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| Today’s bike tour will lead you from Chichén Itzá to the colonial town of Valladolid. On your way off the beaten track, you will pass by many Mayan villages. In the afternoon, a guided city tour will take place where you’ll visit the museum of Valladolid, its church and surroundings of the city, all while observing beautiful wall paintings. Accommodation at the Hotel Maria de la Luz.. - Trip Notes |
Despite all the chicken soup yesterday, I managed to catch a cold and woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and a bit of a blocked nose...
After a very nice breakfast, we set out by van for the short ride to Chichén Itzá, the Piste Resistance of the area, arriving at 8.30am ahead of the hordes. For the full story of this site click ChichenItza.
Luis led us first through "new" Chichén Itzá constructed by the Toltecs from 700-900AD as a cross-cultural city with the Mayans who had constructed "old" Chichén Itzá from 600-900AD. The first Toltec structure to observe was Kukulkan Castle in honour of the feathered serpent.
We checked out the rest of the area including the Temple with Chacmol, the Tzompantli, the Great Ball Court etc etc and the cenote.
We then moved across to the old area where the predominant structure is El Caracol, the observatory.
After two and a half hours of wandering about, we drove out to a small town and biked for about 30km ending up where we should not have. The main stop was at Muchucuxcah which is Canadian sponsored as a wood recycling and woodworking town. Luis played pied piper giving candy to the children and he and Isaac Abraham bought some nice wooden boxes.
By the 30km mark, it was very hot and we stopped in a small town for a cold drink. Luis established we were way off course so we packed the bikes up and drove into Valladolid where we checked into our hotel on the main square, showered and then went for a tour of the town.
The main attraction was the tequila factory but I did not sample the goods. We also checked out the Church, Governor's Palace and other buildings and partook of a refreshing fruit popsicle. I went for guava while Luis opted for pineapple and chili..
Back to the hotel for a rest and then a short walk to dinner at the "market" where one of the three food stalls had been fumigated causing the cockroaches to run amok only to be squashed underfoot by the waiting proprietors.
I partook of Empanadas de Pollo and a Jugo de Mango all of which was delicious especially as I had not really eaten since breakfast. We decided not to try the cucarachas...
After a very nice breakfast, we set out by van for the short ride to Chichén Itzá, the Piste Resistance of the area, arriving at 8.30am ahead of the hordes. For the full story of this site click ChichenItza.
Luis led us first through "new" Chichén Itzá constructed by the Toltecs from 700-900AD as a cross-cultural city with the Mayans who had constructed "old" Chichén Itzá from 600-900AD. The first Toltec structure to observe was Kukulkan Castle in honour of the feathered serpent.
We checked out the rest of the area including the Temple with Chacmol, the Tzompantli, the Great Ball Court etc etc and the cenote.
We then moved across to the old area where the predominant structure is El Caracol, the observatory.
After two and a half hours of wandering about, we drove out to a small town and biked for about 30km ending up where we should not have. The main stop was at Muchucuxcah which is Canadian sponsored as a wood recycling and woodworking town. Luis played pied piper giving candy to the children and he and Isaac Abraham bought some nice wooden boxes.
By the 30km mark, it was very hot and we stopped in a small town for a cold drink. Luis established we were way off course so we packed the bikes up and drove into Valladolid where we checked into our hotel on the main square, showered and then went for a tour of the town.
The main attraction was the tequila factory but I did not sample the goods. We also checked out the Church, Governor's Palace and other buildings and partook of a refreshing fruit popsicle. I went for guava while Luis opted for pineapple and chili..
Back to the hotel for a rest and then a short walk to dinner at the "market" where one of the three food stalls had been fumigated causing the cockroaches to run amok only to be squashed underfoot by the waiting proprietors.
I partook of Empanadas de Pollo and a Jugo de Mango all of which was delicious especially as I had not really eaten since breakfast. We decided not to try the cucarachas...
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