The last leg of my Mexican journey took me to two places in opposite directions. If I were to draw a map of this part of my adventure, it might look something like this:

To the north of Mérida is a small village called Chicxulub. It sits right on the water of the Gulf of Mexico. The coast of Chicxulub is nondescript, unadorned by fancy hotels or volleyball beaches. There’s a series of houses, nicer than the abandoned stone buildings of the main village, but nothing to write home about. The houses are owned by Canadians, with a few Americans sprinkled in. The Canadians are from various places (Toronto, Quebec, etc.) and come here for the summer.

Far off that coast, 65 million years ago, a meteor about 6 miles wide smashed into the Atlantic Ocean, wreaking all kinds of havoc. Aside from (probably) causing the extinction of a whole host of plants and animals (including the dinosaurs that hadn’t evolved into birds), it also shattered the limestone underneath Mexico. An intricate system of underground rivers and sinkholes was formed (called cenotes), which eventually contributed to the rise of Aztec and Mayan culture.

Shirtless children play unsupervised in the streets and run in and out of buildings that have been abandoned for decades. There are a couple of taverns or shacks, serving fried fish that’s about as fresh as fried fish gets.

The town square has a small three-sided plaque dedicated to its spot in history.

To the south, we traveled to Uxmal. Uxmal is a Mayan temple site that has the dual bonus of being more intricate and detailed than Chichen Itza, and having far fewer tourists. It’s a bit of a drive from Mérida and there are no real short-cuts to or from Cancun.

Nice Site Map

Wiki Entry

Uxmal is beautiful, its buildings covered with detailed carvings. The Governor’s Palace overlooks the jungle, clear to the horizon. Each building has a theme, including a small structure with stone turtles ringing the upper lip.

Uxmal was worth the drive and I’m glad we saved it for last. Chichen Itza would have not seemed quite as cool.

As a parting gift, I give you one of Uxmal’s mighty iguanas. I admit, I did not know iguanas grew to the size I saw them at. There were four or five at any one time, all sunning on rocks or ruins. I saw at least four that were probably close to three feet long. They were mighty, and quite at home as the only residents these ruins have had in the last thousand years.

On the second leg of my Mexican journey, I ended up in Mérida. Mérida is a gigantic town (with a population of over 800,000), which still looks and feels like a village. The streets are narrow, the people friendly, and the level of tourists way down. What tourists were there ranged from part-time residents (from the US and Canada mostly), to a relaxed, older crowd. Being well-removed in both age and interest from the binge-drinking party crowd, I found it much better than Cancún.

If I were to draw a map of that part of the adventure, it would look something like this:

Mérida has a town square set beside a huge church (built by the Spanish back in the day, of course). The square is filled every night with townspeople relaxing after work. On Sundays, it is closed to traffic and booths are set-up for a giant block party. Dancing, music, and tons of super cheap, really tasty food is served. I almost made myself sick on 6-peso tacos– we were getting a 14.5 to 1 exchange rate, so they were less than 50 cents.

At dusk, flocks of blackbirds (grackles) swoop in from the outlying fields and settle in the trees. They arrive in clouds as thick as bats, more than you can count. Branches are covered with their sleek black shapes– ten, twenty, thirty to a branch. They come in waves from all directions, sometimes staging on the nearby rooftops, eaves, or the bell tower of the church. All the while, they caw and caw at a volume that’s hard to talk over. It’s hypnotic– the sounds of their cries mixed with the sound of thousands of beating wings. It builds for twenty minutes or more, getting louder and louder… then suddenly, they stop. Nestled in their trees, some signal is given and it’s time to sleep. They settle down, like feathered lumps of fruit, hidden in the thick leaves of the trees all around the town square.

By far, the grackles were (unexpectedly) the coolest thing of the whole trip. Most of our time in Mérida was spent in that town square, people watching, relaxing, eating street food, and absorbing the laidback culture of the city.

Here are the pictures. A typical street, the church, some corn, traditional dancing, and a performer in the town square. Behind him, you can see part of the church and some of the trees that become grackle colonies when dusk hits.

Next up: Dead dinosaurs and more Mayan ruins!