Told the pax that we should leave by 8:30, but since it was our first time breaking down camp and loading the van I really didn’t expect to get out of there until 9:00. We left at 9:30 after a little chat about being punctual and teamwork (a group of about 4 girls did most of the work).
Then it was off for a super drive… the drive from Palenque to Uxmal is long and somewhat sterile. We stopped at lunch time in the city of Escarcega for some rotisserie (or is it rasta-ser Mom?) chickens. I don’t know where all the pollos come from, but this city is covered with restaurants that sell pollo asados. They must go through 1000’s of chickens everyday. The restaurant we go to is great. A couple of plastic chairs and tables and a huge grill in the back covered with hundreds of chickens. That’s all they have – chicken. One whole bird with tortillas, salsa, shredded cabbage and limes for $35 pesos (about $3 US). I can feed a whole group for about $12 US.
Then we pack back into the van and keep cruising north. We were about 2 hours away from our destination when Martina started looking pretty ill and just a short way down the road we pulled over for her to get some air. We were parked right next to a roadside garbage dump, but I don’t think that we could have made it any farther down the road because as soon as we stopped a white-faced Martina flopped out of the van a into puking position. Her friends walked her up a hill a little sat with her while we all waited. After about an hour, and a little pukeage, we were out of there. On most of my trips stomach illness is pretty much expected and I warned the rest of the girls that it was only a matter of time until everyone got their dose of ghetto stomach.
When we finally reached the campground in Uxmal the day was almost over and we barely got the tents set up before the sun totally set. I cruised into the little village of Santa Elena to try to find some pineapple juice for the Coladas (mission was unsuccessful) while the crew prepared dinner. Spent the rest of the night sitting around and chatting while a handful of the group were on a spider safari. The campground was full of all different types of spiders and as soon as the sun went down they were on the prowl. The walls of the bathrooms were crawling with them and I had a handful of girls getting really nervous about their “safety” while sleeping. They seemed to think that the spiders would climb up the walls of the palapa, scurry across the beams, make their way down the strings of their hammocks and then jump into their sleeping bags and eat their face. It probably didn’t help that I perpetuated the situation by telling them that the spiders can fly.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
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