Thursday, January 20, 2005

A Night Out

Wow! Today I set the departure time for 9:00 am and we were packed up and ready to go by 9:02… pretty amazing for our second day packing up. It makes things so much easier on me when my pax are punctual and efficient.

We went right to the Uxmal ruins which are only 15 minutes from the campground. Then on our way to Merida I made a surprise stop at a secret cenote. A cenote is a crystal clear fresh water swimming hole. The entire Yucatan Penninsula is pretty much solid limestone and underneath this solid foundation layer run underground fresh water rivers. Over thousands of years these rivers have ate away at the limestone forming myriads of cenote sinkholes and cavern systems. There are hundreds of various types of cenotes that you can visit. Some are completely enclosed in a cave, some are open to the sky, several have been developed to look more “Indiana Jones-like” while others are completely untouched. The one that we visited is just about an hour south of Merida close to the small village of Abala. You have to drive down a small country road for some ways and then turn off onto a grass road so narrow that you have to pull in the side mirrors so they don’t snap off stone formations. Drive down that and after about 10 minutes you come to a little turn around where you park and suit up. The cenote is about 30 feet underground and you descend down a ladder through an opening about 20 foot in diameter. The water is crystal clear and as you are swimming you can see the tunnels underneath you that go even deeper into the unknown. I dive in and then just float there watching the bats flitter in the darkness around the giant stalactites that cling to the top of the cave. Most of the group came down with me and really thought it was an amazing experience.

After we dried off it was a straight shot to Merida. Right when we got there we brought our laundry to the lavenderia and then I gave the crew 4 hours to explore the city while I ran errands (phone calls, internet, chillin’, etc.) At 8 I met the group in the lobby and we went around the corner to Pancho’s for dinner. Tourism is one of Mexico’s biggest money makers, so they really treat guides well down here. Whenever I go to a restaurant, bar, activity, etc., I am almost always comped (given the service complementary). Pancho’s is one of those places that treats the guides real well. I ordered a shrimp entrée, oyster appetizer, a couple of beers, coffee and a shot of tequila and I didn’t have to pay a dime. After the meal we went to a cheesy Salsa bar down the road were some of the girls danced and I had a couple more beers (no dancing for the D).

1 comment:

Trekkin' Dave said...

Regs... Thanks for the notes. You are the only person who posts any comments to me. Hope all is good up north. Dave

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