On the second day we visited Chichen Itza, this is perhaps the largest and most famous Mayan site in Mexico. It's impressive to walk through the paths and admire each of the pyramids, temples, carved columns and do-or-die sport fields.
Learning some of the history of this amazing civilization was fascinating!
After all the excitement and, all the sweating from walking around; we were tired and hungry so we decided to head back to our hotel in Valladolid.
On our way back, we spotted a very charming restaurant right on the main road; we stopped to check it out and ended up staying... best decision ever!
La Tia Poloc serves traditional food from Yucatan, the specialty of this place is called Poc-Chuc; it consists of grilled pork that is accompanied by a green salad, black beans soup with a tomato sauce and handmade tortillas... My mouth is watering as I'm typing this! :O)
Fernando, the manager, was a great host and even made some special tortillas for us to taste. The restaurant is right between Valladolid and Chichen Itza, at only two kilometers from the town of Kahua; If you want to try this place, give Fernando a call at 998-161-2664, tell him I referred you so I can get my free meal ha ha!
There is a proverb in Spanish we say after having a good meal "Panza llena, corazon contento" (Full belly, happy heart); this is how we left La Tia Poloc to the hotel for a well deserved siesta.
The following morning we were up and ready to keep enjoying the Mayan culture, this time we visited the ruins of Ek' Balam. This archaeological site is about sixteen miles from Valladolid, in the municipality of Temozon, Yucatan; towards Rio Lagartos.
This Mayan Kingdom is not as popular as Chichen Itza but, no less beautiful; I personally found this place to be more fascinating, specially because is nested in the middle of the jungle. Its history and architecture are also very interesting.
We hiked the tallest pyramid where the view from this point was breath taking. We sat up there for a while, just contemplating the beautiful scenario, listening to the singing of the birds and feeling the fresh breeze on our faces.
We left Ek' Balam with a nice feeling, there is a good energy about this kingdom; we felt so relaxed, it could've been all the fresh air or the good hike but, I choose to believe that it was the blessings of the Mayan souls of this place.
We still had the whole afternoon so we decided to go to one of the many cenotes that you find in this region, it was our first time exploring a cenote so we didn't know what to expect; all we knew was that these are natural sinkholes, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath.
Cenote X-keken is located just outside of Valladolid, towards Chichen Itza. The moment we were right out side of this place and realized that we were about to enter into a cave, made me feel so excited! As we went down the rustic steps, we felt like entering another world; this place was magical!
We ended our adventure in Valladolid like two Mayan kings bathing in the pure waters of this amazing cenote, getting revitalized for our next adventure in Tulum, Quintana Roo... To be continued!
Safe travels my friends!
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