After rounding the corner and seeing Ek Balam for the first time, it hit me, I'm in an area that is not only foreign but thousands of years old. I really had the feeling that some deep voice was going to start talking about the archeological facts while the camera pans the area. Instead, I had a bilingual Mexican talking in a high voice about the recently discovered area. The area was fascinating. That is all there is too it. Structures that have withstood all the tragedies that time can bring; rains, floods, hurricanes, jungle take-over, Spanish Conquistadors, and modern man. Seeing this place for the first time, I began to realize how very little I knew about the world and how much there is to see.
Our trip began this morning from the Resort where we left in a 15 passenger van. We headed off in the AC'd but hot van down a straight but very rough road. The road is paved, but it may have been better if they had not bothered. We stopped at a small structure after about 2 hours of driving and had a chance to use the restroom and purchase souvenirs. The murchandise here, I feel, was overpriced but we were on vacation and I wanted to try my haggling skills. After haggling down to the agreed price, I realized I didn't have enough pesos to cover - embarrassing, but the merchant agreed on what we had as the selling price. After the haggling we headed down the road a short ways to arrive at Ek Balam. The tour was included with our Hotel, so the driver paid the entrance fee and took us on the tour. Our tour guide was friendly, but was very willing to replace fact with speculation. I'm glad I did the research beforehand so I knew when he was postulating and when there might be something interesting(like, "meet back here in 30 minutes"). Anyway, we were allowed to climb the temple and take photos, of which I have many. Coming down was a little hairy, the steps measure approx. 12"x12" making a 45 degree angle, I was careful and cautious. The last thing I wanted was to fall down 100' of stairs and take an ambulance ride 2 hours over bumpy road to the nearest hospital - if I even made it alive to the bottom...
Anyway, after visiting Ek Balam, we headed off to Valladolid. The second most important colonial town in the yucatan peninsula. Valladolid was okay, but not great. It was really more like busy-dirty-loud-dolid than anything else. We had an hour here and we would have been happy with half of that. The one thing good to come out of there was a new outfit for Lindsay. We found a modern clothing store that was selling maternity clothes for about 100 pesos per article of clothing - which comes to about $10 USD. Lindsay bought a skirt and blouse and is very happy with them. In fact, on our way to dinner, while lindsay was wearing this outfit she was whistled and stared at... Not sure if that's a good thing, but it made her feel better about herself.
Well, that's enough for now. Pictures will follow this post.
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