Valladolid and around
Valladolid is another colonial town, not as big as Merida, but quite pleasant nonetheless. Its pretty quiet for most of the day, but is mobbed around 4pm when the tour buses are heading back to Cancun and Playa del Carmen from Chichen Itza.
First day here we headed to Las Grutas de Balankanche, a cave system that was used by the Maya as a ceremonial site. It was only rediscovered in 1959. The caves themselves are not hugely impressive, although there are some stalagtite and rock formations in the shape of heads, crocodiles etc, and we could actually make these ones out! There is no Mayan construction underground, but lots of pots etc were found, and the main altar is lined with stalagtites. Although none of the component parts are “wow”, overall it is an interesting visit as it is a bit different from anything else.
Next day we visited Chichen Itza. We had high hopes for this, as it is THE site to visit in Yucatan (and has just been voted one of the new 7 wonders – although that is really just a list of the 7 most visited tourist sites rather than anything else!). We were very disappointed. The central pyramid is impressive, although you are no longer able to climb up it. It also didn’t have the wow factor that Uxmal did. Several of the other buildings were individually impressive, with lots of ornate carving etc, but the whole place lacked a sense of coherence and had no atmosphere. It felt like a load of buildings jumbled around, whereas Uxmal and Kabah felt more joined up and you could imagine them being Mayan cities. You also can’t see much of the detail at Chichen Itza as it is in the temples at the top of the pyramids, and you are not allowed to go up them.
We then went to the Ikkil Cenote to cool off. The cenote itself is nice, but is very “made” (rather than the natural cenotes we visited a couple of days ago). It is also very expensive for what it is – M$60 each, for access to a cenote and the usual array of restaurants and gift / tat shops. It was very refreshing though, and makes an unusual swimming pool.
Sounds very negative, but we did have a good day, just didn’t live up to the expectations we had from all the propaganda!
Tags: Mexico, Travel
Jenni
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