Isla Holbox

The final destination of our one month drive through the states of Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo is Isla Holbox, Q. Roo, a 26-mile long island with a full-time population of about 2,000 folks. 

In about two hours from Tulum, we arrive at Chiquila, park, don our backpacks, grab the folding beach chairs and our over-the-shoulder cooler to get the ferry to car-free Holbox.  This will be the tranquil end of a lovely trip.

Coming into the ferry landing at Holbox:

Thankfully our Airbnb host meets us at the ferry in his golf cart (the vehicle of the island) as the distance from ferry to Centro is much further than we thought.  He advises us that we must try the island specialty for dinner - lobster pizza, and only at ROOTS pizzeria.

We could have each had a pizza and a drink for the price of the one lobster pizza that we share, but it is so worth it.  Better than delicious.  Our server Gina is very friendly.  We learn that she has picked fruit in Osoyoos close to where we lived in BC.  She guides Paul through a mescal taste at the end of the meal and advises us that the beach of choice is Punta Coco.

The next morning finds us with all our beach gear, hailing a yellow golf cart taxi to Punta Coco.

We arrive to find a nearly deserted and gorgeous beach...

… well, except for this crane who amuses us for some time as he twirls, hops and pounces on whatever it is that's good to eat in these waters

The water is crystal clear and not a spec of Sargasso seaweed

We walk to the lagoon where the flamingos from Celestun arrive to feed in the summer.  We don't see any on this day.

The beach becomes a bit busier later in the day so when its time to head back to town we simply hitchhike as one of the things to do here is to rent a golf cart to explore the island.  A couple of young German guys pick us up.  On this little island, we have met tourists from Germany, Switzerland, France and of course, Mexico, Canada and the USA. 

In the plaza that evening we note the kiosks selling tours.  The things to do are: a 3-island tour, swim with the mantas, swim with the whale sharks or various water sports.  We choose to not do any of them and simply enjoy the slow life.

Another activity on the island, depicted in this street art is to return to Punta Coco after nightfall and swim with bioluminescent plankton. 

Dinner finds us in a different establishment, but we return to ROOTS later for a drink as an excuse to listen to the band that we enjoyed with our lobster pizza.

And the following day, a return trip to Punto Coco.  Today the restaurant up the road is open.  The bar on the beach can take your order, call it up and soon its delivered right to you on china dinnerware, with real cutlery.

During the day, I feel like I've had 3 or 4 bites from a pesky insect of sorts.  By bedtime, I have at least a hundred itchy, hard nodules from my neck to my ankles (Paul - nada).  We see our host the next day and he says its bites from the sand flea and DON'T SCRATCH.  I have both oral and spray- on Benadryl and use them liberally to minor effect.  Reading up on sand fleas later, I see the welts can last up to 6 weeks and that's only if they don't get infected.  Meanwhile, I feel like I've been pierced all over with metal studs.

No way I'm going back to Punta Coco, so the next day starts with a walk to the market to pick up supplies for dinner.  We take photos of some of the street art around town.

A little shopping is done ...

This store has mirrors, boxes and whimsical creatures created out of what appears to be brightly coloured tape, rolled tightly into forms, then clear coated to be durable and probably food-safe.

It would be fun to have a collection of these gals in the Tulum condo, but we are fast running out of wall space.

The pizza oven in this restaurant is like a glittering jewel...

The afternoon is passed on the beach only a block from our Airbnb.  It has some seaweed and lots of wind, so the waves come in here, unlike to calm of Coco.  We end up having lunch with a couple of guys who became friends while travelling one year and ever since get together annually to do a trip together.  One a developer from Merida, the other a dentist from Switzerland.

Time to leave the island, and leave this vacation behind.  As the sign says:

Now to return Conny's Jeep without which all of our stops on this trip would not have been possible.  Our Permanent Resident Card is waiting for us to pick up in Playa del Carmen and its time to get on with integrating into our new country.

VALLADOLID - a Pueblo Magico

A year ago, on a tour to Chitzen Itza, we made a brief stop in Valladolid.  Ever since we've been looking forward to returning to this city with a population of ~50,000.  

After checking in and meeting the neighbours downstairs we head to the zocalo to marvel at the Cathedral, watch some folk dancing, enjoy the fountain, admire the colourful bouquets of the balloon vendors and generally get our bearings.

The next morning Nicole and Dario offer to let us tag along with them to get food at the Mercado Municipal.  A trip to a  Mexican market is as much a cultural trip as a shopping trip.  We do regret that there is not one in Tulum.  We are offered tastes of this and that, learn the names of things unfamiliar to us (such as Calabash that we have seen growing here in the Yucatan) and revel in the freshness of the food.  The Oaxaca string cheese that we get in the grocery store in Tulum tastes nothing like the wonderful flavour of the same cheese sold here.

Calabash

The most common use for Calabash throughout the world is to make bowls.  In the past, I had always assumed these bowls were coconut shells, but in fact, are a much finer shell.  Go to this link to find bowls and other objects made from Calabash: 

Bowls and other objects made from Calabash

A taxi to the market costs only 25 pesos for the four of us.  At that price, I don't know how the drivers can afford gas which costs the same as in Canada.

From the market, we look over the fence at Cenote Zaci in the middle of the city.  Our new friends tell us that it's more than 250 feet deep and thus too cold for them to enjoy … that would be true for us tropical water lovers too.



Cenote Zaci.  Photo Credit: Atlas Obscura

Our favourite part of being in any new city is just wandering and checking out what catches our eye.

Sign for a Restaurante

This hand-painted tile floor looks like a giant cross-stitch.

Pasta Tile

Lighting in a restaurant

 We walk a short, lovely street with colonial homes old and new.

We are drawn towards singing that sounds like a massive choir but turns out to be the congregation of the Convent of San Bernadino de Siena on this lovely Sunday morning and the Sisal Monastery built-in 1552. 

Admission into the museum also allows us to go into the convent and to wander the grounds where the cenote, now boarded up is located.



The next day we head to Ek Balam with Nicole and Dario.  Ek Balam has an expensive entry fee and is a small site, but it's worth it to see the well-preserved plaster carvings on the tomb of Ukit Kan Lek Tok, a king buried in the side of the largest pyramid.  We are surprised at how small the ball court is here.

Apparently, on a clear day, the pyramids of Chitzen Itza and of Coba can be seen from the top of the acropolis at Ek Balam. 

Jaws of the panther

For the afternoon we head to Las Coloradas and the pink lakes and the salt industry.  We know the flamingoes won't be here until the food arrives in the summer … but pink lakes sound fascinating, and so they are.

Nicole spots a fisher's catch being weighed out and buys dinner.

After cervesa and lunch, a walk to the beach finds us watching the pelican/seagull scrum as fishers clean their catch.

On the way home, we stop at the little town of Tizimin.  The public market is just finishing but we grab a tasty snack.  It's so much fun wandering with Dario.  His native Italian takes him far in the Spanish world and his keen interest in all people has him engaging with everyone.  People love him and so do we even if it takes forever to walk a couple of blocks!!

We'd like to linger but the road calls. 

On the way out of town, Paul and Dario simultaneously spot this VW.  We have often wished that we kept a photo journal of all the different versions of VW bugs and vans that we have seen in Mexico.

A highlight of Valladolid was a visit to Casa de Los Venados, the private home of John and Dorianne Venator.  It took 40 years for them to gather the over 3,000 pieces of art that constitute the largest museum-quality collection of Mexican folk art in private hands … and all displayed in a colonial home that they live in to this day and that took them ten years to renovate.

We lucked into a private tour that allows us into their actual living space within the larger space of the home that they so generously invite people to enjoy.

Words and photos cannot begin to describe their collection.  Every space, wall, floors, tables, ceilings and bookshelves are covered in art.  The furniture itself is art.  Incredible.  We could return here again and again.

The panther in many forms protects the home

Carved and painted panther chair

On this clock, each hand represents an hour

Today this is the closest we come to meeting John Venator

Our time in Valladolid has drawn to a close.  A quick stop home in Tulum to drop off some things then off to Holbox.  Hoping that the connections we made with Nicole and Dario will last and that we will meet again in the future.