MEXICO
YUCATÁN
& CHIAPAS
15
- 30 april 2000
march 2008 - Mexico City & Yucatán
Finally accomplices the
Easter vacations I was able to organize a trip to Mexico, a 9 days tour by car between Yucatán and Chiapas with a stay of some days on the Caribbean beaches.
Gone down the airplane we went to Avis
for the withdrawal of ours fantastic Nissan Tsuru that later we discovered to be the most diffused
car in Mexico. Considering that was 11 p.m. and that to avoid the tourists trap of Cancun I had foreseen to sleep to
Valladolid, we had to drive for 2 hours. Hardly gone out by the airport we have made knowledge with the
topes, for the one that doesn't know it, it concerns artificial backs whose purpose is to slow down the
cars especially in the town, the problem is that the topes are often been in the most unexpected places or that
are so high to be touched with the
bottom of the car (I remember the scene of a limousine driver made the most absurd manoeuvres
to cross one of it) and above all often are not signaled. Generally the circulation
doesn't present big problems, normally the roads conditions are acceptable, the only problem besides
the topes is that the roads are often poorly signposted, so it pays to get a good
road map. Sometimes, especially in the Chiapas you can meet military check-point,
however we had never problems, sometimes the soldiers limited to control the content of the luggage van.
Between Cancun and Merida there is one of the few toll highways (besides quite
expansive), so good road conditions helped me a little bit in the baptism of Mexican guide
also because my trip companions were sleeping and I was also decidedly tired. Toward
1,30 a.m. we finally reached Valladolid and we systematized to the hotel María de the
Luz in the main square; is necessary to say that
it's inadvisable to park on the street overnight but fortunately either this that the whole other hotels
we met had private garage. After a good sleep we begun the day with the good Mexican breakfast of the hotel.
The program of the day foresaw the visit of the Valladolid cenotes: Zací and Dzitnup, the archaeological
site of Chichén Itzá and the arrival in the evening to Merida. The
cenotes are very diffused in the whole peninsula of the Yucatán, it concerns natural
sinkholes that were used by the Mayas as source of water or as places of cult and in some cases as places of human sacrifices.
Just in the center of Valladolid it is found the cenote Zací, between all those sees
is the biggest but it is probably the least spectacular one, decidedly more beautiful it is the cenote Dzitnup,
7 km west of Valladolid center. To reach the spectacular cave, you need to pass through
a narrow passage in the rock. The path is very slippery, besides I noticed some guides
spilt (I have not understood why) some liquid that seemed by the smell cleanser,
I think this was the reason because the path was slippery.
