Friday, March 3

Up early and into Rolando's van for our trip to Chitchen Itza. Rolando is the son of the owner of the Delores Alba, and will be our guide on a trip to the famous Mayan ruins. The green tinge to our skins has faded, but not completely. The ride to Chitchen does nothing to improve our color. Maureen asks me if I've ever been car sick:

"No"

"Well, watch this!"

We take two one bedroom cottages at the Dolores Alba's sister hotel near the ruins at Chitchen Itza. Diane chats up the help in Spanish and we almost get kicked out.

Rolando takes us to the ruins, where Dick immediately challenges all to a race up the steps of El Castillo. When Dick arrives first at the top of the pyramid, he declares himself "king of the mountain" and defies anyone there to "dethrone" him. A doctor from Lebanon asks Dick if he is feeling all right. Possibly he's concerned with Dick's color...

The ruins are fascinating. Diane persuades Dick and Maureen to stand woodenly in front of each site while she snaps away with a camera she bought through a mail order company in Pakistan. I stand idly by.

Rolando takes us to the sacred well where humans were regularly sacrificed by being tossed into the watery depths. Our guide explains that most often the victims were outcasts: diseased, feebleminded, or generally disliked. Dick immediately begins sketching out a plan on the back of a paper sack. He won't show it to Diane, but I glance over his shoulder and I see that it involves tying Diane up and tossing her semiconscious body into the well after nightfall -- it's a crude sketch at best, but I get the general idea. Dick glances up and shakes his head knowingly...

For lunch, we head to the nearby city of Piste. We eat at the Hotel Mission -- a definite splurge for Diane, but today Glenn is buying. (The condemned person has the right to a last meal, he thinks to himself.) The lunch is very good and filling.

After lunch and relaxation, it's back to the ruins, where this time we wander around by ourselves. Diane informs Dick that we are staying for the sound and light show (which he's seen twice before). In a snit, Dick spends the rest of the afternoon talking like Fernando Lamas, walking up to total strangers and telling them: "Yew look MAHVELOUS, dahling!"

The sound and light show proves to be a bold new concept in light and sound. Dick grits his teeth and sits through it one more time. I do notice that as he sits he fondly clutches a brown paper bag.

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