Playa del Carmen and Tulum

Arrived in Playa after stopping briefly in the nightmare that is Cancun, like Las Vegas on sea with huge hotels and regimented lines of deckchairs.

Cancun from the air on the way home

The hotel is great with lots of individual thatched houses set in plenty of land right on the beach at one end of the resort which means it is quiet although the weather left something to be desired.

However having walked the full length of the beach I wouldn't have wanted to be any where else. This is the view from my room, all thatched cottages when the weather was better!

There are 5 of us here and so we hired a car for the day to take us to Tulum which is situated on the beach but again it is roped off, these day trippers from Cancun have a lot to answer for, as both Tulum and Chichen Itza are within relatively easy reach.

A few nice pictures,

then we headed for the beach which was rather good, Tulum in the distance

and then stopped in a small resort called Akumal for another swim

The hotel was having a Mexican night on the last night with a decorated room 

and Mariachi band to round off an interesting but tiring trip, some 3000 kilometres in all. So back to Salisbury and the inevitable pile of post and then washing, oh joy!

Merida and Chichen Itza

Merida is the capital of Yucatan state, not as pretty as Campeche but another floodlit cathedral

It has an interesting carving of Christ made from a tree that is meant to have been struck by lightening and not damaged, well it makes a change from yet another relic and the painting behind is quite good and unusual in such an otherwise plain church.

 

More paintings in the city hall of dubious merit

but a nicely laid back area to have a drink.

I have to say Chichen Itza was a bit of a disappointment, whilst the temples are good and the Observatory the most impressive in my opinion but everything is roped off so you can't get very near.
The main temple

The observatory is the only circular building that I can remember seeing and this staue is for receiving a sacrificial offering, still beating hearts a favourite!

The ball court here had the most amazing echo so the sound of a ball thwacking on the wall would have resonated around what you can see is an immense area and we heard the echo for oursleves by just clapping.

We realised how spoilt we had been with the earlier sites where we could roam freely and climb as we liked. Apparently there had been many accidents with the steps which as you have already seen can be very steep and I expect they need to preserve things as in the past only priests (and sacrificial offerings, one way!) would use the steps.

The place is also crawling with market stalls and vendors within the actual site rather than outside which rather spoils the visit.

Campeche and Uxmal

On the way to Campeche we stopped briefly to view some tree iguanas, fortunately one of our party was a keen birdwatcher so with the help of some very good binoculars I can confirm that the dark shapes in the photo are actually animals and not just a misshapen tree!

We hit a check point where unusually we were actually stopped and a young army cadet by the look of him walked up the bus, I think they were just bored but didn't fancy risking a photo.

Campeche is a charming town with old walls

colourful streets and

a lovely square and

floodlit cathedral.

Uxmal is the most important Mayan site in the country, but bare compared with Palenque. However it has some great temples with good decorations

 This is a double headed jaguar, none seem to roam around now fortunately but the inevitable hawkers do a nice line in jaguar call implements.

 the temples are very steep, these people are starting the climb, mind you going down is the problem.

There was a very visible ball court ring

The ball game seems to have been played by small teams of 2 or possibly 3 on each side and can be very large so I doubt these figures. The rather daunting news is that the defeated (or winning dependant on the guide book) captain had his head cut off! 
Iguanas wander around and this fine specimen duly posed for the cameras 

 Water is a problem for this area and so the rain god is particularly venerated and the following symbol for water as opposed to the god is often seen amongst the decorations

 and this is a classic picture of the decoration on  the corners of temples

Palenque and the gulf of Mexico

Misol-Ha on the way to Palenque is a waterfall where you can go behind the falling water,

The site of Palenque itself is stunning,

 it was fairly humid and the temples had many steps so I didn't do them all and was quite glad when one of the party felt faint.

Mostly the temples at the top of the steps have little left in them to see although a small one had some nice relief work

 but the site as a whole with the jungle all around is spectacular.

We routed via the gulf of Mexico and had a lunch stop by the beach, as you can see not too shabby!

 We passed a convey of well armed army landrovers and trucks, machine guns to the fore

Fortunately the soldiers in the trucks some of whom were wearing balaclavas seemed friendly enough from a distance.

Sierra Madre and San Christobal de Las Casas

We spent a couple of days driving through the mountains, with some interesting views and rocks.

Stopping at a carpet weavers where they use only natural dies and wool with some very striking designs. He showed how starting with cochineal by adding lime juice, powdered marigold and charcoal ash he could make a range of colours. They are mixed on the hand and as everyone has a different natural ph rating all the colours vary slightly between the weavers.

 

This one still on the loom not much use foe a shutle so very time consuming. 

We passed through an area with more windfarms than I've ever seen and most of them working!

We also stopped at the Sumidero Canyon for a boatride, some stunning scenery

a heron

 

and we decided a plastic animal!

Allegedly some of the local indians jumped off the highest part rather than be subjugated by the Spanish, fairly deadly.

San Christobal is at the centre of many groups of indigenous peoples who live in the surrounding villages. They come into the town to sell their wares at the local market. It has a lively zocola (town square) and pedestrianised area full of bars and restaurants for the evening.

A  fine church, great stone work

and some pleasant views.

We visted one of the villages, San Juan Chamula, where the church

 was very special, photography is frowned upon and certainly none allowed inside it. The floor was covered in rushes and lit solely by candles, family groups clear a small space in the central area, set up their own thin candles in special patterns and say their prayers. There is no priest and they come at any time of the day or night throughout the week .It had real reverence inside and it was difficult not to feel rather intrusive. We were there on a sunday so the square outside had groups with musicians and were having food and drink mainly coca cola!