We headed 190 miles east to Valladolid. The town had charm. So many colors dancing by. A tad hyper. Well in fact totally packed. All the one way streets barely moving. So when Terry accidentally turned toward a wrong way approach, catching himself and swerving right back into his approach, a cop caught up to our car on foot. Terry steeled himself to play the role of indignant tourist. This really is not a role for him, but it was suggested by a a classmate from the language school. To my surprise, Terry mastered the role and the police pair let us off with a warning. This whole unpleasant encounter would have benefited by having fluency in Spanish. That’s next years goal.
Despite having poor directions to our Airbnb, we found it. Most of our trip seemed predicated on luck. Our frequent exclaim was “Wow how did find this?”
According to the host we were lucky to be there at this time because there was a fiesta going on in the park next to us. All we could hear was the testing of a speaker at full volume ripe with distortion and screeching audio feedback. “Nice. Buena Suerte.”
We enter the inner garden of our abode: cool muted noise. We look forward to pool. It did resemble the picture but miniaturized. Quaint feature indeed. The room was calming. All in all a good find. The speaker noise drifted in. But what the hay?
From the cool sanctuary of the inner garden to the street hit us with a blast of heat and noise. We had been desensitized in Merida by the pounding bass of Cross Fit Gym right across the street from our apartment. This assured us that in short order, we would be acclimated.
We found the restaurant the host recommended. It was on the corner of two bustling streets. Nice open windows helping to usher in the rumble of motorcycles and the waft of exhaust. Aside from the need to yell to be heard, it soon became background buzz.
Back to our park. The wild speakers were replaced by a religious ceremony. And at the main square we were treated to the local folkloric dancing. Between sets all the dancers ran to the side of their stage. One of the female dancers couldn’t button her skirt and three male dancers were pulling her sash in opposite directions. Suck it in. Hold your breath and dance. Amazing!
People we out on the streets throughout the town. We headed back. The religious ceremony had ended and the speaker distortion return. The windows rattled in our room. We fell asleep immediately after exclaiming, how will we ever sleep?
About an hour later, we woke to a resounding boom. And then the tat, tat, tat of an automatic weapon. What the? It was fireworks. OK let’s sleep.
Mountain Peace 