Tulum & More Cenotes
We had a serious problem – we hadn’t done any washing in around 3 weeks and we’d pretty much run out clean clothes to wear. We decided to drive down to Tulum to find a laundry and go to visit the ruins at the same time. Its only about 40k down the road and we got there fairly early before we realised that it was Sunday and everything was shut – you can lose track of days really easily when travelling.
As we’d have to wait until the next day to get our washing done we decided to spent the morning checking out the ruined Oceanside city of Tulum.
Tulum was built in the Late Post-Classic period so is younger than most of the big cities that we have seen having only been started after 1200 AD. However this meant that it was still in use when the Spanish arrived in the early Sixteenth century. The site continued to be used even into the Caste Wars of the 1890’s when Mayans held the site against the Mexican Army for over 25 years.
To be honest the ruins aren’t that great – there aren’t any towering temples or massive acropolii but they city is built on cliffs overlooking the Caribbean and has a stunning outlook. The ruins even have their own beach which seems to get ridiculously crowded with tourists.
The weather was really hot so by the time we’d walked around the site we were ready for the beach. We drove back up the coast a bit to a place called Xpu-ha which has a couple of small guest houses on the beach which allow RV’s to park. We spent the afternoon on the beach and in the water.
The next morning we were up early to get back to Tulum and get our washing done – oh the excitement of the travelling lifestyle. We found out that our washing would take until 6pm that evening so we were stuck in Tulum for the day.
Sometimes the most unexpected things are the best when you are travelling and so it turned out today. We decided to go to Gran Cenote first thing.
This Cenote was amazing. At first glance the cenote didn’t look much but once you were in the water and snorkelling round the edges you realised that there were some amazing caves hidden under the edges of the rock. One in particular was a great big cave with some serious decoration in the form of stalactites.
There was also a 2nd cenote linked to the first by a tunnel. The second one was very shallow except the water dropped off round the edges into deep caves. Snorkelling round here I found a big freshwater turtle but it wasn’t really interested in hanging round !
After spending a couple of hours and Gran Cenote we drove to another Cenote – Casa Cenote which was a couple of miles down the road. This Cenote is very different in that it looks more like a river than a cavern. However it is only 20m from the sea and at the seaward end there is a deep cave that looks like it leads out to the sea. The water in the cenote was brackish so there is obviously a link to the sea.
The cenote itself is quite long and is actually a number of collapsed cenotes which have all merged together. There are mangroves lining the sides walls of the cenote which are home to thousands of juvenile fish. This in turn has attracted some predators both in the form of birds and fish to the cenotes.
Swimming in these cenotes was really different to the ones that we dived in and really good fun.
We decided to find somewhere in Tulum to spend the night so drove down the beach road. At the end of a short but rough track we found a little beach bar that also does camping. The Tulum beach is gorgeous and so less poncey than further North. If you are looking for the “real” Yucatan then head down here – its also way cheaper than further North.
After we finally got our washing back we set out for Belize. It’s fairly long drive to the border though so we stopped off at Chetumal in one of nicest campgrounds we’ve been too (Yax-ha). We parked right on the sea along a sea wall with an orderly row of cannons on it. There was a swimming pool and a nice restaurant. We could have stayed here longer but the road was calling.
A Diving Interlude (Sea & Cenotes)
First thing in the morning a dive boat goes out from Paa Mul for a single tank dive. I decided to join in and see what Mexican Carribean diving was like. The owner of the dive shop had sworn to me that the diving along the mainland coast was better than on Cozumel.
Well my impressions of the diving here are that it is OK – standard Caribbean but without any significantly interesting reef structures. The reef we dived was fairly flat – standing between 2-5m proud of the sea bed. There was a reasonable amount of life but again nothing stunning and no pelagics. However we did see two turtles and a couple of lionfish. Clearly Lionfish have made it this far South – and further I understand.
On Returning from the dive which was a generous 65 minutesI collected Sarah and we set off for the more interesting diving of the day. We had arranged to dive in two different cenotes with an instructor from the dive shop.
The instructor, Mario, a Spaniard who has lived in Mexico for the last 20 years drove us the 10 minutes to the first cenote – Chicken-Ha. We scoped out the entry which was fairly straightforward and involved jumping in off rock (not a giant stride but jumping in and landing on your back).
Once in we headed down and toured around in the cavern. There were several dark passages leading off from the main room (but these are the preserve of cave divers). This cenote does not have lots of decoration in the form of stalactites and stalagmites but watching the light come in from the surface and the various haloclines is fascinating.
After being down for 45 minutes we were pretty cold despite our 3mm wetsuits – the water temperature is definitely colder than the sea.
We went back to the truck and warmed up a bit in the sun before moving to the next cenote – Chaac Mul fro our next dive. This was a much more complex cenote with multiple sinkholes and rooms connected by passages.
The dive we did here was much longer at 60 minutes and this cavern was much more interesting with lots of stalactites and near the end a big dark room with an air pocket in the ceiling which we popped up into for a couple of minutes. There were roots in the water here from the trees on the surface. This was a progression for our cavern diving as we were away from the light much more and in more overhead environments here.
The cenote diving was really cool and different. The best thing was watching the interplay of the light coming down from the surface into the depths. The colours it produced were beautiful and really difficult to replicate in the photos.
In this area there are lots of cenotes so the opportunities for both cavern and cave diving are immense. You could easily spend a week of diving here just diving in the cenotes.
The Riviera Maya
From Piste we drove into Cancun – a big town with no way to get to the water and a barrier island just off shore which was lined with big high rise hotels. To be honest it looked horrendous and we stopped off to do some shopping and then headed South towards Playa del Carmen.
On the way though we stopped off at a cenote which is just outside Valladolid called Cenote de Dzitnup.(or X’Keken). This is a cenote (an underground lake basically) which is still completely underground. There is a small hole in the roof which lets some light in but the cavern is mostly lit by artificial, unfortunately coloured lights that spoil it a bit. We went swimming in the cave and you can swim right under some of the hanging stalactites. There are some small fish in the water and roots from the trees on the surface hanging right down into the water – some 50 feet.
Just South of Playa Del Carmen is an RV Park, Paa Mul, which is mostly inhabited by permanents. Many of these have built cabanas around their RV’s to such an extent that it is really hard to tell there is an RV in there. The spots for travellers are really just car park spaces although there was a bit of shade. We were quite aggrieved at the price which was US40 per night which didn’t include WIFI (only available on a monthly basis for 450 pesos/month).
We quickly discovered after lighting our BBQ for dinner that this was not allowed and we were told we had to extinguish it. We were feeling pretty ripped off by this stage.
However there is a really nice infinity pool at the RV Park and a restaurant which was pretty nice. There is a sandy beach and of course the Caribbean sea. For me the saving grace was an onsite dive shop.
We decided to spend a couple of days here and the first day we spent chilling out. Sarah lay on her newly bought hammock and we relaxed a bit after a hectic couple of weeks. On the second day I was determined to do some diving though !
Chichen Itza
Between Merida and Cancun lies Chichen Itza which is by far the busiest of all the archaeological sites in Mexico. When we arrived the queue to enter the site was at least 100 people long. We were a bit bad and pushed in near the front – all the people queuing were from coach parties so we didn’t feel too bad.
Chichen Itza was established around 300 AD and peaked in the years between 925 and 1200 AD. The centrepiece of the site is El Castillo which is a 25m high pyramid whose design is heavily based in the Mayan calendar and at the equinoxes an undulating shadow links the head and tails of a carved serpent.
The rest of the site has a number of important buildings which are unique in the Mayan world such as El Caracol with its circular, domed tower.
We arrived at Chichen Itza just after lunch and the temperature was melting hot but this hadn’t deterred the crowds.
We were definitely less impressed with Chicken Itza than with Uxmal.
You can’t stay at Chichen Itza as it is guarded by the police at night however in the small town of Piste which is 2km down the road there are two options. We chose the Starlight Inn which has a grassed courtyard which was very private and has lots of space. There was a cold shower and a toilet. Supposedly there were electric hook-ups although we didn’t get these to work but you could run a cord to the bathroom which also has a power outlet.
The little town of Piste has a number of small restaurants and we visited one for a dinner of Tacos. The nice thing about Mexico is that Tourist destinations do not necessarily mean everything is really expensive.
Uxmal
Uxmal is one of the top four Mayan sites in Mexico and as a result is more expensive and more crowded than most of the others we have been too. It is only an hours drive from Merida (either on a fast toll road or a slightly slower but still good Libre) but it is also within day trip range of tour buses from Cancun.
The nice thing about Uxmal is that they let you camp in a grassy lot next to the ruins and there is even free WIFI. If you camp overnight you can visit the Sound & Light show in the evening which is included with your entrance fee.
The Site of Uxmal itself is nice with a much higher level of ornamentation on the buildings than we had seen elsewhere.#
Uxmal is an Unesco World Heritage Site and is considered to be the finest achievement of the Puuc-region Maya who rose to power hen many of the other Southern cities were disintegrating. The city started its ultimate decline near 1000 AD.
The site is split into two main parts: near the entrance are the Piramide del Advino which stands 30m high and is part of the same complex as the Cuadranglo de los Pajaros and Cuadranglo de las Monjas. The other part of the site consists of the Palacio del Gobernador and the partly restored Gran Piramide. One thing that is really nice about the site is that it is surrounded by almost unbroken jungle for as far as the eye can see.
We returned to the site at 7pm for the Sound & Light show and after 5 minutes the excitement of seeing the buildings lit up in various colours had abated and it a was pretty boring 45 minutes . You sit in the Cuadranglo de las Monjas and can see much of the site from here. There is a story (in Spanish) which is belted out by big speakers but we didn’t have the translation headsets (which we would recommend).
Into The Yucatan
Palenque is the gateway to the Yucatan and we left here to drive Northward into the flat jungle plains of the Yucatan. The first thing that hit us was how hot it was with each day in the mid-30’s and the nights only really dropping to 26 or 27c.
The West coast of the Yucatan is not really a major tourist destination so we made our way fairly quickly up to Merida.
We did stop at a couple of places on the way. Firstly just outside Escarcega we stopped at a Rancho where the camping area was in a lovely garden surrounded by untouched forest – supposedly full of peccaries and deer but we didn’t see any. We then stopped at Campeche and stayed at Club Nautico overnight which was a big beach club which was completely deserted apart from a couple of RV’s parked off to the side. We enjoyed the infinity pool and posh showers here ! It was our most expensive night in Mexico though at 350 pesos.
From Campeche it is only a couple of hours drive to Merida which is the capital of the Yucatan. There is only one campground in Merida and this is very large (100 site or so) but also very run down and over-priced. It is right next to a big shopping mall which looks like it has been lifted right out of the USA. Its centrepiece is an ice rink and a department store called Liverpool. The fact that the watchword for exclusive shopping in Mexico is Liverpool seems slightly ironic. The real positive about the campground is that it is right off the ring road which is a big freeway so no navigating difficult roads to get here.
As there was a big cinema attached to the shopping mall we decided to take advantage and went to the cinema for a night out. We saw Mission Impossible 4 which was nicely in English (as all the films seemed to be). A ridiculous film but good entertainment.
We had to spend a couple of nights in Merida because we had managed to damage one of our front tyres and it needed replacement. The cheap tyres that we had bought in California have proved to be a bad buy and just not up to the task. Serves us right for buying some Korean crap. We had managed to track down a tyre shop in Merida with good brand replacement front tyres for us (Pirelli) and we picked them up on Saturday but we couldn’t get anywhere to fit them until Monday morning.
On Monday morning we went to Radial Llantas to have our new tyres fitted, balanced and the truck alignment done. The alignment on the truck was way out and was causing tyre wear so needed fixing. These guys were really good and had a fancy electronic system for doing the alignment. They were set up to do big trucks so we weren’t a problem at all.
Yaxchilan and Bonampak
A spur road from Palenque (the Carretera Fronteriza) leads 100 miles down along the Guatemalan border to an area where the majority population is still Mayan. In this area are two important sets of ruins, both of which are interesting for different reasons.
Rather than drive ourselves and work out all the different bits of transport to the two sites we decided to book a tour to Yaxchilan and Bonampak which would enable us to see both in one day and let someone else worry about the driving for a change.
It was really easy to book a tour through the reception at Mayabell and we were told to be ready to be picked up at 6am in the morning. As it turned out our minibus didn’t turn up until 6.30am but we were the last on the trip to be picked up.
As we dozed the bus drove towards the ruins but after about an hour stopped at a roadside restaurant to give us a very tasty Mexican breakfast of eggs, rice, beans and tortillas. This was a surprise as we hadn’t realised breakfast was included.
We were soon back on the road for the remaining hour to the boat dock at Frontera Corozal. The only way to get to Yaxchilan is a 30 minute boat ride down the river Usumacinta. This is one of the reasons that our trip was good value as to arrange a boat is 700 pesos if you are on your own and can’t find anyone to share with (not easy given the rarity of independent travellers in this area).
The boat was pretty rapid and delivered us down the river to a stone staircase (no dock) at Yaxchilan. There was no sign of the city from the water and all you could see was hot,humid, dense jungle.
Yaxchilan was an important city of the Classic-period and was at its height from 680 to 760 AD when its sphere of influence stretched up and down the Usumacinta river under the two kings Shield Jaguar and Bird Jaguar.
A short walk down a jungle path however and you come to a small pyramid and some dark doors. This is the entrance to the Labyrinth which is a building with a number of passages. You climb up stairs in the dark (we’d though to bring a torch which was very helpful) to emerge from a temple into the city proper.
The sounds of the jungle were all around with the cries of howler monkeys almost constant. It wasn’t long until we saw our first monkeys in the trees over our heads.
The downside of the tour was that we only had an hour and a half to explore the city and we could have easily spent another hour – particularly as you could sit and watch the jungle itself.
The boat ride back to the dock was longer than the ride out as it is up stream but we arrived back and jumped back in the minibus to be taken to a restaurant where a three course lunch was served up – very nice.
Then we drove to the entrance road to Bonampak where we had to get out and transfer to a Mayan owned minibus (the locals are called the Lacandon Maya). Even if you drive yourself you still have to use local transport to get down this road.
Bonampak itself is a small set of ruins but is remarkable for a small building with three rooms which have the most intact Mayan murals found anywhere. These rooms are very nice but the rest of the site is small and you really only need an hour to look round here.
After doing Bonampak we were back on the road for the two hour ride back to Palenque and we weren’t back until about 7pm. It had been a busy day !
The whole trip had cost us 750 pesos each. This isn’t much more than it would have cost us to do it ourselves if you count the cost of diesel too so we felt it was pretty good value. The road is in pretty good condition though so It wouldn’t be a problem to do it yourself – and there are places to stay at both Frontera Corozal and Bonampak.
A Day on the Water (Agua Azul and Misol-Ha)
While chilling out at Mayabell we had got talking to Nancy & Drew and together we hatched a plan to go together to a couple of places near to Palenque but up that awful road that we had both driven the day before. We were overjoyed at the offer so we wouldn’t have to drive the Beast – Nancy & Drew have a much smaller mini-van type camper which is much more nimble.
So we set off for the hour long drive back up into the mountains to Agua Azul. This is a park where a mountain river cascades over a number of waterfalls and in between the waterfalls there are swimming holes. The water is a beautiful turquoise colour.
The path up the river is lined with restaurants and vendors. We decide to stop off for lunch in one of the little restaurants. We all decided to go for the Empanadas at only 10 pesos (under 1 USD) for 5 with a choice of chicken, cheese, meat and potato.. Not only were they really cheap but the woman cooking made them from scratch right in front of us. Probably the best value meal I’ve ever had.
After lunch we headed back down the road towards Palenque for our second stop of the day at Misol-Ha. This is a 30m waterfall with a big pool in front of it.
There is a path around behind the waterfall which climbs to the top of a second smaller waterfall for which the water comes out of a small cave. You can walk into the cave and about 20m in is a cavern with another small waterfall in it among bats and glow-worms. There is a guy sitting at the entrance who tries to charge us another entrance fee but we just ignore him – by the time Drew who is the last of us to go in he gets quite irate – but none of us pay !
After visiting this waterfall we all went for a swim in the lake which was quite cool but really refreshing in the jungle heat.
After leaving here we drove back to Palenque having had a thoroughly good day. It was really nice to do something with other people for a change. Big thanks to Nancy & Drew for driving us around – and also good vibes to Rocky, their gorgeous dog, who unfortunately hasn’t been very well recently.
Palenque
Feeling quite pleased with ourselves we took the easy way out of Rancho San Nicolas and hit the road early in the morning for the 230km drive through the mountains to Palenque. We did stop at some ruins (Tonina) half way but the road still took us 8.5 hours to drive and we passed over 440 Topes. This is perhaps the slowest road we’ve ever driven. There were washouts of the road (heralded with signs saying DESLAVE – we didn’t know what this meant but soon found out when the majority of the road disappeared). Another hazard was locals selling things by the side of the road and lifting a rope across the road as you appeared to try to force you to stop – why they bother when there are so many Topes who knows. We had heard stories of these sellers getting really aggressive and even beating the side of vehicles so we adopted a tactic of driving straight through. They soon dropped the rope with 8.5 tonnes of the Beast bearing down on them.
We eventually reached Palenque and stopped at the Mayabell campground and cabanas. This is a well know stop on the overlander’s trail. On arriving we found Nancy & Drew there once more having down the same drive only marginally quicker than us.
The ruins we stopped off at on the way called Tonina are seldom visited and much less touristy than the big ones but surprisingly large. They basically consist of a city built into the side of a hill peaking with two pyramids at the top. There are a couple of buildings that you can explore inside – although they are pitch dark inside.
The city was at its height between 699AD and 909AD shortly after which it was abandoned. The climb up the face of the ruins is very steep and the steps are pretty large – nearing the top you are definitely using hands to help pull yourself up.
At Mayabell we were in the jungle and the temperature and humidity had both ratcheted right up. The big difference here was that the temperature doesn’t drop off much at night. The other thing is the jungle noises – in the night there is a roaring sound (like a special effect from a sci-fi movie) which is howler monkeys calling out – they move around through the night so the volume varies throughout the night – waking you when they get too close !
Our first morning at Palenque we got up early and walked out onto the road in front of Mayabell. It didn’t take long for a combi van to arrive which we flagged down and were driven the 2 km (uphill) to the main Palenque site. We’d timed our arrival to get there just as it opened because we wanted to be able to see the main pyramids without people on them.
Palenque city flourished between 300 and 900 AD and towards the end of this period ruled a large part of modern day Chiapas and Tabasco. At its peak there was a population close to 100,000 in the city.
The city itself is built on the top of an escarpment with a huge complex called El Palacio as the centrepiece.
Next to this is a huge pyramid called Templo de Las Inscripciones where the tomb of Hanab Pakal was found. We had seen the enormous sarcophagus from this tomb in the anthropological museum in Mexico City.
The ruins continue down into the jungle as you walk down the hill, passing a number of jungle waterfalls. The exit from the site is conveniently only 200m from Mayabell.
We had completed our tour before the heat of the day and spent the rest of the day chilling out by the pool at Mayabell. The pool at Mayabell is freshwater from a jungle stream which is filtered through a pool at the side (filled with fish) before entering the swimming pool.
San Cristobal de la Casas
San Cristobal de la Casas is an isolated mountain town that forms the centre point for the indigenous communities throughout the mountains.
Our first challenge on arriving in San Cristobal was to get to Rancho San Nicolas where we were going to camp for a couple of nights. The route that we had to get there involved going straight through the middle of town and we had met someone who had advised us not to go that way. He’d given us another way which avoided the smallest roads. We were halfway down this route when we got to a road that was completely dug up. We’d gone too far to turn round now so just ploughed on through and ended up on a small town road which led to the Campground – about a 15 minute walk from the centre of town.
Its worth knowing that there is a back way into Rancho San Nicolas which is on a big road and could take a vehicle over 30ft in length. The only downside is a about 200m of dirt road at the end – but it should be in decent condition. The turning from the main road is at N16 42.751 W92 37.086. Follow this road until N16 43.975 W92 37.153 where you turn right down the dirt road. (Google Earth shows the route really clearly). This is the one remaining campground in town – others that we met had got stuck right in the middle of town trying to find another !
At Rancho San Nicolas we bumped into Nancy & Drew, 2 canadians, we had previously met in Patzcuaro. They filled us in a bit on the local scene !
We decided to stay for two days in San Cristobal – not least because of the nice climate of hot days and cool nights. That’s what you get at over 2000m.
San Cristobal feels a lot like San Miguel de Allende but somehow feels more authentic – there are less tourists here and there are a lot of indigenous people on the streets and particularly in the market. There are the usual selection of churches in San Cristobal.
There is one old church that stands out (the Templo de Santo Domingo Guzman). The inside is incredibly ornate and covered in gold. In the dim light inside it looks like the whole of the church is made from solid gold.
There is one church that stands on hill to one side of the town and is accessed by a steep flight of stairs. We climbed the stairs for the view only to realise at the top that the church is ringed by trees and you can’t see the town at all !
There is a really big market in San Cristobal (Mercado Joe Castillo Tielemans) in a network of small streets covered over with tarps. All the standard things like chicken, fruit etc are sold here but also more esoteric things like sheets of dried fish and cow’s faces. There were of course the obligatory live chickens and turkeys. Lots of the people in market were the indigenous peoples from the surrounding mountain villages – the women wear brightly coloured tops and fluffy skirts while the men wear Panama hats and fluffy sheepskin ponchos !
San Cristobal is the central stronghold of the Zapatistas movement which is most famous for an uprising in 1994 where the town was seized by the rebels. They are less active these days but still in existence. At one market stall they were selling DVD’s of Zapatistas action – the cover showing men in Balaclava’s – a bit like buying The Best of the IRA in Oxford Street (If you could!).
FromAtoB 