Mexico: Day Five: On to Uxmal

Uxmal

After breakfast, Netto (father of driver Josué) is ready and waiting.  We spend the whole trip (3 hours via Mérida) talking in air-conditioned comfort... and mostly in Spanish.  He explains that the first little town we drive through, Pisté, is where all the people who work at the ruins and The Lodge live.  He tells me that people used to be paid 80 pesos ($4) for 11 hours of work; the new president raised that to 120 pesos.  That leads us into politics, and he says people are very hopeful that Mexico’s new President Obrador, who is originally from a small village in Tabasco State nearby, will make life sweeter for them.  As hard as I try, he won’t trade presidents with me.  All this in Spanish.  My brain’s fried by the time we arrive in Uxmal (pronounce oosh-mahl).

Luis and Jorge

       Luis, from concierge and customer service, greets me at the curbside and takes me in hand.  He’ll become my new best friend by the time I leave.  At the “desk” - an open air area under a thatched Maya roof - he introduces me to an older man - George - whom he says has worked here forever and knows everything.  I assume he’s retired and just drops by to spend time with his friends.
       I’m early for check-in, but a room has been cleaned already - an end room in a bungalow by the pool, with features and decoration much like its sister hotel in Chichén Itzá.  Same owner, same rich family.  Here again, no clock, no phone in the room.  You’re supposed to just relax and smell the... what kind of flower would you smell in Yucatán?
         I spend some time just relaxing... and sorting through old photos and erasing poor ones because I discovered the “new” photo card, the one I had brought along for when the current one is full, is in fact already full itself!  I forgot to check before leaving.  Silly me.
       Then it’s 4:00 and Luis comes to pick me up for the planetarium.  Turns out this is the same show as the one in Chichén Itzá, the one I didn’t have time to see.  The gods of tourism are smiling down on me.  Luis walks me over, although it’s very nearby (doesn’t want to lose one of his two paying guests, I guess).  He buys the ticket for me, accompanies me inside... and settles in the seat next to me.  We’re the only spectators.  Not the busy season yet.  The show - in Spanish - is taken from the Popol Vuh, the Mayan creation narrative that begins with the exploits of the Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and includes Kukulkan and Chaac the rain god.  I find I can understand all but a few words.  Good for the ego.

The Nun's Quadrangle

       Then just a quick drink and it’s time for the Sound and Light Show.  I buy my ticket (103 pesos - $5) and as I stand in line, my new BFF Luis shows up.  Oops!  He had bought a ticket for me, and I forgot.  (Luckily they reimburse him... I mean me... well, us.)
       The walk alone through the semi-dark (it’s 6:45 p.m.) is magic.  I seem to have the place all to myself as I make my way past the Dwarf’s Pyramid to the platform of the Nun’s Quadrangle.  A small tour group is already there, taking up all the front row, but I move a chair down next to them on the far end.  A few minutes later a handsome barbudo arrives - white hair, white beard.  I don’t know who started speaking first but I learn he’s retired, like me, and, like me, lives six months here (Mérida) and six months there (Mexico City).
       Compared to the show in Chichén Itzá, this one is disappointing.  The colored lights are good, but there are no special effects.  The main problem is the sound:  too loud, speakers badly oriented from the side so there’s an echo, voices blurry and overwhelmed by the accompanying music most of the time, so I really don’t understand much of the two stories:  one about Chaac the rain god, the other about some princess.
       I wish I’d invited the barbudo for a drink back at the hotel across the street, but I didn’t.  So it’s dinner alone for me:  a delicious grouper for one and a glass of white wine... then to bed.

P.S.  A detail for you plant lovers:  The plant I’m seeing all around in the garden of The Lodge at Uxmal is Sansevieria.  In English it’s also called mother-in-law’s tongue (in French also: langue de belle-mère), but in Spanish it’s called lengua de vaca (cow’s tongue).  And yes, there’ll be a quiz at the end of the hour.