The cenote at Dintzup...
Valladolid...
We´ve heard from several people that the city of Valladolid, about 150 km east of Merida, is a city not to be missed. Well, it´s been quite a mixed bag here.
We arrived yesterday afternoon after a 1 1´2 hour ride from Izamal on the 2nd class bus, which is actually quite nice. They stop in a lot of small towns, there are only locals on it, and it is air conditioned and the seats are comfortable. There are no blaring movies being shown on the TV (cuz there ain´t no TV), instead the driver puts his favorite CDs in the stereo and plays them quite loud.
We arrived at the downtown bus terminal and as soon as we walked out on the street we knew there was trouble. The whole of the Centro is being dug up to put the electricity lines under ground. A noble and good idea, for sure, but I wish it wasn´t while we were here. Instead of a nice, quite, pretty Zocalo and surrounding streets, you have lots of dirt, dust, noise, large backhoes everywhere and just a total mess. The wind blows the dust everywhere, especially into Amy´s eyes which are very sensitive since she wears contacts. We actually checked into the hotel San Clemente, near the Zocalo, paid for the night and as soon as we got to the room: ratatatatatatatat!!!!!!! The jackhammers were going full speed ahead. Well, the lady at the hotel was very nice, gave us back our money and we went across the square to the nicest hotel in town, the Maison de Marquez, a really nice colonial style building with a little swimming pool. We were expecting a nice relaxed stay here with no problems. Well, almost.
After sunset, the jackhammers and back hoes were put away and the town lived up to its reputation. The birds were going bonkers in the Zocalo, really, really loud as the sun went down. Amy and I took a nice 2 or 3 mile walk in the backstreets, again seeing the same sight as before, doors open, TVs blaring, and the Virgin right there, lights flashing. Also, these young boys, usually two together, roam the streets, one carring a palm leaf with the Virgin or Jesus on it and sing a song for you. The other boy carries a little can and after the song (actually they sing three songs together, but I really couldn´t tell) you give them a coin and then they sing one more song. They use the money to buy a pinata for a party, apparently. We got back to the hotel to have dinner there...they have the best restaurant in town. Amy wasn´t feeling all that chipper, so I pretty much ate alone. A nice Herredura Repesado Antiguo tequila (fantastic!!!) and some cochinita pibil, my favorite.
This morning, we headed out to Ek Balam, a wonderful small Mayan ruin about 20 miles north of town. We locked up our valuables in the suitcase, as usual, even though there was a safe in the room. We learned after an experience in Potzcuaro a few years ago to always lock any valuable in the suitcase. We took a cab out to Ek Balam and were there an hour or more. There is a very big pyramid there and a very unique frieze, showing all sorts of Mayan gods. Really quite wonderful. We then wanted to go out to the cenote at Dinztup, a famous cenote just a few miles from town. So we went back to the hotel, but it hadn´t been changed yet, so I put the camera in the locked suitcase along with most of our money, in two different money belts.
We had a great time at the cenote. It is really a marvel. It´s a huge cavern, maybe 150 meters wide and 50 meters high. Stalagtites hang from everywhere. The water is quite fresh and VERY clear. There are little black fish swimming all over the place. The water is very deep, in most places you cannot see the bottom, even though the water is clear. We just swam around for about an hour or so, looking up at the stalagtites and the hole of the cenote, waaaaay at the top. We then walked over to another cenote across the street. This one was very nice, but not near as nice as the first one.
So it was time to go back to the hotel. We walked in the room and I opened the suitcase (still locked) to get our stuff. But when I picked up Amy´s money belt, the zipper was open and her passport was on the bottom of the suitcase. There was no money in there, although this morning there were 2,000 pesos. We looked all over, not believing that someone could pick the lock. We looked everywhere, inside and out of the suitcase. No 2000 pesos. Gone. Amy went to talk to the management and someone came into the room, along with the little old cleaning lady, looking ever so innocent. When the manager checked out who came into the room (it´s one of those computerized card things), the sweet looking little old cleaning lady was the only other person to have entered the room. But without evidence, sorry, no can do nothing. This is certainly understandable, as Mexican law really protects the workers and you have to be careful accusing anyone. Oh well, chaulk it up to an experience...if there is a electric lock box in the room...USE IT!!
More on the Virgin...so a dear friend, who has lived in Mexico for much of her life, told us that this whole thing about the Virgin, and how they are SOOOO into her around here, doing these long pilgrimages, setting up alters in all of their houses and businesses and really worshipping her and putting Jesus on the back seat, really harkens back to the Mayan mother earth animist beliefs. Boy, does that make sense.
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