Claudia and I went to breakfast with her dad and Nellie the morning after the baby shower.
I took one blatantly touristy-thing-to-do photo with the entertainment as we left.
Nellie does not speak English but we were able to communicate with my Spanish and Clau’s help while Sergio went to his office in the hospital for a few minutes after breakfast. We spent this time wisely ( from my perspective) to discuss tourist attraction places in Mexico City (I’ll be going there at the end of my trip later in July and do not have firm plans yet, so I’m collecting information).
Later that day I boarded a luxury bus with A/C and TV monitors. I did not get a window seat, because the bus was full on a Sunday in the late afternoon - mostly with local people (not many tourists) but the the two hour trip to Valladolid was comfortable and I enjoyed my book on tape and my knitting.
I arrived in Valladolid before sunset and took a taxi to my AirBNB lodging. I’ve learned my lesson about the lunacy of trying to walk to a place ( even when I KNOW it is walking distance from the bus/train station) if I’ve never been there before and am rolling luggage behind me. See 18.01.14-15: Boats and Beatles for my description of trying to do just that after arriving in Liverpool.
My AirBNB lodging turned out to be a room in a small hotel rather than a room in a house like my last AirBNB in Isla Mujeres. I ate dinner in my room with food I brought from
Cancún - leftovers from the baby shower last night. Then I set off on foot to reacquaint myself with the town I enjoyed so much last year when I was here for nine nights.
I purposely chose a different neighborhood to stay in this year, but immediately walked to the central square - a short mile away - because I remembered there was live music in the street on Sunday night last year. Sure enough, two of the four streets circling the central square were closed to traffic,
but tonight the stage was set for a presidential candidate rally. There were lots of people sitting in chairs in the street.
There was an MC comedian/clown on stage during my time circling the crowd, and DJ music, but I did not stay to see if the actual candidate -AMLO would appear.
Instead, I returned to my neighborhood which was very close to El Convento de San Bernardino where I was fortunate to view a 20 minute video mapping presentation - audio, music and computerized lights projected onto the convent walls describing the history of Valladolid.
Next morning I was woken up about 8:30 by the remodel construction noise on the other side of one of my room’s walls. I got a message from the AirBNB contact saying they were sorry for the noise and they could move me to another larger room on the other end of the building. I figured, why not?, and within an hour was living large in this upgrade of a room for the next two nights.
Today my plan was to visit the spots I enjoyed last year, and my first objective was the store where I could buy more spools of the synthetic cord the craftsmen here use to make hammocks. Last year I bought primary colors red yellow blue and green which I used to make knitted bags. This year I bought basic black, white and brown (with some orange thrown in for good measure)
for just 32 pesos per spool - $1.60 US dollars (an increase of 2 pesos per spool over last year). I have an idea for these colors when I get back home, but for now I just have to figure out town to lug these four big spools round for four weeks. They are heavy, too!
I did some other shopping around town - everything is in walking distance from my hotel and I wanted to get some local culture items in an area that does not shout “tourist trap”. I spoke with this guy for quite a while and bought a bag to replace the one I bought at a thrift store in Auburn before my trip. His family makes beautiful bags of all shapes and sizes.
Shopping took my morning, then I went back to the hotel to jump in the hot tub sized swimming pool to cool down, then swung in their rooftop hammock for a while
before going out once more to the other side of town to Cenote Zaci - the town’s version of a local swimming pool. It is an underground cave of cool, fresh water but open to the sky in the center.
I stayed cool in the middle treading water for about an hour for exercise while I watched the daredevil guys jump from high spots along the outside edges of the Cenote.
Look close and you can see a guy going in head first with his legs spread wide half way down the distance from the brick wall to the water on the right.
During my walk around my neighborhood during the day I saw a small shop that was advertising day tours to beach cities I had already visited, and to Chichen-Itzá, a Mayan archeological site that I’ve heard of as a popular tourist destination but never yet visited. The shop was closed earlier in the day. Now, on my way home from Cenote Zaci at dusk, I figured I would look for that shop again and ask about a tour for tomorrow since I still had a full day and my shopping itch had been scratched.
I walked past a small shop advertising tours, went in and told the gal inside that I wanted to go to Chichen-Itzá. She was not Mexicana, but spoke fluent Spanish and told me that she did not go to Chichen-Itzá, but created smaller, local tours via bicycle for people who wanted to get off the beaten path. She already had - me regardless of the price! But when we started to discuss my interest and timing I learned that she already had a private tour set up for tomorrow and she was not in the habit of adding a stranger into the mix. I asked a few questions and we tried to figure out how to squeeze in a short tour the next day instead. I told her about my trip so far and my family and my growing experiences in Mexico. I learned that LeAnn has been in Valladolid for two years, but in Mexico for 16 from her home country Holland. I guess the longer we talked, the more she could see that I was a good fit for her tour style and group, and she changed her mind and said I could join her bicycle tour tomorrow at 10 AM. She provides the bike, lunch, swimming in a Cenote and the joy of getting off the beaten path. All for a mere $580 pesos - less than $30 US dollars. More good luck for me!
So tomorrow morning I showed up at LeAnn’s shop and we rode a short distance back to the Convent town square near my hotel to pick up Alberto - a local guy who lives in this huge space right on the square that formerly served as the village panadería (bakery).
Alberto noticed that my bike seat was built for the very short Mayan people and got out two wrenches to muscle the rusty bike seat post up to its tallest position so my seat was comfortable. He did not address the fact that my handlebar post needed WD-40 very badly. My bike had a squeaking noise that presented itself any time I moved the handlebars to steer, which was, of course, constantly!
Nonetheless, I was in heaven! A bike for exercise, the prospect of swimming later and a safe, follow-the-group outdoor adventure, with six other Spanish speaking people that I could understand about as much as I could understand my family in Cancun ( which is to say I could cherry pick the words and get the gist of the conversation, but definitely not participate at any meaningful level).
We rode out of town and turned into a property on the main road where LeAnn went in to announce our presence to whom I suspected was the property owner. Then we headed into the jungle on this two-track road
toward a place that LeAnn believed had a Cenote but she had not yet “discovered”. About half a mile in we found this obstacle.
LeAnn and Alberto discussed the situation. She wanted to disregard the clear “No Pasar” sign, but I think Alberto pointed out that there were three gringos in the group and that might not be the best idea. So instead, LeAnn walked in alone with the instructions for us all to wait here and call for help if she did not return in 10 minutes (this was a joke to them all and I for some reason I did not feel concerned except about the fact we would be eaten by mosquitoes while we waited).
LeAnn did, in fact return unharmed about 15 minutes later with the news that there was nobody on the other side of the fence or at her intended destination. So, one by one, we scooted each bike around the end of the fence
and rode on down the road. Our reward for trespassing was this abandoned Hacienda
The exterior of which we explored for about 30 minutes.
We found the Cenote, but it’s locked gate was impassable.
This Cenote was deep underground because when looking down into the iron fencing at the entrance, we could not see the water below, only steps going down into the darkness. I commented that it was just as well we could not get past the lock because it would be creepy down there, but LeAnn shook her head in disagreement - she was definitely up for that adventure.
Not today, though. Instead we returned to the main road and took a 3-4 mile ride to Tikuch, a small village outside Valladolid where we had a delicious lunch in this garden setting -
Mexican food, but typical of the local Mayan culture, not so much like Chipotle. Beans in a soup bowl, grilled pork, salsas and grilled vegetable toppings to roll up ourselves in fresh grilled corn tortillas. Yum!
We then had to ride back to Valladolid on full stomachs but stopped at a nice big pool
along the main road at a privately owned place that charges admission to the public for about 90 minutes to cool off and enjoy each other’s company.
At the end of my stay here, I made a pit stop and was addressed by one of the local people from the property. He asked if this was my first time in Mexico. When I looked closely and started to answer No, I recognized him as one of the teachers at the Spanish language school I worked with for a week when I was here last year in Valladolid! See 16.06.14-23 Valladolid - Spanish Education and this photo of Jose and me in a coffee shop.
He was as surprised to see me in his space this year as I was happy that he called me out to acknowledge what a small world it really is.
The next day was get-away day from Casa Sisal,
my home for this three day visit to Valladolid. They let me check out late since my bus for Bacalar did not leave until 2PM.
So in the morning, after my bags were packed, I walked in to town to sit with LeAnn, Alberto ( from yesterday’s bike tour) and their friends
at a sports bar to watch Mexico lose to Sweden in the World Cup. I am not versed in the standings, schedule or even the rules of the game, but when in France…. As they say…. The World Cup is a big deal here, so I’m engaged.
Then I walked to an open air market for a bit more shopping - this place is in the heart of the Mayan culture - one of the places in Mexico where local craftsmen work and sell their craft
but they also send their goods off to the more touristy areas to be sold. So I figure this is where I should shop because I get to talk to the makers.
I taxied back to Casa Sisal for one last dip in the mini pool in the pretty yard
before walking to the ADO bus station. I arrived about 5 minutes before the scheduled 2:25 departure, but I knew from experience last year that this was enough time because I already had my ticket and it is a small station. But the station was filled with people, and some were getting on a bus. I went to the gate and was told “no llegado” ( it has not arrived) but I had to keep returning to the gate keeper to show my ticket because I could not clearly understand the loudspeaker announcing departures and the busses were not clearly marked as they pulled in to the station and people loaded on. In the end, the message was clear and I gratefully loaded the not quite so luxurious bus. This one had no baño and no TV, but I got a window seat and enjoyed the passing jungle and small village scenery during the four hour trip to Bacalar. 
It’s a jungle out there!
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