Day 22: Tizimin to Valladolid

January 25, 2018

We are really liking the idea of riding in the pre-dawn/dawn coolness. So today at 4:30 a.m. I was back at the 24/7 OXXO for coffee and hot chocolate to bring back to our room. This time, not wanting a re run of the double cup diplomatic dust up of yesterday, I did not try to make the coffee any hotter. But paradoxically the checkout man pulled out and offered me a (free!) cardboard cup tray. Now, of course, I didn't need it.

The town square at 4:30 was amazing. Usually bustling, it now had not a single person, or vehicle parked or moving. And it was totally silent! Even the birds were still snoozing. Wonderful.

By 5, things were picking up, literally. Four little men were busily sweeping the square. One was trying to wake up and chase away the birds, so they would not continue to poop on his swept area. But the birds were unimpressed.

We set off straight south out of town, with our lights and flashers. It was not pitch black and was not a problem. We did however have to watch for the speed bumps, which in one configuration are particularly aggressive. It's when there are two rows of bumps, with one row offset from the other. There is no way to wiggle your bike wheel past, and if these guys get you they should be able to give a good twist and throw. Typically we did a dead stop, and so did the cars. But in the dark, it's a good idea not to run in to one of these.

The road itself offered a shoulder the whole way, and really was perfect. Traffic that did develop usually gave us a wide clearance. The exceptions included vehicles, like old VWs or motorbikes, that like us were clinging to the side. Still, no real problems.

Gloriously quiet main square in Tisimin, 4:30 a.m.

There is no mercy or escape for bikes with these speed bumps

The quiet, straight, cool road to Valladolid

We passed the two small towns of Calotmul and Temozon, each with an old church. These are hulking buildings without much architectural syle, unless "hulking" is a style. We also saw a fair bit of activity along the road way, with people cutting the tall grass with machetes. One man was setting up to rethatch a palapa, but we do not know if the material used is actually coming from the roadside.

Cutting roadside grass with a very sharp machete

Hulking church #2 for the day. This one is from the late 1800's

Problems did begin for us as Dodie confirmed that she has a urinary tract infection. It caused her to have to stop every 2 km to search out a place to pee. Not always easy, and in this case also painful.

So in Temozon she walked in to the pharmacy and asked for Amoxicillin, which we had also used for my chest infection in Cancun. Though the pharmacies in Cancun and in Temozon were both "YZA"'s, this one refused to dispense without a prescription. They did however give out a drug that while not combating the infection at least helps to control the pain.

Our Mexican drug connection is not 100% dependable

Even with frequent stops, we managed to arrive in Valladolid - at our luxury hotel - the Meson du Marques - hours before check in time and while they were still serving breakfast. Ok then, we are game for breakfast!

Also at the hotel for breakfast were Bill and Judith. Bill encountered Dodie while I was off finding out that our room was not ready. With Dodie feeling poorly and Bill and Judith quite into their breakfast, we did not exchange too much information, except to learn that they are from Ottawa and have made 25 European cycle trips! We will try to find each other again tonight. Can you imagine how much cycle tourist jabber can come when their 25 trips meet our 19!

How about this tandem trike - also carries your firewood!

One side of the main square in Valladolid. Our hotel is along this row, but actually it occupies the whole block over to the next street behind!

Bill and Judith - we are eager to learn about their many European cycle tours.

In the hotel lobby, an image of the cathedral, with a stylized market in the square.

115 peso breakfasts. Worth it, we thought.

Looking out from our room. The whole view is still within our hotel.

At about 1500 pesos, our room apparently still did not rate a coffee maker. I was looking into that. Coffee maker only appears when you cross the 4000 peso barrier! But there was a tub, so we jammed Dodie into that and sent me out to find some drugs!

The first pharmacy had what we wanted, and no nonsense about prescriptions. But the toll was high - 200 pesos for the same product we had paid about 55 for in Cancun. But as we all know, when you need drugs you are not about to quibble!

Dodie had only enough strength for one circuit of the main square, but still we saw quite a bit. The cathedral, as with all the churches we have seen while here, was very plain - nothing like a European cathedral. Sometimes cathedrals are rather gay, nicely decorated, and upbeat even if they may have effigies or relics. But here was to be seen a rather haggard Jesus statue, and a coffin containing a really ill looking Jesus representation. The coffin had lots of notes and money slipped into it somehow, and I must say many of the people standing by it seemed very affected - crossing themselves and bowing their heads.

I went to meet Bill and Judith at a restaurant, leaving Dodie to rest. I noticed that many prices about were flat out tourist level - 40 to 200% more than what we know to be "normal". The reason was easy to see - in all the tour busses and tourists swarming around. On the other hand lower prices were to be found - such as in a nearby food court. I was thinking I could take Dodie to the food court, or get a takeout, but she was not up to it. It's ok, because we will hang around until 7 tomorrow for the hopefully full breakfast. Dodie will surely ride tomorrow - the drugs should be taking effect, and besides Dodie has to be really sick to not answer the (bicycle) bell.

Here they are swarming in front of a restaurant - no wonder prices are inflated.

However, you can still go to the food court for a 55 peso poc chuc!

I sat for a couple of hours chatting with Judith and Bill. They have really done a lot of cycling, ranging from France, Germany, Netherlands to Croatia and even the Azores. They gave me some tips on where we could take the grandkids cycling in Quebec, and warned about cycling in Croatia, India, Thailand, where they deem the roads too narrow and the drivers too aggressive.

In turn I was able to talk about some of our favourite routes, like La Loire a Velo, the Mosel, and the Adige in Italy. What fun to learn new things and to reminisce about great routes of the past! Judith and Bill, and anyone else, you can experience the Adige by reading just a bit of Grampies Ride Again - start here.

Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,005 km (624 miles)

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