06/03 Took a bus over to Uxmal today. That turned out to be a bit complicated because the motel is on the edge of town so there’s no bus stop or taxi station. I walked into town and finally found a taxi but it was a van and I got the impression that he didn’t want to drive out to the ruins with just me as a passenger. So I headed back to the motel, found out when the next bus would be driving by and flagged it down from the side of the road.

The entry fee to get into the ruins was a bit steep. It was something like $140 pesos which is way more than any other site I’ve visited. It was deathly hot and the tourists, most of which were foreigners, shuffled from one shady spot to the next. I did meet 3 American teachers and we chatted for a bit. They said I should come back for fireworks tonight but I’ll skip that–it was hard enough getting there the first time.

There were lots of cool non-building things to see here. In most of the cave-like rooms accessible to the outside, dozens of tiny birds would fly around like crazy whenever someone walked in. I just stood there kind of like Batman while they flew around my head. Also saw lots of iguanas wandering around. Up in the rafters in one building were 3 birds with the neatest tail feathers (pic below).

Sleep was next to impossible last night so I’m going to be really tired come tomorrow. It’s just way too hot and the ceiling fan is worthless. The wind also died down so there’s not even a breeze.

Went over and saw the ancient ruins of Palenque this morning. Palenque, part of the Maya civilization, dates back to 100 BC. It sits in the middle of a dense jungle that’s inhabited by various bird species, howler monkeys, and supposedly jaguars. The ruins were spectacular. Definitely worth a visit. The cool part is that archaeologists estimate that only 5% of the total city has been uncovered.

There were a large number of tourists but the site is fairly large so it didn’t feel crowded. I lucked out and had perfect weather and no mosquitoes, which I’ve heard can be pretty bad.

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04/07 Well if I thought yesterday was tough today was like riding a 600 lb bike uphill in a giant sauna. I left at 10am this morning and after riding for almost 8 hours I made it here. My actual riding time was just under 5 hours. So for 3 hours I was sitting under any tree I could find to try to and cool off. If it wasn’t for the trees I would have never made it. Oh and the hills. The climb out of the cascades wasn’t a surprise so when I got to the top I chugged down some cold water from the store and kept going. The 2nd big hill at mile 20 almost killed me. Traffic didn’t help either because at least once every 20 seconds a car/truck would come along which kept me from switchbacking up the steep parts. I’ve never pushed my bike up a hill but I can’t imagine that being any easier.

Not sure if what I’m in yet is rain forest but it seems like it to me. On one of my many siestas I got to see lots of colorful little birds flying around. Not too many pictures today. I had to save my energy. Ran into 4 more “vine-across-the-road” stops staffed by one or more young girls. The first 2 were within 200 yards of each other and I was going downhill (fast) and didn’t feel like stopping. So I kept pedaling and they dropped the vine when they saw I wasn’t going to stop. It wasn’t long after that that I started feeling like a world-class jerk. They lowered the vine so its not like they were going to kill me for not donating a little and we’re not talking about a lot of money. I’m not a fan of their methods but if I were in their shoes I’d probably do the same. So at the next one I stopped and gave up a few pesos. The last one I rode right by because they didn’t hear me coming until it was too late. I turned around and gave them some pesos too.

Palenque is my home for the next 2 nights. Found a place with internet and hot showers (not that I needed it) for US $16 night (Hotel Shalom). Tomorrow I’ll go check out the ruins. I only saw a little of the town so far but it seems a bit rough. The buildings/sidewalks are in general disrepair and the streets are a it of a mess. Kind of surprising for being so close to one of the biggest archeological sites in Mexico.

Feeling a little better. My nose has finally stopped running and the cough isn’t nearly as bad.

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