Glen's conference officially ended at breakfast as the group divided. Some took the early bus from the Mayaland Resort to Cancun to catch flights home while others lingered to do a final tour. We were in the latter group so said good-bye to friends in the former before packing up to leave.
To beat the hordes of tourists from Cancun, we boarded the bus early and drove to the Balancanche Cave. We arrived just as it opened so were the first group into the caverns that day. We had been warned by others that it was a 'hot' cave and quite unlike any other we'd been in. After winding our way through the jungle (Yucatan is a mid-canopy rainforest), we descended steep steps into the cave. It was well-lit and had Mayan drums and songs playing. The cavern was alive with bats who didn't seem bothered by us or the lights and music. Most of the gravel path was easily traversed and where steep stairs cut the rock, there were ropes to cling to.
A narrow tunnel connected the two main caverns and in the second was the outstanding 'tree of life' formed by the meeting of stalactites and stalagmites. Surrounding the formation were offerings to the rain god, Tlaloc, which consisted of some unusually decorated pots.
At this point, the cave became very hot--not so much in heat but in oppressive humidity. My camera lens fogged as did my glasses whenever we stopped moving. The path led deeper into the cave so we descended the narrow steps down to the final cavern. Here was the source of the humidity, a large pool of water. Beside it were offerings which included hundreds of small stone maize grinders.
By this time, we were dripping wet, literally, from the humidity. I've never experienced that before. Since we were the last of our group to leave the cave, it was eerie having the place to ourselves.
Our next stop was the Cenote Ik kil (Sacred Blue Cenote). This was an obvious tourist stop but again we were the first to arrive. The pool of clear water was about 25 meters below the surface and the waters were at least 40 meters deep. Long roots dangled down from the lip and fly-catchers darted among them. Most of the group swam but Glen had a plugged ear from Saturday's swim and I was suffering from my heat rash so neither of us wanted to chance it. I thought I would regret this decision but in the end preferred photographing the cenote to swimming in it.
As we left, several tour buses disgorged hundreds of tourists. It was so nice to have had the cenote to ourselves and enjoy its wonders.
We then stopped at the colonial town of Valladolid for lunch. Sheilah recommended a good place and the whole bus decided to eat there. The staff at El Meson del Marquez were overwhelmed so lunch took much longer than expected. From the authentic Yucatan cuisine menu, Glen had baby shark (dogfish) pie while I had a chicken dish. We sat with friends and Jennifer also had the chicken dish while her husband, Neil, and Morris (of scorpion fame) had Cochinita Pibil.
I wish I could remember the name of what I ate but it came in a huge soup bowl. The base of this stew was corn pureé loaded with pieces of chicken. Garnishing it was a mix of salsa, olives, capers and almonds. Glen's dish was shark between two tortillas garnished with a shiny green habanero pepper. Before I could warn him, Glen popped the pepper into his mouth. I have never seen his face so red. He washed it down with cerveza (beer) but it was several minutes before he could talk. The rest of us could not stop laughing as Morris dubbed him, The Habanero Kid.
We bought Glen a lovely Mexican shirt in a nearby Mexican artisan store while our friends, Janet and Iain, debated laying down $8500.00 on a sculpture of a sitting girl. They left without the purchase but I think they will buy it eventually.
The bus ride back was very quiet. Everyone slept! Hey, we are mostly older people who had had a great meal with drinks. Besides, the scenery we passed was much like Canada's boreal forest--one bores of it quite quickly.
We ended the day having supper with Neil and Jennifer--something I thought I might miss when my heat rash flared making me nauseous about an hour before we were to meet them. Glen helped by laying cold cloths on my ankles which took down the swelling and lowered my fever. But, for the first time in my life, I could not look at a beer so had a margarita on the rocks.
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