This weekend I went "camping" with some buddies to Ek-Balam. It's about a 3 hour drive, but we got a late start Thursday evening, and ended up stopping in a neighboring town, and sleeping in a hotel. Get this: 2 nice, clean rooms with 2 double beds each, hot water, cable, and anything else you could want at midnight, for $45. 4 beds for 45! And it felt great to sleep in a bed!
Friday morning we went to Ek-Balam, which is in central Yucatan. Ek-Balam is Mayan for "black jaguar", and was the name of an important post-classical Mayan guy. There is an archaeological site, which features some impressive ruins. And there are some "ecotourism" places as well. We camped at one of those places Friday night. It was the first time I ever saw an "ecological" bathroom. That whole concept is a bad idea, and if you see one you will know what I mean.
Saturday, we took bikes down to some less-impressive caves. Although the tour was cheap ($10 for the guide, and $2 to rent a bike) there were drawbacks. My bike was missing the platform of the pedal for the left foot, and the chain broke about 3 km into the trip. So I jogged the last 2 km, and on the way back, the guide loaned me his bike. Believe it or not, his was in much worse condition than mine. All in all, it may be best to avoid the Ek-Balam ecotourism sites.
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1 comment:
Eco-tourism is for people who feel guilty for being alive, but who still want to see cool stuff. They choose to endure squalid conditions to punish themselves (and others) for the pleasure of enjoying God's creations.
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