Day Thirteen - Wonder of the World No. 2
// August 9th - Chichén Itzá, México //
I'm sitting in the shade of the ancient site Chichén Itzá, another wonder of the world, facing the Maya pyramid, "El Castillo".
Everything that I know by now about Chichén Itzá and the Mayas is basically coming from Wikipedia and the internet in general. There are not many signs about the buildings around, and a guided tour was 700 Mexican Pesos, too much for me alone. But anyways.
It's not like you get used to seeing those things while traveling. It still feels amazing to discover those cultures, ancient and modern ones.
For now I'm just sitting here, enjoying the view, and I'm kind of amused about all those tourist groups with neon-colored numbers on their chest. And every five minutes another group walks up to the pyramid, clapping like crazy, to discover that it has certain acoustics.
Chichén Itzá is pretty touristy in general. When you enter the site, you have to pass a market at first. It's really cheap, but since I don't have any space for even the smallest souvenir, it gets really annoying when you just stop for a second and five guys jump at you, yelling prizes at you, "Espanol, espanol!? Bonita, bonita! Eh chica! De donde eres? Good prize, good prize! 2 Dollars! If you don't have a boyfriend 1 Dollar!" I'm not kidding here. While I get a flashback to the time my father was haggling with a man about the price for selling me on a Turkish market (wasn't so funny for me dad!), I tried to pass all those stands as fast as possible. I feel rude not replying when someone is talking to me, but seriously, at some point I'm just fed up.
When I met a Mexican girl in front of the pyramid we walked around a little bit together, and since she was looking for souvenirs, I got to look at the jewelry, wooden masks and ocarinas (that sounded like a wild cat) a little bit as well, since they were concentrating on the person who actually wanted to buy something. Overall a bit exhausting.
Despite the fact that my host locked himself in the bathroom today and only escaped after I handed him a knife and a bobby pin this day didn't have any funny or peculiar stories today. Good, because I started to feel like I'm in a slapstick movie.
I'm leaving México tomorrow morning to México City - Los Angeles - Phoenix. I had a great time in Cancún, but way too short, so I definitely have to come back here and to México in general.
I love couchsurfing or staying with Airbnb. You meet new like-minded people all the time, with interesting backgrounds. We were sitting in the garden every night, talking and exchanging exciting stories. You don't get that in a hotel.
Traveling alone doesn't equal actually being alone. Still, after being surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people for the past year, I'm looking forward to some silence on the road trip as well.
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