Two Nights in Valladolid

We met Arly and Paul at the Cancun Airport and drove two hours west into the interior of the Yucatan Peninsula. We stayed two nights in Valladolid, a charming, slightly funky, colonial city of about 50,000 souls that felt like an authentic, family town. There was a tourist scene around the central square, but it was much lower key than everywhere else we visited on this trip. The rest of the city felt like a regular working class town. I wish I'd taken photos of the many embroidery shops and booths staffed by families of fine-boned Mayan women. They wore and peddled beautifully embroidered cotton tunics over white calf-length cotton skirts with  lace under skirts peaking out beneath. Some of the women clearly wore the indigenous embroidered tunics as costumes, but for others it was every day attire.  As I walked around on Monday morning, I saw many tiny women doing their shopping or walking their kids to school wearing the embroidered tops and skirts. I bought some embroidered pillows in Tulum, but I didn't get around to buying an embroidered tunic in Valladolid. Truth is, I'm a terrible shopper. I liked Valldolid very much,  it was an active, outgoing, family-friendly community. It was nice to be in a place where the sidewalks were crowded with local people doing their daily business rather than with tourists. There were so many more people in the streets, so much more human interactions on the sidewalks and in the cafes than I see at home.

Lounging in the courtyard of the cultural museum.

  

The San Bernardino Cathedral.

Our turtle friend at lunch.

The central square.

On our last night as we walked back from dinner we stumbled on a big Latin band playing in a breezeway across the street from the central square.  There had to be 15 musicians in the band. The street between the square and the breezeway was closed to traffic and filled with locals dancing to the Latin beat.  Delightful.

The horn section.

A beautiful couple dancing to the music. She's wearing one of the long embroidered tunics and underskirt.

Dancers.

The Cathedral at night.

 Our last morning in Valladolid, we hiked around until we found the Valladolid Cenote, right in the center of town.  At the entrance was a small concrete amphitheater marked with this sign.  Wherever you go, there you are.

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Cenotes are limestone caves or sinkholes filled with crystal blue water so clear you can see into the depths. Some are almost totally enclosed like a cave, others are open to the sky. The Valladolid Cenote was open to the sky, dusted with pollen and full of fish. I didn't feel called to jump in, but I imagine some people do.

 Next up: Chichen Itza. It might take me awhile; I have a lot of photos to sort through.