After a quick breakfast we hopped into the car with our taxi driver and headed to the Archeological site and Ek Balam. These ancient buildings are considerably less trafficked than some of the more famous sites like Chichen-Itza and Tulum, and we weren't disappointed in our desire to avoid large crowds.
The drive to the Ek Balam site was only remarkable in how unremarkable it was. We passed through a few towns, drove past a field or two, and then disembarked in a parking lot smaller than those found at most fast food joints. We walked a short way to the ticket booth, purchased tickets, and then went down the path through the jungle toward the city. Like any city, the outskirts are fairly plain with a few walls and small out buildings. We climbed one structure for a better view and got a good look throughout the city. The Yucatan is exceptionally flat so you don't have to go up very high to get a good view. We dropped down and climbed more steps up to what we think was a church. Remy declined to go up this one as the steps are quite steep.
I'm hesitant to use the word ruins because most of the buildings are in remarkably good condition. All of the structures looked and felt solid, and despite not being up to code, the stairs were in great shape. The rooms within the structures were a number of degrees cooler than outside, likely speaking to the Mayan's knowledge of air conditioning (or at least using materials that kept things cool).
We walked around the grounds a bit before going to check out the acropolis, a massive 300 foot tall stricture at the middle of the city. This building features an enormous staircase and several art pieces on the outside of the building. Most of the other buildings have little to no decorations. Remy said no thanks to these stairs before we were even in spitting distance so Mom and Dad went up separately. The climb up wasn't too bad, just keep your eyes forward and shlep up the steps. At the top you got an exceptional view of the surrounding area and an unfortunately good view of the steps you'd just climbed. It looked like a shear drop from the top. There were some brave souls heading down as a normal set of stairs, but most folks were either crab walking or side stepping. Mom went with the crab walk method and Dad the side stepping. It didn't help that there was a pretty strong wind at the top. I don't know what the Mayans were think with their building plans. Perhaps they wanted to weed out the citizens with poor balance.
We explored the rest of the city (only a small part is excavated) and headed back to the car for a twenty minute drive to a cenote (sink hole with water in it).
Much like the Ek Balam ruins, many of the cenote in the area are smack dab in the middle of a village. Directions are probably something like "left at the market, right at the school, two blocks more blocks and you'll arrive at an incredible place of natural beauty and cultural significance." Something like that at least. The Mayan people were never officially subdued by the Spanish, rather, they got a bit of cultural botox and went right on existing, with much of their history (including customs and languages) having a prevelant effect on the Yucatan today.
The cenote we visited cenote SAC-AUA (not sure why it is written in all caps) is unique in that the roof collapsed some time ago and formed an island in the middle of the water. We descended the steps and looked around in awe at the cave walls, the turquoise water, and all of the very alien plant life clinging to everything. Dad quickly hopped into the water for a swim (cold, but not unbearable) while mom and Remy kayaked around. Dad did a few jumps off the makeshift diving platform, and then we attempted to get Remy to swim a bit. He braved walking around in the water but passed on swimming with a hard "no." Mom did a few laps around the pool while Dad and Remy played trucks in the dirt. There were also two small tortoises who have made homes on the rocks on the island. We went to check on them several times.
When everyone had their fill we packed up and headed back to our hotel for a much needed siesta. Afterwards we played Uno (Remy's rules, which I don't think anyone actually understands) and had a quiet dinner before books and bedtime. It was a great day of discovery and adventure.
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