Flamingos, Flexibility, and Finally, Palenque

On one of our last days in Mèrida (Chris' birthday), we decided to do a tour to Celestùn, an eco-reserve about 2 hours away from the city on the Gulf of Mexico. We caught a bus only to wait nearly 30 minutes at the Hyatt for three people who decided that it was okay to make a bus full of people wait for them. After all, they were staying at the Hyatt, and not some $10 a night hostel! Not a great start to the tour, but it did get better. In Celestùn we got in a boat and toured the mangrove swamp, eventually coming upon thousands on thousands of bright pink flamingos. Did you know flamingos are pink because they eat so much shrimp? Would I turn florescent if I ate all that shrimp? Good thing I don't even like shrimp. No chance of that happening. Although I do eat a lot of avacado here...maybe I'll cut back...I don't think that colour green really suites me.

The following day was my birthday, and we decided to take it easy and just relax, catching up on emails and wandering around. That evening was another Carnaval parade, this one more traditional, with dancing and Mexican costumes (but still a lot of semi-naked girls on beer floats!). We walked to where the parade started, and had a delicious birthday dinner of salbutes and sopa de lima. A salbute is the Yucatan version of a taco. It's this small fried tortilla covered with onion, tomato, lettuce and pulled turkey, topped with avocados. It's divine. Lime soup is another Mexican favorite. It kind of tastes like savory Froot Loops, especially with the tortillas in it. Yummy!! My very favorite thing is guacamole. I eat it nearly everyday. The avocados are so fresh and flavourful (not like the ones you get at Safeway...), and they mix it with chilis and lime and salt, and serve it with freshly fried tortilla pieces. Gorgeous.

Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. Chris and I got up and made our way to the bus station to catch a bus to Palenque, an ancient Mayan civilization approximately 10 hours from Mèrida. It was not a day we were looking forward to (a long, hot bus ride is never a good time), but we had been mentally preparing ourselves for days. We got there to find that the morning bus left an hour before, but there was another bus at midnight! Oh good news!! I could have cried. I was more than tired of Mèrida, and wanted to get this show on the road, and see another part of Mexico. We sat in the corner of the bus station and deliberated our options. We could put our bags in storage and bum around Mèrida until midnight, and take a night bus to Palenque. We could find somewhere else to go instead. We could find a hostel and catch tomorrow morning`s bus, wasting another day. I was disappointed, I didn't want to stay in Mèrida, and I wanted to visit the ruins of Palenque the following day. But the main thing was to get the heck out of Merida. We`d been there for days! So, we looked at the bus times, looked in our Lonely Planet book, and decided to head to Campeche, a coastal city a little less than halfway between the two. What a great decision!! Campeche is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is famous for their pirates! It was also practically deserted. Seriously, we arrived at around 1pm, and immediately headed for the historical center. The only people we saw on the streets were policemen. It was bizarre. However, we wandered around, hitting a few churches, a few parks, and the malecon (boardwalk). Each building was painted a different colour, making each street into a rainbow. And, as mentioned before, we had the city to ourselves! Later that night, we were able to catch a bus to Palenque, arriving at around 4am. A very good day indeed.