Monday, August 04, 2008

Monday's Notes

I've encountered my first difficulty of the trip. I've included a trip to Chichen Itza in my package, but the local tour company has given me the run-around all day. Three times today I've called, three times they've said they've called back, three times they haven't.

I went into Cancun Centro, the mainland downtown, today, and went to Wal*Mart. Its food section was even larger than my local Wal*Mart at home! I had a good time looking around.

And then it was a small, authentic Yucatecan restaurant recommend by a local. Muy bien!

The descendants of the Maya are the locals here, although the tourism industry has brought people from all over Mexico. The Mayan language is still spoken, especially in some of the smaller villages. I asked one person if he was Mayan, and he said, "No, I'm too tall and my head isn't shaped like a watermelon." I was somewhat taken aback by his comment until I went to the local flea market downtown; I now understand that his explanation was exactly correct.

Well, time to call for the fourth time.

Update, 7pm local time: It took one call yesterday and 5 calls today, but I got tomorrow's tour squared away with the local tour company. They sent someone to my hotel to exchange my voucher for a ticket. This is good, as the time and place for meeting the tour bus has changed from what was on my voucher! The pick-up time is a half-hour later and much closer to my hotel than I expected, so this is all good. I was also told that a still camera is fine, but a video camera will merit an additional several dollar charge at Chichen Itza as it did at the El Rey Ruins. Anything to snag a little more of my cash, I guess!

Today's pictures will be posted after dark. I want a nighttime shot across the lagoon.

No comments: