More surprises on the Yucatan!

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This weekend Cory and I visited a most charming Mexican town on the Yucatan peninsula with immense Mayan influence, Valladolid. Pronounced Valley-o-dally. Or Volley-doe-lolly. Or Valalalalada!  Only Cory can pronounce it correctly, so I kept him entertained with my tongue-twisted options!
Valladolid is surrounded by dense flat jungle hiding Mayan ruins and dozens of cenotes. Cenotes are ancient collapsed cave systems filled with clear freshwater that are fed through an expansive underground river system. Their geologic formations go back to the meteorite that was believed to strike the Yucatan Peninsula over 65 million years ago and wipe out the dinosaurs. This impact dotted the soft limestone rock of the peninsula with fissures and cracks of varying sizes. Over millions of years, the porous limestone allowed water to seep through its numerous cracks forming gigantic caves laden with impressive stalactites and stalagmites! These would be cool, but now take millions more years of the water moving and carving out hundreds of miles of underground rivers through these caves! And then, one day a portion of the roof collapses, exposing a decorated cave roof and a cool, crystalline, freshwater pool begging for you (and your ancient Mayan friends) to enjoy a swim!
It took us a little over an hour to drive from Tulum, and we arrived midday to an inexpensive, empty parking lot a few steps from the main plaza. Our first stop was lunch in a hotel courtyard, complete with white tablecloths, bright green jungle fauna, and a burnt orange fountain in the center. The regional specialty menu offered so many delectable Yucatan dishes; it was hard to choose just one! (In fact, we had this problem at most restaurants throughout the weekend!) There was marinated pork, roasted chicken or grilled homemade sausages paired perfectly with pumpkin seed, peanuts, orange juice and cumin, anise, or chaya (spinach-like veggie) based sauces. This first restaurant specialized in the stew-like dishes of the Mayan….my Queso Rellano had four kinds of meats, beans, capers, onions, garlic, olives, and a mystery sausage with hard-boiled egg middle all stewed in a marvelous broth with a semi-circle wedge of cheese sitting center stage! I told Cory that mystery sausage thing was the grossest looking thing I’ve ever loved to eat!
The streets of Valladolid are a pleasure to walk, as the buildings and locals are both dressed in their brightest colors! A few blocks from the center of town is the Cenote Zaci, boasting the highest cave ceiling and one of the most dramatic entrances of a cenote that I’ve ever visited. I couldn’t believe this was right in the middle of town! For a dollar each we got entrance to the cenote and I was excited (if a bit apprehensive) to swim with these catfish-looking eyeless fish, endemic to the area. We got there about the same time two busloads of loud tourists returning from a Chichen Itza tour, but they soon cleared out and there were only a handful of visitors with us. I’m continually surprised how many tourists are around – despite that we are in the slow season!
After the refreshing mid-day centoe dip, we set off exploring more of town and, not surprisingly, ended up pushing through some saloon swinging doors into a fury of fun! As soon as we entered, the crowd of 15 men at and behind the bar all started cheering and making space for us, a chair for me, and two ice cold brews. The Spanish was quick and the hand signals furious. We were laughing the drinking and trying to figure out what exactly the conversation was about! They spent a lot of time enthusiastically pointing at a frame labeled Carnival 2011….it was a picture of a dozen sweaty guys with painted black chests and diapers on….and then proudly pointing to a guy at the end of the bar that was IN the picture. Yeah! That guy was THERE! Painted like a MONKEY! ChEERS! Monkeys! Him! Cheers! Yeah me See I’m a monkey! There I am!! HAHA CHEERS!
Meanwhile we’re just laughing with our hosts uncontrollably….. I love local encounters like this!
Next we spent some time in a leather sandal shop and had fun trying on the hundreds of handmade varieties. The soles of the shoes were made of recycled car tires, some still with the tire company logo visible! Though we both have huge feet compared to the usual Mexican or Mayan, I did find and buy a pair that fit me comfortably, even though my second toe hangs forward a bit! Cory’s size 12 didn’t enjoy the same luck.
Across the street, the Parque Central was bustling with families eating ice cream, shoppers taking a break, and many just people watching. The women of the area are all dressed in the traditional white, square cut dress decorated with colorful, intricate embroidered floral designs on the collar and hem. I can tell all of them are hard workers, as each are carrying overfilled bags, directing multiple children, and rushing through town on a clear mission! Meanwhile, Cory and I really enjoyed watching them all fly by from an S-shaped pair of chairs that are cemented facing each other, sipping on beers and eating pistachio nuts!
That night we went to the only restaurant still open in our neighborhood, la Taberna, which happened to be recommended to us earlier by Cory’s friend who is a chef, Drew. Again, the menu was stacked with unique flavor combinations and it took us ages to decide and order. The culinary highlight of that evening was a most unusual appetizer of grilled watermelon and panela cheese marinated in oregano with a papaya puree dip! Wowsers!
The next day we had used our hotel’s awesome common kitchen area to eat the delectable leftovers from the day before. Around noon we headed north of Valladolid to a small but impressive Mayan ruin site, Ek’ Balam. I have been to numerous Mayan sites around Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, and every time is like the first time. Climbing to the top of an ancient pyramid and looking out over the jungle, I love to imagine that I’m dressed in colorful feathers and natural paints, dancing a familiar ritual with my Mayan friends, calling down to our people below “Ch’ ill oxlahum p’ac, Ek’ Balam!” (Grow thirteen tomatoes, Black Jaguar!) Hahaha! My Mayan vocabulary is quite limited 
After climbing the ruins and spending almost an hour observing butterflies and birds, we stopped in the tiny village of Temozon to buy some famous smoked meat! The length of the village is lined with shops selling either smoked meat or shiny, exquisite, dark wood furniture. The meat is more our style, and 100 pesos later we were the proud owners of 2.2lbs of smoked pork. YUM!
After munching on some meat, we dropped the car at a bike rental shop and biked about 2 miles south of Valladolid to visit the cenotes of Dzitnup. There is a wonderfully hilly bike trail running along the side of the highway and I was having a blast coasting up and down the tiny mounds (even though the highway remained flat as a pancake!) The seats on our rentals were practically wooden, so even though it was a short ride, we arrived with sore butts! There are two cenotes to choose from at Dzitnup, and we entered through the tiny cave entrance into Cenote Xkeken. Descending many stairs into darkness, I was surprised when my eyes adjusted to see a massive cavern with an ink black pool shimmering in the floodlights! It was my first visit to an underground cenote – it’s only exposure to the outside world being the tiny entrance and a perfectly round one meter diameter hole in its tall ceiling. So cool! The dark silkiness of the water can be somewhat intimidating, but once I slipped in, the cool water combined with the backlighting of stalactites took me back to another world. Technically, this world is the Underworld of the Maya; Xibalba.
I absolutely love visiting towns like this, and I’m so glad Cory suggested it! The town has an air conditioned department store and an all local artisan market on the same block. Within twenty minutes you can be lost in the Mayan jungles, eating smoked meats, or swimming in a millions of years old cave! And the buildings and people are colorful and welcoming. I look forward to exploring more of this area!

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Comments

[Sassy]

swimming
are you insane swimming in a cave a gazillion years old? don't you watch the movies where there are creatures underwater just waiting to eat you up??