The residents, shopkeepers and restaurant personnel of Valladolid
are mostly of Mayan descent (native to the area in the way American Indians are native residents in the US., but in this town they are a strong majority). Some speak a bit of English, but many do not. They describe themselves as living in a 'muy tranquilo" town with "muy agradable" people. I agree on both counts. The town is mellow and the people are very nice to visitors. I felt safe walking the streets and welcomed by all.
Some examples......
1. When the bus from Cancun arrived at the Valladolid bus station in mid afternoon I decided I could walk to my hostel because Google Maps told me it was close and the AirBNB description said it was three blocks from El Centro and ADO. Trouble is, I had to start walking to get my bearings about which direction to go and of course it was hot. So I'm walking down the street on the very narrow sidewalk pulling a pretty big roller bag all by myself. Looking like a tourist. One taxi drove by and the driver shouted "bienvenidos, Necesitas un taxi?" "No gracias, estoy caminando." I replied. I stopped to check google maps and get my bearings, got in the street to turn a corner to change directions and another taxi pulled over, said Bienvenidos. I gave him a nod and he pulled over and helped me load up my bags. Obviously I needed help. He knew where I was going and I did not.
2. On Fathers Day I rented a bicicleta and took a tour of the neighborhoods outside my walking range on my way out of town to Hacienda San Lorenzo and Cenote Oxman which Google Maps said was a short 6 kilometers. The streets are not like streets in Auburn, that's for sure, and while I was not exactly lost, I did not know which road I needed to get to the Cenote. An older man on a bicycle rode past me, and without being asked told me in Spanish that if I backtracked one block and went in that direction I'd get to a cenote. "Muchas Gracias, Senior!" Now how did he know that was where I was going?
3. When I got to the Cenote I chose to sit in a lounge chair by the pool for a while.
When it started to rain, I visited the Cenote. There was a family group of about 10 people who I interacted with in the Cenote. ( more details on that experience in the upcoming "Valladolid Cenotes" post - this post is about the people).
When I returned to the above ground pool, I ordered some food and sat under the palapa shelter to continued my relaxation - knitting and listening to the Giants on my MLB.com app. Pretty soon the family from the Cenote came up to enjoy the pool too and before long one of the ladies swam over to where I was sitting alone and asked where I was from, why was I alone ( more on that subject on the post "Valladolid - Traveling Alone") and invited me to join them for food. It was Fathers Day and they had at least three generations of family. I declined the offer since I was engrossed by the Giants losing another game and knitting. Pretty soon the matriarch of the family came over with no English at all to check out what I was knitting and offer suggestions. Friendly people.
4. On Sunday night one street boarding the central plaza was closed to traffic to allow for dancing on the street to music provided by a big band playing regional music that I really enjoyed.
I circled the band, the chairs set up on the curb for watchers and the dancers in the street. One circle turned into a second circle. I was enjoying watching the salsa dancing that I tried to follow with my eyes using my memory of the one salsa dance lesson I got at the Spanish school in Tulim. I saw an empty chair, asked the neighbors "está disponible?" and sat down. When the song ended, people started toward the chairs that I had recently occupied, so I jumped up and kept on moving, not wanting to steal someone's chair. No biggie. Almost immediately, a short Mayan woman motioned to me that I was welcome to sit down in her family's area. So I did. One song later, while the teenage sons were encouraged up to learn, she invited me up to dance, too. I figured "why not? so got up but had trouble getting in the groove with her, so we both gave up after a couple minutes. I sat back down in their area at her insistence. Pretty soon a new song started and this time her dad asked me to dance and again I did, but this time I had much more success and finished the song, including twirls and a backwards dip at the end of the song. Pretty cool! Also, pretty hot and sweaty. "Muchas gracias por bailando con mi, pero no más!" I told my partner and sat back down. I left the group shortly thereafter so they didn't ask again - enough dancing for me tonight, but it was fun, and I was impressed with the welcome and enjoyed the experience.
5. Claudia connected me to Cesar, a friend from her permaculture studies circle ( she met Eric in a permaculture class that Cesar also attended). Cesar is not Mayan, he's Spanish speaking originally from Columbia, but was muy agradable none-the-less. He agreed to pick me up at my hostel on the day I was changing hotels. He showed me through a big indoor/outdoor market where we had tamales for breakfast and he told me about the nature and workings of the food vendors selling in this market.
He had errands in town and I had Spanish "class" so he kept my luggage and agreed to meet me in a couple hours to help me get settled in my new hotel for the next 4 nights. He went out of his way to make me feel welcome and I enjoyed our interaction.
6. Adrianna, the hostess at the restaurant across from my new hotel, was a very agreeable mujer. I'll describe her more in the post "Valladolid, Traveling Alone"
7. Allen and Patricia from the Eurolanguage Escuela were very helpful. I'll describe them more in the upcoming post " Valladolid - Spanish Education"
8. The shopkeepers as a group were very agreeable. I always engaged them in Spanish and often ended up in a conversation about where I was from and why I am here.
9. The hotel owner let me stay in the room until 2:00 on my checkout day even though check-out time was noon because I asked him in Spanish if I could sit by the pool and wait since my bus was leaving at 2:30. He had family in El Monte, CA
10. My last example of local generosity happened when I was standing in front of my hotel to wait for a taxi to go to Cancun - my nine night stay in Valladolid is over.
Taxis are not hard to find in El Centro - there are many taxis and tourists and the locals use taxis too since not everyone owns a car. Almost immediately a car stopped at the curb where I was standing, rolled down the window and asked if I needed a ride.
The driver spoke pretty good English but his car was not a taxi. I questioned that obvious point, but on the heel of all the good experiences I have had here, I got in anyway and he drove me the three blocks to the ADO bus station during which time he said he lived in a nearby community, had been a realtor in Tulum and offered the ride because he liked liked talking to visitors. He offered to show me around town, but I declined citing my 30 minute departure time. When we were parked at the curb in front of ADO he refused dinero. While I was searching ( unsuccessfully) to find a knitted item to give him instead, he starting thinking out loud about driving me to Cancun, I hopped out quick and said "Muchas Gracias!"
The more I think about it the more I think this post belongs in the "traveling alone" entry. He was driving a nice black Acura with air conditioning. Hhmm........
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