Before finally leaving the beautiful town of Mérida for Valladolid, I thought it would be fitting to frequent Marlin Azul for a third and final time. Taking some new friends from the hostel we went all out with ceviche and tacos and fish fillets. Muy deliciosa!!

Teamed up with Carlos who was also leaving for Valladolid and was excited to hear that I was also keen to venture to the pink lakes of Las Coloradas. By the time we checked into Hostel Candelaria it was getting late but we decided to go for a walk around. It’s a pretty small town but it was absolutely dead. This could be because of the pending presidential election and that nowhere was allowed to sell any alcohol. People weren’t even out eating, I mean if they couldn’t drink why bother going out at all.  We almost called it a night when we heard the Convent de San Bernardino de Siena would display a light and sound show.

The English version wasn’t supposed to start for another hour so we killed a bit of time before it started by checking out the local street food. No surprises here I went for a marquesita but also thought it was high time I tried Dorilocos, translates to Crazy Doritos. No photo for you unfortunately as my fingers got so messy chowing down but imagine a packet of Doritos, cut down the side and inside adding corn kernels, salsa…picante of course, cheese, maybe some peanuts and there you go you just eat straight out of the packet! Sounds horrendous but soooooo good), and sooooo healthy 😉 What nutrition certificate!?

The display was incredible and depicted the Mayan origins of the city, hard to capture but amazing detail.

We met another girl in the hostel that was keen to come on our mission to the mysterious pink lakes and we tried to see if we  could find a car rental place but unfortunately one did not exist in the sleepy town of Valladolid. Next option was to work out the bus schedule to get from Valladolid to Tizimin, Tizimin to Rio Largatos and the from there to Los Coloradas. We couldn’t have got more perfect timing for each bus and only had to wait 5 minutes in between changes. But without knowing we were lucky to get the last morning bus from Tizimin to the lakes otherwise we would have been stuck in this nothing town for 3 or 4 hours. So the journey took us about 2.5 hours and we arrived at the most incredible scene. White sandy trails lead through a series of lakes that are dredged for salt. Some of these lakes are pink due to red-colored algae, plankton, and brine shrimp that thrive in the salty environment. As the water evaporates, these organisms become more concentrated, glimmering pink in the bright Mexican sunlight. With white fluffy clouds in the sky the photo opportunities were unbelievable.

Fun fact, Flamingos are pink because they eat these pink creatures. Normally they are white and change colour due to eating these.

We paid our $50 pesos to the guide as they no longer let people get in the water so they have to accompany you as you walk through to get some more photos. The sun was getting pretty high and hot by this stage but I read somewhere that the pinkness increases due to the hot temperatures. So we braved a bit more and tried to get creative.

Not wanting to wait around too long in the hot mid afternoon sun until 3pm we hitched a ride (sorry Grandma I broke our rule) back to Rio Largatos and tried to find some lunch. Settling on a place on the waterfront I went for the fish fillet stuffed with prawns and shared some ceviche. Lucky again with our bus changes we were soon back in Valladolid…Mission Complete!!

After an eventful day exploring the next day was more relaxed, supported Carlos in his teams loss in the world cup to Brazil, checked out Cenote Zaci and ate lots of tacos, panuchoes and salbutes for lunch and dinner.

Cenote Zaci is right in the town only 5 minutes from the hostel. Also you get access all day, so can come and go as you please.

Other than reasonable access to the pink lakes there is not a lot to do in Valladolid but it’s also a great jumping point to visit one of the New Seven Wonders of the World – Chichén Itzá. By staying here you can get there nice and early before all the big tour buses arrive from the likes of Cancun, Tulum and Playa del Carmen.

Each of the Mayan ruins I have been to so far have been completely different and Chichén Itzá was out of this word. Massive symmetrical structures towered over us as we explored the area. I managed to get a couple of photos free from selfie sticks and umbrellas.

The place was starting to fill up with tourists and the vendors were getting pushy with their tactics to entice you over to buy their souvenirs, “only $1 only $1” was common, “almost free, almost free” was more common. Having quite enough and with no intentions to buy any magnets, jaguar whistles or shot glasses we made our way back to Valladolid. Finished off the day with a refreshing swim back at Cenote Zaci and some cold cervezas. With the election now over we found a cool rooftop to enjoy some happy hour specials, beers by the bucket load.

I really enjoyed my days here in this pretty, pastel coloured colonial town but certainly getting excited to get back to the Caribbean coast and some serious beach time.