Wandering with Tedder and Tamara

(Tamara posting)

We left Campeche early to get a cooler start on the day. The plan was to head to Chichen Itza first, then see if we had time for Ted to swim with the dolphins near Playa del Carmen, or go straight to Tulum to stay for the night. It was a rather uneventful ride, until we neared Chichen Itza, when the bike ran out of gas again.

Needless to say it was rather frustrating, and I'm sure for Ted too, but in the future he really needs to stop for gas when we're even somewhat close to running out. So, since my Spanish is marginally better, I hitchiked to the gas station and back. Really, I was very lucky and the guy who took me the first direction even took me to a store to get some empty bottles to put the gas in (they were actually new, clean bottles) and made sure to take me back to the toll booth station with a note to help me get a ride back to the bike. The first car by picked me up at the toll booth and took me back to the bike. Neither one would let me pay them, and I really lucked out with help, though I shouldn't be surprised, because everyone has been so nice on this trip.

After the gas crisis, we cooled down with lunch and then went to Chichen Itza. It was a madhouse - and it's not even the peak season right now. We were both amazed at the tour groups - all staying together and just how many there were. The site has some neat buildings, and is a large site, but none of the buildings were open to go in or on, which made it disappointing for us. There was a ball court, with the goal rings, lots of temples with carvings, and the big pyramid was really amazing. We walked to a second grouping that had an observatory and more temples. Overall, we both liked Palenque more, as it the setting was more beautiful and we got to go through more of the buildings. Also, it was a lot less crowded, which makes it much more enjoyable for us.

At this point we weren't going to make it to Puerta Adventuras for the dolphin swim, so we took off for Tulum, about an hour away. I could tell the sprocket was getting worse, as it was skipping even at a steady cruise. Ted confirmed this once we got to the hotel, and it definitely needs to be fixed before going any further. So once we got in he spent the rest of the evening tracking down options for getting the parts here and finding a place that can do the work the chain will need in order to get it on the bike.

The main options are for his mom to fly down from Portland, with friends couriering the parts from Eugene (headed to Portland anyways). She wants to do a swim with the dolphins, so the timing on that would work well. Otherwise, I may fly up for a brief visit and bring the parts back with me. It just depends on what firms up in the next little bit.

Either way, we will be in the Cancun area for the better part of a week, so we are looking for a different place to stay, and will take advantage of the time to do some fun-in-the-sun activities such as snorkeling (Ted because I don't swim well), cenote swimming, lying on the beach, etc. Unfortunately it is an expensive area to be stuck in, but at least there are some entertaining activities.

One side note, there are a couple of really small, cute geckos in our room on the walls. They are probably less than 2 inches long. Heh :)