What is up members of the Barrio
It's Jon coming to you from Merida
And today we're taking our first day trip outside of the city
To explore Ruta Puuc
I think I pronounced that correctly
They are some of the lesser known Mayan ruins
In the Yucatan area
This is going to be really cool
If you're new to this channel I do want to make sure that you're subscribed and have notifications turned on
So you don't miss out on any of our adventures in Mexico
Today we're going to try to hit up 5 different Mayan ruins
Starting with Uxmal
We rented a car
Took about an hour to actually get this car
Ready
That was kind of a bummer
It's a little bit after 9 AM
Had a little bit of a late start
I don't know how many of the ruins we're actually going to be getting to
But I hope to give you guys a little bit of the history
Behind each of these
As we go along
And now let's bring in Adriana
Who is the driver today
You got lucky because this car
We rented happens to be the car you have at home right
Exactly, so it's very easy
And comfortable
Is it easy to drive in Mexico compared to the U.S
Not that easy
I think in the U.S people are more educated to drive
We've entered stop number 1
I kind of wish we got here a little bit earlier
As a bunch of tour buses
Arrived at the same time
It seems to be the trick.
Come here right as it opens around 8 AM
It's about 10 o'clock right now
There's some clouds
I don't think we're going to bake that much under the sun.
It's 223 pesos admission for foreigners
And now we're going to go explore this area
Which is about 1KM all around
My first impression is that this place is awesome
Because you're just wandering around
All of these ruins
Their are a couple of sign posts giving you some basic information
If you're a real history buff I would recommend that you do a tour
Today we just weren't in the mood
And wanted to hop around at our own pace
But you can get a tour guide outside of the entrance
Now this is being restored
You can see right here that they are working on things.
This is not in its original form
But I think if it was in its original form
Obviously it wouldn't look as nice
Adriana has a very disputable fact
About the Mayan ballfield here
Well i'm not sure about this
But some people believed
That the team that lost
They were sacrificed
To the gods
So if they won
They were blessed
By gods
But i'm not sure about it
That's a lot of pressure to win
If I was a Mayan I would definitley want to win
And that is the hoop right there
Win or die.
Yeah
We made it to the top of the tallest structure that is open to the public
And the view is quite good
I do have a slight regret
I think if we had a good tour guide
It really would have brought this area more to life
Feels like a lot of people here are more concerned with taking the best instagram photo
Than actually trying to appreciate what the Mayans did here and we're guilty of this as well
I do think if you can find a good tour guide
It would definitley be worth it
It's funny but its actually fresh
It is really fresh in here
And when you wake up in the morning you have a great view of this
We are leaving Uxmal right now
This is by far the biggest Mayan ruin on Ruta Puuc
Actually 5 times bigger than any of the other ruins
We are heading for Kabah right now
We've got four more to go
I don't know if we're going to get them all in one day but we're going to try
It's about 20 minutes away
Google maps is still working
I think
22 minutes away
We made it to Kabah and from the outside it looks a heck of a lot smaller than Uxmal
After Uxmal I'm pretty sure that every other site is going to have three times less people.
There's maybe 10 people here right now
And in a way Adriana and I like it here better
It's more peaceful
We feel like we have the place to ourself
The structures they look a bit different
Then they were at Uxmal
A few keys to doing this trip
Bring lots of water
And lots of sun tan lotion
Best advice for you
Jon says that I might be Mayan
Because my ancestors were Mayan
But I don't really think so
You're a little to tall for them
I'm to tall for them also
We spent about 35 minutes at Kabah
Now we are heading for Sayil
The great thing is that after Uxmal to here.
All of the ruins are really really close together
The driving should be pretty minimal at this point
We've made it to the parking lot of Sayil and there are just two other cars parked here
I'm hoping we're practically going to have this place to ourselves
This is el palacio norte
The northern palace
And they said that perhaps
350 people lived in this 3 story complex here.
This is the god of fertility
And for my younger viewers out there
We're going to be blurring this
I was trying to find the form
It was so weird
This is the head
These are the arms
And what is that...
Just like you have to see it
We are heading to stop number 4
And it's Xlapak
I think that's the correct work
So let's see..
Xlapak
Yes. Xlapak
Got it.
We got the proper pronunciation it's Xlapak
And we are the only people here
And this is also the only one of the 5 ruins
On this trail
That is free.
This is the palace here
Probably one of the better known structures
And I don't think we're going to be seeing all of this place
It's a big circle
We've been drained by the sun, do you want to see everything here
Or no?
I want to.. but I feel really tired
And we still have one more ruin to go.
One more stop to go on Ruta Puuc
But we are going to head back
To Uxmal for the light show
This is vlog is not going to be over
After this next stop
Labna was 50 peso admission
About 2 dollars and fifty cents
Like most of the other ones
I am most excited about seeing this one because I've seen pictures on the internet
Of an Arch
That.. it looks really cool
We're going to head for it
My first impression here is that this seems like the least restored
Of all the ruins we've looked at
I can not stop re-iterating how cool it is to have the whole ruins to yourself
It feels like we've just discovered it.. no
Yeah..
Kind of right..
I don't think so..
Labna was my favorite
Because their was nobody here
It has this unique path right in the middle of the complex
And the arch was awesome
So I think a combination of all those factors just it being very unique to me.
Makes the last one.. I think the best for last.
Here's what is going to happen right now
We are walking to the car
We actually booked a hotel very close to Uxmal
So we can see the light show at night
We're going to go back to the hotel
We're going to take a shower
Relax a bit
And then come back
With the finale
Don't go anywhere
Alright we are back at Uxmal
And after a nice long warm shower
And some airconditioning
We're going to check out the light show here. Which costs about 92 pesos
For a foreigner
Now I've heard some reports that it's a bit touristy
Let's be the judge of it together
Adriana is totally expecting a tourist trap here
Yeah my expectations are here..
We just escaped the show
I thought it was pretty terrible
I don't know what about you?
Yes, as I told you I didn't expect something exciting there.
I think personally the audio is fine.
Because it tells you the story of the Mayas
But it's in Spanish
As a Mexican and a Spanish speaker
It's pretty interesting
But someone that doesn't speak Spanish
Might find it boring as hell..
I speak enough Spanish
And I think it would have been boring in any language
Even in English
The lights just .. weren't good..
They need to update their technology
It's 2017.
They need some live actors
Or holograms
Or virtual reality..
Exactly
Something like that
I am not recommending that you do the night show
Do visit Uxmal during the day
Totally totally worth it
In fact everything on the Ruta Puuc I thought was worth it
Any suggestions for people?
You have to do it.
I mean it's really really worth it
During the day go through Ruta Puuc
Or come here during the day
It's amazing you have to come.
Guys one very important tip
There are not many gas stations around here
We almost ran out of gas
Make sure if your car rental company like ours.. does not give you more than a little bit of gas
Fill it up.. don't fill it up
But get quite a bit
Before you leave Merida
That will help you out
Guys thank you so much for watching
We covered so much today
Hope you enjoyed this vlog
Make sure you're subscribed if you are new
We've got a lot more fun things coming out
From the Yucatan
In the next month
Appreciate everything.
Until next time.