Throw a rock in any direction from the middle of Merida and you'll hit Mayan ruins. Well, okay, you won't. Merida is a city of almost one million people. Throw a rock from the middle of Merida and all you'll hit is Merida. Or possibly a Meridian. But the point is that you'd be very nervous about buying land around there, in case you'd have to sell it back to the government. Or worse, zone some of it off and allow archaeologists to have at it. And let's face it, the last thing you need is unfettered access to your farm when you're trying to grow your dope in peace. Not that the archaeologists would mind, but they'd probably have at that as well.
Chichen Itza is the mother of all Mayan ruin sites. And by mother, i mean warm, safe and very busy. It is invaded daily by convoys of buses from Cancun and Playa del Carmen depositing two-week sun-holidayers for their mandatory hour and a half of local culture (ruins) before having them back by the pool in time for happy hour. Many of these Europeans and Americans come ill prepared for the walking (wedge shoes), the heat (lip liner and layers of makeup that the Mayan stucco producers would envy) or the history (vacant looks after 15 minutes). The site itself is nice, without being spectacular or vast, and very commercialised. If it were revealed that the whole place was a manufactured theme park built specifically for the Caribbean tourists, it would not be all that surprising.
As it stands, nearby sites are more impressive (Uxmal), more buried in the jungle Indiana-Jones-esque (Ek-Balam) or more interesting (Tulum). In many of these you can have the place to yourself for hours. This is - i suppose - due to the fact that most tourists are off at Chichen Itza with their 45 new best Facebook friends, happily ignoring the twelve hundred years of history in front of them. Instead discussing the important issues of the day, like which Spring Break mega-bar frequented by bandanna wearing fuckwits they'll spend that night. It makes Chichen a bit depressing when you walk around it, but the others all the more enjoyable.
