Chris's space

Rained all night tropical depression being the forecast for the next 3 days, left Cancun at 0830 full wets on, wet roads but no rain, 4 lane highway all the way to Carmen del Palya then Tulum, lined with Resorts 140k’s sunshine all the way, with me sweltering in my gear, then the road narrowed to 2 lanes still good with broad shoulders and the rain started heavy at times all the way to Chetumal at least it cooled me down and did not slow my progress 110 kph most of the time arrived at 1330, 5 hours easy ride, roads in Chetumal flooded checked in and went for a walk around town 300% humidity, no historic buildings here, rubbish on the streets though that could be due to the storm, naval presence and a major port for this area.

Another easy ride from Chichen Itza to Cancun, I followed the Libre (free) road not the Cuota (toll road), hardly any traffic, roadworks most of the way, Valladolid one big town, 200k’s and 3 hours later arrived at the metropolis, blue skies, warm weather, still very humid, beautiful. The city itself does not have the charm of the older places, there are no old buildings or forts or anything historical. Went for a ride down the strip which looks like a narrow island just off the coast connected to the mainland at both ends, 20km of hotels and resorts, quite an amazing site and the Mayan Riveria extends for 140km down the coast.

Short ride from Uxmal via some back roads to Chichen Itza 160k’s, 2:30. Checked in to the hotel and went for a ride to the nearest town to buy some water and have a Taco or two and an ice-cream. Next day visited Chichen Itza at 0830, deserted at that time of the morning, much bigger site than Uxmal but less impressive, hundreds of stalls inside the site lining every pathway selling all kinds of stuff, wandered around for 3 hours left just as the tour busses started unloading the hordes.

The ride from Campeche to Uxmal (Ooosh-maal) took 2 hours
and was uneventful, blue skies and road works almost the whole way, it looks
like they are expanding the road to 4 lanes. This area is sparsely populated a much
nicer ride without all the villages and speed bumps. Uxmal is in the bush,
nearest town is Muna 15km away after checking in I rode there to fill up and
get some supplies, a bottle of water at the hotel costs $3. Part of the hotel
bathroom’s roof is glass and birds come and sit on it and the only sounds you
hear are the birds chirping. Each room has a name and my room is called the
Indira Gandhi room hahahaha.

Entrance to Uxmal is 166 pesos $14 which includes a ticket
to the Sound and Light show it is famous for. The main structure is a rounded
pyramid and is very well preserved and quite spectacular, when you clap your
hands in front of it the return is a strange yelping echo. Beware of the big
lizards guarding the place. The Sound and Light show consists of the buildings
being lit up with various colours and a story being told accompanied by music,
the story is narrated in Spanish so after about 5min it got boring and it went
on for 45min hahahaha, give it a miss if you don’t understand Spanish.

Spent the day wandering around taking pictures, very clean and well maintained place, first time I have seen any Western tourists, there was a theatre festival on and at night, performances were on the street.