"Very cheap, almost free..."

These were the cajoling words of one of the many souvenir vendors as we wandered around the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Chitzen Itza today. We all cracked up laughing when we heard this line. Mexicans have a way of speaking in that lazy drawl that makes it hard not to smile and feel good about life.

The ruins themselves were quite fascinating, dating back to a time when human sacrifices were made to appease the gods and the Mayans built stepped stone pyramids, such as "El Castillo" (the one I am standing in front of) as part of their religious ceremonies. A bit of trivia, this pyramid has exactly 365 steps corresponding to the Mayan calender, which I guess must have been the same as the one we use today.

So we wandered about looking at the ruins trying to find tortoises, snails, eagles with human hearts in their claws, and ancient football players with severed heads all apparently carved in the old stone blocks. This turned into a bit of a game (we spent the day with our friends Adam and Kate) trying to spot these creatures and figures in the discoloured and often disintegrating blocks.

Among the things we did spot were these grizly skulls that lined the bottom of a platform where the severed heads of those sacrificed were put on display 800 years ago. Rather then pay gringo prices (50 pesos, about $4 for a coffee) we had a picnic lunch of tacos stuffed with avocado and spicy chipolata tuna sitting under some trees watching the tour groups hustling their charges along.

We were really glad we arrived before 10am this morning. By this time we left Chichen Itza at about 2.30pm it was the site of a major invasion of tourist buses which lined up outside the parking lot for at least a kilometre.

We are staying in an old colonial town called Valladolid about 40kms from Chichen Itza. It is a town of colourful one story buildings built on a grid system around a plaza where Mexican music fills the air from cool shop fronts and time drifts. Yesterday, after we arrived from Tulum we sat in the square and ate frozen lollies watching the locals chatting in the park, examining their purchases and checking their emails. It is the kind of place you could while a way a few days without the need to do very much. People smile at you from their little red, orange and blue houses. Their are nativity scenes outside many of them and rather than put candles in front of altars to Jesus and Mary, the locals use energy saving light bulbs!