When you speak of pyramids, most people on the planet will immediately think of Egypt.  The pyramids there are much older and have achieved more notoriety.  The pyramids of Mesoamerica are smaller and steeper, and in some cases, much more intricately carved.  Having just visited the Aztec pyramids at Tenochtitlan, the plan now was to visit the Mayan ones at Chichen Itza and Uxmal.  Chichen Itza was one of the largest and most culturally diverse Mayan cities, and the ruins of it are among the most popular tourist attractions in Mexico. 

Before leaving for the bus station, I drew a rune to take with me.  Gebo, or the rune of generosity, was the seventh rune I’d drawn on the trip.  There were eighteen runes left, seventeen for the days left on the trip, and one for the day I got back to California.  The fact that I hadn’t sat down and planned it like this when I booked the trip, led me to believe that something mysterious, and right, was underway.  For what purpose, I had no idea, but I try to follow where passion leads.

The bus to Chichen Itza left at 9:45. I got a coffee and cupcake at an Oxxo Store and then went and boarded the bus.  Once we got out of town, we drove, and drove, and drove.  I thought it was going to be two hours to get there, but it took double that.  It seemed like we were only going twenty miles an hour, like a slow boat going up the Amazon, which I know from having been on one.  We got to Valladolid and had a ten-minute stop, and I realized I should’ve gone to Tulum first and then hit up Chichen Itza on my way to Merida.

By the time we got to Chichen Itza it was already mid-afternoon and I was ready to pitch a fit.  The first thing I needed to do was buy a return ticket to Cancun, but I couldn’t find the ticket booth anywhere.  Someone told me to look for the lady wearing the blue vest.  She was hiding under a shade tree and told me to find her when I was ready to leave.  That wasn’t much of a plan.

There were tourists that day from all of the resorts.  The ticket was almost thirty dollars to get in.  All of us were being filmed as we entered the site.  They had an infrared warning that went off if someone was carrying the COVID virus.  It was a mixture of ancient civilization and futuristic science-fiction terror.  The row of vendors lining the entrance was immense.  An Aztec warrior with his shield stood for sale on a table, right next to Captain America and his shield.  There were hats, T-shirts, blankets, sunglasses, keychains, all attracting as much attention as the ruins.

The famous pyramid, El Castillo, was roped off, just like the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon had been at Tenochtitlan.  This was annoying.  A few months later, I saw footage of a tourist who’d slipped around the rope and did a strip-tease atop the pyramid, only to be pummeled by other tourists upon her descent and then arrested.  I was here solely to take a picture of a rune.  No one could stop me from doing that.  I got out Gebo and placed it on a stump in front of El Castillo.  It turned out to be one of my better rune pictures, as the gold lettering is illuminated by the sun.

The crowds were too big and the vibe was bad that day, so after getting the picture I took one quick lap around the grounds and then headed for the exit.  There was the woman in the blue vest, almost napping beneath the tree.  I had to make sure to get a ticket before everyone inside the site made their exit at the same time.  It was sure to be a stampede.  Ten hours riding the bus and one frantic hour at the ruins.  I should’ve known better than that.  It had been a badly botched travel day.