Yesterday we arrived in Valladolid after an easy 2 hour bus ride from CancĂșn. We gained an hour because of the time change, so as a surprise we had more time for lunch before checking in to our B&B! We walked from the bus stop to the main square and ate at El Atrio del Mayab. It was amazing!
We had the crema de chaya, panuchos with cocinita pibil and queso relleno. The crema de chaya was good, though a little too cheesy. The panuchos were mini tortillas stuffed with beans and topped with roasted pork and pickled onions. The queso relleno was a mountain of ground meat, tomato sauce and a habanero pepper over melted cheese and what felt like polenta but was probably just more cheese. That was definitely the best. The whole meal came with handmade tortillas made by women (of course, who you walk by when you enter and tip when you leave for all that hard work đ) as well as sikil pak (a creamy roasted pumpkin seed sauce with spices), habanero salso and spicy pico de gallo with chips.
We were happy!
We checked into Refugio de Los Pecadores just a few blocks away, owned by a family. It was already too late to go to any of the archeological sites so we walked over to Cenote ZacĂ which is right in the middle of town. We took the stone stairs down into the water and swam…it was crowded but not too much that it wasn’t still enjoyable. Afterward our bodies felt like we had had a great workout! There really was something special about that sacred water even if it sometimes felt like a pool with large groups of people yelling.
The next morning we woke up at 7am to catch the colectivo taxi to Ek Balam. We found a nice guy on Calle 44 between Calle 35 and 37 — the ride is essentially 200 pesos each way, whether you split it 4 ways or alone. A woman joined us so we split it 3 ways. The temples were beautiful, a small area to walk around and climb up on them. I felt bad climbing it, my Nike rubber soles defiling stone that was hand-moved, hand-carved, hand-blessed by Mayan folks thousands of years ago, but since it is still allowed and I may never again see the tops of trees for miles from the stairs of an ancient Mayan structure — I went.
After spending a couple hours walking around and Sofia meditated by the stones, we rode bikes down a dirt path to what we thought was a cenote but really was a whole Mayan village by the cenote with folks who live there and speak Maya to each other, Spanish as a second language, and cook amazing food in an outdoor kitchen for people and run activities like zip lining and rappelling by the cenote. There were changing rooms and lockers and the whole “package (for 250 pesos each)” included zip lining and rappelling down into the cenote. I’ve never seen Sofia so happy as she was zip lining across!!
< img src=”http://travels.lyonandrose.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/img_9780.jpg” class=”size-large wp-image-1589″ height=”3264″ width=”2448″>< img src=”http://travels.lyonandrose.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/img_9758.jpg” class=”wp-image-1590 size-large” height=”2448″ width=”3264″><<<<<<<<<
nd handmade tortillas at the Mayan Village by Ek Balam
After that amazing experience we hiked back and took the colectivo taxi back to Valladolid. We explored the Ex-Convento San Bernardino, built over the Cenote Sis-HĂĄ where the monks would use a water well to drink and water the garden. Then we ate again at El Atrio at the main plaza, though it didn’t compare to our first lunch (they were much busier and stressed out at dinner than at leisurely lunch time).
Tomorrow we go to Chichén Itzå and Merida!