My bus journey from Palenque/Chiapas took me first to the beautiful and quiet town of Mérida. Besides Valladolid, Mérida is a nice starting point for trips to the surrounding area. For example, excursions to one of the numerous Mayan ruins (e.g. Chichen Itza), to the countless cenotes or to the flamingos and pink lakes in Las Coloradas. Organised tours to the latter place are usually expensive, but it is still quite easy to do the whole thing independently. In the following, I will briefly discuss the journey from Mérida as well as from Valladolid. By the way, both are also possible as a day tour.Â