A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a brilliant teacher did a unit called “Voyage of the Mimi”on the Mayan civilization. How long ago? Well, one of the stars of the videos was a 12 year old Ben Affleck. But I digress. The salient point is that ever since, I’ve had Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza on my bucket list. And now The Dream has become reality and, as an added bonus, none of them was in any way a disappointment.
I could literally drone on all day about the Mayans - their calendar, their ingenious Math system, their astronomical, artistic and architectural skills, their hieroglyphic language. But if you’re interested you can look it up yourself. I’m simply going to provide you with some eye candy. I’ll attempt to exercise restraint.
TULUM
Deservedly more renowned for its location than its architecture. Still impressive when you consider it was built over 1500 years ago - by hand.
COBA
Poor Coba. More jungly and, in my opinion, underrated. A much more natural and less touristy site.
Tunnel through base of a pyramid.
One wall of smaller ball court. Many rules, the most important being that the ball, which was as heavy as a brick, couldn’t touch the ground. Losing team’s captain, or occasionally entire losing team, sometimes sacrificed, providing that extra bit of motivation.
Mayan maiden preparing to be sacrificed.
CHICHEN ITZA
The granddaddy of them all. Everything here is super-sized and often amazingly well preserved.
Temple of Kukulkan - feathered serpent hot shot.
Temple of the Warriors. Each column represents a warrior & his exploits and there are literally hundreds of them. These guys loved a good battle.
Gigantic ball court. One has to wonder how you would ever toss a ball the weight of a brick through those hoops. Perhaps the death threat helped.
By now you get the idea. At one time the Mayans completely dominated a huge area, with a multitude of cities and a complex civilization. And you can see why. Then a combination of Spanish conquest, infighting and mysterious circumstances wiped them out for all intents and purposes. Ah, progress!
CENOTES
Cenotes are water-filled sinkholes caused by limestone collapsing. They can be both above ground or totally underground and were used by the Mayans for drinking water and, of course, human sacrifices. But all that is irrelevant. The only thing you really need to know about cenotes is that it’s an unspoken but unbreakable rule that you MUST visit at least one after each tour of a Mayan ruin, preferably in a large, obnoxious group. Consuming vast quantities of alcohol during the visit is not compulsory, but is strongly advised and under no circumstances can you make any sounds other than a piercing shriek or ululating howl. So....good times.
Fortunately, while we were engulfed in a few crowd catastrophes, we actually managed to have at least one entirely to ourselves, if only for long enough to think,”Wait. Something is really wrong here.”
And so much for your obligatory sightseeing. Of course we have continued to make the rounds of both Valladolid and Oaxaca, but honestly, in my opinion they’re nothing to write home about (contrary to the opinion you’ll get from most other bloggers, who rave about the quaintness and beauty, etc.) Are they nice? Yes. Are they less touristy? For sure. Would I make either my primary destination? Probably not. So our walks mainly involve Caitlin scoping out hip venues and me trailing along asking stupid questions.
Woman on a mission
There is, however, one extremely important exception to the above somewhat “meh” evaluation.
If you’re not a Brownie or don’t know one personally what I’m about to tell you will probably not make much sense. It’s like having kids: if you have them I don’t have to explain. If you don’t, I couldn’t possibly explain. In the past few days we have literally spent twice as much on food as we have on accommodations. I know what you’re thinking: “But surely that’s not humanly possible!” I can assure you it is. When you’re slurping down homemade pasta with Nona at Osteria Della Nona, gobbling an assortment of Oaxacan delicacies at Los Danzantes and then polishing off a six course meal at El Destilado, it’s no trouble at all. If there’s a heaven and you’re a Brownie, it’s going to closely resemble Oaxaca.
A Brownie in her natural element
See above
BONUS (FOR WOMEN ONLY - HONESTLY)
Because of who Caitlin and her equally fashion obsessed sister are, she absolutely insisted we HAD to visit Coqui Coqui Coba. Basically Coqui Coqui is a renowned perfume brand, but they’ve branched out into other areas, including boutique hotels - often in unlikely locations. I swear we had to literally drive down a dirt road past hovels with junked cars to get to this place. But once you get there - OMG!
Here, see for yourselves:
Only 5 rooms so make your reservation now.
Tomorrow it’s off to Mazunte, a tiny, unspoiled (we hope) village on the Pacific coast. The 6 hour drive over the mountains is often described as “hair raising”, but not for a grizzled veteran surely. We see.
Wish us luck & stay tuned.
Next time: Beach Blanket Bingo
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