Valladolid

July 2nd, 2009

Finally the morning of our departure arrived and I could not help but arrive at breakfast early to my intense disappointment. Of course our final breakfast was nearly unpalatable, a plate of papaya, watermelon, and pineapple, along with a dish of flan, and some toast. I managed to eat the pineapple and a few slices of toast minus the questionable jelly, but with a little bit of butter and honey instead. Since a few slices remained I packed enough for a cheese sandwich, since Allison had bought Manchego from a local store for a cheese sandwich of her own. Thus lunch today will consist of the Malian special in honor of the all bread and cheese diet suffered by Babe during her trip to Mali. Even after completing breakfast I had an hour before the arrival of our van to Valladolid, the first five minutes of which were spent bringing my bags the few feet to the loading zone. I couldn’t wait any longer to get out of my bungalow, the remaining fifty five minutes spent sitting at the breakfast table chatting with anyone that happened to show up.

Soon the van arrived along with Sharon who was finalizing the bills with both the Sacbe and individual loans to certain individuals. She tried to charge me nine dinners for Tim from the Chac Mool which I refused to pay since he only ate there four times. I repeated to Sharon where Tim and I were each night and she still seemed in disbelief, which I couldn’t understand since no one ate at the Chac Mool on Thursday and Friday with the various fieldtrips. In the end I did only pay for the four nights. The ride was largely uneventful except for the growing bladder pains that the three remaining passengers suffered, finally forcing Allison to use the facilities behind a rather carefully selected tree. As for Connie and I we continued on in some pain for ten minutes more before stopping at a restaurant in Piste for the restrooms, and an Oxxo for some snacks, including strawberry granola bars, animal crackers, and peach juice.

It wasn’t long before the familiar blocks of Valladolid began to flash past the glass windows and the van made its final approach around the main square stopping outside the steps of the Meson. Allison and I waited painfully for Connie to decide if she was going to book a single at the Meson or locate the nearby hostel. She seemed extremely flustered by the details of booking the room and relied heavily on Allison’s Spanish skills. It wasn’t long before she broke down with frustration when she was told there were no triples and Allison and I refused to have a third cot brought in for her. As we were signing the paperwork for our hotel stay and passing our luggage to the porter Connie finally decided to book a room as well. It was so nice to finally step into our air conditioned room and collapse on our beds. I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the beautiful pool that seemed all too familiar from my time spent at the Meson last year.

Dinner was spent in the gorgeous courtyard where the large chandeliers and ferns fashioned a serene tropical oasis. Familiar faces walked around the courtyard serving the various tables, I greeting my own waiter with a Maya phrase. The same excitement as last year registered on the face of my waiter when he discovered I spoke Yucatec. After a dinner of pasta carbonera Allison and I retired to our comfortable room where we discovered a tiny gecko hiding alongside the mirror in the bathroom. Since Allison had plenty of experience removing creepy crawlies and unwanted visitors from the girl’s rooms in Cuba she grabbed a piece of paper and a glass as I grabbed my spray bottle to coax the little fellow out from beside the mirror. As I sprayed Orinoco, a name chosen by Allison, he jumped from the sink to the floor where she gracefully managed to slap a glass over him. It all happened so fast until I realized Orinoco’s tail was wiggling inside the glass several centimeters from his tiny body. We were both horrified as Allison took the glass out the front door and dumped the small critter out. It wasn’t until a bit of research that we both felt better knowing Orinoco’s tail would eventually grow back, and obviously I felt better knowing my room was critter free for the night.