We are on the countdown now for our departure out of Mexico and not that keen to stay in the tourist hub of Playa del Carmen for any longer than necessary (too touristy for us), so we extend our stay at Valladolid by an extra night and after the visit from Alejandro (see previous post) plan our visit to one final set of Maya ruins before leaving Mexico. Ek Balam is the Mayan city about an hour’s drive to the north and well known for its plaster sculptures and reliefs. So, after a stop at Casa de los Venados in Vallidolid  to look at the impressive Mexican folk art on display, we drive north through the villages renowned for timber craftsmanship which on display outside the houses.

Only the centre of Ek Balam has been excavated and is quite compact to walk around.  We all made it up the acropolis for the great views once more stopping half way up to see the frescoes and sculptures which are quite unique and not seen in other Mayan cities. The biggest temple has a huge ‘monster mouth’ representing a portal to the underworld.

After returning to the car park Dave quizzes one of the taxi drivers about the ‘Sweet Water’ cenote, but he doesn’t seem familiar with it basically confirming that every cenote is Agua Dulce (freshwater) so we head off to try and find it ourselves. After taking the fork in the road in the direction we think it might be we come into a little town and stop outside a shop advertising a cenote so we wind down the window and again only in Spanish, enquire about visiting the cenote.  A man comes out and gestures for us to follow him on his motorcycle about 2km down a road turning off down a dirt track and another km or so up that road.

After discovering it is a further 300 metres up a single track Dave heads off but comes back shaking his head saying that can’t be it and he doesn’t think the girls would be keen at all about getting into that one! So we pass him some pesos for his trouble and set off again back to the main road and again in the general direction that we remember seeing on the google map.

Almost giving up of ever finding it, I spot the sign in the front yard of one of the many Ranchos located along the road. Found it! We drive up the very non-descript driveway to the small cottage located next to some cattleyards where a young guy lies swinging in his hammock. There are no other cars or people around, so Dave asks him if I can see the cenote. He leads me to the side of the cottage where a set of spiral stairs descend into the ground. His house is practically over the top of it!

Dave gives us the thumbs up and we all change into our togs and enter the cenote. The spiral stairs go down about 16-17 metres to a timber and steel platform all suspended on steel cables. The cenote is completely enclosed, circular in shape, about 30-40 metres in diametre; the water is very clear and probably around 15 metres deep. There are only three smallish holes in the roof allowing shafts of sunlight into the cave which refracts when they hit the water giving fantastic light effects.

Stalactites and tree roots hang from the ceiling reaching for the water below. It was an amazing place, and so difficult for our little camera to do it justice. For an hour we float in tubes and snorkel our way around inside although the girls were a bit reluctant to get into the water perhaps because it was so dark and as usual a little on the cold side, also perhaps all this talk of the underworld made it a bit creepy for them! For us though this one was the icing on the cake as far as our cenote dipping went.

Feeling refreshed, we hop back into our trusty rental and point it towards Playa del Carmen, soon coming to the main highway only stopping to buy a hammock from shops along the way. With the girls complaining of hunger as we approach Playa (it is getting close to 7pm by this stage) we spot a McDonalds (ugghh) for dinner (we were desperate and it was an easy place to pull over to work out where we were and use the bathroom).  We eventually find our way to the beachside hotel we have booked for the final two nights in Mexico. The streets around the hotel were pedestrian only so Dave pulled over as close as he could get, the girls and I grabbed out the bags and walked the remaining two blocks while Dave searched for a carpark. After a slight mix up with the room we finally settled on a regular room with two double beds and fell into bed.

Dave continues: Later that night I began to feel unwell and when the fever hit and toilet visits began I knew it would be a long week!! (It actually took me five weeks to fully recover and I lost more than 6kgs). The next day I was just too unwell to leave the hotel room, so Sally had to take care of returning the hire car and last minute shopping. For a while, I wondered if I would be fit enough to travel the following morning and although the toilet stops continued, the fever subsided. Sally booked a taxi to take us the 45 minutes up to Cancun airport and he arrived on time the following morning. We were on our way out of Mexico and headed back to the USA for our last couple of stops before home.