MAYAN RUINS at EK BALAM & 3 epic CENOTES

I feel good! We're up for Oh yeah, before dawn. I'm Katrina. Yeah, it's early. We're going to jump on the ferry, head over, grab our transport and go to Ekpalaum and a couple cenotes. We have made it to the ruins of Ekpalaum. When you come in, you've got to buy two different tickets. You have to buy your ticket and then you have to buy your government fee. But here at Ekpalaum, nicely, you can buy them both at that little window. We're going to go to the cenote a little later after we see the ruins. Ruins. Runs. Oh, you need a redneck now. We're going to see some runs. So that is a big old tom turkey right here at the ruins of Ekpalaum. And he looks like he does not want me to get any closer. So I'm going to get a little closer. Look at that dude. When he attacks me and I scream and run away like a little kid, you can all laugh. Oh, look at that guy up there. Triguanas. And that looks like something we can climb. So we have almost the entire site of Ekpalaum pretty much to ourselves. See, he puts me on the spot and then I'm like, one plus one is two. It's so nice here today. Oh, I didn't do an intro this morning. Oh no. Buenos dias, good morning, and hello. Mike and Katrina are hiding over there being camera shy, but don't worry. We'll film them more while they're sleeping. This site is immaculate and beautiful. My favorite word. And it's cloudy, so it's cool. Okay, that breeze feels good. I know. Now we know that Kate likes this place because there is an iguana. There's 106 steps to the top. It's a challenge. We've got to take it. No time like the present. Music Oh, look at that. Hello, iguana. Hello, iguana, how are you? Katie wishes you a long and happy life. You're welcome. This site is amazing. Look at these two. Hi. I'm going to slow-mo you guys. Mike. Then they'll watch the video and be like, why aren't we in it? We recorded this all damn day. Music Here we are on the second top. I see over there. That's that big, awesome, giant one. What do you think your first mind ruins? Awesome. Miguel, it's the coolest thing I've ever been on. It's very tiring. That one was way easier than that one over there. This is a really awesome little ruin area. Beautiful. Pretty impressed with the renovation efforts they're making. How would you compare this to Chichen Itza? Oh, it doesn't compare. They're just wall-to-wall tourists. Like us? Yeah. And vendors. It's just here it's more authentic. Yeah, the lack of vendors. There's a couple out front. There's some guides offered, but it's not intrusive at all. We're going to go to Cenote Iscanche. It's a one and a half kilometer walk down this trail. It's 50 pesos per person. We'll catch you on the end of the road. Music Okay, that sign if you look at it says the cenote is one meter. One meter. That's right there. Are we there yet? So Mike and Katrina said they wanted to do stuff their kids hadn't done. So I don't think Serena and Alyssa have hiked 1.5 kilometers through the Yucatan to get to the Iscanche. I'll put it down below. Cenote Iscanche. Well there we have it. That's right. Eat your hearts out kids. They're passing you up and getting sunburned. Check this place out. Apparently they got a zip line too because I just heard somebody scream. There's a zip line. There's the cenote. Wow. Look at all the swallows. Golondrinas. Hello. We'll be taking the stairs down. Wise choice. Oh, it's right there. Oh wow. Look at that bird. What is that? Look at that. That's gorgeous. Super cool. Very cool. Oh, you're videoing. I can't get used to this. You guys are going the long way. I'm going the short way. That's much better. Katrina. Katrina. Katrina. And the guy's stuck on a rope. So all along the roof of this cavern are swallow nests. I like this place because there's not a lot of people in it. And it's peaceful. You can sit and watch the swallows and all the birds. It's right up there with towards the top are my favorites. Alright, that was awesome. We just came up that way which is every bit as steep as it looks if not more so. We went down originally over there the sissy way. Definitely worth the 50 pesos. Alright, we're going to try to see if we can see these blue birds. They are gorgeous. I'll look up later what they are. Alright, we're back on the kilometer and a half walk back to the van to go get some lunch. Oh wait, I already said that. There's the van. We made it back safe. Barely. Everybody's macking meat. The little village we just went through. Apparently it's famous for smoked meats. Reviews? Excellent. Fabulous. So we're in the colonial city of Valladolid. What's he taking a picture of? Oh yeah, that. We are going to rustle up some street food. Yes. We are determined to get these guys sick before they leave. Yes. Okay, maybe not. Only the best street food. We're taking them here to El Tigre Taqueria. We had tacos here last time and they were the best tacos I've had in all of Yucatan. Tres. You good? Let's see how Mike likes these. These are polcanes. It's a masa bread. It's made out of corn. We've got cochinita pibil, habanero sauce. Muy bien. Muy rico. Oh my god, that's good. That's even better than the tacos. It's like shoving cochinita pibil in cornbread. It's fantastic. This is right on the main plaza in Valladolid. Right at the tourist information office. You can see they've got all sorts of great little stands set up out here. The colonial charm of Valladolid is definitely hard to beat. So we've got actually Cenote Xquiken and Cenote Zamula. Hey, we've got steps going down. Always a good sign when you're looking for the Mayan underworld. Gracias. I think we're going down there. To the underworld we go. It smells all cave-y. Oh wow, this is beautiful. We can even hear bats. On episode one of spelunking and flip-flops, I fall and die. I don't think there'll be an episode two. We're making our way to Cenote Zamula. Zamula. We've got people following us. They've been following us for a while. Kind of creeping me out. That's what I do, it creeps me out. Friend visitor. Walk easily. Absolutely gorgeous one. Wow. We look right up there. There's little statues. This nice lady behind me came up and showed me. Those are called Aleutian. They are the guardians of the cenote. Much like Rocket and Star-Lord, the guardians of the galaxy. These places are just absolutely incredible. I'm really floored. We've been to quite a few cenotes and these are, I would say, the most beautiful ones we've been to yet. My gut is feet-cleaned by giant freaky black catfish. I'd say this place was beautiful. I need to say a different word right now. Probably not Cenote Salami. Not entirely sure. Wait! It's Cenote Zamula. That was awesome. Definitely recommend this park, even though I usually don't like the touristy ones, but this one is fantastic. Now we're going to go back to the van. Probably go find some food. What do you think? Find some food? I could eat. I could definitely eat. So as you noticed, we're sitting in Puerto Juarez getting ready to head back over there. Over there. Like right there. To Isla Mujeres. After an awesome day. We ate well. We're going to head back over to the island so this will be good night and farewell on this day.