Chitzen Itza and other updates

It's my 4th day in Mexico. Yesterday I went to see Chitzen Itza, once a powerful Mayan city of 50,000. It was impressive. I've put together a video of my experince there (its 18 min total, just to let you know):

While the glory of the Mayan civilization is in the past, its not like the Maya have disappeared. In fact, they are everywhere. A great deal of Mexicans are direct descentants of Mayas. Over 2 million people speak Mayan as their first language. In the Chitzen Itza site there were hundreds and hundreds of them selling handicraft - and I have to say their work is amazing, and extremely cheap. All the Mayas were giving me instantly better prices when I spoke Spanish. And they said if I would speak Mayan, they would give the stuff for free... Well, next time I'll go I'll pick up some Mayan and take them up on the offer.

Today is also my last day in Cancun, tomorrow I'm heading to Playa del Carmen. My time here has been enjoyable. My hostel in Cancun, Hostal Marpez, is a great place. I have a large room all by myself for a ridiculously low price. Lots of great and cheap restaurants nearby. Bus station 5 minutes walking.

I enjoy speaking Spanish, and all the bits that I lost in the last 9 months while being away from the Latin world, have come back. I feel comfortable here. I can't help but compare the life here to Panama, and there are so many similarities. Mexico does have a much better public transportation system though. And the customer service culture seems to be better on the average.

I also managed to get burned by the sun a bit, but thats okay. I am well equipped with all kinds of sunscreens and after-sun creams. Tomorrow I'll go to the beach again.