find the road. I had my GPS but it wasn't that useful because I only had the hotel as a target and the Mayaland hotel was on the straight line path between the gate and my hote. Still, I managed OK.
9:20pm. FUCK. Some whitish creature (I can't tell, there's no direct light out here in under-valued guest territory, but I think it was white) just walked in front of my laptop. And it was a fucking spider. Not an enormous one, maybe half an inch long, I don't know. But fuck. No no, I don't mind being stuck out here. My skin is crawling, although I think I just keep getting flies landing on me.
Oh, the "reserved" tables are still unoccupied. Quite a lot of the huge number of other tables seem to be occupied, maybe those guys reserved and then decided they'd sit somewhere else. No harm done.
9:25pm. Oh no, they just turned up. So I will have an audience when I jump up, knock the table over, smashing my glass, bottle and laptop at the same time, when I find some fucking tarantula crawling up my leg.
I did see some huge group arrive when I was being ignored at the table earlier. There must be one or even two tour groups in, plus perhaps a few other guests. I do wonder why it was so quiet yesterday, I can imagine a bit of unevenness in the guest quantity but to go from practically deserted to this seems crazy. If I overheard the conversation between waiters correctly they are Germans, so it doesn't seem that like they would turn up on a Friday as it's handy for a four-day weekend.
I have to at least reference the inevitable beach towel joke given the fuckers reserved all the tables.
9:40pm. OK, I just ordered a second beer and asked for a bit of lime to go with it (to squeeze into the glass, though I didn't say that). I bet they think I'm a right tourist. But I really don't care what the bunch of overcharging under-serving gits think.
9:45pm. FFS. There are now some people doing noisy vaguely tap/clog dancing on the terrace right next to my table (and the adjacent one which is also occupied). Maybe they'll tread on that fucking spider if it's decided to stop doing laps of my table (it came back round again!). No sign of any lime, or anyone coming back to say "sorry, we don't have any lime". I wouldn't normally be that picky about the service but these guys keep rubbing me up the wrong way. And while not super expensive, at USD70/night (my rate, no idea what the rack rate is), it's not exactly cheap either and they clearly consider themselves a moderately classy joint.
On a completely different note, I am a bit dubious about leaving here. I suspect I will have to get a bus to Merida and I won't be able to eat beforehand. Merida is only an hour away and even if I just get another bus straight out of there I may be able to get something at the terminal in Merida, but I am not too optimistic. I suppose it will be fine, worst case is I end up getting grumpy, but it doesn't appeal much. I am also a bit dubious as I suspect it's an eight hour onward trip from Merida so I will probably arrive in P-whatsit after dark and my guide book makes it sound very slightly dodgy (though I think it is referring to trying to pick up buses in some nearby out-of-the-way place rather than the town itself). At the risk of being stuck without a hostel I think I will look into this tomorrow night - assuming I don't decide to do the light show again tomorrow (which I will only do if go to Chichen Itza again tomorrow and hence have a free entrance) I will have the whole night to plan in and I do already have these vague ideas so that should be OK. I will be able to get a hostel somewhere but booking a day in advance may force me to go somewhere different or maybe stop overnight in Merida or try for an overnight bus. We will see I guess. I'm not sorting it out tonight, I am not in the mood. At least tomorrow I will have made sure I've eaten (which in itself pushes me to visit Chichen Itza tomorrow, just so I can use the cafe there) and may be less hacked off as a result.
10:25pm. The big reserving group left en bloc ten minutes or so ago. There are about ten people out here still but much clearing up is going on. So I feel my next beer is a bit dubious. I hate that. Especially when last night they just dumped the bill on me instead of asking if I wanted to order anything before they shut. Maybe I could have asked for that, but I shouldn't have to. (I mean, "make it easy for people to give you money", anyone?) One group does seem to be ordering food - or at least something complex enough to require the waiter to have a pad out - so I guess I shouldn't worry. But I oh so much hate being suddenly surprised by a lack of beer availability. It suck(ed/s) in the UK but at least you pretty much know where you stood/stand.
I am necking this one so as to order another, which sucks. It is pure UK with the added uncertainty. I probably shouldn't be what with not eating properly, but I've had three small bottles, even another two is not really going to tip me over the edge, and I suppose for once the fact it's calorific is actually a good thing.
10:50pm. Just got a fifth anyway. One group is leaving, we are down to two other guests at a table. Doubt there will be a sixth but at least I've had a better innings.
Just had a bit of friendly banter from the leaving group about me working away (because I'm here using my laptop). Nice to actually not despise something about the place. (Mostly joking.)
I hope they will take a MXN200 note for five beers (the last still hasn't turned up yet) which I expect to be about 150 plus tip. I am running low on smaller notes which is worrying, if I as probably will (if only for the food, but it would be cool to be there early when the place is deserted, there was a bit of that tonight walking to the sound & light show) I go to CI tomorrow I will try to pay with a 500. They must get so much custom (and I suspect everyone pays cash) they can surely not plausibly claim to be unable to break a 500.
11:10pm. Amazing. Waiter just asked if I wanted to put it on the bill or pay cash (don't know why that option wasn't offered last night), I said I didn't mind but could I get one more. He brought it and said it was 170ish, I gave him 200 and said keep the change. He said I'd had five and I make it six, but while I am not usually dishonest, I am not so certain and not so enamoured of the place as to argue. This isn't really about taking cadvantage, there is an element of uncertainty. I am probably unfairly a bit unhappy with certain aspects of the place (I suspect my personal irrationalities have kicked in) but I am not deliberately taking advantage. In the past (even on the trip, not just in places where I might want to return) I have been very honest when mistakes have been made in my favour. If I am right and they're wrong, I'm MXN4 short ignoring the tip (6*170/5-200). I may tip a bit generously tomorrow night to make up for it if there is a mistake but I don't feel the worm of guilt knawing at my vitals much. A bit, but my count could well be wrong.
I am the last guest out on the terrace but it's not the typical bar situation. It's not like I have to leave before they can lock up and shut down for the night and the table can easily be wiped down and so forth tomorrow morning, so I'm not being pressured away, even if I feel a bit guilty for being here (never mind the money issue). I have about 30 mins of battery left so I will stay out for it, since I can't use the net in my room. Even with a quick shower, getting up at 8amish to see CI again early will be mainly a question of willpower rather than tiredness.
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