Swimming in Cenotes and Getting to Know Another Avocado Species
What?! There are different avocado species?!
After getting our first glance of Yucatán in Mérida, we used our newly gained knowledge about the local bus system and took a simple bus to Valladolid. Similar to our bus ride to Izamal, we were the only tourists using this bus and some of the other passengers seemed to be surprised to see us on this bus. Since this bus does not take the fancy toll roads (hence the price difference) our journey took about twice as long compared to other bus routes. But still the experience was very nice and to us this seemed to be the most authentic way of travelling Yucatán. A (probably bored) fifteen year old boy sat next to us and talked to us about his favourite mobile game Pokémon Go and other random stuff like legal age in Germany compared to México or if Germany is located in Russia. Communication was fun but not very efficient because of lacking Spanish skills on our side and lacking English skills on his side.
After arriving in Valladolid, we checked in to our accommodation and walked through the city and decided what we want to do on our short visit of two days there. We really wanted to see the Cenotes, so that’s what we did on our first day. Cenotes are water-filled caves that collapsed leaving a very nice natural pool to swim in. What made the Cenotes special for ancient people was the easy access to fresh water, therefore you can find a Cenote in many historical city centers on the Yucatán peninsula. Nowadays it is more a tourist attraction than anything. Many are being turned into expensive resorts equipped with Restaurants, additional pools etc. We were told that the older generation does not like to go swimming in the Cenotes because it is believed to bring bad luck. Also, it is said that if somebody dies in there, the water turns red. On the other hand (if they don’t tell their grandparents) younger Mexicans like the Cenotes as much as the tourists do!
On our second day we did a walking tour of Valladolid. Apart from insights into the historical development of Valladolid, we got a valuable introduction into the local products that are found on the markets. For example, although the avocados that we know in Europe are also grown and sold in Mexico, a much cheaper alternative is a local variety of the avocado plant yielding a much bigger fruit. The taste is similar, but a little bit more fruitier than the avocados we knew.
Also, we got to taste delicious Mexican chocolate that has a very high cocoa percentage and we learned about the different chilis that are used for seasoning food or producing salsa.
We really liked Valladolid, because although the tourism is present everywhere, it still has an authentic vibe.
Also, we have to fix the reputation of Mexican tacos. We were really unlucky that we got raw chicken in our first ever tacos in Mexico City but after that, we never had a bad taco ever again. In fact, by now we have them almost every other day!
Once again, we were sad to leave the city after such a short time but we are already excited about our next destination: Tulum. There we will see the Caribbean coast of Mexico for the first time!