Polaroids from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico Pt.3

So now we have reached what they call the Riveria Maya. Lots of towns and crazy tourist parks along this stretch of the coast. The water was absolutely gorgeous, just like the Corona commercials.

We visited the Tulum ruins which were pretty cool. They were right by the ocean so you got to go take a dip in the water while you were there. It was fairly crowded here but not too bad. It was really hard to not get people in my photos. Sometimes I like to have people there for scale purposes and other times I get annoyed, especially when someone sees what you are trying to do and they just stand there anyway. Polaroids of Tulum:

Transfer:





I would like to mention at this point that Polaroids and humidity do not like each other. Of course this didn't occur to me until I was already down there but yeah, that kind of makes sense really. Also, my SX-70 camera did not like Mexico either. I had made several attempts to try it again from the first encounter and it would not cooperate.

Our next stop was a small town called Akumul(Ah-coo-mall). We pretty much just chilled here and did nothing. A good place to do this at. Found a lot of cool seashells on the rocky beach. Wasn't the best beach to go swimming but I could see that snorkeling would have been really cool.

Then we were off to Playa del Carmen. This place was kind of a miniature version of Cancun but not as expensive. I didn't take any Polaroids here. We did stay in a nice condo right by the beach. Since there were four of us the cost wasn't too bad.
Here's a shot from the Dirty Martini Lounge we went to. They were shots of Mezcal.


We end up back in Cancun. By the end of my journey I was pretty worn out and ready to be back home. I was gone for two and half weeks. We were fortunate that we didn't get pulled over or in any car accidents. That would have been nightmarish. I was ready to see my baby girl too. Though the break was nice, I do not want to be away from her for that long again.

I have added some nice additions from Mexico to the collection I am creating. Even though I had some major trials and tribulations, felt like I was in combat at times, I did end up with some nice Polaroids.

And...of course, when I got home and I was unpacking my bags, I came across that old SX-70 and thought well, I'll give you another try. I pull it open and aim at this lamp on my nightstand which I have always loved and yes, it had worked. It decided that it would behave itself, after my trip. I was frustrated and ecstatic at the same time. At least it is working again.

Polaroids from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico Pt.2

This was shot in a small town on the way to Merida in a cemetary

Hola!
Continuing my journey of the Yucatan, when we left Merida it had taken us an hour to get out of the town to find the right highway. Anyone who has driven in Mexico knows that it's a pain to turn around to go the other direction. You have to drive at least five miles before you spot a turn-around.

Our next destination was to the ruins of Uxmul. It was an amazing place and way less people then at Chichen Itza. We showed up an hour before they closed so we had to go through it on super-fast mode. Didn't get to see everything either which was disappointing because out of the three ruins we visited I liked Uxmul the best.
Some Polaroids of Uxmul:


Transfer:

I will create an emulsion lift from Uxmul as well.


On our way traveling back along Hwy 184 to hit the coast we drove through several small towns. They were all very interesting. More cool doors to be noticed along with churches. We had reached a town, I forget the name, and got lost yet again. They didn't exactly make it very clear which way to go to continue on the main highway (we had to go around the square,no signs) I did get to shoot this door though because of our mishap.



After that long day of driving we finally decided to stop in the small town of Tzucacab. The hotel we stayed at actually wasn't too bad. It was very blue inside. The next morning sucked though because there was some very loud hammering and construction work going on before 8am! We ate some killer tacos here. On our way leaving town I noticed the huge cemetary they had and had to stop. I could have spent half the day there but everyone else didn't the feel the same, which is understandable. Here's some shots of that great cemetary:


Transfer


After a fairly long drive we finally reached our destination of Tulum. We ended up staying in a cabana right by the beach. The view was awesome and it was nice to be around water again.

Polaroids and photos of the Tulum ruins will be in the next blog as well as the end of the journey, part 3.

Polaroids from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico Pt.1

My travels in Mexico were quite exciting. Got to see lots of sights. Visited many towns both large and small. Had some difficulty with some of my Polaroids from film going bad to a camera not working but was still able to get some shots.

My first stop was Cancun which I didn't really care for. Too many people and way too americanized. The beaches there were great though.

Then we were off to a town called Valladolid (vay-ahh-doe-leed). We stayed at the San Clemente Hotel which was right by the Cathedral of San Gervasio in the main square. It was comfortable with air conditioning and a nice pool. I liked this town a lot. The people I encountered were really nice. The food was good and very affordable. There was also a really cool cenote (say-NOH-tay)as well called "Cenote Zaci". The water was very cold which felt good because it was crazy hot the entire time I was down there. Here's a Polaroid of Cenote Zaci:

I took a Polaroid of the church as well. My first attempt at this was unsuccessful. The film I had in my camera was expired 600. I think it was three or four years old. A friend had given it to me. When I went to take a photo it spat out an ugly brown photo. I had to run back to the hotel to retreive another pack of film. Thank goodness that worked.

Next stop was Chichen Itza, mayan ruins. This place was crazy busy. It felt a little like Disneyland which was unfortunate and there were a ton of vendors selling stuff to people which became annoying very fast. So, after walking down the long path to reach the major ruin I bust out my SX-70 camera loaded with the Time Zero film I bought off Ebay, which was not cheap. I open my camera, get the image in focus and press the shutter button and....nothing! Just a horrible "click" and no image. I kept pressing it franticly and nothing. I was so horribly disappointed words could not describe my anguish. I did not bring my 600 film camera since I took the Sx-70 and I had my digital camera bag, which is quite heavy, and my land camera which shoots the 669 film. There went my shot of holding the Polaroid up in front of Chichen Itza with my digital camera. I did get some 669 shots which will be turned into emulsion lifts and I got some digital images as well.

Then it was off to Merida, the capital of the Yucatan. Driving in this town was crazy. Lots of one way streets "calles" and lots of people. We ended up staying at the Dolores Alba Hotel which wasn't too far from the main square. Did a lot of shopping here. There were a lot of really cool doors and windows here, actually everywhere I went in Mexico had awesome old buildings with cool faded, chipped paint doors. I was really intrigued by them. Here's one that particularly caught my fancy. It was shot with my digital Canon.

Here's a transfer I did in a government building on the square.

The journey continues on.............in my next blog.