Valladolid

Knowing that hospital in Valladolid had almost immediate access to the rabies vaccinations that Naomi would need in the next week, we decided to stay in the surrounding area, so that we could easily drive back to the hospital for the next two shots. Valladolid is a reasonably nice town, the central square is pretty and busy and there are some nice green spaces, but its popularity with tourists seems excessive given the limited attractions. There are regularly busloads of tourists being dropped off in the main square, which I can only assume has more to do with its location than its appeal. Valladolid is well positioned as a place to stay for tourists visiting Chichen Itza from Cancun or Merida, which I guess makes it an easy tick on itinerary sheet for fly-in tourists on a short vacation. After an afternoon spent in the town we felt that we had exhausted its potential; thankfully there is plenty to do and see in the surrounding area.

Mexico is an astoundingly beautiful country; whether you like volcanos, mountains, rain forests, temperate forests, deserts, or beaches, there are places that will make you happy. However none of these features are unique to Mexico. If you want to see something rarely seen anywhere else, the cenotes of the Yucatan Peninsula are a good start. Many parts of the world have caves and sinkholes, but the cenote is something unique to this part of Mexico. They vary a lot, but in essence they are deep holes in the limestone with an opening to the sky and a pool of water in the bottom. Most are not connected to an underground river or cave system, and so in many cases the water in them has filtered slowly through the limestone, often leaving it cool and crystal clear.

 In an area of endless, flat, swamp and shrubland, the cenotes make great places to swim, and the deeper ones can be much cooler than the surroundings. There are hundreds, if not thousands, dotting the whole peninsula, and you are never far from one. Some are hugely commercialised, more like a water park than an oasis, some are off the main roads, little publicised and rarely used, and some are undoubtedly hidden in the forest, with no road access and no way pf getting down into them.
Near to Valladolid we stayed at a small lodge/campground at Cenote Suytun; this one is unusual because of the tiny opening. The only entrances to the cenote are a 3m hole in the roof, and set of stair dug down to allow access. There is too little light for any plants or trees to grow around the pool and so Suytun feels more like a cave than a cenote. Cenote Suytun is nowhere near as busy as some of the bigger cenotes closer to large towns, but it still has its fair share of visitors; staying on-site meant that we got a chance to take a morning swim, with the place to ourselves. I always enjoy swimming outdoors, but having an underground pool to ourselves, with nothing but a few fish for company was magical.

We visited another local cenote more by mistake than by design. We had intended to visit the Ek Balam ruins but after being told that we couldn’t stay overnight in the car park, we decided to take our money elsewhere. On the way out of the access road we spotted a handwritten sign for a cenote 16km away, and decided to see where it led us. We followed the signs into a small isolated community where the signs ended at a small local tourist office/tortillaria. A lady jumped in our truck and directed us the remaining 6km to the cenote. The remainder of the journey was a little complicated and the area was remote enough that on our map the roads finished at Ek Balam and so it would have been difficult for us to have found it on our own. This cenote was deeper than Suytun, somewhere around 30m below ground, but completely open to the sky. The bottom of the cenote had an island of lush trees and plants surrounded by a ring of clear water. Access was via an astonishingly rickety set of stairs, built solely out of broom handles, toilet roll tubes and celotape. The cenote is difficult to find, and consequently we had the place to ourselves for most of the time that we were there.

We spent another day at a nearby hacienda cum restaurant, before returning to Valladolid and the hospital for Naomi’s second rabies shot.