Ek Balam, archaeological ruins near Cancun, Mexico

Hired a car and driver to visit Ek'Balam which is about 2-3 hours drive from Cancun. It is difficult to find any package tours from Cancun which takes one to this place. I think it cost us a 1500 pesos to hire(Dec 2018 prices). We spent about two hours or less at Ek Balam, taking photos and wandering around.

The drive from Cancun to Ek'Balam is on a smooth, straight  road(toll). But one observation: It's a really boring road, in that, there's not much to see if you look out of the window. It seems to run through a forest , though we do pass a few villages or towns at times. There is not much to see as the vegetation by the sides of the road is high and one cannot see anything but this vegetation. I was hoping to see some wild life  but did not. Only a few other vehicles were on the road at times and the monotony of this drive put me to sleep!

I enjoyed the warmth, the sun and the bright blue sky. Any Canadian, fleeing the winter will know why I am so appreciative of the bright sun and blue sky, which people from warmer places take for granted. 

It was quiet and peaceful at Ek Balam. If one had a book, one could sit there and read, amidst these ancient ruins surrounded by  the jungle.   

 Look above. Why did they build these so close to each other? Surely there was no shortage of space in those days!

 I loved this color above...the blackness of weathering combining with the mild paler colors also caused by weathering. 

 Observe the lovely symmetry of the stones arranged...like bricks leaning on each other? I wonder if the edges of these tilting rectangular limestones are taking the weight of the rest of the stones above.

 The photos below are  of a temple we reached by climbing up many steps to the top of the structure. The whiteness of the stones here was in contrast to the rest of the ruins at Ek Balam and in contrast to the ruins we saw at other places such as Tulum, Coba and Chi Chi Nitza. How come these rocks have not weathered? I kept suspecting these must be new and not ancient. 

See the T shape carved in this rock above?

 The colors of the algae growing on the limestone buildings was like some sort of art to me. 

 The thorns on the entire surface of this tree is terrible! See the close up of the thorns below 

 I cannot understand this huge structure which has no rooms inside. Why was this built? 

Tidying up with Marie Kondo, netflix Canada January 2018

I watched two episodes of the show "Tidying up with Marie Kondo" just now and enjoyed this show. As the self-explanatory title reveals, Marie goes to cluttered homes and helps the family declutter and this leads to a greater joy in the family.

I have seen a couple of shows similar to this show and these shows  seemed to focus on giving diagnostic labels  to  the people who caused and lived in the clutter.  
 'Tidying up with Marie Kondo' in contrast  to these shows is  non-judgemental and non-labelling. This is such a huge, pleasant plus about this show.  
Working in the field of mental health, I am now questioning the uses of giving diagnostic labels to people and I am now perceiving  the darker side of giving these diagnostic labels to people. But this dislike of diagnostic labels maybe because I am a 'clutterer and hoarder myself!

When Marie goes into the homes of people she gently goes through a few steps of the tidying process and the family members of the cluttered home follow her suggested steps.  And this leads to decluttered and nicer spaces at the end. The people participate with joy and interest. Marie simply gets to decluttering. There is no discussion of why the clutter happened, why the people bought so much, etc. The focus is on decluttering and nothing else. This is such a refreshing change for me. 
I find that discussing the 'why' of behaviours, only takes away valuable time but does not add much value to the process of decluttering. Understanding "why" people clutter; why do people "hoard"? Is cluttering and hoarding due to mental illness or "insecurity" ? may be great from an academic and philosophical point of view.  But understanding why someone hoards or lives in clutter or giving him a diagnostic label does not really serve any practical purpose.  
I am now feeling pretty cynical about the usefulness of psychiatric medication in helping these people. I have seen behaviour therapists and therapists too trying to help hoarders and clutterers and as far as I have seen, success has been quite limited for both BTs and therapists. 

I know I am taking a very simplistic view but following Marie Kondo's steps seems to be as good or a better a way to go for hoarders and clutterers than accepting the labels and treatments given by mental health staff. A cluttered does not feel ashamed or judged when he follows the Marie Kondo method. He does not feel he has a mental illness and experience the stigma. He does not feel the helplessness, shame, hopelessness, which many people given mental health diagnosis feel. One does not feel judged. One simply gets down and tackles the problem and if they can stick to the steps they can solve the problem of clutter without any self-reproach or guilt or whatever. I am sure when following Marie's steps, one is going through a few mental exercises and planning how to avoid making the same mistakes leading to cluttering again. But all this is within one's own thoughts and not by discussing with someone else. Since this is in one's own mind, one does not have to expose one's thoughts and feelings to an outsider and worry about being judged. 

The beauty of  following Marie Kondo's steps to declutter is the immense practicality and non-judgementalness. 

Church in small town on way to Ek Balan near Cancun in Mexico

In Cancun, Mexico, we were a bit disappointed with the package tours as our time was squandered in many ways...The guide spoke in Spanish for many minutes when we waited for him to retell in English for us; the bus stopped longer at souvenir shops of the tour guide's choice and for a lunch and at a modern shopping mall but made seemingly shorter stops  at the archeological ruins we had planned to see. The guide also made jokes we did not get, kept us waiting for many minutes after we got off the bus to give relatively brief and simple instructions.

Ergo,  we decided to avoid the package tour and  rented a car to visit the ruins of Ek Balam  near Cancun. On the way, we stopped at a small town( I don't recall it's name) and photographed this more than 100 year old church.  There was an open space in front of the church, the other side of the street, possibly where people gather. The overall ambience here was of a sleepy old village, with the midday sun and blue skies overhead and relaxed. 

Large wall murals in Cancun, Mexico