With the trip to Valladolid we left Quintana Roo and from now on we were in Yucatan. On our previous bus trips, we always got a small card to identify our luggage. When we got off the bus in Valladolid, we were asked foritfor the first time. It was also new that our bags were disinfected. Since our accommodation for the next few days was a bit further away from the center, we first had to walk through the streets of Valladolid. The charm of the city struck us already very positive. The architecture of the colonial era is still clearly visible here.
A nice acquaintance and exciting stories
The next five nights we stayed with a very nice family, who not only provided us with a lot of information and goodies. The nice Alejandrina had also invited us to their home, where we could also meet their daughter and talked together about God and the world. It was also funny that they have a pigeon living with them in the house, which the youngest daughter had found injured on the street. Actually, they have also released the pigeon after successful care. However, it always returned and flies since then freely in the house.
Wir haben Eis und Crepes gegessen, uns über mexikanische Gewohnheiten und natürlich das mexikanische Essen unterhalten. Wir haben auch die Chance genutzt und über die Narcos geredet. Dabei haben wir gelernt, dass die Familien der Narcos in Yucatan leben, weshalb dieses Bundesland zu den sichersten in Mexiko gehört. Man könnte meinen, dass es paradox sei. Lebt die Familie dort, weil das Bundesland sicher ist, oder ist das Bundesland so sicher, weil die Familien hier leben? Wie vermuten letzteres. Nach dem Mexican Peace Index ist Yucatan im Jahr 2019 das friedlichste Land in Mexiko gewesen. Anders sieht es mit Quintana Roo aus, welches 2019 das 3. gefährlichste Land in Mexiko war. Wir gehen allerdings davon aus, dass das Hauptproblem in Cancun liegt, wo ca. täglich irgendetwas passiert. Doch man muss sich als Tourist nicht fürchten. Das „Geschehen“ liegt eher abseits des Stadtzentrums und weit weg von den Hotelanlagen. Als Tourist würde man sich dahin eigentlich nicht aus Versehen verlaufen.
On the road in Valladolid
The closer we got to the center of Valladolid, the more beautiful the city became for us. At the same time, the height of the buildings in Valladolid hardly increases. The buildings are all very low, so you can see a lot of the blue sky.
We felt very comfortable during our stay. The information about the opening hours of the grocery stores on the Internet did not match the siesta times, which made it a bit complecated for us at the beginning. But maybe the opening hours were just different in general because of Corona.
In addition to the beauty of the city, we also noticed a dark side of the city on the first day. We quickly noticed that there are particularly many wild dogs in Valladolid and even felt more than in Tulum. However, we had the impression that every household already owns one or more dogs. A man even asked us once while passing by, if we would like to take one of his 6? or 7? Dogs. Actually very gladly. With much pleasure. But unfortunately that is not possible on our trip, or would have made our trip just more complicated.
Let's go to the cenote!
Through some research on the internet we knew that there are several cenotes in and around Valladolid. We decided to visit the cenote Zaci, because it is located in the middle of the city and was close to our accommodation. It's kind of amazing to see such a piece of paradise in the middle of the city. Also somehow strange that a cenote for the Mexicans is more or less a normal outdoor pool. For us German guys, probably every cenote is worth a visit, since we don't have such piece of paradies just around the corner.
The cenote was much deeper than the first one we visited, so you couldn't see the bottom. There were again a lot of fish there, mostly big catfish that swam around you in a very relaxed way. It was funny to watch how sensitive the Mexicans are to the water. Calli and I were able to jump into the water without hesitation because the water was not cold at all for us. After the cenote, we then visited the restaurant directly above where we tried new food again. There I ordered the lime soup for the first time. Very tasty!
Just like the days before, it was raining, raining and raining. We suspect that all the rain was brought by a hurricane that was raging over the Caribbean at the time. The streets were pretty flooded after the rain and you really had to watch where you stepped.
The Mayan site of Chichen Itza
The next day we visited one of the most famous (and therefore most visited) Mayan site in Yucatan, Chichen Itza! The ruins are about 45 minutes drive from Valladolid and to get there we took a colectivo again. The colectivos are basically only 2-3 houses from the ADO station in Valladolid and actually easy to find. We were the first passengers, so we had to wait a bit this time. But I think it was only about 5 minutes until the driver had enough passengers together and we could leave. On the way there we listened to typical Mexican music and wiggled discreetly to the beat. When we were there, the nice driver explained to us where we had to stand after the visit to wait for a colectivo. Although we did not quite understand him, we were optimistic to find a colectivo later.
We were impressed by the Mayan site. It is a pity that you can no longer climb up the pyramid. But the sight of the ruins was also very impressive. Unfortunately, we had bad luck with the weather that day, because it rained a lot. But the rain is also part of it, otherwise it would not be so beautiful green here.
If you want to visit the Mayan site, you have to be prepared for the fact that you will be offered a lot of odds and ends for sale. But this happens everywhere in Mexico and you get used to it. If you know the Disney movie El Dorado, you will certainly recognize the ball playground:
In Chichen Itza, by the way, is the largest "ball court" of the Maya. In all other ruins you can see smaller facilities from time to time.
After looking at the ruins and the surrounding cenotes (which were gateways to the underworld for the Maya at that time), we left the site, fortified ourselves with some food and went in search of a colectivo.
We walked in the direction in which the driver had pointed us and well, a colectivo came towards us. Funnily enough, it was the same driver again, which made the three of us very happy. On the way back, almost all of us slept in the bus.
Back in Valladolid we had to take care of our laundry. And we do not always have a washing machine on our trip, which is why we just have to do it ourselves. Alejandrina had a washing machine, but it was broken during our stay. A man who was supposed to repair it one day just didn't show up. This also seems to happen here on a very regular basis. So we just had to scrub!
The work on our blog
We useed our remaining stay in Valladolid to plan our further steps and to take more active care of our blog. We have to admit that unfortunately we can't manage to keep the blog up to date on a regular basis. We use our time to see as much as possible and to enjoy the moments, which is why we are usually too exhausted and don't feel like it. We still keep a separate diary, just to sort our thoughts and to process all the impressions we experience. From many moments of our journey there are also simply no pictures, because the moments do not give it at all and it feels just wrong to take a picture to document it. We simply don't want to do it but just live and absorb that moment.
But since our friends keep writing us how much they like to see our pictures and stories, we are trying to be more active. We have also decided to translate the posts in English, because we also have friends who do not speak German. I had to listen several times now how beautiful they our blog and the idea behind it is, but unfortunately do not understand anything.
An old friend even wrote to me and asked, "How do you do it? What's the trick? The magic?". this has also encouraged us to write in a bit more detail and also give more insides on how we do it in the future.
After the wonderful time in Valladolid, we then headed to Rio Lagartos!
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