Carry on my wayward son

December 29, 2018

For there'll be peace when you are done

The day began while it was still dark, a new one for us on this tour. As I said yesterday, we were both trying to avoid the wind and heat as well as catching a football game (more on that later). It was a lovely morning, only slightly cool and the streets of Valladolid were empty as we made our way through the dark streets and out of town. We felt victorious as there was little to no wind, as along with the perfect weather came perfect road conditions - nice wide shoulder, flat road and little traffic. We were flying along at about 19km per hour and didn't stop until we'd gone a little over 20 for our breakfast break. Found a nice flat rock outside a gate for the perfect spot and even got to watch some goats through the fence as we ate. We decided to keep the pizza for later, so we munched on some muffins we had picked up at Oxxo, Mexico's version of 7/11. They weren't half bad and we washed them down with our energy drinks.

Breakfast done, we popped back on the highway and, other than stopping occasionally for a quick break, we kept at it until reaching our destination. We were able to check in early, which was great, but as the girl was still cleaning our room we were forced to sit by the pool to wait - oh darn! We had a couple of juices while we waited and caught up on our internet stuff. The wifi here seems to be better than what we had in Valladolid, so that bodes well for getting yesterday's blog post up and writing today's. While we were engaged in this, we noticed a discrepancy in our phones. Mine said it was 10:45 and Jim's said it was 9:45 - what gives? Well, we now know that we have crossed a time zone! My phone had picked up on the Cancun time and Jim's was still reading Merida's - go figure! We synced up the time and found that we had an hour before Jim's Michigan bowl game.

Within a short time our room was ready and we were just about to head up when we heard someone call out about our Canadian flags. Turns out there is another couple of Canadians staying here! They are two teachers from Ontario and we had a great time chatting with them about the joys of both teaching and travelling. Eventually we said goodbye and got into our room where a nice shower awaited us - ahhhh! Sometimes its just the most simple thing, like good water pressure, that can make everything so much better! All showered up, we tensely watched Jim's game.

Well, unfortunately, things didn't turn our quite as we had hoped. The good part about being so far away in such a beautiful place though, is you can go out for a walk and see the new and interesting place you have arrived in, so that is what we did. A short walk to be sure, but around the corner, just 10 minutes from our hotel is the entrance to the Coba ruins! We asked about times they open, planning to come back on New Year's Day to climb the pyramid. We also found out about the 3 cenotes near here and how we can access them over the next few days. Finally, we enjoyed looking out over the lagoon which is just steps away from where we are. It was a calming way to end the afternoon and we came back in a much better frame of mind.

We had a little rest in our room and spent some time working out what our next moves will be from here. We have no reservations anywhere and had been planning to make that decision from here. We were not sure if we wanted to head somewhere different, do some longer rides or just take our time heading up the coast. After talking it over, it seems we are of the same mind. Taking our time while heading up the coast to Cancun appeals to us both. We checked out locations and made reservations for several Airbnb places which will give us the opportunity to do a little of our own cooking, something we are beginning to miss after a month here in Mexico. Jim joked that our first meal would probably be grilled cheese sandwiches or maybe his world famous mac and cheese. We'll see! I think taking our time and having a bit of time to do more "normal" things will be good for us before we head over to Cuba where life again will be quite different from what we have experienced before. We feel like we will be better prepared for more of the unknown - I guess we shall see! After completing our plans, we headed to the restaurant attached to our hotel for dinner. While the food was ok, it was all a bit underwhelming so I'm sure we will be checking out other spots over the next few days.

Back in our room, we are catching yet another football game while hearing the loud loud music blaring from somewhere nearby. It's early yet so we can only hope that whatever the big event is, it doesn't last all night. In the morning we have plans to hit a cenote!

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 716 km (445 miles)

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