Reinvigorated we head off to Yaxcaba, where the largest Episcopalian church in the Yucatan was built. It is now a Catholic church. After finding the right road, we discovered it was under construction. 15 miles of rocky, one lane, pothole filled, dusty and winding road. Glad we had our trusty Tracker. A sedan of any sort would not have worked for us! A few taxis struggled along with us. We made it, albeit very slowly. Several times we held our breaths (along with uttering a few swear words) and wondered if we should read the Tracker's manual and put it into 4 wheel drive! Unfortunately, we arrive at Yaxcaba at 12:30PM when the church was closing! It would reopen at 4:30PM. Way too late for us. Outside the church was certainly impressive- big, thick walls, etc. There was another church building under reconstruction, more of a chapel, and a cenote nearby. But, again, closed. We did, though, get an appreciation of how churches are the focal point in small villages. Lots of kids playing all around the churches.
Next stop? More ruins on the way to overnight at Vallodalid. These ruins were way back on a dirt road with grass growing up between the tire tracks. They were pretty small ruins. No more than a half dozen or so. They had been reconstructed, but not much. We could see that there were more ruins that had been completely covered by trees and jungle. A short stop but it reminded us that this peninsula has hundreds, if not thousands, of "undiscovered" ruins.
The highlight of this day was stopping at the twin cenotes about 1 mile outside of Vallodalid. These cenotes have been improved with sidewalks, changing rooms, bathrooms, vendor stalls, etc. We had our choice of cenotes to visit and we chose the "one with more light" called Samula. An absolutely breathtaking cenote. You walk down about 40 concrete steps to a cavelike entrance. Then, it opens up to a huge cavern filled with water. There's a hole in its top. That hole has a tree growing up out it it and roots stretch down from the ceiling about 80 feet into the cenote's water. The hole allows shafts of light to enter the cenote which is about 100 feet across. The water is blue/green and crystal clear. Deep in spots and shallow in others. Roped off for swimming. There's a small island in the center, the result of the rock from the hole falling down into the cenote. There were about 20 people there. Peggy had gotten her suit on and swam for 20 minutes or so. She impressed the crowd and Ed with ballet legs from her synchronized swimming days!The photos do not do it justice. A spectacular site!
After that we had short drive to Valladolid and and a repeat visit to the Meson del Marquez hotel on the main square. Valladolid has a great zocolo (main square). Wide sidewalks. Thousands of pigeons which were chased by little kids and fed rice and popcorn by others. We sat in the square (just like old people!) and watched for quite awhile. Fun. Dinner of cochinita pibil and chaya soup on the square. Delicious!
Valladolid has become another old friend. We love its grace, its friendly people, its step back to a simpler time.
Chapel at the end of a dirt lane.
Cenote by the chapel. How lucky we are to see these treasures!
Episcopal Church
Newer (1789) section of the church above.
cenote near the above church
The grand finale cenote outside Valladolid. Another piece of heaven!
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