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| The Cathedral of San Servacio O Gervasio |
We said our goodbyes to Ek Balam and wandered our way over to an old Spanish Colonial Town. Valladolid is apparently one of 83 towns that the Mexican government calls "Magical Towns". From what I could find out, the Mexican government has a program called "Magical Towns". The idea is to promote the town and tourism. A town is considered "magical" if it reaches certain requirements. I found the requirements on this website: http://www.mayan-yucatan-traveler.com/valladolid-mexico.html
Here are the requirements:
- It must be a small town with a rich historical tradition.
- It must be close to other tourist attractions or large cities.
- It must be reached through excellent highways and roads.
- And of course the locals must be willing to put in some effort and carry out the project.
Apparently Valladolid is second on that list. It was a very lovely town. We went straight to the center of town where the amazing cathedral is. We were able to go into the cathedral and take as many pictures as we liked but were reminded to be reverent as it is still a functioning church for the local population.
As for the history of Valladolid, that was highly interesting.....It was founded in 1543 by Francisco de Montejo (the nephew) and he established Spanish rule in most of the Yucatan peninsula. And keeping in tradition of building temples over existing temples when you conquer, the Spanish built their cathedral right on top of old Pagan temples. Valladolid used to be a Mayan town by the name of Zaci, which apparently means "White Hawk", and the stones from the Mayan city were used to build the colonial buildings. The main park is right across the street from the cathedral and it is called, Park Francisco Canton Rosado. Valladolid was a part of both the Caste War in 1847 and the Mexican Revolution in 1910.
I found this interesting tidbit on Wiki:
Named after Valladolid, at the time the capital of Spain, the first Valladolid in Yucatán was established by Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Montejo's nephew on May 27, 1543 at some distance from the current town, at a lagoon called Chouac-Ha in the municipality of Tizimin. However, early Spanish settlers complained about the mosquitos and humidity at the original location, and petitioned to have the city moved further inland.
On March 24, 1545, Valladolid was relocated to its current location, built atop a Maya town called Zaci or Zaci-Val, whose buildings were dismantled to reuse the stones to build the Spanish colonial town. The following year the Maya people revolted, but were put down with additional Spanish troops coming from Mérida.
Valladolid had a population of 15,000 in 1840. In January 1847, the native Mayans rioted, killing some eighty whites and sacking their houses. After a Mayan noble was shot by firing squad, the riot became a general uprising. It was led by Jacinto Pat, batab of Tihosuco and by Cecilio Chi of nearby Ichmul.[3] The city and the surrounding region was the scene of intense battle during Yucatán's Caste War, and the Latino forces were forced to abandon Valladolid on March 14, 1848, with half being killed by ambush before they reached Mérida. The city was sacked by the Maya rebels but was recaptured later in the war.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Valladolid was the third largest and most important city of the Yucatán Peninsula, (after Mérida and Campeche). It had a sizable well-to-do Criollo population, with a number of old Spanish style mansions in the old city. Valladolid was widely known under its nickname The Sultana of the East.
Naturally, I explored every inch of the cathedral and park. I took pictures of every statue, nook, and cranny in the cathedral. I tried to look up the cathedral online but couldn't find much. I was curious to find out what each of the statues represented. I'll keep digging around...Nathan says we can try doing a reverse image search. If anyone reading this blog has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.
I did find out a little about the cathedral. Construction started in 1543. It was first dedicated to the Assumption of our Lady but then after the conquerors arrived, it was renamed to San Gervasio. It is one of the oldest churches in the new world.
Here are the pictures I took of the outside.
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| The poor and the crippled gather on the steps to beg for money. |
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| View of the cathedral from the public bathroom that still cost five pesos and had no toilet paper!! |
There were many statues and alcoves in the cathedral and curiosity is killing me to figure out what each statue was all about.
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| This is a mannequin. It threw me for a minute when I first saw it. |
I had an amazing experience in this cathedral. A woman came in to pray while I was wandering about snapping pictures. I noticed her but didn't think anything of it. I was reverent and moved away as to not disturb her as I could tell she was in fervent prayer. As I was walking a way, I got a very strong impression that I needed to pray for her. It puzzled me for a moment and I got the impression again that I needed to pray for her. I thought to myself, "but I don't even know who she is or what she is in need of, how can I pray for her?" And the impression came, "you need to pray for her." I found a quiet corner and prayed for her. After I finished my prayer, I realized that every time I go to the temple, I pray for strangers and I don't know what they are in need of. I have a testimony of prayer, but this experience changed it and made it stronger. I learned a valuable lesson about prayer that day, one that I will NEVER forget.
After I took all of the pictures of the cathedral I wanted, we made our way over to the park to get some Churros. I saw this guy training his dogs, it was a lot of fun to watch. He would command them all to sit and then he would walk away once he got a distance away, he would call to them and they would walk to him.
It was a lovely park with tons of birds in the trees, their chirping was almost deafening. I tried a thin, crispy waffle thing with banana's and Nutella.....it was amazing. I also got to eat the most amazing churros I've ever had the pleasure of coming across.
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| It was so good that I had to take a picture of it....I ate four of them. |
The other half of our tour group was staying in a different part of town than we were, so we met up at a gas station and played "musical cars". On our way back to our hotel room, we came upon an accident that had just barely happened. It was an auto/pedestrian accident and sadly the auto won. Crowds were gathered around and the body was just left laying unattended on the ground. It was a very sobering thing to see. I know auto/pedestrian accidents even happen here in Utah, but this one hit me really hard. We have cross walks here, we have traffic lights here, and we have laws against Jay Walking here. Down there, it's a free-for-all. It hit me just how fleeting life is. That man woke up completely unaware that it was his last day on earth. We wake up like that each day, unaware of how the events of the day will unfold. This day was a day full of wonder for me and a day that some very important truths made me a stronger and better person.
