Ruined by the Ruins and Delectable Meal

We woke up to the sound of the rooster crowing. Today - find a combi to take us out to Ek- Balam...ruins just to the north  30-40 K. from Valladolid. We had a fabulous breakfast included in the price of our hotelito ($900P/night).

For us, always get an early start to visit ruins and you will beat other visitors every time. But, not many people show up at Ek-Balam anyway as they all head to Chichen.
We were the only two passengers in the combi..which turned out to be a car that could maybe hold 4 people if they were all exremely small. 
Driving to Ek-Balam, we saw the furniture makers in Temozon working alongside the road...sure would like to stop and buy a wooden chair or two. 
Comparatively speaking, the ruins of Ek-Balam are not massive and don't take a long time to view, but the impressive thing is how well-preserved the structures and the friezes are.  

At the top of the Acropolis...climb at your own risk.

What you see is almost exactly as it was back in the 9th century! I read where 92% of the ruins are in their original state. I guess you could say they had to re-touch/recreate the other 8%. They have parts of the ruins covered by large palapas to preserve them, and you cannot touch them. But, you can climb to the very top of the Acropolis where you can see El Castillo over at Chichen way off in the distance to the west/southwest. 

Teeth in the mouth leading to the tomb of the 9th century King Tok

We did quite a lot of climbing and walking through the grounds where we also saw beautiful pairs of motmots in the trees, and what I thought may have been flycatchers. We both thought viewing the ruins was well worth the time and not many pesos required.

Remember me saying 4 small people could ride in the taxi? When we got ready to head back to Valladolid, we rode back with a couple from Holland. They were actually world cruisers on a 38' boat temporarily docked in Cancun. (None of us were small!) Was an enjoyable ride back talking about their adventures. Politics was avoided but the man made a statement to the effect of it was a sad state of world affairs, but it wasn't the people of the world - we all want and generally do get along with each other just fine - it's leaders and govts. that create the hate, distrust, and war/fighting. So true and well said! 

We did some relaxing by the pool and went into Centro where we found a super duper our kind of store - they sold chocolates. We sampled cacao with just about every spice you can imagine mixed in - all delicious. Chile, cinnamon, cafe...about 20 in all. We settled on some 100% cacao for the chocolate aficionado in us, and went out on a limb with the chocolate w/ xbenatun (a local liquor made from anise).

Pollo Diablo

Our Serious Waiter Preparing Tableside...I did get a big smile out of him

Terry's Pan de Cazon (shark meat layered in a type of bread similar to tortillas with a rich sauce

We finished our day with one of the best meals ever at the open air courtyard restaurant of the Meson del Marques. Terry had the pan de cazon and I went all out for the Diablo (flaming) Pollo w/ a creamy sauce of Xbenatun, tequila and white wine. We ended the night with wine poolside.  
Tonight, we went to sleep with the sweet sound of the rooster crowing.