Day 24: Izamal to Piste

January 22, 2026

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The Rinconada del Convento is a little more attractive that the San Miguel. Especially the area by the breakfast patio has good landscaping and a view of the Convent:

They advertised breakfast starting at 7:00, but at 6:59 the breakfast area was a morgue. As often happens, when they say 7:00, that is the start time of the staff. That staff, if they come on time, may start to chop the fruits and mix the pancake batter, but that is not necessarily when your order will be taken and when action on it will begin. Sure enough, the breakfast lady arrived at exactly 7:00, but wow, was she fast. In short order this fresh fruit salad landed in front of us:

And soon, the eggs and toast:

We had the bikes all packed before 7, so right after we had eaten, we were off.

The town of course still featured its signature yellow buildings:

And I noticed the multicolours of the Bougainvillea:

We were out of town quickly, and on roads that generally looked like this through the day:

We passed one large smokestack, by a place labelled Hacienda Balantun. This is obviously a former henequen estate, from an age gone by.

We made a stop at Tunkas, where we did not find the colourful big sign, so here it is - Tunkas!

In the square, by the school, we found students marching stiffly up and down:

We also saw that the square was being prepared as a bull ring:

This wall was very sturdy and I couldn't flex it at all.

Putting two and two together, I went and asked the kids' teacher if their marching had something to do with the obviously upcoming bull festival, and putting words in her mouth I suggested the kids would be a marching band. Since this was all in gestures and pigeon Spanish, I decided she was agreeing with me, and that my theory was correct. But for all I really know, the kids were being prepared to defend the northern border.

Naturally I ducked into the church, to see what unique artifacts they might have on display.

Church of Santo Tomás de Apóstol, in Tunkás.The church dates back to the 17th century.

Inside, as is common for the region, it's quite plain.

But they did have Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores), an image of the Virgin Mary depicted with a sorrowful expression and a heart pierced by a sword.

Here we have a slightly more normal virgin.

And a baby Jesus who as with many in statues, has learned the correct hand gesture. This is a really common statue, often used in home or office. By rights as Our Lady of Candelaria, she should be holding candles.

To build up our strength for the fairly long remaining ride, we had water with some remaining Marnie salts, and also Oreos. We usually stick with treats boasting three black marks against them, but Oreos is a four mark powerhouse. It does it by adding the excess saturated fats!

The area around Tunkas yielded not many, but a few good birds. We take this one to be a common in US but rare here Eastern Phoebe:

There were also some impressive hawks:

I guess they would be after the likes of this scared looking White Winged Dove (Hawks vs Doves!).

To add to the political flavor of things, also had a Cuckoo!

Tomorrow we will shift just to the other side of famous Chichen Itza and go to the cenote near there. Then next day it's bird watching on the Hacienda Chichen grounds, before making a long dash for Valladolid!

Today's ride: 72 km (45 miles)
Total: 908 km (564 miles)

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