January 5, 2026
Day 7: Leona Vicario to Tres Reyes
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We were up quite early this morning, but this shot of the moon is not a result of that. Rather, it was hanging up there quite late, catching our attention.
The real show began only at 8, when our hosts brought out breakfast for us to eat in the palapa in the garden. Dodie got the yogurt and fruit, and was happy with it, but I think my egg plate was really super. The little pancakes at the bottom were thin and a little crispy, like crepes, so I suspect it was the Swiss born host that prepared this, rather than his Mexico city born wife. Another clue to this was that she had time to chat with us, prior to the appearance of breakfast.
In the chat, after the mandatory review of US politics, she mentioned that some of the work on this lovely property had been done by workers from Cancun, who lived in the favelas (slums) on the edge of town. She remarked on how they did lovely work here for her, but for themselves they were content to live in tumble down shacks with no doors.
We left the lovely Paradise, with lots of good feeling all round. Another year, we will be sure to put it on our list of stops. But we will book directly, rather than with Booking. The lady pointed out that Booking skims 35% from her revenue. Booking will come up again in a not good light toward the end of this post.
Back in the little town of Leona Vicario, we stopped by one of the many abarrotes (mini supermarket).
Dodie came out with a surprising item for this remote place and for the very small store.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 2 | Link |
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
We also got super local product, like this tray of fruit.
Our route passed through several tiny towns, but in each there were good supplies, especially of food, if needed.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We came to what could have been one of the few hills in Yucatan, but actually it was an overpass for the Tren Maya. Looking down on the right of way, it looks like a big investment has been made in this tourist idea.
We entered the tiny town of El Tintal, and took a seat at stone tables in the shady central square. I felt we had been here before, but it was just that the elements around such a square are very common - a sort of city hall, fruit and other produce stores, maybe a church. What we spotted of most interest, since it was about noon, was a sort of restaurant - or maybe just a lady making food. Not that there was any signage. We sent Dodie over, and soon the lady was making empanadas for us - and for a lot of others too. It was fascinating to watch:
Our next stop was for a photo of the attractive little church, and then we were out of town!
Our road for some time beyond El Tintal continued as it had been since Leona Vicario - a narrow track through the jungle, but with more traffic than you would expect.
Things changed when we made the turn for Coba. Now traffic was much less, and for half the distance there was a bikeway of sorts. We tried it, but gave up because it was rougher than the regular road.
Eventually we reached the super tiny Tres Reyes, and turned off into the jungle for a short bit. Our road ended in front of what we assumed was our booked accommodation - at a place called Ka'an Serenity. It was a walled enclosure, with a beautifully carved door. We rang a bell and a man came, but looked puzzled when we announced our name and why we were there. He went away, but fairly soon another man arrived on a motorbike. The short story is that this was indeed Ka'an Serenity, but they had no Booking for us, despite the fact that we had paid in advance though Booking, last month. Out here in the jungle, there was no service on our phone, so we could not phone Booking to see what was going on. But man #2 told us they had cancelled their Booking affiliation last month, because of the too high fees.
We had given Booking 1500 pesos for this, but we agreed to pay 1200 pesos right now, and we would fight with Booking later. And so we were in - to a super gorgeous property, with six or eight highly designed new age type multi story structures, beautiful landscaping, and a crystal clear pool maintained by salt chlorine generation.
The buildings had high quality woodwork and decoration throughout, often with eastern religious themes, or Mayan themes. The room we were given was huge, with two large beds, and as I say, quality carved woodwork.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Here are some views of some of the other structures and decorations:
I had thought we were alone in the place, with Daniel mentioning that the owner was an American, and that he seldom comes here. But then I spied the lady in the photo above, or she spied me. She is the wife of the owner, or I guess, an owner as well. I met both husband and wife, and had a nice chat. The man said he had cycled Santiago de Compostella from St Jean Pied de Port, twice I think, so you can imagine that between that and the "meaning of life", the chat lasted a while. The "meaning of life" came up as the man asked why we were cycling so much. Of course, Grampies have a blog on that very subject (Grampies Search for the Meaning of Life), and the man in turn had created this sanctuary and had some ideas as well. Dodie had to call out (somewhat peevishly) that it was time to come identify our day's birds. The couple invited us to dinner, but had we accepted we would be chatting yet, and what about those birds!
About those birds then, we had a great day. We made photos of twelve different species (only) but seven of those were new for this year. Among those were the dramatic Turquoise Browed Motmot:
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 2 | Link |
3 weeks ago
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 1 | Link |
2 weeks ago
Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 194 km (120 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 11 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |