Since I arrived quite late after the flight in my hostel - Ché Nomadas, I directly went to bed after a quick look at the illuminated pool.
The next day I had my own breakfast at the pool before I went on a free walking tour with some Dutch and British guys from the hostel and Pia, who was already one day earlier in Mérida but checked into my hostel this day. The tour led us through the town center, the market as well as the Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Yucatán which holds a small exhibition about the history of mankind in the region including slavery, repression, and torture. The paintings from Fernando Castro Pacheco which are not only huge and impressive in their expression will also awaken a certain amount of awareness of what the people there experienced during times. The entrance is for free, so don't be afraid of all the guards and police in front, which may ask you to drop certain things in the front office during your visit (our tour guide, who might be experienced, had to leave his GoPro stick for example).
We used the afternoon to spend time at the pool and play card games because the heat of the city kinda destroyed our motivation to walk around for more than the 2,5h we already did. In the afternoon, the hostel offered a free salsa lesson, which Pia and I used to learn the steps together and also get a bit more involved in the overall 'lifestyle' since salsa is definitely not only a dance. The lessons were fun and we did a quite good job, so we decided with two other German girls to go later to Parque de Santiago which holds once a week a salsa night where a huge band is playing typical songs and lots of people (ca. 100 - 300) are dancing in front or waiting for the next song to get some breath. So this was the perfect spot to train what we've learned. We had lots of fun even though for some songs we felt a bit lost because they were most likely not good for salsa steps. Afterwards, we spent some more minutes at the pool, enjoyed the evening, and saw many bats flying around and an Opossum running up and down the hostel wall. On day 40 of my travels, I planned to go to Celestún. The day before some of the guys were interested in joining. After waiting for them for a while and them then deciding to not join, I left quite late knowing that I learned my lesson to set fixed times upfront and go if necessary just on my own if I really want to see certain things. Celestún is well known for Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Celestún a national park where you can see flamingos during winter season and drive through Mangrove tunnels. To reach the town its possible to take a bus, as most of the usual tourist do, which takes 3h because of many stops. I decided to search for a collectivo, since I just like to go with them, experience locals traveling and save usually money. In this case, the collectivo only took 1,5h, so I also saved some time, even though I had to wait in a kinda sketchy area for more than half an hour for it to fill and start (at the corner of Calle 67 & 48 out of a dirty garage). I just told the collectivo driver to drop me behind the bridge in Chelestun which is some minutes before the city and one of the two options is to go on the boat to take a tour through the lagoon. So I arrived quickly and save for 60$/2,50€ at the national park. Boats for tours can only be booked as a whole thing with up to six persons for around 80€. So my next task was to find some people who got a free spot on their boat and were willing to let me join to share the costs. After around 15-20min I found a French family with three children which had exactly one spot free. The guides around the entrance and some people I talked to already told me that there are nearly no flamingos on the lake. First, because that year the flamingos started really early to relocate, and second because in the afternoon the tide is higher and flamingos, as you might know, can not swim, so they're going to another place as soon as the water is too high for them during the day, which annoyed me, even more, knowing that I could have been there two hours earlier easily, not waiting for some indecisive guys. Still, the Flamingo season in Celestún and Holbox is usually until May/June before they leave for Rio Lagartos. On the boat, we were directly heading to the spot where the flamingos usually stay and spotted two of them and one starting to fly away, which was special to see as well. The tour stopped at some places to see birds in the mangroves and after some minutes and with some speed the boat surprisingly turned in the direction of the mangroves and shot into the woods. The guide told us before to start recording, so everyone got a video of this maneuver. In the Mangrove tunnel, we shipped slowly through this calm environment and enjoyed the silence, birds singing, and the semi-shadow. After this, we headed for a natural spring where we were allowed to swim and the water was amazingly clear. This was also the last stop of this two-hour tour and we headed back to the tourist center, where I rewarded myself with ice cream.
Afterwards, I walked 20 minutes towards the town and the beach to explore and enjoy some time up there. On my way, I passed a ship constructor who had behind his house a small pond where I spotted something. Two more flamingos were just casually standing there close to the street and the town. After taking some pictures I headed to the Zócalo and (surprisingly) the town sign in the center. Celestún was as described in my travel guide a sleepy small town, which failed to develop as fast as the surrounding environment. Everything happens quite slow if even. This also results in a high authenticity of the place. When walking the beach, you'll not see a lot of people, neither locals nor tourists. Coming from the center, some restaurants might be found at the beach but counting less than 5. If you go right or left you'll find yourself on empty beaches. Depending on the time you might be able to see some fisherman preparing their ships for the next morning or still cleaning after their tour. I used this chance to watch some of them and enjoy seeing all the pelicans and seagulls around awaiting a last snack out of their nets. The temperature was so hot, that I had to jump into the ocean to enjoy a small swim and cool myself down.
After having a drink at the beach I made my way to the place where the collectivos should stop and leave from. Still, I passed the bus station ensuring that there are also buses if I missed the information about the collectivo. But soon one arrived and after waiting some minutes and being told that this last one only drives to Hunucmá, where I need to switch, we left. In Hunucmá we had a short 20min stop which gave me the chance to walk around the Zócalo. The first thing that became obvious was, that this town is reigned by Tuctucs. Around the main plaza, they were standing in line to pick people up, and around they drove up to four next to each other making it a really lively and active picture. Also, the main church looked quite cute, so this town might also be worth a short 1-2h stop to flee from tourist spots. Back in mérida I first watched some locals playing on the main plaza a traditional game with a burning ball that needs to be thrown through a ring that is located in the middle of the field around 4 meters up in the air - a bit reminding me of quidditch in Harry Potter - and afterwards went to a German restaurant - La Bierhaus. Normally I'm not the person who heads for these types of restaurants when traveling, but since I was still not eating food for the last three days, I hoped that some German food might heal my tummy and bring the hunger back. And surprisingly, apart from nice wall paintings which looked really authentic, also the potato soup and the Wiener schnitzel were really close to German taste. Plus, the point that made it even more authentic was the way how the waiter pooredpoured the White beer into the glass - perfectly with the right amount of foam. I was able to eat properly and enjoyed it a lot and even told two other backpackers from Estonia and Mexico about German cuisine and educated them on what to order. The evening ended with some rounds of pool billiard at the pool.
The next morning it was time for the first (new) world wonder in my life. I booked the last seat on the first bus to Chichén-Itzá, after having researched, that it is possible to drop your backpacks in lockers at the place. After a 1,5h ride, I arrived at the place, paid the fairly high entrance fee (well, bucket list ticks are sometimes pricy), and locked my backpack before heading in. The whole city which was built after the classical period out of line stone gave already a breathtaking first impression when leaving the woods from the entrance and the main pyramid (Temple of Kukulcán) which is also a world wonder is building up in front of your eyes. It is amazing to just stroll around and see the buildings around and take photos, but in my opinion, the most fascinating about this place is all the functionalities they hide. This is why I would recommend either getting a guide if you may afford it or as I did, searching for a proper Spotify podcast about the place, plugging it into your ear, and listening to all those facts about this wonder of construction while wandering around the ruins and forests. To give you a feeling I want to mention some special ones:
Standing in front of the stairs of the pyramid and clapping out of a certain position leads to an echo that sounds exactly like a certain bird specie's chirp
The number of steps on the pyramid correlates with the days of the year of the Mayan calendar and was used for planning crops
On a certain day, the sunlight is reflected and broken in such a special way at the edges of the pyramid, that a snake is projected on the pyramid which represents one of the Maya goodnesses - Kukulkan
In the stadium which is by far the largest in Mesoamerica, it is possible to talk with a normal human voice standing on the outer two ends of the field with each other over 168 meters, because of a still not 100% clarified construction that supports the acoustics
The temple is built on top of a cenote and in every four directions in a certain distance another cenote can be found
So overall a visit to Chichén-Itzá holds impressive views of ruins and the main pyramid and will also educate you on what was possible hundreds of years ago and what Mayans were able to calculate and plan. Well worth it, even though you shouldn't expect the most beautiful, ornamented, or biggest building in the world, but the whole mix will definitely make up for it. On my way to Valladolid with the collectivo bus, which can be just taken in front of the exit without booking in advance, I decided to jump off in a tiny town halfway called Kaua. I found a pin on my Google Map while waiting for the bus because a friend recommended me a restaurant there. So I jumped off end ended up in this tiny town not really seeing a proper restaurant. After getting closer to a wooden cabin on the street, I saw people sitting behind the tiny house. After I walked around I found a big place with many tables and chairs, a guy playing keyboard, and many lovely faces looking at me and my huge backpack. Welcome to La Tía De Kaua. After being seated, the waiter told me in Spanish that they have basically only their specialty, which is Poc Chuc. This is a thin piece of beef that is grilled on the BBQ and served with separate plates of rice, beans, soup, tomatoes, salsas and also another sausage, and a taco filled with egg. The food was so authentic, many locals were having their lunch at the same time and the love music was rounding the experience up perfectly. The waiters were very interested in me and overwhelmed me with questions about my travels and how I ended up at their place and also for sure, how I like their specialty. And I liked it a lot, especially the sausage was awesome. It was only way to much for me after my three-day diet, but still for 6-7€.
Arrived in Valladolid, I went to Hostel Mamachá where I met Laura again from San Cristóbal and decided to cook pasta with her. This is when we also met Emmanuel who told us about his last travel to Europe where he traveled only with a guitar and without money and afterwards wrote and published privately a book about it. This is why he also tried to convince me to use all my experiences that I share in this blog to publish them as well later - let's see what time will bring. To finish the day, we went to the Mezcalería Don Trejo which is probably the most well-known bar in Valladolid and holds a VW Bully to sit in, a small rooftop, and big Hollywood Swings, and also live music most of the evenings with opportunities to try your salsa skills.
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