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Valladolid
By mcdog | May 9, 2007
We were up early after sleeping in the what was definitely the worst room we had stayed in since starting this trip. The room looked good but the fan, though it turned, didn’t actually move any air around. Hold a lighter about six inches beneath the fan blades and the flame wouldn’t even flicker. It was warm. I fell asleep holding the curtain open to catch as much of the weak breeze as possible. I had also killed a cockroach that crawled from the drain while I was having a shower, another crawled from the drain when I showered in the morning but I left that one as an exercise for the room’s next lucky inhabitant, what did I care, I was leaving in a few minutes.
We lugged the bags down Tulum’s main street to the bus stop to buy tickets before breakfast at Charlie’s. As usual, the guide book didn’t quite match reality, and there was not enough time for breakfast. Our bus to Valladolid was due in ten minutes. This was the only bus journey we made in Quintana Roo that wasn’t on an ADO bus, it was Oriente, not quite as smart but still comfortable and cool.
A couple of hours later and we’ve checked into the Hotel Valladolid, just across the road from the bus station, a very clean looking place with an attached cafe, and no net access. We dump the bags and head out to look at the town carrying the map they gave us at the hotel. It’s only a short walk to the main square which is surrounded by cafes, internet cafes, hotels and the town’s cathedral and there are street stalls on the south side. The small park in the centre of the square is shaded by large trees, there’s a fountain in the centre and benches under the trees. There are also some strange concrete seats, where two people can sit facing each other. We visited the cathedral and viewed the murals of the history of the town in the town hall and then sat and people-watched from an old cafe on the north side of the square, before going for a swim in Cenote Zaci.
After breakfast in the square the next morning we took a taxi to the cenotes outside town. A planned trip to the ruins at Chichen Itza was dropped but we decided to go in the evening to see the sound and light show. The shared buses for Chichen Itza have their stand just outside the Hotel Valladolid and soon we were driving through the countryside with a bunch of Mexicans on their way home from work and the market. The bus dropped us right at the entrance to the ruins but tickets for the show weren’t on sale until shortly before the start at 2000hrs. Because we didn’t have a passport or driving licence with us (I wasn’t willing to leave my credit card) we weren’t allowed to hire the earphone translators for the show, they would not accept money as a ‘deposit’. We all sat in a group of neatly laid out chairs much like a school event and watched the projections onto the old Mayan structures. there was also an explanation in Spanish which we did our best to follow. Not having the translators was a definite disadvantage and we left shortly before the end. This allowed us to grab the only taxi in the car park, and we were dropped in the local town, Piste. The driver left us on a street corner, telling us that the community bus would stop here for us. It looked to be a big night in Piste, there was incredibly loud music coming from a nearby building and some kind of rally in the town square. Eventually a bus appeared and collected us for the journey to Valladolid. This bus was fast, very fast, and what was the driver drinking from that bottle, but we arrived at our hotel safe and sound and possibly in record time.
The next morning, without seeing the cockroach that had appeared in our room the night before ( don’t get a room near the kitchens!), after breakfast in the square we caught the ADO bus for Playa del Carmen on the coast, a real contrast to Valladolid where we had not been hassled by anyone for any reason.
Topics: mexico02 | 1 Comment »
May 16th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
I really enjoy reading your diary Rosie,it is pouring with rain in Loughborough you will be pleased to know,and i am looking forward to another fun filled day soaked to the skin emptying peoples rubish bins,sigh oh well it could be worse.? hang on a second oh no it jolly well couldn’t. he he see you soon Ray