Day 27: Valladolid

January 26, 2023

Two cenotes

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It did a real tropical downpour during the night, and the forecast seemed to threaten more of the same later in the morning. It looked like our cenote expedition could be rained out. But the rain never materialized and we had slightly cooler temperatures, making it a great day overall. The forecast still calls for rain in the coming two days, but we have no time for nonesense like that. We'll just put on our raincoats, like always. (Good thing we dragged them along.)

Dodie had been thinking that our breakfast yesterday came out rather costly, so she suggested we switch to a cheaper place. But I pointed out that the cost had been 50% higher because I had eaten two rather than one breakfasts. Tht got me put on a diet, at least in terms of breakfast today. Oh well, two eggs, three Bimbo toasts, and coffee should be plenty for a non travelling day!

We headed directly south from town, to Zaciabil, that famous (to us) site of the only post office. We found it again, and put our postcards in an apparent post box. Fingers crossed!

We then picked up something of a cycle path, on the way to Chichimila. Dodie does not happen to look too pleased about it in the photo, but we will take any cycle path offered.

One advantage of this route was that we found some nice birds, notably a Grooved-Bill Ani.

And here is a Tropical Mockingbird, which we have seen quite often.

The path took us nicely to Chichimila, where we found the standard issue yow church, and as always, the city hall opposite. I took a picture of the city hall this time, because I have noticed they all have signage about the H. Ayuntamiento, and I want to check out what that is about.

The road out of Chichamila was quiet and nice, making us again think that this is the kind of cycling we came for.

And here is a maybe common bird, but the brown colour has us puzzled.

Our main goal was the twin cenotes of Samula and Xkeken. Samula comes from the Mayan Chak Muul Ha, which refers to some aspect of the water.

Seemingly on the middle of nowhere, these cenotes displayed a lot of development in the grounds, change rooms, and ticket booths. They were printing a lot of QR coding in the tickets, which were later scanned by staffers near the actual cenote entrances, and there seemed to be quite a few colourful computer screens inside the ticket offices. These cenotes also displayed a high level of refinement in trying to extract as much money as possible from the visitors. For example, we were immediately taken under the wing of an official seeming guy, who brought us through the entry gates, and then shepherded us to the poorly marked change rooms, showers, and ultimately the entrance to Samula. He then demanded (politely, mind you) 600 pesos for the service. We told him that was outrageous for a place with a 200 peso admission fee, bit eventually gave him 150 pesos. Also to get to the cenotes one had to pass gauntlets of aggressive craft/souvenir sellers, and one scam seemed to claim they were doing a "security" photo, but in fact were selling posed shots with a macaw. That partly accounted for the colourful screens in the ticket booth - they were displaying or processing visitor plus macaw photos.

Following our "guide" over the seemingly purposely poorly marked grounds.

A ventilation hole of Samula. Cenotes are something else.

Despite these rather offputting aspects, the cenotes themselves were quite wonderful.

Access stairs were super slippy and great care was needed to descend them.

Samula turns out to mean crystal clear water.

Cenotes often have hanging roots and stalagtites

There was lots and lots of this on the trail between the cenotes. The thing is, lots of these crafts are really well done. But not only can we not carry stuff like that, but it would just become clutter at home. We feel empathy for the vendors, though, except those that will not take no for an answer.

We spent about three hours in the cenotes, something guaranteed to return our core temperatures to something like their Canadian norms. It took a while, because the water temperature was a moderate 21 degrees. Cycling away, we felt refreshed for quite a few hours.

On the way back we noticed a communication tower, not quite as high as the one the other day. But oh, here was someone climbing it! The closeup does reveal some sort of safety harness, and on this tower there at least is a ladder.

Heading back into town we took the Avenue of the Friars, which leads past the church and convent of Saint Bernadine of Siena. This is also the location of the mandatory giant town name letters.

The friar on the Avenue of Friars looks rather scary. Other statues along the way had a similar aspect.

It's not that the streets here have no drainage. But drain maintenance must be lacking.

There are helpful historical signs like this all about town. But beyond the first few sentences they typically overwhelm us with information.

Soon we were back in the thick of city life. You can see the towers of the church opposite our hotel in the distance.

We went to our favourite food court, but this time to one one of the stalls with regional cuisine, rather than the Chinese one. The photo shows the total size of the kitchen and the closeup shows what is on offer.

Out on the square we looked for some anti bonk snacks for tomorrow. There are stands just jammed with snacks, and some of them are rather nice: banana chips, sweet potato paste, seeds in dark candy, coconut paste-y things, etc. etc.

We also found this mango vendor. Fresh fruit like this is so great! 35 pesos per cup. One time we got ripped off, where the vendor included the pit hidden in the cup, and 50 pesos. Not this time though, and the nice man wanted to make sure we got forks and napkins.

Back for even more orange juice. By now the staff knew us and what we wanted. They just grabbed our bottles and started slicing oranges. While we waited we talked to the man at the counter. He was interested in us coming from Canada. Between him and us we listed the great attributes of Yucatan - the weather, the cenotes, the food. He was very proud of his place. All this information was conveyed in Spanish, of which we really know next to nothing. But sometimes it does not take much, it seems.

Oh look, we spotted this bird in the park. We are tagging it a Blue Black Grassquit. He was possibly sick, because he stayed on the ground.

Some final excitement for the day also came in the park, as a troupe of Mayan dancers were putting on a performance. We have seen folks like this, dressed up and offering photos at the archeological sites, and generally thought them fairly hokey. But our opinion is changed now, because of the energy and quality of their performance. I made a longer than usual video of them, because it was so interesting and enjoyable.

Note the famous statue of the Mestizo woman, incidentally in the background.

Blue paint, shaved heads, nose rings, shoulder pads, ball game ball, etc. These guys are serious, and we assume, accurate.

Today's ride: 23 km (14 miles)
Total: 1,226 km (761 miles)

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Bill ShaneyfeltYou gave us your "two cenotes worth" today! :-)
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1 year ago

Ellen LeeHi Dodie & Steve, looks like you are having a nice tour. Glad your assist is working. But sorry to hear about flat tires. I feel for you. No matter how many spare tubes I take I end up using them all & then buying more on line! Hahaha! That heat saps your energy! Have a nice remainder of tour!
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1 year ago