Chichen Itzá 17 November

This morning we were rolling by 9:30, guessing a few hours to the town of Piste, just off the toll road the runs to Cancun. Here we hoped the RV Park was still operating as we did want to have a wander around the famous Chichen Itzá ruins. Gillian had seen them with her brother years before when we had flown to Playa del Carmen but Art had stayed in the room sick.

The trip was uneventful thankfully and we found the Stardust Motel and parked in front on the street while Gillian went in search of staff and information. She was told that she had to inquire next door as the hotel didn't own the RV Park any more. She didn't have much luck but within a few moments a man appeared asking if we were looking for the Trailer Park.

He already had the chain off the gate and waved us in to a large grassy and mostly shaded field. Art got out to check the sites and to decide on the best one. The caretaker told us that the sites along one wall had no electric connections. In fact all the site were fitted with 120 Volt 15 Amp outlets but they had all been wired for 220 Volts! 220 was painted on all the pedestals as a warning!

It was suggested that Art park the rig in front of the washrooms where there was a 120 Volt connection available. This site also had the most shade! The voltage problem turned out to be a moot point anyway since the 120 had no ground connection and the rig won't accept that!

However we got parked, leveled, awning slides out and had a bite of lunch, then off to the riuns. We opened the convertible roof on the jeep and also changed the plastic windows for the open mesh ones to keep the dogs cool

On arrival we were surprised to find a shady parking space and after a short chat with some American tourists, one of whom loved Gillian's jeep, we left the dogs behind and entered the ruins.

We paid our entry fee, which we thought quite reasonable, then further in we discovered that we had to pay another fee to enter the ruins themselves!




Several times during the afternoon we felt raindrops, apparently from a clear blue sky. Note the raindrops on the camera lense. There were a few small dark clouds quite a distance away, the rain must have been blown sideways by a pretty good breeze. We should have noted that.




We enjoyed wandering around, reading bits of the history and society and taking photos. Throughout the grounds were locals selling everything from imported cheap junk souvenirs to beautiful locally handmade crafts.


A few hours later we had had enough, almost "ruined out" so we returned to the Trailer Park. Gillian took the dogs out for a bit of exercise, throwing the ball for Trekker since park was almost completely enclosed she felt is safe enough to let him run a bit off leash.

Later as we relaxed inside, the dogs out on the grass on their lines, Gillian hear a noise and said "is that rain?" and before Art could reply we both agreed that yes indeed it was rain, which in an instant became a downpour accompanied by strong gusty winds. Fortunately the trees and surrounding walls protected us from the worst of the wind. Suddenly we both realised that the roof on the jeep was open, so dashed out to close it and and the roll up the windows. There was no way that we were going to stay out in that deluge in order to put the plastic rear windows back in, we'd just have to hope we could dry it out soon!





Once the roof was closed Art partially retracted the awning to reduce the risk of wind damage. The water running off the awning in the photo was not just a one time dumping of collected rain, this went on for some time!




A short time later the wind gusts were gone, the rain was gone and the sun came out. There was still a breeze blowing so we opened all the doors of the jeep to help dry things out, and put the plastic windows back in ready for towing in the morning.