Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with my three bags swinging. I must have looked like a panicky St. Nick running after his
sleigh. The bus stopped at the gate. I arrived, huffing and puffing. The door opened and I
got on. It was air-conditioned. "20 pesos," the driver said.
In less than an hour we arrived in Valladolid. The bus station was only three blocks from
this colonial town's main square. I checked the bus schedule. Three hours was enough
time to have lunch, visit the city, see San Bernadino de Sisal Convent and the Zaci grotto
and
cenote
.
The main plaza looked attractive. Lunch was eaten under the arches next to the City Hall.
I ordered a cold beer and
comida
(the meal of the day), breaded beef, rice, beans, tomato
and lettuce.
In the City Hall, I found murals depicting the Mayan conquest, enslavement and ultimate
liberation. They were educational, vividly colorful and dramatic, but not fine art.
I hailed a taxi. We agreed on $10 for one hour, just enough time to visit the convent, the
grotto and
cenote
and then to drop me at the Oriente Bus Depot. Both sites were within
walking distance, but in opposite directions. I didn't want to retrace my footsteps, and be-
sides, I was tired of feeling like a pack mule.
The cabbie drove down Calzada de Los Frailes to the giant, high-walled San Bernardino
de Sisal convent. Like Mani, it was imposing, built to be a church and a convent and to be
self-sufficient. It appeared unchanged since its founding in 1552. My first thought was,
"This was a fortress." Its façade was a checkerboard pattern devoid of any religious sym-
bols or art. The church was closed. In the rear, there is an ancient, once mule-powered,
water wheel where if you looked down, you could see an underground stream.
San Bernardino is one of the examples where Spanish exploitation and Franciscan ministry
collided. Franciscans purposely founded their convent away from the Spanish settlers.
(This was also true in San Francisco, California, where the mission and the Presidio were
built miles apart.) Spanish hacenderos needed labor and resented the Franciscans.
The taxi crossed town and took me to the Zaci grotto and
cenote
. I entered a cavern, fol-
lowed a trail a short distance and found the still-water
cenote. Cenotes
are natural wells,
sink holes that have caved in and exposed underground rivers, a main source of water for
the Mayans.
