Campeche, Merida and Valladolid
From Palenque I went to the small colonial town of Campeche for 1 night. Unfortunatly I was there Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, when everything was closed so it was really quiet and there wasn’t much to do. But it was a nice town and it was interesting to walk around the walls, which were built by the Spanish to protect the town from pirates.
On Monday afternoon I took a short bus ride to Merida, a bigger colonial town towards the coast. I spent the following day in the city. In the morning there was a free tour of the city visiting some of the historic buildings around the centre, including the cathedral which is though to be the oldest cathederal in all the Americas. I also saw the market, and the anthropology museum. In the evenings there were free music and dance performances in the plazas, these were good fun to watch and seem to provide as much entertainment for thelocals as the tourists. The following day I spent the morning in the city visiting the city museum and an art gallery, before getting the busto Vallodolid.
I arrived in Vallodolid late afternoon at the same time as all the day trips to the ruins of Chichen Itza. The main plaza was packed full of coachloads of tourists and people trying to sell the usual tourist junk (even inside the cathedral). But soon they all left and it became a nice place to be. I went to the small museum about the local history and had a nice meal by the plaza. The following day I went to see Chichen Itza. I arrived early and was able to see most of the site before all the huge tour groups turned up and took over the place. It was another interesting day, with several features that i hadn’t seen at the other ruins I have visited. In the afternoon I went to see a cenote, a kind of underground lake that is common in the area because of the rock type. The one I saw, the cave had collapsed on one side so it was now half in the open.
Tags: 1, Tag Index
kt_m_white