Wonderful Chichen Itzá

It was hard to leave Tulum. It's not a pretty town but we liked the atmosphere, our hotel was very comfortable and we already had 'our places' to go for lunch and dinner. Plus there are so many things to do, especially if you like diving and snorkeling. This is definitely a place where we could imagine to live for a while. But our Mexican adventure has just begun and there's still so much to see. From Tulum we took a second class bus to Valladolid to visit the nearby ruins of Chichen Itzá, recently declared one of the new seven wonders of the world.

The experiment with the second class buses went well. They are slower but for short distances we don't mind it, as long as the air conditioning works. You even have a better chance of observing the life of smaller towns where the first class buses don't go. The bus left us in Valladolid on time, at 1pm. As we were leaving the air conditioned bus the heat from the street almost knocked us down. We had heard that the cities inland would be very hot but we weren't actually expecting it. It was wise to have booked a hostel located just a few block from the bus terminal. Although it wasn't pleasant to discover that our room was almost as hot as the streets outside and the fan wouldn't do much, just move around the hot air. Is this the punishment for having complained about the cold weather of New Zealand? After a couple of showers we dared to venture out of the hostel to discover the city and find something to eat.

Iglesia de la Candelaria

Did anyone say watermelon juice?

Selection of tacos and salbutes

Valladolid is not big and it confirms once again our preference for smaller cities. Even despite the high temperatures, we really liked the coloured houses in every street, the life around the market area. Here women wear simple white dresses with colourful floral decorations, while many man wear white cowboy hats that reminded us a lot of Texas. Valladolid is slightly off the 'beaten path' as most people visit Chichen Itzá in a (long) day trip from the Riviera Maya or from the more popular city of Mérida. After the touristy atmosphere of Cancun and Tulum, this finally felt like Mexico.

Local dresses

You can still see a lot of old Beetles here

K draws a lot of attention

Bright colours

Wandering around the streets we were invited to a 'tour del Tequila' and a 'tour del chocolate'. Both tours were very pleasant and informative. We were afraid that the free tasting of tequilas in the early afternoon wouldn't do us any good. Luckily the free tasting of chocolate gave us again enough energy to go on with our walk. Once we got back to the hostel we put the fan at top speed, to have at least the illusion of fresh air, and enjoyed a little 'siesta' before going out for dinner.

We tried all different agings of tequila

It's prohibited to drink alcohol in the street

Cathedral at night

The next morning we got up early in order to reach Chichen Itzá before the big tours from Cancún and Playa del Carmen. We managed to get there before the big buses and could enjoy the ruins for about one hour before the large groups started flocking in. After the disappointing visit to Cobá we had doubts about coming here. Would we like it, or would it be just another hyped tourist trap? Well, we loved it. Yes, it is a tourist trap, with dozens of merchant stalls all around the place, selling T-shirts, wooden masks and glass models of the pyramids. It does also get horribly crowded. But the ruins are spectacular, especially the central 'El Castillo' pyramid, and if you manage to avoid the peak hours it's easy to see why this place is so popular.

The glorious 'Castillo'

The 'juego de la pelota' field

They used to place human heads over this platform

Modern day merchandise: love the colours

Satisfied with the visits to Chichen Itzá and Valladolid, it was now time to move on. The next stop is Mérida, the largest city of Yucatan and supposedly on of the nicest 'undiscovered' cities of Mexico.