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.
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| 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:
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.
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| 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.
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| Sign for a Restaurante |
This hand-painted tile floor looks like a giant cross-stitch.
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| Pasta Tile |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The panther in many forms protects the home |
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| Carved and painted panther chair |
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| On this clock, each hand represents an hour |
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| 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.
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