Arriving in Valladolid

The flight to Cancun was crowded with chavs and their screaming children. The bloke next to me drank a whole bottle of vodka, and the aisle to my other side was full of toddlers constantly running into each other and the air stewardesses. The only thing that got us through the hideous flight was the hope that these people had no intention of seeing Mexico, and we would soon be leaving them in their all inclusive hotels in Cancun. We plugged in our headphones, turned them up as loud as they would go and looked forward to touching down in sunny Mexico.

We landed in rainy Mexico eleven hours later. We shrugged off the weather thinking a little bit of wind and rain couldn't possibly ruin our plans. The lady reaching for her hand luggage, which was clearly a wedding dress in a box, didn't look so optimistic. The two hour drive to Valladolid was a bit hazardous in the pouring rain. Having read reports on the terrible condition of Mexican roads, our eyes were trained on Highway 180 looking for any sign of potholes disguised as puddles.

It was my brilliant navigation skills that secured our arrival to Vallodolid at six in the evening. The streets in the town were numbered, and although I don't always know my left from right, luckily I can count quite well. We didn't stay long in our room in the Ecotel Quinta Regina as we wanted to head into town while it was still light to get our bearings. The pavements were really narrow, so we walked single file towards the centre and soon arrived at the main plaza.

Valladolid church

We didn't even manage a full lap of the square before we were sitting outside at a bar. Richard enjoyed his first Cerveza of the holiday and I drained the first of many glasses of wine. Suddenly we were surrounded by police who were closing off the roads around the plaza. At first we thought we were being kettled, but we soon realised there was nothing to worry about as a band sparked up and people started dancing in the car-free roads. It appears Sunday night is for dancing in Valladolid! We watched them for hours and took a liking to a couple of ladies in traditional Mayan dress who danced like no one was watching - except I was actually filming them.