Valladolid

After two wondrous days in Palenque it was time to hit the road for the last part of our journey, the Yucatán. I had chosen Valladolid and Holbox for our final two destinations.

Valladolid is the smaller, lesser known of the main Yucatán cities, Mérida being the larger, more well known and more beautiful. But Valladolid has cenotes my friend, and for those who have never had the experience of seeing and swimming in a cenote, it is truly a breath taking experience. They are underground caves with water, some have a large opening which are very visible from above, whereas others have small hidden entrances that you enter only to have this incredible world open up once you descend a few (or many) steps into the earth. The Yucatán is full of these as there are no rivers, all the water is below ground in cenotes, and underground tunnels and rivers linking them.

And the coolest thing is some of the best cenotes in are a mere bike ride away from Valladolid so we rented bikes from the lovely hostel we were staying at and spent the day biking and swimming in these incredible natural pools... it was a great day.

But the trip to Valladolid was not without its challenges. It was another overnight bus to get to Valladolid from Palenque with a change of bus in Mérida. The Palenque to Mérida stretch was the overnight part and I had placed my daypack in the overhead shelf when I got in the bus with the intention of taking it down after I got settled in but I was so tired I fell asleep before talking the daypack down. Those of you who have taken overnight buses in Mexico or anywhere else for that matter probably probably have an inkling of what's coming next and you're shaking your head thinking, oh oh rookie mistake.

Yep, rookie mistake indeed and one for which I paid. When we arrived at the Valladolid hostel and were asked how we wanted to pay, I said credit card as is my habit (gotta get those points!). I went into my daypack for my nifty little plastic credit card holder and dug around. A slight sense of dread spread through me...i couldn't find it. And then it hit me, my rookie mistake was about to complicate my life and cost me some serious time.

Gi and I had witnessed a commotion on the bus in the middle of the night which we were trying to figure out what it was about. We had both been Gi and I had been woken up by one man, a young, Mexican man seeming to be arguing or yelling at another and even pushed him at some point back into his seat. That other guy, defensive, saying something like, "I was just going to the washroom". We thought it strange and were wondering what all that was about. Now, as the realization that my wallet had been stolen, it all made sense. That guy was a thief who travels on night buses and waits for the passengers to fall asleep and then looks for bags he can steal from. I was angry at him of course but more ashamed and upset at myself for leaving my bag there - a goddamn rookie mistake. Now as some of you know, I can be pretty hard and unforgiving to myself for stupid mistakes but age, meditation and just working on trying to be a better version of me helped me get over the ordeal relatively quickly. Gi and I did end up having a mini quarrel later that day but hey, we are both on a journey and still have a bit of work to do.

Oh yeah, we also went to jail but fear not, we were not incarcerated. Very close to Valladolid, there's a prison in a village called Ebtun. The prisoners make beautiful, high quality hammocks and we biked over to buy a hammock.

See you in Holbox!Read more