We woke up early to catch the early bus, but the lady said we might have to stand on the 7:15 bus, so we opted for the 9:00 bus. We went to eat breakfast across the street from the ADO station. The juice and eggs were good but unfortunately there was mold on the carrot bread. :( To make up for the moldy carrot bread, we got some popsicles made from fresh fruit. I got mango/strawberry and Juan got coconut. We went to go wait in the bus terminal with our popsicles. The movies on the bus were the end of The Proposal and El Raton Perez 3. El Raton Perez 3 was pretty annoying and I kept teasing Juan, saying I was going to buy 1 and 2 for him for his birthday. :)
We got in line for tickets at Chichen Itza and checked our bags for the day in some lockers. It was a free service!!! We passed on an official tour guide but were accosted by a guide named Roberto inside who offered a much cheaper tour for the Ciudad de Norte. He was a really good guide - very knowledgeable and friendly. Some of the cool things we learned were that they had a game where they hit a ball weighing 2-3 kilos with their hips. Roberto said if they lost the game they were sacrificed to their gods for their blood. (The guide in Uxmal said it was the winners who were sacrificed and at Palenque he said there is no sure evidence as to whether it was the winners or losers who were sacrificed.) They also sacrificed prisoners of war and lined the walls with their skulls. They strung them along with a thick pole. We also saw an area where the monks played a game like basketball. The whole place was pretty impressive.
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| The cenote on the grounds of Chichen Itza. |
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| Juan and I in front of the castle at Chichen Itza. |
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| The hoop for the ball game at Chichen Itza. |
We walked around the Southern City by ourselves. By that time we were really hot, tired, and hungry. We bought a few souvenirs: a jaguar that makes jaguar noises, a shirt for Juan, and a dress for me. There were lots of places all along the way selling artwork. It was sort of annoying to be harassed all the way through the ruins. They bothered us less when we had our guide.
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| Part of the ruins in the Southern part of the city at Chichen Itza. |
We got some doritos to tide us over and bought some guayas from a couple kids who were selling them in front of where the buses came in. We had gone under the same tree where they were at to wait for the bus in the shade. The bus ride to Valladolid was pretty quick, but we were dying of hunger by the time we got to the hotel. We found the hotel Maria de la Luz that I'd found online painlessly and after we showered we went down to the hotel restaurant. The food was really good (although not as good as Charlie's.) We had papaxaules to start off, which are egg-filled rolled taco type things. I had cochinita pibil which was a type of pulled pork with a red spicy sauce. Juan had tasajo a la legna (pork cooked on a wood plank).
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| Tasajo at the restaurant at the hotel Maria de la Luz in Valladolid. |
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| Cochinita Pibil at the Maria de la Luz restaurant. |
We went to the cenote de Zaci after dinner, but it was about to close so we walked a bit around the town instead. Juan took a quick dip in the pool and then we decided to rest a bit in the room before going out for a drink.
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| The fountain in the downtown plaza in Valladolid. |
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| The cathedral in the downtown plaza in Valladolid. |
We went to a place around the corner of the main park and it was okay - the ambience promised a lot, but the service was poor. We ordered a brownie and cheesecake (we ordered only one, but they brought the wrong one, so we got both). I got juice and Juan got a dark beer. We took some pictures in the park because it was really pretty with different colored lights lighting up the areas around the park, the fountain area, storefronts, and our hotel also.
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| The fountain at night. So pretty!!! |
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| The cathedral at night. Love the lights!!! |
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| Loved these funky chairs in the plaza. |
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| In front of our hotel. |
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