The 3 hour drive to Valladolid was reasonably uneventful. The road itself was pretty good with very little traffic. The only nuisance was the frequent, and at times very hard to see, road bumps. They tended to be near towns so at least you knew when to expect them. We passed a few policia road blocks with very little engagement until we didn’t. The first cop that spoke to us didn’t speak English so an English speaking cop was called over. He prattled on, mostly in Spanish, and then asked for Deryn’s license. He checked it and started pointing at the speedo while pulling out a notebook. When we asked what was going on, we sort of guessed that he was fining Deryn for going too fast over a speed bump. Yea right. Deryn challenged him if there was a camera. He then offered that we could pay the fine here or at the police station (I heard this same one back in the Transkei in 1986!!). “Cuanto cuesta – how much”. “Mill peso – 1000p – about $75”. “Police station”. There was a bit more too’ing and fro’ing before he suddenly told us to go. That we did!
Our hostel Hotel Hacienda Margot, was strangely in the middle of a residential area in Valladolid. It was a grand old house with our room out back overlooking a pool. The room consisted of 2 rooms, a huge lounge with a bar and our bedroom. Deryn had found a well regarded cenote (pronounced See-not-ay) nearby called Ik-Kil – famous for the roots that dangle down into the water. It was only a 15 min drive (we did consider cycling but decided it was too far and too hot). There was some very large buildings at the entrance to the cenote so it must have been impressive when the plane was opened but it had decayed into something far less so. The CD tote itself was certainly magic – and thankfully once again not too busy. The water was 26m below ground and pretty chilly – which made it all the better given how hot it was outside.
We headed back to our oasis for a swim and a game of cards. I needed to get some laundry done so the local garden boy (mid 60’s) – Pepe – guided me on bikes to the local lavanderia. Very nice of him. Given that we had been sitting in a car for a while, we decided to walk the 2.4km into the town square. The houses were amazing – so many of them had shrines of the Virgin Mary out front. We weren’t sure if they were permanent or as a consequence of the Day of the Dead Festival – which runs from late Oct to early Nov. A few of the old houses were being replaced by very sophisticated modern houses. The Mexicans certainly have a lot of style. We grabbed a dinner in the square and proceeded to have the worst meal we have had on our travels to date – my chicken lasagne was still frozen in the middle!! The square filled up with mostly young Mexicans, dressed in white with their faces painted ala day of the dead. They then joined a procession which wound its way around the town as part of the DoD celebrations.
The next morning we headed out to see the ruins of Chichen Itza after a lovely breakfast served by our hosts. We planned to get there early(ish) to avoid the crowds and the heat. Chichen Itza is one of the grandest of the Mayan ruins – it was inhabited from about 600AD to 1200AD – once again with no real idea as to what led to its abandonment. It was already busy by the time we got there, so after paying a local 50p to park on the side of the road (the official car park was 70p) we headed into the crowds. The ruins certainly impressive in their size. The main pyramid – El Castillo – is 30m high and with each side being 55m long. The ruins had It had a feel of Tikal about it but a lot less covered in jungle. I was a bit disappointed at the number of craft stalls inside the ruins. As for avoiding the heat and people, nope. It was packed and hot. They can get up to 2.6m visitors a year – I reckon most of them were there today. Another weird thing – there were loads of African Americans. It became a feature over the next few days – in fairness it was really the only area that I (not Deryn)would visit again in the Yucatan Peninsula.
We returned home to hide from the heat before deciding to walk back into town but to take a different way this time. We reflected how it was great to be based in a residential part of the city – we normally encamp to the old part of the city. It was really nice to see up close how the locals live, you get a better feel for little things – such as them sitting on doorsteps or their grandiose shrines. Thankfully our meal tonight was better than last nights. We have both enjoyed Valladolid – finding it so much less touristy than further south. It was almost devoid of tourists. Also its a cool name to say!!
The next morning it was was off to Merida, a 4 hour drive away. It took us a while to get out of Vallidolid and then we ended up on the wrong road so spent the first hour on backroads going through local towns rather than the 4 lane highway. We were very happy with that outcome. We stopped in one little village to have a look at the impressive cathedral in the square but didn’t last long outside given the heat. Once we got back on the main road it was boring. The landscape never changes. It must be pretty infertile as there is no farming – just miles and miles of dense but spindly jungle. Maybe it has something to do with the meteorite that plowed into the area back 66 million years ago! Just before we arrived in Merida we had to pay a highway toll – 185 pesos ($14) – the road must be owned by Macquarie.
Merida was a lot bigger than we expected. An interesting fact was that Merida had more millionaires than any other city on the planet at the turn of the 20th century thanks to the henequen plant which was used for rope. However all the haciendas went bust in the early 1920’s as the demand for the plant died. Interestingly Merida also has the third largest Historica Centro in Central and South America behind Mexico City and Cuba. Our Hotel Medio was in the heart of the area which was perfect. The hotel was probably a stately home when Merida was at its peak, it was beautiful although full of mosquitoes (been a real feature of Yucatan).
I hadn’t been well so Deryn “went off to do the Walking tour with nobody in particular, sweat dripping down my back as we learned about the bishops and the very wealthy Mérida family and their grand residences. The sculptures of Rodrigo de la Sierra, and visited a gallery showing the history of the conquistadors- excellent”
Deryn and I spent many hours wandering the streets of the historica centra – loving the colours and styles of the many beautiful homes. A lot of them were in disrepair, but equally a lot of them were being renovated as more and more Mexicans (mostly older) are moving to Merida. Partly because it has the lowest crime rate in Mexico but also because of its thriving art scene. Our second night in Merida we decided to to visit a few of the pubs and enjoy some mescal and tequila as well as check out the ancient game of ballgame played in the town square. The square was packed by the time we got there but we got to see some traditionally dressed locals trying to bang a ball thorough a hoop using only their hips. Not the most of exciting games I have to say but I guess given that the losing team gets sacrificed, it has suspense. Obviously not in this case. We met some (odd) Americans who had decided to relocate to Mexico – far cheaper than the US! Not sure that would work for us though. We had 3 nights in Merida and, like Valladolid, really enjoyed getting away from the flashy glitz of coastal Yucatan.
Next it was onto the Isle de Holbox, which was exciting as we had heard some good things about it. It was nearly a 4 hour drive from Merida, mostly along the same boring 2 lane expensive, highway. We arrived in Chiquila to be greeted by lots of red flag waving locals trying to tempt us to park our car in their car park while we are on the island. We settled for one close to the ferry – 300p for 3 days. After a 30 minute ferry ride we set out to get a taxi – which on Holbox are golf carts – but we decided the 1km walk was not a problem as we had lightened our luggage by leaving a lot of stuff back in the car. Holbox had a really nice vibe – the streets were all beach sand lined with lots of casual restaurants and shops. Our hostel Tuuenben Holboxeno unfortunately did not have a similar vibe. It was 400m from the beach and had a vibe of a run down motel. The owner Hector was lovely but unfortunately our unit was very sparsely furnished and with the smallest double bed I had even seen. Not sure how it got its 9.1 Booking rating??
We hired some bikes the next day and rode down the beach to as far was we could go. The intent was to go to Playa Mosquito, but very soon gave up that idea, as as the name suggests, the little critters were ravenous. We just beat a storm back to our hotel, a storm which lasted roughly 18 hours and turned the whole town in to a lake. It was incredible. Thankfully having bikes meant we could ride down the street/river (mostly) but for pedestrians it was a lot more challenging trying to to avoid eating getting wet. A lot of the golf carts got stuck and had to be pushed out. We decided to do a pub crawl through the town so started at the beach side bars closest to our place so we could watch the sun go down. It was beautiful until around 6pm when the mossies hit in force. We have never experienced anything like it – they were insatiable, not even a t-shirt was enough to stop them biting. The rain must have disturbed them because there is no way the bars would be able to operate if the situation occurred every night. Thankfully by 7pm the frenzy had abated and it was more just a matter of making sure you had repellent on. It was a fun night in which we managed to have a drink or 2 at half a dozen pubs. In one of the pubs I bought a round of mescal including one for the DJ as a thank you for his set.
The following day the rain was gone and we spent a lovely 4 hours down on the beach lazing on recliners under a thatched umbrella – not cheap at 200p ($15) each, but well worth it. I am sure a large part of our dissatisfaction with the Yucatan coast has stemmed from the fact we have encountered poor weather and hence brown, rough seas rather than the calm, turquoise seas seen in the pictures. It would make a massive difference. We headed back to the mainland the next morning – deciding to get a taxi golf cart because the roads were still underwater. The drive back was a breeze, so much so that we had a 4 hour wait at the airport for our flight to Mexico City and back into the highlands. I can’t say I will miss the heat or the mossies!
