As I said the Mayan ruins excursion was one of the highlights of the whole trip. We chose to visit the ruins at Uxmal rather than Chitzen Itza. Uxmal is less famous but much more decorative. Chitzen Itza is one of the new 7 Wonders of the World so I knew that most of the crowds would be headed that way. I'm so happy that we made that choice since we practically had the place to our selves. There were over 6 buses just from Carnival going to Chitzen Itza but one lone bus headed to Uxmal. We had to travel 2 hours into the heart of the Yucatan to get there but we saw the real Mexico from the comfort of our air conditioned bus.
We were able to get up close and personal with the ruins as nothing but a few statues were roped off. We went into the buildings, climbed all over, and I took tons of pictures unblemished by other tourists.
We were allowed to chose from 3 different routes up or around the Governor's Palace . Mike and I chose to climb up halfway and come around the backside. At one point Mike had gone ahead and out of view. No one else had chosen to go that way yet so I was completely alone for about 10 minutes. I cooled off under a tree and communed with my surroundings. It was one of the most peaceful and memorable moments of the whole trip for me.
We ate lunch ate a local restaurant with real food from the Yucatan. We had to have our tour guide translate with the waiters for us. It was incredibly simple yet delicious food, and no we didn't get sick. Many from the tour bus sat in the bus and ate their ham sandwiches that had been given to us but I'm so glad that we chose to eat there instead.
I had been worried about the heat and the walking and climbing but I was so in the moment that day that I felt no pain until we got back on the bus to come home. My right thigh was burning for the next few days from all the stair climbing at an angle. I have a lot more pictures on flickr here if your interested.
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