Breakfast involved meeting all the members of the group, nine in total including our tour leader. Three aussies, two Danes, two Italians and a Londoner – a great mix. At breakfast we had to try the “anti cholesterol” juice. A mix of pineapple, celery, some other fillers and CACTUS – no spines. All I can say is that I won’t be trying this again.
The tour is via public buses and the ADO buses in Mexico are really good. Movies, good comfy seats, toilet and speed controlled via GPS. Very impressive. After 3 hours we made it to Chichen Itza we dumped our bags and headed to a cenote (pronounced see-not-ee). They are large limestone sink holes and often used for human sacrifice. We squashed into the taxi and traveled 5km up the road to Ik Kil cenote. The sink hole had dark blue water and tree roots dangling 20m from the lime stone overhang into the water. Water from a hose also created local water falls as added touch.
With bathers on, we hit the fresh water (only 50m deep) and went swimming. It was a great way to refresh after the bus ride. Floating on your back staring up the limestone walls complete with stalactites, dangling tree roots and blue sky with water spraying was pretty special.
I had to do a bombie in the cenote too!
Another squashy taxi ride and Felipe, our guide, was waiting eagerly for us.
The Mayan, with convergence of Toltec influences, were very smart. The time temples, such as the great El Castillo, act as calendars and also designed to create serpent god shadows falling and rising from the ground on the equinoxes. An illusion to convince the masses.
The Juego del Pelota, or ball playing stadium was another set of buildings, with great acoustics. We learnt about the interpretation of the game and how the winning captain was taken by decapitation as a willing sacrifice to the gods. It’s hard to believe this was buried under jungle and not found until the early 1900’s by New York lawyer.
At this stage my camera decided it wasn’t time to work which brought back the horror of Luxor, Egypt, in the Great hypostyle hall when my batteries run out!
We observed some pre-Classical period ruins and were amazed at how smart the construction and engraved messages were! 
A quick group shot at the observatory (el caracol) and we hit the road to Merida, a 2 hour journey.
On arrival at Hotel Trinidad, an English fellow come from across the road. The first thing I asked for was free beer (jokingly) and said “Once Melanee is here you can have a free cervesa!”. Sweet!
Our room is a belter with high ceilings, on the second floor with views of the courtyard. A old traditional Mexican house restored and converted to a hotel.
Sunday night is party night and Calle 60 was closed off to traffic and live bands were playing music with lots of dancing in the street. We sat outside in a nice restaurant with traditional Mexican food, tacos (not old El Paso style) with a soft tortillas. Tan had Sangria and I had a local beer. The beer was poured into a 1/3 full glass of lemon juice with salt on the rim. It took a while to finish!!
It was unfortunate that the trees above had birds that weren’t keen on gringos, so I got a hit twice. When Tan got poohed on, the waiter brought out anti-poop protection devices aka sombreros! They were effective too!
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