Mexico 2020 Cancún - Mérida

Me with my new wide-brimmed hat under my helmet, trying to leave Cancún.

Leaving Cancún
It took me ages to leave Cancún. I arrived having spent a gorgeous 5 days with my sister Fiona and her family in Germany where it hardly made it over 0 degrees celsius for the whole time I was there and that was just fine. Just how it should be in Germany in December.

I booked into La Casa del Arbol via the Booking app while waiting to board my flight to Cancun in Frankfurt. At 13 euros a night, it sounded perfect. Lorena, the host was so kind and her house was so quiet and cool I found it hard to muster up the energy to get my ass on the god dam saddle and just get going. Going from 0 degrees to 30 degrees overnight kind of knocked the stuffing out of me.

And just as I was wheeling Sherpa (the bike) out the door Lorena produced a wide-brimmed sun hat which she said I must wear under my helmet to protect me from the sun. What a great idea and what a lovely gesture. Thank you Lorena.

Mauro spent 5 hours taking Sherpa apart and putting her back together. 

So after 3 nights in Cancún and having bought suncream, oats, honey, raisins, a Mexican plug adapter for my laptop and after downloading the two must-have cycle touring apps, I was ready. Maps.me is like Google Maps but works brilliantly offline. The iOverlander app is primarily used by travellers in camper vans but has great info about safe places to pitch tents for cycle tourers.

Some New Gear

For this trip I thought I'd try out a few new bits of gear. Jill Wright, an Irish cyclist, who I cycled along the Barrow river with this summer recommended a few changes to my Sherpa. If Herbie and Laura ever read this, or my good friend Sheila - they will know how much I like to moan about my Thorn Sherpa (bike). Yes guys, any day now I will sell it and buy a bike I actually like!

Anyway, Jill recommended a ladies Brooks saddle instead of the mens version which had come with my bike and had always been sore. Laura Trowbridge (UK) who was also with us on that Barrow trip recommended trying some half clip half flat pedals to stop me moving around so much in my saddle. I thought it was worth a try.

New ladies Brooks saddle with a hole cut out. 

I had never tried half/half pedals before. But I'm loving these from Alpkit.

Camping

And so it was. I was back on the road and wanting to camp at the local police station. When you come from 'normal life' in Europe sometimes you can lose a bit of confidence and wonder 'how is this done again?'. It always feels a bit funny the first few times to rock up to the local fire station or police and ask for a safe place to camp. In my experience, they always say 'right here'. The below picture shows Sweeny Green (the tent) camped outside the police station in the town of Ignacio Zaragoza. I actually wanted to camp inside the wall but the female police officer insisted I camp outside the wall. 

Sweeny Green OUTSIDE the local police station.

All a girl needs is a a good ledge to put all her stuff!

Valladolid

Valladolid is one of Mexico's Pueblo Mágicos (magic towns). There are 127 designated Pueblo Mágicos in Mexico and two in Yucatan, the province of the famous Caribbean resorts of Cancún and Playa del Carmen. They have been categorised for their beauty and historical interest and Valladolid didn't disappoint. It was just gorgeous. Valladolid - yes, with the same name as the Spanish city - is also the entry point to the the famous Mayan ruin of Chichen Itza, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

At the fruit market in Valladolid an elderly lady was peeling a 'limon dulce'
or 'sweet lemon'. And lo and behold that's exactly what it tasted like. Not an orange or
lemon but a sweet lemon.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of this fruit/veg, but it was hard
and white when opened and delicious with lime juice.

This is a small 'calabaza' meaning pumpkin in Spanish.

I'm told it's only the start of the mango season.
Proper proper mango season begins in May. Ooooh.

Mass in Valladolid

I went to mass in the church in the below photo on Sunday and witnessed a very unusual  but lovely offertory procession. When it came to the time to bring up the gifts loads of people just stood up and looked like they were walking out of the church. I initially thought that it was some kind of revolt against giving money to the Catholic church but then I realised that this long procession was starting from the back of the church to the altar. Each person carried a food item in their hand. A bag of flour, a bottle of oil, a bag of salt. People had donated food items as they entered the church and during the offertory procession these items were brought to the altar and then given to the poor of the town when mass was over. Every Sunday the same thing happened.

The monastery in Valladolid where a nightly light show
telling the history of the town takes place.

Beautiful paintings showing the history of Valladolid have
been drawn onto the name wall.

The beautiful church on the central square in Valladolid where I witnessed
a very interesting offertory procession. Photo pinched from the Internet as mine were rubbish.

A lovely mayan dance in the main square welcomed me to Valladolid.

Lorena's hat makes it to Chichen Itza. I bought an audio guide for 1€ and
wandered happily and quietly around the site amongst the thousands of tourists
while listening to the history through my headphones.

Los Cenotes (sink holes)

There are no rivers in Yucatan. All the natural flowing water in the province flows under ground and has created a network of tunnels and caves. All along the side of the road you see signs for Cenotes, sink holes, often in caves deep under ground. Glorious cold refreshing places to swim. The really good ones cost 10-20 dollars to visit but there are loads to be found just off the main roads where you can swim for a euro or two.

My first cenote of the trip. Glorious cold fresh water after a long
hot sweaty day on the bike. 

Cenote in the city centre of Valladolid inside a half open cave. 

Coca Cola
I'm sure I'll write more about Coca Cola during this trip blog, suffice to say that after one week on the road I'm horrified at the amount that Mexican's drink. Every single town is plastered with Coca Cola advertising and it seems it is all people drink. When I mentioned to these two ladies about the sugar content or if water might not be healthier they don't seem to get what I'm talking about. My water bottles are filled up free of charge wherever I ask but I have yet to see Mexicans drinking water. It's shocking. Mexican's don't drink tap water. They buy water in large 20L drums. I always ask if my bottles can be filled from these drums and it is always ok. 

I had a really lovely friendly breakfast in this food stall. I ate a 'panucho' filled
with beans with some avocado and egg on top. This lady had the same plus
a bottle of Coke. For breakfast. You'll notice the lady behind has just finished her Pepsi.

A random poster I spotted at a bus stop in Cancún. 'Wanted: 4 donors of O negative blood'.

Reading on Kindle: Those Who Wander: America's Lost Street Kids by Vivan Ho - recommended by some education bods I follow on Twitter

Listening to on Stitcher: John Simpson's World podcast

Listening to on BorrowBox: The BeeKeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri