Magic and Mystery at Uxmal

We wanted to celebrate New Year's Eve by going to Uxmal and seeing the light show there. We would by no means be staying up until midnight, but still... But since Mark hadn't been feeling all that well, we hadn't made reservations the day before. We hadn't had problems making same-day reservations, so we weren't really worried. But, of course, all the tours were booked. So we looked into a taxi. The tour would have cost us $60, and a taxi cost us $120. Which seemed very reasonable to us, so that's what we did. Although our taxi driver spoke NO English, he was still very nice, and took us the scenic way there. I'm not sure taking a taxi would have been a good idea in summer, as he didn't seem to have airconditioning, and we drove the hour and a half with the windows down. But it was still nice. Then we arrived at Uxmal. It was really breath-taking. There was this very serene park-like feel to it. The place wasn't empty, but nothing like Chichinitza. And as it was late afternoon, the light gave the ruins a glowing appearence. And the rulers of the kingdom were now the animals that lived there. The warrior iguanas, posting sentries in all the sunny spots; stray dogs, who acted like princes with no responsibilities, lying anywhere they liked; and the multitude of bats inside the crevices of the Governor's Palace, waking up and stretching, and making peeping sounds as the sun went down, ready to fly and practice their magic over the enchanted land. And then the whistles were blown, and everyone was hustled out of the park for an hour and a half, until the light show. We chose to eat at the restaurant on site. It was surpisingly good for an onsite business. Then we were allowed back in to see the show. The weather was lovely. We forgot to rent the translator earphones. And it was certainly no high tech laser show, but it was still really cool. And I kinda enjoyed only understanding phrases here and there. I made it seem more mysterious. And then we took the taxi home again, in the warm Mexican night. It was the best New Year's Eve, ever.