06/07 Hanging out here in Valladolid after a short day. Need to rest up before heading over to Coba and more ruins tomorrow. I slept like a rock last night even though I had this weird dream that a guy who can shapeshift into a tiny bird stole my panniers when I was shopping.

The place I stayed was a pit though. It was like a zoo in my room. The bug count after 2 nights was: 1 moth, 1 monster cockroach (not kidding–it was so big I could see the different expressions on its face as I chased it), 1 smaller but equally repulsive cockroach, 2 long worm-looking things, many ants and a big, cute lizard. To top it off, the first night it felt like things were biting me while I was laying in bed. I ended up unpacking my tent, laying it on top of the sheets without using the poles and crawling into that. That lasted almost all night until I woke up in a panic because my arms were trapped in the netting and then I couldn’t unzip the door in the dark.

When the sun gets a little lower I’ll venture out and take more pictures–I’m enjoying the AC but this town has a bit of character and needs exploring. When I first got here I detoured off the main road to check out a monastery built by the Spanish back in 1560. Then it was into the centro area where I saw signs for the Cenote De Zaci. A cenote, for those unfamiliar with them, are sinkholes of various sizes whose roof collapsed thus creating reservoirs. All of the towns in the Yucatan are built around their own cenote since they are the only source of fresh drinking water on the peninsula. They are also very sacred and the ancient Mayans used to chuck people into them as human sacrifices so their gods would be happy. About 50 skulls were found in the cenote at Chichen Itza. The one here in Valladolid is smaller but it had a lot more going on visually. Birds were flying around, people and fish were swimming in the water and huge stalactites hung from the roof.

I stopped at another place a few miles outside Chichen Itza called the Balankanche Caves but never got to go inside. Unfortunately the folks that manage this place aren’t very business savy. It was 9:30am on a Monday when I got there. The parking lot was empty and no one else was around aside from the 3 guys working there. A sign said the 45 minutes tours leave on the hour assuming that a minimum of 6 people were in a group (no self-guided tours available). One of the guys said if just one more person showed up he’d take us down at 10am. Ten o’clock rolled around and of course no one else showed up. I waited 15 more minutes and left. Not sure why they didn’t take my $70 pesos and run me down there by myself.

GPX Track

06/05 Something kind of strange happened during the night. About a block up the street from where I bought some water I saw a bull tied up to a telephone pole . Nothing terribly unusual there. It mostly just stood there as people walked or rode their bicycles by, every once in a while letting out a little bellow. Well this morning I went over to the store and where the bull once stood was a carcass. It actually looked like someone had butchered the thing right in the street. I didn’t ride over to get a closer look but I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. Either that or someone ran it over with a lawnmower.

The ride north through the rain forest was a little disheartening. When I was flying over the Yucatan into Merida I could see where huge swathes of forest had been leveled to support the burgeoning population. It shouldn’t have surprised me when I saw it up close even though they try to mask the damage by leaving a strip of trees next to the road. You can’t hide much from a guy on a bike though (or Google’s satellite view which is what I used to see the damage on Vancouver Island or in the Yukon or in Alaska or in northern Alberta, etc.). If anything this trip has sure made me realize how brutally destructive we are.

Apparently I had a map/GPS/brain meltdown yesterday. I rode right by the archeological site of Mayapan. My GPS was right but the stupid IMTB map showed it way further to the northeast. I don’t know why I didn’t trust my GPS or clue in when I rode right through a town called Mayapan. I don’t remember seeing a sign so I’ll only take 99% of the blame.

It was wickedly hot again today. Getting up at six helped but the clouds usually burn off after lunch and then it gets toasty. I did some math and I spent about 40% of the time it took me to get here resting. For a 50 mile ride that makes for a long day.

I’m staying here for 2 nights so I can go check out the most famous of the Mayan sites, Chichen Itza. Looking forward to it.

Update: At the coffee shop I popped onto the internet for a minute to check the news since its been almost a week. AP had a story about the Gulf oil spill that I didn’t even want to keep reading. God I hate every one of those greedy SOB’s who caused this. Since moving to Florida in 1992 I’ve traveled countless times to the Gulf coast from The Keys up to New Orleans. To think of the devastation this is causing makes me sick. I can’t even imagine how bad this is going to get.

GPX Track

One of the things I needed to do while I was lounging around here for a week was to figure out where I’m going next. After digging through web sites, my travel guide (Knopf Guides – Mexico) and checking to see if my road selections were feasible I think I have a plan. Here’s what I came up with:

There’s a fair bit of looping around to get to places but there are only so many (paved) roads. I wasn’t planning on heading over to the Yucatan but how could I not visit Chichen Itza? There are a so many amazing looking sites that I’m dying to get back on the road again.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell the dentist story. So I show up for my appointment and am told to head upstairs. The dentist lady is there and tells me to go ahead and lay down in the chair. I plop down and am momentarily distracted when she turns on some soft music. A second later a candle has filled the room with the scent of fresh roses. Was something lost in translation? Was I about to get a massage instead of a teeth cleaning? She walked over and sat down next to me and, much to my dismay, told me to open up. No soothing backrub for me. She ended up telling me I didn’t need a cleaning so I left. That seemed weird too. It makes me wonder if the dentist I’d been using back in the States was just going through the motions so they could bill my insurance. Who knows.