Dubious Quality

First, as we were walking to street with the hotels, shell-shocked by the bedbug incident, C stubbed her toe on a three-inch rise in the sidewalk. Wearing sandals. I thought she broke her toe, which would have fit right in, but fortunately, she didn't. It added to the dark humor, though, at which we excel.

The second thing is that the hotel where we stayed had the most amazing breakfast buffet ever. It was just a room on our floor, and it wasn't large, but it had an outstanding assortment of fresh, ripe fruit in the morning. Papaya, pineapple, kiwi, cantaloupe, honeydew--it was spectacular. I've never eaten so much fruit in my life.

Wait, there's a third thing.

With the wrong person, this trip would have been a nightmare so far. I probably would have packed it in and gone home. I was with the right person, though, and that makes all the difference. We just made fun of our poor fortune and solved problem after problem. Even with all that was happening, I still felt calm and happy.

All right, back to pony quest.

Our next excursion was to the pyramids in Uxmal. Chichen Itza is what people are generally familiar with when it comes to Yucatan pyramids (it's one of the seven Wonders of the World), but everyone warned us it was overpriced and overcrowded. Every single person we spoke to recommended Uxmal instead. Here's some historical context, but we didn't have that at the time.

It was an hour away, so we took the sturdy Tercel/pizza oven and drove through no-lane avenues and chaotic roundabouts until we got out of town. As soon as we did, there was nothing but paved, divided highways in front of us.

When we arrived, there were very few people around. After bathing in DEET in the parking lot, we paid our fees, walked in, and proceeded to have our minds entirely blown.

I've never seen a pyramid in person. To say I was stunned is an understatement. Just look at this:

That pyramid is a hundred feet high. It's also over fifteen hundred years old. You can't tell how steep it is from that picture, but look at this one:

Yes, that's pretty damn steep. 60 degrees, in case you're wondering Going up might be tough, but it couldn't have been nearly as difficult as going down. 

One of the features that distinguishes the Mayan pyramid are the rounded corners, which no one else duplicated. It's another layer of complexity that demonstrates how remarkably advanced they were as a people. Here's a view:

Here's a look at how ornate the carvings were (only some of which have survived):

One of the items on my bucket list was to see a court where the Maya Ballgame was played. You know, the one with the stone rings and the possible sacrifice of team captains if their team lost (there's no historical agreement on the matter).

Well, I got to see one.

You'll have to click on the image to enlarge it (I suggest you do this with all of these), but if you do, you can see the stone rings used as goals. Astonishing, really, to see it in person. 

These pyramids were part of nature, and it must have taken an enormous amount of work each year to avoid being engulfed. The Mayan written language is still only partially translated (a good use for a MLM, potentially), so even where records exist, it's only a fragmentary explanation of what life was like for the people who lived there. The structures themselves, though, are magnificent. 

We drove back to Merida, talking all the while about what we saw. This time, we walked in a different direction for dinner, and stumbled onto a modern, tree-lined boulevard full of restaurants and shops. It was beautiful, and so unlike anything we'd seen in the city so far. The food was delicious, too.

Sorry, there are no drawings by the professional artist today. I didn't want to diminish the majesty of the pyramids by using anything besides the real photos.