Cenotes and Hammocks in Merida
Once we bid farewell to Jazzy-Fizzle we started driving west to Valladolid, where we spent one night in a hotel. We figured out that we had been camping for a solid month without a break. The kids had watched TV during that time once when we went to a friend’s hotel room for a couple of hours, but they were thrilled when they got to watch a few hours of Discovery Kids.
The next day on our way out of town we stopped at Xkeken, which is a cenote just outside Valladolid. Cenotes are these underground caves that were created millions of years ago when a meteor crashed into the earth. The impact created lots of caves and tunnels, some of which are so long and deep that they have been found to empty out way into the ocean. I’m not sure if there are more cenotes or Mayan ruins on the Yucatan. You can hardly drive 10 kilometers without passing a sign to another cenote or Mayan ruin. We climbed down the rocky stairwell into this cave with stalactites and beautiful blue water, where we jumped in for a quick swim.
Next we drove by the ruins of Chichen Itza, but didn’t stop. We continued to Merida, where the temperature was about 41º C (105º F) when we rolled into town. The next two days were about that hot, and the “Feels Like” temperature listed in Yahoo was 44º C (111º F). Luckily it has cooled off a bit and the temperatures are in the mid-90s. Since it was just too hot to camp we found a nice hotel with parking, a pool, centrally located, free Wi-Fi, free breakfast and Discovery Kids.
One of our main goals here in Merida was to pick up a good hammock. Merida is famous for their hammocks and a good one should last years and years. We did some searching around the market area and finally found a bunch of shops. A good, large hammock goes for around $50, but it is something you will have for a very long time. I guess you could say it is an investment. After purchasing our hammocks we stopped at the market for some tacos and tortas – some of the most delicious food we’ve had in Mexico so far.
Matthias has been feeling pretty lousy for the last couple of days. He’s had headaches, hot flashes and has needed to stay very close to the bathroom. We were in a travel agency yesterday and the guys helping us asked if he had Dengue. Let’s hope not, but we are going to stock up on bug repellant and be more diligent about putting bug spray on now. Once he is feeling better we are going to pack up and back-track to the coast of the Yucatan. We just haven’t had enough beach time, and want to spend a couple more weeks playing in the sand and swimming, and maybe catch a few more games of volleyball with the retirees. We figure while we are here we should take advantage of it and spend some more time on these fabulous beaches.
Tags: Merida, US-Mexico
lotzbay
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