Near Valladolid

Monday December 22…11:30pm

We left the Merida RV park at 8:00am. The rent lady never did show up. So we paid approximately $21.00 for the first night, and got 2 nights free. At $7.00 per night, we figure we got fair value.

We took the ring road around Merida and exited towards Cancun. As we exited, we noticed a hotel on the right hand side that advertised trailer camping. We didn’t stop in, but wished we had known that there might have been other overnight possibilities. We continued on to the Chitzen Itza ruins. This is the largest ruin site in the Yucatan, and is the one most attended by the tourists from the Cancun area. We arrived there at around 10:00am, slightly before the throngs or tourists arrived by the busload. It’s just my personal opinion, but the touristy ruins that have been renovated don’t appeal to me. I like the more undiscovered and undeveloped sites. So I didn’t pay the 108 pesos ($10.26 CAN, $8.21 US) and Ruth went in with Steve and Glen. She said that even with all the people, she was glad she saw it. I had fun sitting watching the tour buses come in one after the other. A motorhome is not a common sight around here, and there were a lot of people staring and pointing and mentioning the license plate “Ontario”.

Ruth standing in front of El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza

Part of the Group of a Thousand Columns at Chichen Itza

The back or side view of the Temple of Warriors and Group of a Thousand Columns

We stopped in at the Stardust hotel and the Piramide hotel in Piste, just outside of the ruins. They both advertise camping. The Stardust site was in really poor condition, and may not even be operating. The Piramide hotel allows you to park in front of the hotel right by the road, and so it would be really noisy. They do have a pool area in the back that is quite nice though. At 150 pesos, we decided to continue on.

I had found a website that spoke of a cenote (cave and water system) that had been developed into a swimming hole and had washroom and shower facilities. It said they had a campground with 40 sites. We found the Suytun de Mendoza cenote just after Valladolid, and before Ticuch. It is really nice, except the campground hadn’t been developed yet! Once again, a lot of the information we find is not accurate.

However, the couple who run this place are really nice, and have made us very welcome. For 50 pesos ($4.75 CAN, $3.80 US) per couple, we are allowed to park overnight, use the cenote for swimming, and have complete run of the grounds. They have horses here, and have told us there are ruins on another ranch 3 km’s away that we can ride to. They also have bicycles for rent. They introduced us to their night manager, Phillipe and his wife, who have 9 children!

Hammocks outside of the door of Sherman at the Suytun Cenotes

Sherman Parked for the night or a few!

So we will spend at least one night, and maybe more.

Total nights sleeping in a motorhome…425

December Fuel $275.50 CAN

December Grocery $208.84 CAN

December Overnight costs $ 99.20 CAN