Muyil, Tulum (ruins), Ek Balam, Rio Lagartos

     It is now Monday 3:42 pm.  But I will start back on Saturday where I last left off.  My meeting time with Rene the bird guide was 6am.   I got there but Rene had invited a couple of other people, his girlfriend and another friend who is a wildlife photographer so we took his jeep.  We reached Muyil and started our birding adventure on a dirt road.  There were lots of birds, some new, none of which I remember off the top of my head.  Nothing too exciting, I was a bit spoiled with my Coba birds, especially the owl.  When I showed Rene the picture of it, I had to describe in detail where I saw it and he asked if I would send him my picture, he had never seen one – that makes the bird even better if possible. 

Eventually, we left the dirt road (there were two half grown puppies there that we so sweet we all wanted to steal them). 



Here's the puppies, probably sisters.  My cats should consider themselves lucky these two didn't come home with me (especially the one on the right)

Then we checked some other spots before entering the Sian Ka’an Biosphere.  There was a trail with yellow danger ribbons strung across the entrance.  We just went under those.  The path was a well-made raised path of wooden planks.  We wandered along, not too many birds, when the new portion of the path ended and the old one started.  The wood planks, if there were there at all, were old and rotten and I assumed I was going to crash through at any second but all was fine.  Rene spotted a pygmy kingfisher.  It is the size of a house sparrow.  Rene took us a bit further into the park where he knew about a tiny cenote.  A cenote is a fresh water spring.  Some are big enough to dive in, there are many in the area that are used for swimming.  But this one was tiny, only about 5 feet across but we could see some little fish in it.  Then the kingfisher landed in a tree overhead.  We watched him as he watched us for 5-10 minutes.  Then he dove, shot straight down so fast we barely could see him.  I don’t even know if he got a fish.  But it was very cool.  He was so close. 

 

By then it was getting hot and windy so we headed back.  Rene said I should go to Rio Lagartos because there is good birding there and he gave me the name of a guide, Gabriel.  Emails and money exchanged, I was back to my hotel by noon.  A nap to try to right the wrong of waking up at 5am.  Then I had to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. 

I decided to try the Tulum ruins again.  I knew it would be open this time because it was after 2pm.  I arrive at the parking area to discover that I have forgotten my wallet.  The Mayan gods really don’t want me to see Tulum.  Back to my hotel to get my wallet.  But in my haste, I locked my car and hotel key in the car.  Not good.  Back to Payless to ask my guy if he has a spare key.  I suppose I should be used to the ‘oh my god, how stupid are tourists anyway’ look but it still amuses me.  Really, I’m the first person to lock her keys in her rental car?  I find that hard to believe, but apparently it is true if the exasperated reaction is any indication.  The spare key is in Cancun.  I have to talk to the boss in Cancun because my little guy is completely flummoxed by this situation.  I have two choices:  I can get the boss’s friend to open my car door for 300 pesos or I can have the spare key sent by the next day for 1500 pesos.  Umm, I’ll go with the 300 thanks.  I love Mexico.  I had assumed the friend was a mechanic, why do I ever assume anything here, it is always wrong.  The friend is the rental guy’s buddy who works next door.  He arrives with a screw driver and a coat hanger.  I kid you not.  I felt like it was 1978 – the great heist.  The two of them drive to my hotel which is just around the corner.  Then the two of them proceed to use the screwdriver to wedge open the door just enough to get the coat hanger in to pull up the lock.  It worked but I was worried the whole time that they would scratch or dent the door which I assume would be on my dime. In retrospect, what I should have been worrying about was how easy it was to break into my car that I occasionally leave my backpack in.  Plus, I don't even want to consider the cost (and probable jail time) if someone stole the actual car.  But, fortunately, I didn't think of those things and all went fine and it was done in a jiff.  But still too late to go back to Tulum. 

I ended the evening with some more wandering and a taco dinner with a beer.  The food is so much more expensive than the last time I was here, plus I hear that this area is even more expensive than the rest of Mexico.  I am spending money hand over fist, hotels and meals are more than I expected, plus my car and gas costs.  I have not bought one thing though, not a purse, not a trinket, not one knick knack or painting. 

The next day, Sunday, I packed up my stuff, threw it in my trunk and left the Casa Rosa.  I finally made it to Tulum.  It was bizarre there.  It is so groomed.  There was even a guy mowing the lawn.  All of the buildings were roped off so no climbing or exploring.  Just stick to the path and look from afar.  I got there around 9am and it was already crowded.  One new bird, a squirrel cuckoo.   While this ruin is not my favourite, too Disney for me, it must have been awe inspiring in its day, right there on the edge of a cliff overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea, every building a brilliant red.  There were still a few spots what you can see the red paint.  I thought the place was crowded, I found the tours annoying.  I started to think of them as the zombie hoards from the walking dead, just slowly moving forward, unthinking, en masse.  But when I left, the line to get tickets was a couple hundred deep so I think I missed the real crush.

Tulum

Tulum - it was windy. 

Templo Dios del Viento (God of Winds Temple)

Groomed

Great Palace

Pyramid El Castillo (The Castle)

Tulum was a walled city.  Here is a remnant of the wall.

You can still see some of the red paint on some of the walls.

How's that for beach front.  El Castillo on the right, God of Winds Temple in the distance on the left

After that, I decided to take Rene’s advice and head to Rio Lagantos, which my crappy Frommer’s guide tells me is on the edge of another nature reserve set up to protect the largest flocks of flamingos in Mexico.  Again, the roads were excellent and I have to commend the Mexican government on their road signage.  Excellent, I never got lost once.  On the way, there was a sign for Ek Balam, another ruin.  Since it was still early, I headed in.  There were few cars in the lot.  The path to the entrance was chock a’block with birds.  Another motmot, which are the most beautiful birds ever.  They are an iridescent blue that should not be found in nature.  No wonder the Mayans used feathers as decoration. 

Turquoise-Browed Motmot 

Here he is again, eating lunch

As I was hanging out on the path, two huge tour buses arrived.  Aacck.  One thing about tourist (zombie) hoards is that they are slow moving.  So, I rushed in, used the bathroom, looked around, and didn’t see the ticket window so headed on in.  Fairly far up the path, I come upon the ticket checker – but I don’t have a ticket.  So I go back but now the hordes are moving.  I was behind one of them.  But I managed to pass them as they all listened intently to their guide talk about some type of tree. 

I wandered around staying ahead of the crowd but still at a leisurely pace.  At this place, you can climb everything.  It was awesome.  And all of the buildings are in one area.   I climbed every building on my way to the big one.  Another huge pyramid.  This one has been extensively rebuild so the stairs aren’t quite so precarious.  There were a dozen or so people on top of it when I first saw it but as I arrived at the base, I had it all to myself.  I was still feeling the effects of the Coba climb but up I went.  I got to the top and was looking down on the jungle and the other buildings all by myself.  Indescribable, the feeling of standing where a Mayan king once stood a thousand years ago.  Then, far below, I saw the two bus tours arrive, time to go.  I’m sure I am in every one of those tourists’ pictures as I descended. 

Ek Balam

This is what it looks like as you enter - impressive. From left to right - the Entrance Arch, one of the Twins, The Oval Palace (you can kind of see the oval shape in the back) 

The back of the Twins

 

The Oval Palace (the oval is in the back). This isn't even the big one.  But I climbed it anyway.

This is the top

View from inside that little room at the top

 

 

 

The Entrance Arch

 



Structure 17 or The Twins (there are two mirroring temples on either side).



The left Twin

 The Acropolis.  El Trono (The Throne) is at the thatched roof on the left. This is the temple in which Ukit Kan Le'k Tok' is supposedly buried

The Twins from the Oval Palace (midway), the ball court in the background.

So many stairs.  But no people. 

My self portrait from the top of the Acropolis.

View of Ek Balam from the top of the Acropolis.  Spectacular.

Close up of the buildings from above. 

Sacbe - the white road.  These sacred paths are everywhere, at every ruin, linking buildings and even liking sites to one another, over hundreds of kilometers. 

 

An even better picture of a Sacbe.  It is Sac (white) be (way) because they were covered in crushed white limestone.

Where the Twin split, from the back.

Back in my car and off to Rio Lagartos.  I had to drive through one town, Tizimin, which was a bit confusing but still not too bad.  I got to Rio Lagartos just as the sun was setting.  I found a hotel and got the last room.  I love small towns.  I asked the desk clerk if he knew Gabriel.  Of course he does, and this man standing nearby is his associate.   You can find him at the Hotel Isla Contoy.  He can come to me or I can go to him.  I decided to find him.  Not too difficult as the town is quite small.  I arrived at the hotel and asked for Gabriel.  He isn’t here but we will call him, 5 minutes. 

When he arrived, it turns out that one cannot turn up unexpectedly and get Gabriel for the next day.  But after some back and forth with Juan, a man with Gabriel (everyone is an associate), it turns out Juan can take me out for a private tour for three hours at 6 am the next morning.  Perfect.  As I was walking back to my hotel, I realized that I forgot to ask if Juan knows birds.  As it turns out, I should have asked that question when I was agreeing to the deal.   The next morning, Juan was on time and we were out on his little boat charging toward the river.  I could tell he wasn’t a bird guy right away as he went too fast and stayed in the middle of the river, umm, the birds are on the edges.  It was confirmed later when he told me a parrot was an oriole.  That has to be a language issue, but still.  

Rio Largartos

Arriving at the dock at 6am

 

Sunrise over the bow of our boat.

Black Hawk

Ospry

At the end of the river, there are salt flats.  As we approached I could see the flamingos.  When I first planned to go to Rio Lagartos, I wasn’t that interested in them, as I had seen them before, but I have to confess, they are magnificent.  They were so pink they look fake.  And their legs are so long and the water so shallow, they seem to float above the water like a mirage.  Beautiful.  I got a few pictures but mostly they were too far away.  We landed on a spit and there were hundreds just wading about but I didn’t dare go to close.  I already suspected that we were in a restricted area, I didn’t want to add insult to injury by scaring the whole flock into flight (although it would have looked awesome).

Bare Throated Tiger Heron

One (the only) new bird (I think)) on the way back, a bare throated tiger heron.  Back by 9 am, time for a quick catch up nap and I was out of my hotel by noon.  Nobody takes Visa here, of course, so I had to find a bank machine.  None in Rio Lagartos which meant I had to stop in Tizimin.  I spent an hour or so in the main square.  The first bank machine didn’t work.  The next bank had three machines.  The first one rejected me.  The second one said I didn’t have enough in my account.  The third try gave me my money, although a lesser amount than I wanted.  I thought I had more in there. 

I almost went to Isla Holbox on Amy’s recommendation but I read about it and this time of year there isn’t much to do but lie around on the beach.  Instead, I headed to Chitzen Itza.  I guess I am just doing a Ruin Tour because that is where I keep ending up.  I found a hotel in Piste, which is right outside of the ruins.  It is the cheapest and crappiest so far.  No Air, no TV.  Just as well, I was getting spoiled.  They even have Wi-Fi, if I am willing to sit outside the office on the edge of the highway, which, of course, I am.  But I am writing this in my room to cut and paste into the blog.  Oh, but I did check my bank account and found that the two incomplete transactions are showing as withdrawals on my account.  Hmmm.  I am hoping they were just pre-approved before being cancelled but I sent an email to RBC just in case, amazingly I still have the receipts.  And I moved some money so I don’t run out of dough.  BTW, my car has started to screech when I start it.  I hope it lasts until I have to return it on Friday. 

Now I am back to the highway to send this and find a mini super for water and hopefully something I can buy for breakfast tomorrow.  Park opens at 8.  I want to get there on time.  ``