Day 13: Valladolid to Tizimin

January 11, 2026

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Downtown Valladolid was quiet this morning, it being a Sunday. The empty streets seemed quite clean and tidy:

Out on the edge of town, we can see clearly that we now have our sights set on the Gulf of Mexico, with Rio Lagartos famous for flamingoes.

Itès a straight shot north for us to Rio, with a stop half way at Tizimin. The road is not as empty as this shot shows, but there is that good shoulder and not too much traffic.

The day started off very misty, something that you can see from the fact that the camera did not want to open fully for the photo above. Still, we shot some motmots:

Half way to Tizimin is the town of Temozon. Temozon seems to have a specialty of "smoked meat" (carne ahumado), which is advertised at many shops and restaurants all along the road. We negligently have never stopped to see what this is really all about, but we suspect it is not pastrami, or Montreal smoked meat.

Here is another smoked meat place. There are said to 18 shops like this along the way.

Another specialty of the town is cedar furniture.

We stopped for a rest in the Temozon central square. There are still some Christmas decorations about, and it is generally quite colourful.

The church follows the style of the other churches in the region. This time we did not check inside. I think we were already starting to feel quite hot and tired.

We made a random stop about where I snapped the photo below. Looking around we noticed a large palm tree, and this was favoured by at lot of birds.

There were two, maybe three kinds of Orioles in the tree as well. They can be quite hard to tell apart.

We noticed another type of tree along the way, usually standing alone and quite bare. I think I see the spikes on the trunk in the photo that would make it a Ceiba.

Another small stop along the way was Calotmul, which also has its central square and Spanish style church.

Outside Calotmul, a Mayan style house similar to the one preserved at Valladolid.

We had now gone far enough to be in cattle country, with the jungle left well behind. This cow on some posts signals the start of the region.

The Brahman type cattle are the most common in this region.

And here is an actual cowboy. He seemed happy to pose for the shot.

These were the type of cows this cowboy was dealing with.

We also spotted orange trees, a surprising rarity here.

This white hatted band is in keeping with Tizimin's status as a cow town.

We came in to Tizimin along very crowded and messy streets, something like the one pictured below, if you would add all sorts of jammed up cars.

We were forming an impression of Tizimin as kind of a tough town, but that was only until we bust into the central square. Now we found that we had landed right in the middle of a weeks long celebration. At first we did not know the background, but it soon made itself apparent. It was the Epiphany related celebration of the Three Kings, who are the patron saints of Tizimin.

"The Three Kings Festival in Tizimín, Yucatán, is one of the oldest and most important celebrations in southeastern Mexico, honoring the Biblical Magi (the Three Wise Men) with a mix of religious devotion, cultural traditions, and livestock exhibitions. It runs annually from December 28 to January 7, attracting over a million visitors to the city known as “La Ciudad de los Reyes” (The City of Kings).

📜 Historical Background

Origins: The festival dates back centuries, rooted in Catholic devotion to the Three Kings (Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar). Tizimín became a pilgrimage site because it houses the most important sanctuary in Latin America dedicated to them, and the second most important worldwide.
Religious Core: The images of the Three Kings are brought down on December 28, marking the start of festivities. Pilgrims from across Mexico and beyond come to venerate them.
Duration: Celebrations last until January 7 (this year, 'till Jan 19!), coinciding with Epiphany (Día de Reyes), the day traditionally associated with the Magi’s visit to the Christ child.

🎉 Festival Highlights

Religious Events:

Masses, processions, and pilgrimages centered on the sanctuary.
Devotional offerings and prayers to the Three Kings.

Cultural Traditions:

Streets decorated with colorful flags, fireworks, and music.
Traditional Yucatecan Jaranas (folk dances) performed in public squares.
Food stalls offering regional dishes like cochinita pibil and tamales.

Livestock & Commerce:

The fair doubles as a major cattle and agricultural exhibition, reflecting Tizimín’s economic base.
Farmers, artisans, and industrial exhibitors showcase their products.
It is considered the second most important fair in Yucatán, after the Feria de Xmatkuil."

We just had a peek at all the action, before going to find our booked spot. It turned out to be right in the middle of the action, and in fact a long line of people were in the street in front of our place. We later found that they were queuing to buy a sprig of greenery and then to get into the church:

"In Tizimín, Yucatán, the plant referred to as "rue" is a sprig of a green herb called ruda. This plant is used by devotees for blessings and spiritual cleansing during the annual Three Kings' Day celebration and fair.

The Role of Rue (Ruda)

Purchasing: Women typically sell sprigs of ruda near the entrance of the Sanctuary of the Three Kings (Santuario de los Tres Reyes) church.
The Ritual: Pilgrims and locals purchase the ruda and carry it into the church. Once inside, they touch the herb to the large glass cases that house the statues of the Three Kings (Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltazar), asking for healing from physical and emotional distress for themselves and loved ones.
Symbolism: The ruda is believed to help in "cleaning energy" and blessing both the individual and the patron saints' images. "

We have some photos of this, coming up.

This was our first peek at the festivities. Then we ditched our stuff and went out to mix in to it all!

A couple from the street helped us get our bikes up to the accommodation.

"La Gran Manzana" (The Big Apple) looks spartan but was actually ok.

Back out in the street now, people are taking rides on these kind of musical tour busses. This is not a "Hop On Hop Off" tourist thing, but local fun.

The first thing to spot is the coco ice cream man. The price was 1/4 that of Valladolid.

Lots of people were doing cut up fruit!

I was really tickled to find Tres Reyes key chains. I ran to get Dodie to show her, and yes, got one! But wait until you see the next bit of souvenir junk - a tee shirt!

This hapless man was just another customer, but I made him hold up a tee shirt so I could get a photo.

We bought one of these! But sadly I guessed wrong on size and it's too small. It will have to land up with a grandkid.

Another design:

Now over to the church, where people are buying those rue sprigs.

Outside you can pick up an additional blessing.

He follows up with sprinkles of holy water.

Hey look, you can also get a San Miguel (Tea towel)?

My tooth is still giving trouble, so instead of the mango flowers we went for the more mushy fries. This fries and hot dog combo is very traditional.

But these plantain chips sure look good!

We left the festivities to walk to the grocery, Soriana. This gave the opportunity to snap an old couple running a fruit stand. Mr. looks like he has pretty much had it.

At Soriana, not to press this rather distasteful topic, they had that weird meat product again. This time it was labelled - beef tripe. Ok, but I am keeping my almost 100 pesos!

The translator says Beef Tripe (Beef Belly)

Tomorrow we will head for Rio Lagartos, and a much anticipated birding tour by boat. We will stay at the lodge/restaurant of Diego Nunez a great guide that we met last two times around.

Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 374 km (232 miles)

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