Yucatán Road Trip: 2 Days in Valladolid

Our weeklong road trip around the Yucatán Peninsula took us around the Mexican states of Yucatán and Quintana Roo. Our first stop was the beautiful colonial town of Valladolid where we spent 2 days exploring Chichén Itzá, swimming in a cave, admiring Mexican Folk Art, and just wandering around the town taking it all in. 

We landed in Cancún in the early afternoon and without even taking a break for lunch, we headed straight for the exit to look for our car rental company. We booked a car through America Car Rental and after finding our representative we were shuttled off to the rental agency. The paperwork took about an hour, but after inspecting the car (and going back inside to ask someone how to properly start it), we were ready to head off on our Yucatecan road trip! We whipped out our GPS and set it for Valladolid Centro since it couldn't find our hotel. Then we hopped on the toll road between Cancún and Mérida and we were off!

The toll road was easy to use and didn't have much traffic. Before we knew it, we had turned off at the Valladolid exit and were nervously trying to weave through the town, relying only on a cropped printout of Google Maps. We eventually made it to our (amazing) hotel, Casa Quetzal. The building has an open air courtyard in the centre and feels like a retreat from the bustling town. During our stay, we saw a few animals visit the courtyard, including a curious opossum. Little did we know that we would be seeing lots of animals in the days to come!

That evening we wandered the streets of Valladolid, past the square which is home to the Convent of San Bernardino de Siena and Parque Sisal where the citizens of Valladolid were out and about. Our first dinner introduced us to one of our favourite Mayan foods of the trip - Cochinita Pibil. The slow cooked pork cooked in Maya spices underground, paired with pickled onions and other toppings on a tortilla is hard (read: impossible) to resist. 

Before we go any further, we should probably mention something that we didn't know before planning our road trip - Maya people and their culture are still alive and thriving! It is not an extinct indigenous culture or language; the Maya people still make up a significant portion of the population of the Yucatán Peninsula. The Maya survived oppression from the Europeans and nowadays the culture (and language) of the Yucatán Peninsula is a mix of Spanish and Maya.

After spending the night in Valladolid we drove 45 minutes to Chichén Itzá, a major Mayan centre during the years 600 - 900 AD. In fact, it is still a major centre for tourists and is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico! The current site of Chichén Itzá is home to distinct Maya structures that span an area of 5 km squared, however the residential areas of the lower class citizens were made from perishable materials so these probably extended much further into the jungle.

The Maya civilization spanned from 2000 BC until the 16th century AD. This ancient civilization was known for its fully developed writing system, the only one in the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its architecture and fascination with astronomy and mathematics. Unlike other pre-Columbian civilizations, the people were never united under one empire or state and were spread out over an area which eventually included Southeastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Western Honduras, and Western El Salvador. The independence of the Maya cities resulted in wars and rivalries, with some cities dominating other cities to gain economic advantage. Despite that, the Maya traded with their neighbours and the cities that controlled access to important goods flourished.

We explored the site of Chichén Itzá for a couple of hours taking in all of the history, and also taking in the shade whenever possible. We wandered around the site and down to the Cenote Sagrado, the location of sacrifices (human and other) to the rain god, Chaac. The Maya were not beyond human sacrifice and their most important rituals ended in it; they believed that human blood was the ultimate source of nourishment for their gods. 

After grabbing a bite to eat (not of the human sacrificial variety), we were on our way again. The time, back to Cenote X'kekén, near Valladolid. The Yucatán Peninsula is made up of limestone, which is porous, so all of the water goes through those layers and forms pools below. If the limestone bedrock collapses, the groundwater is exposed and these pools are called cenotes. Cenotes then lead into the Yucatán's massive underground river system.

Accessing Cenote X'kekén involved walking down slippery rock steps into a cave. Once we got down there, we realized how spooky this cenote really was. There was one opening in the "roof" of the cave and from time to time we could see people peering in. We hopped into the water, underwater camera in hand, and took a refreshing dip in the water as bats flew above us.

The Mayans believed that cenotes led to the underworld and how can you blame them?

After a refreshing swim, we headed back to Valladolid for some food and a wander. We walked into the centre of town, past the Parque Francisco Cantón where locals were relaxing and going about their business. The city seemed to be active with lots of people outside, which was really nice to see - we were part of the action! We finally settled on somewhere to eat where we enjoyed lime soup and a Yucatecan sausage called a Longaniza.

The next morning, it was time for is to check out of Casa Quetzal so we popped into Casa de los Venados for a tour before leaving Valladolid. Casa de los Venados is the house of two Americans who started collecting Mexican Folk Art over 35 years ago, and now they have amassed more than 3000 pieces. It is the largest collection of museum quality Mexican folk art in private hands. They spent almost 10 years renovating this 18,000 sq ft colonial home and have opened it to the public for daily tours at 10 am, by donation only. 

The house was an incredible sight to behold and although Mexican Folk Art isn't necessarily our normal taste in art, some of the pieces on display are pretty spectacular. And if a piece wasn't mind-blowingly cool, chances are that it was at least crazy to look at. It was worth the visit.

Casa de los Venados marked our last activity in Valladolid and area. From there we hopped back on the toll route. Next up, the Ruta Puuc! 

The next blog pists about our trip can be found here:
Yucatán Road Trip: 2 Days in the Ruta Puuc
Yucatán Road Trip: 3 Days in Tulum

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Yucatán and would recommend it to everyone, so we have created a guide for anyone who is looking to do a road trip around the Yucatán Peninsula! Check it out, and spread the word about this remarkable road trip destination: YUCATÁN ROAD TRIP GUIDE

And you can check out the travel video of our trip below:

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip around the Yucatán and would recommend it to anyone, so we are in the process of creating as a guide for anyone who is looking to do a road trip around the Yucatán Peninsula! So, stay tuned. A travel resource page is also in the works.

Here are some more photos from the first two days of our Yucatan road trip: