Trip Report n.07: Uxmal...

One more trip report up for you this week, this one from Uxmal.  We covered a lot of ground in terms of ruins on our trip last year, so I thought we had likely exhausted some of the better possibilities but honestly, this year didn't disappoint.  There's just that much good stuff in the Yucatan...no joke.  

We headed out to Uxmal towards the start of the trip on possibly the foggiest day of the trip so you'll have to forgive the rather murky allure of these photos.  However, I prefer to think that it adds to the overall mystique of the place.

Now, I'm no expert on Mayan ruins, but I have to say that these were some of the best for us - and by "best" I only mean that we personally enjoyed them a lot.  There are lots of places to explore and lots of buildings that give you a sense of the scale of these cities.   They look different enough from Chichen Itza that you get a different experience and there is still a pyramid you can climb  - though with diplo-tot on the back, I didn't risk it (the things can be steep and slippery - don't be fooled by the pictures!). 

There are lots of little pockets and surprises to explore as you're walking around.  Definitely make an effort to be there right when the ruins open at 8 - you'll share these treasures with only a few others before the buses roll in and before the heat dials up, which makes it magical in it's own way.  The Uxmal ruins are also a bit less commercial in general compared to some of the others, and if you go earlier you literally won't see a vendor of any kind...at least, not for now...

At times it was so foggy that the photos might as well have all been in black and white...

Also, all these little doorways and arches seem like they'd be great places to lean against for a nice frame to your photo, right? That's also what I thought until I sent diplo-husband to stand in one of them which set of thousands and thousands of bats into a shrieking and guano-producing frenzy...

I think that they must standardize the vendors to some degree at these ruins because the exit of nearly all the ones we've seen have the same type of courtyard with various concessions.   We seem to be lucky in terms of timing - we're just coming out as the buses pull up.  A coffee or lemon granita has been our treat then as we sit down and watch the lines form, each bus just a little different than the one that unloaded before it...And as we were leaving Uxmal, I couldn't help but notice we weren't the only tired ones!