Chichen Itza, Thursday

It's 9pm here. I've managed to get a little bit more of a perspective on things.

I went for a brief walk. In one direction is the ultra-sprawling and ultra-expensive Mayaland hotel. There was a sort of coffee kiosk hut on the grounds but it was half open and I don't know which direction it was moving.

5-10 minutes walk in the other direction is a junction with what looks like the main road (this one just has three hotels on as far as I can tell) and a sign pointing to Chichen Itza, obviously aimed at traffic. I vaguely hope to do a bit of research on the web now (I wanted to come here, but all my reading so far was aimed solely at deciding how to get here and where to stay) and I will ask at reception tomorrow morning but I might hope I can walk over by following those signs. Given the web site says this place is a 10 minute walk away I suspect that is a different route.

The wifi doesn't work in my room (which sucks really, but to be fair they may not have claimed it did on their web site) but I am on the - deserted - terrace by the swimming pool with the laptop now and that works. The two staff (who I half suspect are both a couple and the owners) have served me a beer (god knows how much it will cost). I was offered a menu but as I wasn't planning to eat tonight I stupidly waved it away rather than taking the chance to have a surreptitious glance so I know where I stand.

The hotel advertises some rather pricey looking tours by reception. I hope to at least wander over privately tomorrow but I guess they provide a fallback option if I can't find the damn place or some bits are inaccessible.

9:15pm. Just had a look at wikitravel. If that can be believed you go over the site on foot anyway, and you can hire a guide at the entrance. So if I can get there, I may be OK.

The sound and light show in the evening may be a problem in terms of getting there (and especially back) but I have two nights to play with (Zheyla seemed to think they don't do the show every night, but we will see - the general impression I get from other sources is that they do, but I haven't seen anything authoritative yet) and hopefully I will get a clearer idea once I am there tomorrow. The hotel does a tour to see that so subject to time limits on booking or simply not being back at the hotel in time tomorrow, that is always there as a fallback.

Oh, there is one couple and one group of three on the terrace with me now. But it is hardly busy. I almost wish it were busier.

10:05pm. Didn't expect a late one but they just asked for money. MXN105 for three beers. I initially thought they said MXN150 and only my true British stiff upper lip stopped me flipping out. They didn't have change for a 200! Fortunately I had MXN105 on me. Only my third beer, a bit disappointing to be clamped down on so soon but that's got to be a downside to the place being so damned empty. At least this isn't on the bill when I check out.

I didn't tip, I don't know if I should have done but somehow it didn't feel right.

I hope they don't want to turn the lights off out here and really get rid of me, but I assume they have to have them on for safety reasons to some extent and since the wifi doesn't work in my room they can fuck off if they think I'm willingly moving. Some sort of aircon noise just stopped and there is much shutting of door type noise. I don't know if reception is 24h here but it is genuinely a non-issue for once.

10:15pm. It's a bit eerie out here. But sort of cool all the same.