A downside of travelling is that you just get settled in - clothes hung up, finally get the shower to give you hot water, win the fight with the air conditioning unit, get to know the town - and suddenly it's time to pack up and move on again.
So, today we said a fond farewell to Chichen Itza as we squeezed all our bags into yet another robust but well worn cab for the sixty mile journey going east to the town of Coba.
En route we stop for some bottled water and our driver (Santos) refuels. We plan to eat our 3-course lunch about halfway : a bag of crisps, 4 hardboiled eggs cooked this morning, a large bar of Snickers chocolate !!
In a confined spaced, opening a pack of crisps sounds like walking over bubble wrap in steel boots. Alerted by the noise we see Santos's head tilt, he smiles at us in the rear view mirror, so we include him in our snacky treats - he was really appreciative.
The roads were better than expected as we headed deeper into jungle. With so much tourist traffic these roads were upgraded to take the large multi-axel coaches and buses that continually come to the ruins, but there was little to see along the way. We passed through many small villages, some just a few thatched rooves and then they were gone.
We had been led to believe that, apart from the archaeological site, Coba had nothing to offer. We found a little town with newly planted palm trees on the central reservation, 2 small restaurants, 2/3 mini grocery stores plus a wonderful welcome from the hotel reception desk which was perched precariously an the edge of the road....
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| The receptionist was delightful - this is a family run business and soon people were buzzing around, welcoming us to Coba and taking our bags to the room |
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| First impressions were daunting -where were the rooms? Up the stairway behind the red umbrella all was revealed as we were led to our room on the second storey of the hotel block. The hotel grocery store always had a wonderful fresh fruit display outside. Upstairs was a small restaurant offering a typical Mexican menu |
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| Further down the road the Family had another restaurant where we dined one evening |
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| Between the Hotelita Sac-Be and the Chile Picante Restaurante sits this pretty church. Plain wooden benches and tiled floor. There was no glass in the windows - rain is rare but torrential when it does arrive and the open windows keep everything cool. |
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