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Our first real stop in Mexico was in Valladolid, about two hours inland from Cancun by bus. Valladolid is the third largest city in the state of Yucatan, one of the three states that makes up Yucatan peninsula. Established by the nephew of the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Montejo in 1543, the town was named after the Valladolid that was then the capital of Spain.

Like so many colonial Mexican towns, life revolves around a central square, and here it’s called Parque Francisco Cantón Rosado. Pretty pastel buildings surround the square and line an avenue, the Street of the Friars, leading toward the lovely 16th century Convent of Sisal.

We only found a couple restaurants we really liked in Valladolid, but they were both quite nice. No problem: For three days here, we just rotated each day which one to do for lunch and which for dinner. We ate well (and cheaply) and enjoyed a great local musician on a couple nights.

Valladolid boasts several cenotes, including one right smack in the middle of town, just three blocks from the central square. What, you may ask, is a cenote? According to Wikipedia, it is a “natural pit, or sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath.” In practical terms, they are really cool places to swim, often very cave-like, extremely deep, with bright green water. Of the thousands of cenotes in the world, about half are in the Yucatan peninsula.