It Was A Dark Night

We are off on another adventure. I don't know why when we travel, we seem to find the darkside and this time I do mean the darkside.

We knew that the Yucatan is on CST when it really should be on EST but still we thought that we'd have time to hit the cuota road before 5:30 PM when it would be getting dark. We usually don't travel at night but somehow we had talked outselves into thinking that we'd be safe on the cuota road.

We had forgotten how long it takes to rent a car in Mexico. No matter what information you have given over the internet, it is like you have to start over when you reach the car rental office.....which requires using the car rental shuttle and we had to wait for it for 15 minutes. Finally after all the paperwork and going over the car for any scratch or blemish that was already there so we would not have to pay for the damage when we returned, the rental agent mentioned that the gas tank was about 1/4 full. I don't know why the car rental agencies don't give you a full tank of gas in Mexico but they don't. Okay, so in order to get to Valladolid we have to buy gas. Another slowdown.

By this time we realize that we are not going to hit the cuota before dark.They tell us that we will see a gas station on the glorieta where the cuota road intersects the road to Playa del Carmen. We pull out into the traffic around the airport and we are trying to read the signs to Playa del Carmen and we are looking for a Pemex station and the glorieta. Suddenly we see a sign, "Merida cuota." We take it thinking that we were going to a glorieta where the actual Merida cuota comes in. After about 15 minutes we realize that we are REALLY on the cuota road already and there are NO retornos.

The road is well marked and there is a sign to tell us that the next gas station is 145 Km. away. Damn! We don't know what kind of mileage this car gets or even if the gas gauge is correct. What to do? We can't turn around until we get to where you pay for using the cuota road and by that time we will be so far down the road that even if we turn around we'd probably run out of gas going back to Cancun.

We drive on into the night with the jungle and nothing but the jungle rushing past us on both sides. There are very few cars that pass us. We start counting the kilometers and watching the gas gauge. Are we going to make it to Valladolid before we run out of gas? The gauge keeps dropping and then the yellow-out-of-gas tank sign beeps and appears on the dash. We still have about 20 kilometers to go.

Finally we pull off the cuota for Valladolid. The Pemex station was about another 3 kilometers down the road and it was not really a "station." Just an awning with a couple of gas pumps. But they had gas and I could start taking deep breaths again.

Now we think all the problems are over. No, they aren't. The government is rebuilding Valladolid, at least all the roads in the historic centro. There policemen on every corner and every road going to our hotel is torn up. This was not easy information to come by. We had to circle the centro about three times and ask about six policemen how to get to our hotel. Finally in desperation, Ned bounced the car over one of the torn up streets and I went in to the hotel to find out if there was a way to get to their parking lot. No, the parking was not available now although when we made reservations about 5 days ago, the manager had assured that the hotel had parking. By now a policeman was at our side telling nicely that we need to move the car immediately. So we went and found another hotel that did have parking and rooms.

And that is how our vacation in the Yucatan started.

Recent History - Tikal

The Ceiba tree is the national tree of Guatemala. The Ceiba was revered by the Mayans as the tree of life. This tree’s towering height led the Maya to believe that its branches supported the heavens, while its deep roots were the means of communication between the world of the living and the Underworld. To this day, the modern Maya still hold ceremonies at the base of these trees. In the Grand Plaza of the ruins there is a firepit that showed signs of being used in recent history. We were told that because Tikal is a special Mayan site that thousands of modern-day Maya are expected to gather in Tikal in 2012 which is the end of the long count Mayan calendar. An article in Wikipedia indicates, "The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar forms the basis for a New Age belief, first forecast by José Argüelles, that a cataclysm will take place on or about December 21, 2012, a forecast that mainstream Mayanist scholars consider a misinterpretation."

The Mayans who built Tikal are not gone. Our guide, Oliver, was very proud of his ancestory, very proud of his Mayan profile. As he talked about the Maya, we were left wondering where he stood on the line between the Maya religion to Catholicism.

Just as interesting was his view of the Guerrilla insurgency that began in 1960. It was all about "power" he told us. But it was not an abstract to him. To him there was no difference between the Guerrillas and the Government's soldiers. They both came into villages, killed or kidnapped people then demanded money for their return. With a shrug of his shoulders, Oliver told us that now some of the Guerrilla leaders are in the government in Guatemala City.

When he was a small child the insurgency was so threatening in the jungles around Tikal that his family escaped to Mexico. When they returned six years later, they could not find any of his uncles. They had "disappeared." Now he says, things are good but his heart is sad because he did not learn the Maya dialect of the region as a child. Many people have returned to his village and there are 3,000 people there. The villagers are making a living off of tourism. He and his brother work and his father farms. Together the family is doing okay. He has two children but doesn't want more. He wants to see his children get an education. The State education system is only through the seventh grade and then if he wants them to have more education he will have to send them away to school. It will cost a lot of money. He learned English, and it was very good English, by working with tourist. First as a little boy selling drinks to the tourists but he learned it well enough to earn his official authorization as an English speaking guide.

Oliver isn't worried about the world coming to an end in 2012. He said that he had consulted some of the elders and they seem to think that it would only mean the beginning of another long count calendar. He equated December 21, 2012 to the Millenium. Oliver, the modern Maya, was a great guide. If you go to Tikal, be sure to ask for him.