Arrival in Valladolid meant needing to locate another hotel and again luck was on our side. This time it did not come in the form of a taxi driver or a Jesus....it was a lady named Betty. The bus station is very near the Centro in Valladolid and so we were just walking around dragging our bags when Lynda noticed a very lovely lady walking toward us. We hadn't spied any hotels in our wanderings to that point and so Lynda asked her if she had any suggestions for a good place near the Centro that was mas barrato (affordable). Betty had an idea right away and decided to take a short detour to guide us to the Hotel Zaci on Calle 44. While the price is a little higher than our place in Merida...it's still pretty good at $49 CAD/night ($25/each). We've got a pool, hot water, a brand new AC unit in the room, wifi, 2 very comfortable beds in a really big room, AND we are on the ground floor! On top of all that it is less than 2 blocks from the zocalo in the Centro, has a restaurant with good prices (if we want it), is next door to a little store where we can get bottled water any time we need it, and has character to burn. It is another typical Mexican hacienda style (they're my favourite!!) which means that the hotel faces the street but once through the lobby the property goes way back and you're into a courtyard that all the rooms look into. It is 3 stories and we are at the very back of the place so get to enjoy the walk along the courtyard and past the pool (which is right outside our door) every time we come home. Another really ironic thing about it is that the ADO station is right behind us! If we had turned right instead of left when we came out of the station we would have found it ourselves but then....we wouldn't have met Betty nor had the opportunity to check out the area before checking in. Having the station right next door will sure make it easy for us when the time comes to leave! Hopefully there is not too much noise from the buses in the night! But, if there is...we'll just move to another room. LOL...we might have to move regardless of the buses....as I type this Lynda has just returned from the front desk where she secured a plunger. It seems the toilet is very slow and so she has donned her plumbers hat and is doing her best to get things moving. LOL!
Once we were settled into our room we (foolishly) headed out. When will we learn!? In Mexico pretty much everyone has a siesta in the heat of the afternoon and that means that pretty much everything is shut down! Oh well....we worked up a good sweat and explored the entire area east of the zocalo. One direction down...3 to go. LOL
While we wandered the streets today it quickly became apparent that we are veritable giants here! The Mayan people are TINY! As my 6 year old grandson Kingston would say, "I'm not even joking", when I tell you that many of them are likely only about 4 feet tall. At one point when we walked past a group of men who were coming toward us on the sidewalk, Lynda asked me...."what does this remind you of?" and without even thinking....I said, "kindergarten". I wasn't meaning to be rude at all....it was just the truth. They are truly just tiny people...well not tiny as in petit...they are a bit stocky in fact, but they are very very short and here we are very very tall!
Speaking of exploring, we also took the open air bus for a 1 hour city tour at 5:00 tonight. It was just 55 pesos (about $5) per person, turned out to be a really informative and pleasant tour, and our guide Christina was able to provide both English and Spanish information. We laughed as we had to duck under electrical and telephone wires as we rode in the seats atop the bus. At one point I had to pay close attention to a street lamp because when we turned the corner that lamp would have taken a chunk out of my head had I not moved to the right and leaned over! We really laughed when they made us all move downstairs into the main body of the bus for the last part of the tour because "the trees were too low for us to ride atop the bus". What the heck!? The wires and lamps were okay but the trees were dangerous?! LOL....only in Mexico...
On our tour we leaned that the word Zaci (the name of our hotel) is a Mayan word and it means White Eagle. We also learned that there used to be a Mayan temple right in the middle of what is now the zocalo. Valladolid is also a colonial city and that temple was torn down by the Spanish a few hundred years ago and the rocks from it were used to build the cathedral that sits on the south side of the zocalo. There is a bit of a story to this cathedral though....back in the 1700's there were two local politicians (mayors I think) who were killed in the cathedral. That (as you might imagine) is NOT good and so a decision was made by the church fathers to tear down the cathedral and rebuild it BUT this time they would change it so the front of the cathedral would be facing north. This is very unique as all other cathedrals (in this part of MX anyway) face west so to change this one up in that way was a huge statement! There is also a convent here in Valladolid and it has also been in operation for many hundreds of years so there are lots of stories attached to it too. The one that sticks out for me though is that there is a cenote open right into the kitchen area of the convent! Supposedly it is just a small opening but regardless....that's pretty special. Given too that the Mayan's believed cenotes were sacred places...it begs the question of why the convent might have been built around a cenote at the same time as the church was working to convert the local natives.
Tonight for dinner both Lynda and I tried a sausage that Valladolid is known for. It is called Longaniza de Valladolid and we both agree we won't try that again! It was very dark, very dry, and very smoky! Much of it ended up in a takeout box and then as dinner to one of the street dogs Lynda met in the zocalo later in the evening. Speaking of the zocalo tonight...I have to tell you that we ended up attending another street dance! It seems to be the thing to do here...set up a full orchestra, close off the street, line the street with chairs, and voila...you have a dance floor, a live band, and a lot of people having a great time!
Our original plan was to just stay here for two nights but Valladolid seems to be a really nice little city and so we are seriously thinking about making a change to the very loose plans that we had so we can stay here a little longer. We were going to head up to Holbox (an island location back up on the Gulf) but....as of today it is very likely that we'll just park ourselves in Valladolid until after I'm finished working on the 18th and 19th and then head over to the Caribbean side where we will rent a car and explore that coast for our final 10 days instead. Holbox is still a location we'd like to visit but...perhaps that will be the excuse we need to make 'just one more' trip to somewhere in Mexico that we've yet to see. LOL!! Wifi is good here and that is important for my workdays so....I'm looking forward to spending a few days in the city between our beach time in Celestun and the beach time we'll have on the Caribbean.
Till next time,
L & L
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