Valladolid and Ek Balam

On Monday, we left the beach and headed inland, to Valladolid. We made a brief stop in Chemax to see the church. We discovered that Google knew nothing about one way streets in Chemax. ;-) We decided to visit Xkopek, outside Valladolid, for their Mayan Bees Tour. We had lunch there. Our guide, Edwardo, was good and taught us about Meliiponario bees, different than the honeybees that we typically think of. These are smaller, and each species has its own characteristics. None of them have a stinger, but one of them tends to get in people's hair, one is kind of a parasite on other bees. We walked down into their dry cenote, perhaps 30 feet deep; the humidity makes for better habitat for bees. We might call a dry cenote a sinkhole. Theirs has a well in the bottom. The original owners used a rope and a bucket to pull water out of the well. They created a hole in the overhang area, and lowered the bucket perhaps 30 feet to the bottom of the cenote, and then another 20 feet to the level of the water. But that way they did not have to walk to the bottom to draw water. At the end of the tour we sampled honey and various honey products.

After the tour, we drove to our Hotel Peregrina, where we got a nice large room. We headed to the main square and had a good but expensive dinner at El Atrio del Mayab. The waiter passed the allergies issue to the manager, Ishmael, who told Sandi what she could have. We ate in a garden area of the restaurant, with a nice ambience. The square was busy, with many tour buses, locals, and tourists. There were two young men dressed as Mayan dancers, taking photos, and later dancing.

Tuesday, we had breakfast at a hotel next door to our hotel, and headed for the ruins at Ek Balam. Richard's guidebook to the architecture of the Yucatan was obsolete, because of the restoration work at Ek Balam. We hired Natilio as a Spanish language guide. He walked us through the ruins, including the ball court, and the huge building they call the Acropolis. The center has a stairs like a pyramid, but the building is just huge, perhaps the second largest Mayan building by volume. It is 500 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 100 feet high. Richard had to climb to the top. 

 We then headed to the town of Ek Balam, where we were to meet our tour guide, Edwardo. He took us to people's houses to see them work. The first house the lady had a treadle Singer that she used for machine embroidery. Sandy bought a blouse from her. The second house there were two ladies showing us the chocolate process. They make chocolate as part of the day of the dead celebrations. The third house the lady demonstrated hammock making. Our guide said that everyone in the village sleeps in hammocks. Sandi bought a shopping bag made using the same technique. We drove back to our hotel, and had a very good dinner at the Osteria della Nonna. The owner/cook knew exactly what to do with Sandi's allergies, and showed Sandi her box of gluten free pasta. Sandi felt very comfortable there, and the food was good.

Wednesday we visited the women's handicraft center Zaci, on the north side of the central plaza, There were several rooms with mostly clothing. Sandi bought a couple of embroidered blouses. One lady had a huge selection; she represented 8 women in her neighborood who did embroidery. Richard was tempted by sandals, but did not buy. We walked to the Murem museum of ethnic clothing, showing ethnic clothing from all over Mexico, including some used only in ceremonies or celebrations. Unfortunately, most clothing had no label at all, no indication of what part of the country it was from, no indication of who wore it and why. 

 We continued to the Casa de Venados, a couple's massive collection of Mexican crafts and art. The dining room chairs had portraits of figures from Mexican history; Richard enjoyed going around the table naming each person, but he missed a few. It was really an incredible collection, including some commisioned pieces. Some of the emboidered pieces were of the same style as pieces in our own home. We walked back to the hotel and headed for the Cancun airport, as Sandi wanted to be there early. The last part of the drive was in the dark, and near Cancun the traffic was very heavy, and the signage poor, so we missed our turns a couple of times. We settled into the Courtyard Mariott for our flight the next day.

The flight home on Thursday was routime, but the cold weather was a bit of a shock

Akumal in the Yucatan

View from our room

On Monday morning, we got up early and drove to the airport. We arrived at the terminal three hours early.  The plane pulled away from the gate, but the captain said that there was a problem with one of the engine igniters. We went back to the gate, and the mechanics went to work. The captain came out of the cockpit to explain the situation. He did not want to take a long flight over the ocean if everything was not working right. The passengers stayed calm, and after a couple of hours, the engine was tested and all was well. We were about two and a half hours late, which meant that we would be driving in the dark, which I try to avoid in Mexico. We waited for almost an hour at the Cancun airport, mostly waiting for our bags. We picked up our rental car, and started driving south on the main road. We were a little appalled by all the commercial development at Playa del Carmen, which seemed to go on for miles. We arrived to our hotel, Del Sol, around 9 pm. We drove to the commercial area in Akumal, and ate a good dinner at Turtle Bay. We were very tired.

Imelda

On Tuesday, we slept in. Our hotel has traditional Mexican décor, with a fridge and a coffeemaker. Most importantly, our patio is perhaps 100 feet from the water, and a great place to hang out day and night. We walked to Imelda's Ecocina, where we had a good breakfast. , and then drove to Tulum. We got pesos, and shopped at La Comer, a huge modern fancy grocery store. We were able to buy some gluen free food for Sandi, and various other food and drink items The security seemed heavy, with many men in dark coats. We drove home, and relaxed in our room or on our patio. We decided to walk to the nearby La Buena Vida restarurant for happy hour and dinner. Our waiter tried hard, but there were no vegetables that Sandi could eat; all were cooked in butter. Her fish was good, I enjoyed my tacos. One of the regulars had a dog wandering around; the dog hung out at our table looking at Sandi. Sandi bought a couple of bar T-shirts for Christmas gifts. Across the street was a several small shops. Sandi bought several t-shirts from Julio, a graphic designer who silk screens his own designs.

Wednesday Richard slept in. We walked again to the Ecocina for breakfast. We asked someone about the turtle park, where one could snorkel with turtles. The plan would be for Richard to snorkel with a guide, while Sandi sits on the beach. Richard was able to log in to get some OLLI classes, but Sandi's class was full. We have learned that if you really want a particular OLLI class, you need to be on your computer the moment registration opens. The beach had a lot of sargassum seaweed, with employees shoveling seaweed back into the ocean.

Our tire was leaking, so we drove into Tulum to the Enterprise place in town. The nice gentleman drove us over to the tire shop, where they removed the screw, and patched the tire. He told us about Ichkabal ruin, a large ruin near Bacalar, a few hours south. I might visit it as part of a ruins focused tour of the Yucatan.

We had dinner at La Lunita, an upscale restaurant further down the beach. We were well taken care of, and the food was good. It was right on the bay.

Thursday Richard slept in. We drove to town, looking for the Cenote Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). We found it, and made a reservation to come back at 3 PM for a private tour. We ate at Taco Maya in town, relatively nice for a taco place, but not fancy. It was very clean, and the food was simple; they worked with Sandi to give her a chicken breast grilled in olive oil. After lunch, we came back to the cenote, but the guide was not there, he had apparently blown me off. The lady let us walk to see the cenote for free; there was a group swimming there. Sandi had never seen a cenote. We stopped and made a reservation to swim with the turtles Friday morning. We drove to the end of the beach road, and walked out onto the rocks at the point. Sandi agreed that it was a cool place. The waves were small, bouncing off the rocky shore, which was not easy walking. We had dinner at Surf Cowboy, near the end of the beach road. The food was not bad, but salty.

Friday we got out of the room at 8:30 to meet Richard's guide, Carlos, to snorkel with the turtles. Sandi went into the park and had breakfast while Richard snorkeled. Richard saw five sea turtles of different sizes, as well as a couple of sting rays and an octupus. It was interesting to see a fish cleaning barnacles off the shell of the turtle. Due to the many people touring the park, they used ropes to create lanes to organize the snorkelers. The solo tours were in a separate area, hardly any other snorkelers. The group tours looked kind of crowded, with clusters of folks around a guide. It was quite pleasant to sit in the restaurant, in the shade, watching the activity. Richard took a nap after snorkeling. We walked back to the commercial area; on the way Sandi bought an embroidered blouse and a turtle to add to our collection. We had a good dinner at Taverna; Sandi thought it was the best of the trip. The place was busy. Our server was a carpenter moonlighting as a waiter.

Saturday Richard had hoped to snorkel, but we woke up to a cloudy day with waves and more seaweed. We walked to the end of the road, and looked at Yalku, a private lagoon, with gardens and sculptures. We bought some bakery items from Que Onda, which had almost sold out. We had lunch at the Jungle Cafe, on the edge of a mangrove swamp. We went to mass in town with the locals and a few foreigners. We ate dinner in the room.

Sunday we had a good breakfast at the Jungle Cafe, where we watched birds. The place was busy. We decided to drive to Tulum, and then on to Sian Ka'an, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. We stopped in town for cash and gas. The road in the park was full of potholes. We stopped at the bridge, where a few people were fishing. They pointed out a crocodile, perhaps 6 feet long, next to the mangroves. We continued on to find a place to walk on the beach, no other people in sight. We drove back through the Hotel zone, a crazy busy place, which extended almost to the park. We had dinner in the room.