Uxmal & Tucil

Uxmal was my favorite Mayan ruin to date. Of course it didn’t hurt that the weather was mild, sunny and cloudy, which really helped keep the temperatures down while we explored the site. We were also lucky enough to visit early in the day before the tour buses arrived, the photos taken early in our tour reflect this lack of humanity (the last photos of ruins posted are really the first taken).




This ruin is over 1000 years old. The designs are remarkable well-preserved, full of rain gods, lattices and flowers. We climbed steep, narrow steps to the top of one pyramid and I must admit that I came down in a nearly seated position, keeping my massive center of gravity almost on each step. Luckily, I didn’t scrape each step with my fanny so I still have material left on my shorts!




We spent three hours walking around admiring the ancient buildings with their fancy handiwork discussing what life must have been like back in the days of the Mayan civilization.
















After the Uxmal visit and our required siesta, we took our car to Tucil, headquarters for shoemaking in the valley. There was a large shoe festival underway and the streets were crowded with all types of transport. We were a bit lost and ended up seeing two other small villages before catching the road back to Sta. Elena for supper.



Santa Elena was a very interesting place to spend a couple of nights. We walked into the village after dark very safely. People use bicycles and converted bikes with seats ahead of the handlebars to ‘taxi’ others around the area. People build their homes as they can pay for the cement blocks. Most are unfinished with straw topped palapas with hammocks hung for sleeping. Cooking by fire is done outside with tomorrow’s menu running wild in and out of the homes and streets. The children are at constant play, the mothers busy and fathers appear to be also going one place or another, a very different life than we are used to in the states. I imagine life in rural Mexico to be much like the life of Papa Stan in his childhood days of which he writes and tells us stories.
Both evenings in Sta. Elena we enjoyed dinner & discussion in a small café, The Picked Onion, run by an English woman from Toronto who bravely created a delightful business there by herself. She served excellent food and has recently opened a few casitas to rent to travelers.
Our lodging at the Fly Catcher Inn was fancier, quite nice actually. The owners there were from Oregon & Sta. Elena, Kristine & Santiago, a married couple who talked us up, English & Spanish conversations.