Ridiculous Topes and Menacing Chihuahuas - Valladolid


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North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Valladolid
March 22nd 2010
Published: July 5th 2011
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Viscious chihuahuaViscious chihuahuaViscious chihuahua

Hey, pick on somebody your own size. Meanwhile I was too busy taking photos to save my daughter from those menacing dogs.
Today was a day of transport, a flight followed by a bumpy car trip to Valladolid on the Yutacan Peninsula. The Yutacan peninsula is probably the most frequented part of Mexico for tourists since it is home to gorgeous beaches (Cancun) as well as Mayan temples. Given our limited time, we decided to forgo the Mayan sightseeing in favor of seeing those in Guatemala, and instead, devote our little time to driving around the Yutacan to see small town Mexican life.

We landed at Cancun airport early afternoon, and picked up our Avis rental. Car hire is expensive in Mexico, with lots of hidden taxes, so do make sure you check all the fine print. We first headed into Cancun to book our bus tickets to Guatemala for 2 days later, and also grabbed a quick lunch at a supermarket. Its here that we discovered Jalapeno flavored Pringles. These are awesome! (and since then, we've discovered they are available even back home in China). Everything is better with spice!

We then began our long drive along the slow road to Valladolid. There are 2 roads to take, the super fast expressway, with a $30 toll (apparently the most expensive
Hostel La CanelariaHostel La CanelariaHostel La Canelaria

Pretty little hostel we stayed the night at in Valladolid.
toll road in the world), or the slow but scenic highway, that takes you through small towns. We were in the mood for sightseeing, and were also penny-pinching, so we chose the highway. Unfortunately the highway turned out to be just a single lane road, and though not particularly trafficky, was cursed with my new enemy, the Mexican tope.

The tope is a brilliant invention ... for road safety at least. Its a speed bump on steroids, about double the width of a regular bump, and triple the height. Which means if you try going over that thing at anything over 10km/h, you are going to kill your suspension, and possibly blow a tire. Those things are vicious. And what's worse, there are gazillions of them - without exaggeration, I'm sure we crossed at least 50 in the 3 hour drive to Valladolid.

The drive was rather uneventful, and though we went through many villages, the general views were no big deal. We did stop at a little hotel on the way for dinner, where we were served by real native Mayans (yes, Mayan people still exist today), but that was about the extent of cultural interaction during
Jalapeno PringlesJalapeno PringlesJalapeno Pringles

Hands down the best junk food discover in Mexico (subsequently, we found its available all around the world, just never noticed it before)
that drive. The rest was just drab villages without any camera worth trimmings. In retrospect, we should have saved time and taken the expensive highway.

We pulled into Valladolid at about 8pm. This is a pretty little town, with bold colored painted walls and a photogenic town square. Our lodging for the night was at the Hostel La Candelaria, a great little hostel with individual free standing rooms set amongst a little garden. Its run by a really friendly (dutch??) guy, and has a pair of overly friendly chihuahua that can walked on their hind legs (which scared the heck out of our two year old).

We headed into the central square for dinner, and lucked upon a really nice little restaurant diagonally across from the central cathedral. We had cactus salad and the best ever fajitas, both were supremely tasty!


Additional photos below
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Mayan style NachosMayan style Nachos
Mayan style Nachos

... Or so the touristy menu said anyway. At least the waiters that served us these looked Mayan (not that I know what a Mayan looks like)
More Mexican goodnessMore Mexican goodness
More Mexican goodness

Though tasty, I must say that the variety of ingredients in Mexican food is kind of limited. Still, it tastes good.
Rest stopRest stop
Rest stop

Our rest stop enroute to Valladolid.
Nasty TopezNasty Topez
Nasty Topez

Sadly didn't take a picture of a topez, but that's the sign for these nasty speed bumps. Even the sign looks awful, imagine driving over scary bumps as big as those portrayed in the image.
Valladolid central squareValladolid central square
Valladolid central square

Its a pretty little square at night.
Cactus saladCactus salad
Cactus salad

Spikes are removed! This was yummy, who knew cactus would taste nice (and who was stupid enough to try to eat that spiky thing in the first place)
FajitasFajitas
Fajitas

This was hands down my favourite meal in Mexico. Those Valladolid folk know how to make a mean fajita.
Not much to seeNot much to see
Not much to see

Some of the 'lovely' Mexican village scenery enroute to Valladolid. Definitely much less interesting than we thought.


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