We left our B&B at Santa Elena after breakfast, ready for a day of adventure in our rented car. Good thing we were ready because it was one full day. It seems that everywhere you look in this region you will spot ancient pyramid structures. The town of Izamal has 3 of them in the midst of town – it could be right beside a house!
Our first stop was at Labna, I love the ruins that are so quiet, it allows you to feel the peace, the energy, and to just listen to the birds. This is one site believed to be very important as it housed around 3,000 Mayans in the 9th centre. Don’t miss this on the Ruta Puuc as the architecture is truly Puuc style and very interesting. They were well known for their cisterns, at their peak they had 60 around the city. As many ruins as we’ve seen I’m always impressed with what they were able to do in ancient times with so few tools. There is something about wandering around these structures without crowds of people that allows you to feel the vitality of civilizations past.
Just loved the magnificent old trees, Vivi loved the natural swing!
These beautiful structures were spread over quite a large area, and they haven’t even restored it all. In 2006 they completed the restoration work we were able to see.
No, we aren’t allowed to climb on the structures, but I think sitting for a photo is okay ……
So many years later, the structural integrity of this building was still intact. The only restoration needed was in the arch and stairways. Obviously a brilliant civilization to be able to accomplish all this.
It was hard to tear ourselves away from this beautiful setting. BUT, caves are waiting!
Loltun Caves “Grutas de Loltun” were just down the road, and an amazing experience. That road though! After driving miles in the Yucatan it is so refreshing to drive down a road with something to look at – lined with lush orchards, banana and palm groves.
Yes, we are going down in there. Some of us under duress. (no, I’m not looking at you Vivi)
It is necessary to take a guided tour through the caves. Our guide, Ricardo, was full of information, including the fact that we would only be seeing 2 k of the 10 k trails. They are very protective of these caves, and understandably so as they are the most important cave system in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Can you see why we didn’t want to tell Vivi why we were so far underground? These stalactites were enormous! No stalagmites form here as the minerals get washed away during the flooding in rainy season.
This particular stalactite is hollow! The cave structure received it’s name from this. When you hit it in one area it makes a “lolllll” sound, and a second area makes the “tunnnnn” …. lollllltunnn. We were able to replicate this ourselves, and felt the reverberation right through us.
The light is coming from a hole above. Mayans didn’t live in this cave structure, but rather used it for worship, or protection from either animals or enemies. They would also use it to drive animals to it, who would then fall to their death in order to be eaten. Standing here, surrounded by energies from civilizations past, it was one of those moments both Vivi and I thought would be imprinted on us.
These hand prints on the walls are just some of the evidence found here – a treasure trove for archeological studies. Evidence has been found that has been carbon dated to over 2,200 years ago. That boggles my mind.
Same day, can you even believe it is the same day? We are off to cenotes. You know Grant, when we’ve got a rented car it is not going to sit around …..
Just outside of Izamal is a series of cenotes called Santa Barbara. In the Yucatan peninsula there are over 6,000 cenotes – natural sinkholes. They are formed when the limestone bedrock, forming the roof of an underground cavern collapses, exposes the ground water underneath. Not when a meteorite struck as some believe …..
This one in particular is fun to go to, as you can choose to walk between the cenotes, ride a bike, or get pulled by horse on a rail track. You know with Vivi we are always going to go the horse route, as with Hayley, Sloan and Stella when we were here last.
Seated on a cart, these little horses pull us along at a pretty good clip to a series of 3 cenotes.
The water is crystal clear and so refreshing.
Some cenotes have quite a large opening above to let in light, but others just have an opening large enough to have a ladder going down, and enough room to climb it!
This cenote is largely an open area, just look at the roots on the trees above us stretching for water. In rainy season they are underwater.
At long last we are ready to find a place to stay in Izamal. Only 70 k from Merida this entire historical district is painted with a bright, vivid yellow giving the city a nickname of “the yellow city”. This is a beautifully quiet little place, lovely to walk around. Right next to a home you might see the remains of a pyramid. The town centre has 3 pyramids around it that are easily accessible.
We found an amazing little B&B to stay at. Juan and his staff were amazingly friendly and attentive. Not only was the place a beautiful spot to relax, it was quirky enough to have us wandering around looking at it all!
This Franciscan monastery is at the centre of town. There are so many images of Mayan gods in the town, on the ruins, that it provoked the Spaniards to build this large structure overlooking Izamal.
These beautiful little carts and dressed up horses are available to use as a taxi, or to just have a tour of the area.
We loved this beautiful little spot! Viv and Wilson had the blue bungalow, and we had the pink.
The owner, Juan, was very friendly. This is the jungle room, and the entire room is painted like this! Incredible to view, but I’m not sure how restful ….. I might have been apprehensive about getting attacked!
And ….. that’s a wrap on a simply magical day. We finished at Kinich Restaurant, traditional Yucatecan food. This dish of chicken on a white bean puree, with tomato and nut sauce was lip smacking good. That glass of green hovering on the edge of the photo is a Chaya drink, an herb somewhat like spinach. Delicious and refreshing.
Time to return the rental car to Merida, so we headed to Progresso first for lunch, and a search for some flamingo winter resting grounds. We did find them but not close enough to be photo worthy. In spite of that, we loved seeing them in the mangrove – so beautiful and graceful. This was the moment I wished for a real camera instead of my phone! Maybe someday.
The 7 km pier at Progresso is ready to welcome cruise ships …….eek.
I don’t understand why Mike hasn’t insisted I get a selfie stick yet. Maybe because he knows Grant won’t carry it?
Crabster Restaurant – how’s this for a mile high crab & shrimp burger?
After this we returned the car to Merida, staying for one night at a slightly sketchy hotel with a quirky host …… Grant blocked the doorway with his pack! Funniest part was trying to find it, we got to the right address but no hotel. So off we went, walking down the road with our bags. Eventually I phoned the hotel and got an English accented Canadian who said “oh, are you the people with bags that were at the door”???? Should have been our first clue and kept us walking but it all adds to the adventure. Or, so I tell myself. Its time to hit the beach.
The ever present ball court …. maybe we find them so fascinating because of the soccer similarities … you can use any part of your body except your hands. Authorities are divided on whether the loser or winner was sacrificed ….. it is a great honour to be sacrificed though so I guess it is all depends on your point of view.
Yes, more ceilings …. how on earth did they do this?
Once upon a time San Pedro Cholula was a city with evident boundaries … now it is hard to tell where Puebla ends and Cholula begins. The largest pyramid (by land mass) was only discovered after the Spaniards decided to build a church on top of the best vantage point. During construction they found artifacts suggesting previous inhabitants of the land ….. sure enough, the whole hillside is a pyramid. The church remains, but it is now possible to go in through tunnels and come out the other side. Interestingly enough for me, on another of my visits to this area I discovered my little brother Bruce is afraid of heights! And this wasn’t even from a high vantage point, ha ha. Still love you anyway Bruce.
The ex-convent is a beautiful spot to tour also, huge grounds and so peaceful inside.
This large stone goes around the rocks to crush them (in this case the blue stones) and once it is a fine powder they add the water to get their colour. This stone is now powered by electricity but for years it was by a donkey going in circles. Poor guy.
This guy attentively dips every single piece into the glazing. We couldn’t believe how quickly it dried onto the pottery. After this it is ready for another firing.
First painting – then more firing. The firing changes the colour significantly – the light blue turns very strong, and the orange turns yellow.
Enchiladas tres moles. Means, enchiladas served with the 3 traditional Mole sauces – the red is Colaradito pepper sauce, the black is mole negro, made typically with leftover tortillas cooked until they are black and ash like and chocolate. The green is a pipian mole, made with pumpkin seeds. That sounds simplistic and it certainly is not a simple sauce. Each one has many many ingredients, and every cook/chef is very protective of their recipe.
Mixiote (pronounced misheeote). Really fabulous meat dish cooked low and slow in parchment paper, in this case lamb. The flavour is out of this world. In days gone by the parchment paper would have been ant larvae, but now they settle for parchment.
Tinga. Sounds easy, and looks kind of boring, but one bite and you will wake up. Honestly, so frickin delicious.
Yes, that really does say we walked 15.89 km in one day. At that rate we can eat and drink whatever we want!!
So, needless to say in Mexico, that means Churros. This place had a line up every night and it was easy to see why. Delicious, no really really delicious.
Finally made it to the front of the line.
The best …. sorry, photo is blurry.
Taken through the window, this guy works incredibly hard hand stirring this massive pot of churro dough – SUPER impressive.
If you haven’t done enough walking in a day, there are always other snacking options too ….. every street will have vendors selling fruit or vegetables. Our favourite is jicama and cucumber, sprinkled with salt, lime squeezed over and lightly drizzled with hot sauce.
Puebla is a beautiful city, in fact probably one of the cleanest and home of the most courteous drivers! They stop for yellow lights and pedestrians…. amazing.
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