This will my final post of the season! I hope you’ve enjoyed a glimpse into life here this winter!
As our time here dwindles, we always try to spend some time with family and friends before we all return home!
Saying farewell to Greg, Ann, Anne, Ellen and Bill (taking the picture) from next door!
We have had a few card games in the evening…
Raymond and Elaine won at Hand & Foot… again! I was forced to post the results!
However, we also played Hand & Foot with Rod & Berri and us guys won with a history-making last hand or foot, as the case may be!
We enjoyed our Wednesday afternoon Jam Sessions at Faces… and finally went to Steak Night there too! Best steaks ever!
Mat and Rosann…… Mat & Terri… tripping the light fantastic to great music!
It’s always great being able to spend time with my sister Val and husband George while we’re down here!
As the sun sets over the Progreso pier…… having a chance…… to share the view…… priceless!
We had another very low tide a short while ago!
The winds and waves have eroded our beach somewhat late this year!A view of our house from the second sandbank!Looking down towards Val & George’s houseMy, my! What is that lurking at my feet? A hermit crab!
We had a great day on March 11th! After a visit and dinner at Bob & Pats’s, we enjoyed the Mérida Big Band event, at Teatro Peón Contreras. Val & George and Mat, Terri and Rosann joined us!
The theatre was almost filled!We managed to get seats…… on the Platea level!Mérida Big Band and their two soloists entertained the crowd with some great oldies!
Here’s a few random pics from our last few days!
Fabulous sunrise in Uaymitun!We enjoyed a visit from Panchita, Mayra and Kenneth…… and finally caught Panchita in a smile!Isidro, Mayra’s husband, made this for us!With Mat & Terri at Crabster for Eggs Benny!My last marquesita of the season!One last sunset pic!Cappuccino Mayas at Leña y Mar in Progreso!
Finally, the time has come to leave the beach and our house, Uaymarima!
Last sunrise at the beach!Saying farewell to Miguel, Maria and the boys!Settling in for two nights at the Luz en Yucatan in Merida!Gorgeous Flor de Mayo flowers overhanging the pool!Wonderful surroundings even at night!Had brekkie at Pistache on the Paseo de Montejo!Dinner with Bob & Pat at Amaro!Pollo X’catik… yumm!Parque Hidalgo at Calle 59 and Calle 60
After a couple of very warm days in Mérida, if you can count 39C as being warm, it was finally time to say farewell and head for home!
Our WestJet chariot has arrived…… and 4 short hours later, Bryan met us in Toronto!
This, my penultimate blog post, will highlight the wide choice of dining experiences here in the wilds of the Yucatán !
Whenever we get together with folks down here, the conversation typically drifts into a discussion about food & drink!
What’s good, what’s bad, what’s new, what’s old, what’s available and where… and where to never go again! It never fails!
So some new places from this year…
Loncheria Carolina, Chicxulub Puerto
Loncheria Carolina on the square in Chicxulub…… on the recommendation of Raymondo y Paméla…… great salbutes and empañadas!We enjoyed it so much, Val & George went with us on our 2nd trip!
Hermana República, Progreso-Mérida highway
Elaine and I went to Hermana República on the recommendation of Gaby our house owner! We liked it so much, we returned with Val & George!Great ambiance, great service…Our favourite entrée… “Cerdo braseado en cerveza Porter con hongos y tocino”We shared a piece of Pay de Límon! Val had ‘vanilla helados’!
Leña y Mar, Progreso
Leña y Mar on the Malécon in Progreso…… had great wood fired pizza!Thin crust Margarita pizza…… delivered by attentive wait staff member, Jose!
Oliva Patio, Victory Platz, Mérida
Went back to Oliva Patio with Bob & Pat!
Of course, we also visited some of our old favourites along the way!
La Picuda, Telchac Puerto
Visiting La Picuda with George, Afie and Val!George and I, courtesy photo by ElaineGarlic Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp and 1 order of Eggs and Jam(on)!I think Afie enjoyed hers!
PF Changs, Altabrisa Mall, Mérida
We had another great meal at PF Changs!Lettuce Wraps and then shared all these great dishes!Yippee! We need to check our 6/49 tix!!!
Uaymarima, Uaymitun
Maria made us some delicious tamalitos!
Elio al Mare, Progreso
Currently a pile of rubble, but hoping it’ll be back next year!
Other notable outings that have been covered in previous blog posts…
Our first few days were busy days… trying to provide a real glimpse into our part of the Yucatan for Kerry, Bryan and the boys!
The next trip was to see the Flamingos at Celestún! Given the number of previous visits to Celestún and pictures I’ve taken of the flamingos, I’ll try to minimize the number of pinkpictures I include in this blog!
It was about a 2 hour drive from Uaymitun to Celestún
Celestún is the point of entry to the Reserva de la Biósfera Ría Celestún, a 146,000-acre wildlife reserve with extensive mangrove forests and one of the largest colonies of flamingos in North America. Clouds of the pink birds soar above the estuary all year, but the best months for seeing them in abundance are November through March. This is also the fourth-largest wintering ground for ducks of the Gulf-coast region, and more than 365 other species of birds, plus a large sea-turtle population, make their home here.
Having purchased our tickets, we’re ready for a boat cruise to see the flamingos!A local fisherman… pushing his boat and pulling a net.Flamingos!Not flamingos! Cormorants… a plentiful local seabird! Please pay attention… there will be a test!Flamingos wading!Flamingos flying!Ha! Not flamingos! Great White Pelicans… which migrate from as far away as Saskatchewan!Ben & Jack… not flamingos!Flamingos! You can relax now… all done!
On the return leg of the cruise, we always stop and see the Cenote Baldiosera and have a walk… but before our stop, the boat driver always gives us a thrilling entrance into the mangrove swamp!
We all enjoyed the wild entrance…… and the slow cruise through the mangroves!Snowy Egret!Our trusty guide spotted a young crocodile beside us!Having a walk on the boardwalk around the cenote.Another young crocodile snoozing under boardwalkFishies in the clear cenote waters!Jack n Nana peaking through the trees!On the boardwalkThe main pool of the cenoteBare-throated Tiger HeronElaine with our guide, Jordan!Nana and Jack enjoying the ride back!Group photo after a great visit to see the flamingos!
On our way home from Celestún, we decided to drop into Mérida for a late lunch or early supper (Lupper)! We parked at Santa Lucia park and then walked down to Amaro!
Bryan posing in front of Bryan’s Burger Bar in Santa Lucia Park!Ben grabbed a seat…… and so did Jack!Some great beverages…… and a great meal at Amaro! Pollo X’catik… yumm!Amaro frequently displays groupings of Alebrijes……brightly coloured Paper Mâché creatures!After Lupper, we toured the Plaza Grande…… and Bryan & Kerry tried out the Kissing Chairs, while being photo bombed by Ben!
What a wonderful day!
The final two days of their stay were relax days!
Nothing like a dip in the Gulf!A short trip to the Malecón …… for Marquesitas! Yumm!We had a late lunch at Crabster!Caught Bryan enjoying his first bite of a Crabby Burger!Last day spent relaxing by the pool…… and marking their visit in the sand!
Usually, I take a ‘good-bye’ photo of our guests standing by the pool! But as we left for the airport at 3:30AM, it would have been a very dark pic with everyone’s eyes still closed! 🙂
So… a different family pic at the pool!Everyone was happy for having a wonderful trip…… and sad about leaving paradise!
Their flight left Mérida basically on time… their flight from Houston to Dallas was delayed an hour, but still ok… but their flight from Dallas to Toronto was delayed 7 hours, which meant they got to enjoy DFW airport for about 10 hours!!! They finally made it home around 4:30AM the next day!
The next blog will include some highlights of the last few weeks of our stay here in Uaymitun!
The owner of our beach house, Gaby, graciously offered to have her local pilot, Juan, take us out fishing in her 31′ Grady-White fishing boat!
Our destination was out at the far end of the Progreso Pier… so here’s a short description of the very, very long pier in Progreso courtesy of the “Amusing Planet” website!
The port city of Progreso, in the Mexican state of Yucatán, boasts of the longest pier in the world. Built with reinforced concrete, the pier juts out into the Gulf of Mexico for a distance of 6.5 km, and looks more like a bridge to some distant land. The unusually long length is necessary to allow large ships to dock since the Yucatán coast is very shallow. The limestone shelf that forms the Yucatán Peninsula falls away at such a shallow angle that it is literally kilometers before the water is deep enough to accommodate cargo vessels. Passengers disembark at the end of the long pier, and then take a free shuttle or a taxi cab to the shore and into town.
The pier was originally 2,100 meters long and was constructed between 1937 and 1941, replacing a wooden pier that was built in the beginning of the last century. In 1988, an additional 4,000 meters was added to its length increasing the pier’s cargo and container vessels handling capacity.
Photograph of the Progreso Pier taken from the International Space Station in 2014
We waited to find a day that would be calmer than most and set up our fishing trip with Gaby! Kerry and I both took a dose of Dramamine to help counteract our propensity for motion sickness!
We made the drive to the Altacranes Marina in Yucalpeten and met up with Juan and his helper Nico!
Juan and Nico on Gaby’s fishing boat!The boys sat up front while Kerry and I enjoyed the bench seat at the back.Lots of very nice pleasure craft in the Yucalpeten harbour!The bridge leading from Progreso/Yucalpeten to Chelem and Chuburna!Lots of pelicans…… fishing fleets…… and Coast Guard vessels to be seen in the harbour.Jack and Ben were very excited to go fishing… Bryan too!On our way out of the marina…… we were followed by a pod of dolphins!Juan took us out to the end of the Progreso pier past the “Vision of the Seas” which was in port!One of the first catches was an octopus… destined for bait!All three of the boys…… quickly learned the way…… to fish Yucatecan style!Bryan’s catch… going, going, gone… wriggled out of his grasp!Juan was a pro!Probably the biggest catch of the day!Kerry was enjoying the ride even more, now that there were calmer waters!When the boys had had enough…… we headed past another buoy…… and some pelicans……along the Progreso pier…… and under the pier…… for a short cruise along the Progreso Malecon!It certainly was a different seeing…… the Malecon from this perspective!Crabster on the Malecon… not always easy taking a pic from a moving boat! 🙂On our way back to the marina, Juan cleaned our catch!And Jack and Ben enjoyed the ride!Ben was co-pilot!
It was a great fishing trip… We kept some of the catch, which Bryan cooked up for supper, we gave some to Juan for Gaby and some went to Miguel and Maria!
It was a very strenuous day…… but a nap helped!
It was a fun day and neither Kerry nor I had to puke over the side!
The next blog will highlight a trip to Celestun to see the Flamingos!
This blog is all about the long awaited visit by our daughter, Kerry, her husband, Bryan, and our grandsons, Jack and Ben!
We have hoped for many years that some of our children and grandchildren could come to visit us in Uaymitun!
Last year was a great treat as Kerry and Kristy surprised Elaine with their visit!
This year, Kerry, Bryan, Jack and Ben have come to see us in Uaymitun!!!
The long run to hug Nana!
They’re here!Requisite pic in front of the Dos Equis sign at the Mérida Airport!
It was an evening arrival after a long, long trip from Toronto to Washington to Houston to Mérida, but everyone was happy to finally be here!
Their first day in Uaymitun wasn’t an idle one! We had to wait at the house until almost Noon for our 6-person SUV to be delivered! Then it was off to Telchac Puerto for lunch and then a tour of Xcambo!
Ben and Nana walking the beach!A dip in the pool!Bryan and Ben testing out the hammocks!Ben realizing his great goal …… of a trip to the roof…… Jack came up too!
For our first ‘outing’ with the family, we decided to have lunch at Tarraya in Telchac Puerto and then visit Xcambo!
Poolside at Tarraya!Jack and Ben enjoying a dip in the pool while our lunch was being prepared!Margaritas!I caught Kerry with first bite of her Fish Tacos!Jack and Ben posed with Captain Tarraya…… and a more usual state!We made a short trip into the town…… to walk on the pier!
After lunch we drove back to visit the Mayan ruins at Xcambo!
Climbing the Temple of the Cross!Tolsons on every level!The East Wing leading to the Temple of Sacrifices!Nana and her boys!Inspecting the stuccoes!The boys were eager to find iguanas…… and we sure did!We even saw two sunning themselves on the ticket office wall!We stopped at another small ruin site as we drove out the driveway.Jack and Nana selfie time!Shark Attack on the way home!Jack and Ben playing ‘football’ with Jesus and Mauricio, sons of Miguel and Maria!
On Day 2 of their stay, we were up early, grabbed a light breakfast and heading to the town of Chocholá, 20 minutes drive south-west of Mérida, to visit the San Ignacio Cenote!
Welcome to Chocholá!Down the steep stairs into the San Ignacio Cenote!It was as magical as ever!Bryan and Ben exploring!Kerry and Jack swimming!Family photo!With Jack and Ben!Kerry and I!Back up the stairs to dry off…… and to have some lunch!One of the best Sopa de Lima around!To cap off the day… we stopped for ice cream in Chicxulub on our way home!
We’ve had a busy, fun two days with the family! The next blog will highlight our fishing trip on Gaby’s boat!
This blog is about us enjoying a breather between our touring exploits!
While we love touring the local, and not so local, sights… the reality is we have lots of days to just enjoy being here and doing normal stuff!
This year, Val & George’s grandson, Brad, and granddaughter, Rachel, came for a two week visit! We were fortunate to be able to spend some time with them too!
Dinner at Crabster on the Malécon in Progreso!Yummy Cappuccino Maya!The Malécon was full of bikes that night ready for the Mérida Triathlon the next day!
Doug & Janine’s visit was drawing to a close!
Relaxing on the beach…… enjoying one last sunset!Sunrise at Uaymarima!Requisiite photos by the pool…… and at Gate A at the airport!
It was a great visit and we were able to see new sights and visit new places!
Please excuse a couple more nature pics!
Loved the clouds to the East…… and to the South!
We enjoyed another Wednesday Jam Session at FACES in Progreso!
Great music from talented ex-pat musicians!Your truly dancing up a storm with Terri!You can call me Duck!
Both Brad and Rachel turn 25 this year and decided to celebrate by visiting Oma and Opa in Uaymitun! We all celebrated their birthdays at dinner at Hacienda Xcanatun near Mérida!
The Ceiba tree at Xcanatun!Rachel and OpaOma and BradAuntie Elaine and Uncle Doug¡Feliz cumpleaños!
Sometimes we just like to ‘Get out of Dodge’! We have enjoyed dining at Oliva Kitchen and Oliva Enoteca in Centro Mérida and have wanted to try out their new location, Oliva Patio, near City Center Mall.
Oliva Patio in the Victory Platz in MéridaVery nice interior…… with a nice patio too!Just waiting for our lunch to arrive…… yumm, yumm, yumm! Goat cheese ravioli with homemade tomato sauce!And what would lunch be without a Cappuccino Maya!
A couple of daily living pics and we’ll call it a day!
The chef making her Feta Burgers!A haircut at Gaby’s in Chicxulub!
That’s it for this blog post… Kerry, Bryan, Jack & Ben arrive next blog!
This blog concludes our road trip to the Loltún Caves and other sites south of Mérida!
We enjoyed our stay at The Pickled Onion very much and I thought I’d include a few more pictures to highlight what a great place it was! If you click on the link above, you’ll see their website!
Our casita “Noh Och Nah”Doug & Janine’s casita “Kip Cho Nah”Janine thought to take a pic of the inside too!At the parking lot near the road.A beautiful path leading to the gardensThere are plenty of benches…… to stop and enjoy the view!At the back of the property there’s a gazebo…… overlooking the rock gardens!Everywhere you look… beautiful flowers!Janine caught a bee about to land!There’s a great pool… a tad coolish… which we enjoyed upon arrival…… and for a quiet read in the morning!A delicious breakfast was served…… in the open air patio!
The owner and proprietor, Valerie Pickles, was there to greet us upon arrival and spent time with us the next morning during our breakfast! She is a wonderful lady and a great host! The service was attentive and the food was outstanding!
After breakfast, we checked out and retraced our steps along the Puuc Route to the market town of Oxkutzcab. This part of the Yucatán is well-known as the Fruit Belt, with large groves of citrus fruit everywhere!
The Mercado Municipal caters largely to retailers and restaurants as they sell fruit by the crate. Inside the building, it’s a typical local market selling most anything including lots of fruit and vegetables!
After circling the square, we pulled into the first place marked as ‘public parking’ only to find it was full of trucks loading and unloading produce for the market! We parked anyways!
Oxkutzcab Mercado Municipal
The Catholic church as seen from the market square!
We walked through the crowded outside market, which was full of bicycle carts that would deliver your crates of goods back to your car if you wished!
Then we toured the inside stalls and picked up some fruits and veggies!
For lunch, we sought out the Restaurante Rex Cafe at the corner of Calle 49 and Calle 62, on the recommendation of Valerie at the Pickled Onion!
Restaurante Rex Cafe
They have a very broad International menu, including Yucatecan, Mexican, American, Thai and other dishes!
I had the best Mongolian Beef ever!
Elaine and Janine shared quesadillasDoug had the fried rice!
I had to include pictures as the dishes were quite unexpected in a small town in the Yucatán! When we questioned the waiter, he told us that the owner was an American from Oregon who now lives in Oxkutzcab and owns a couple of restaurants! Very interesting! A great lunch!
After lunch, we heading north out of Oxkutzcab to the historic town of Mani to see the Church and Convent of San Miguel. Apart from being an interesting Catholic building, there was a significant event here that altered Mayan history. With help from Wikipedia…
Maní has been continuously occupied for approximately 4000 years. In the postclassic Mesoamerican era it was home to the Tutul-Xiu Maya dynasty, which moved their capital here from Uxmal in the 13th century. The Xiu were the dominant power in the western Yucatán after the fall of Mayapan in 1441. Maní served as the main religious center in honor of the deity Kukulcan (Cukulcan, Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl) for the Maya with an annual chic kaban festival until 1341.
With the arrival of the Spanish the Xiu of Maní allied themselves with the Spanish and assisted in the conquest of the rest of the peninsula.
On July 12, 1562, Friar Diego de Landa, who held the office of inquisitor before the Monastery of San Miguel Arcángel, held an auto de fe Inquisitional cerermony in Maní, burning a number of Maya hieroglyphic books and a reported 5000 idols, saying that they were “works of the devil”. The number of books burned is disputed. Landa claimed only burning 27. This act and numerous incidents of torture at the monastery were used to speed the mass adoption of Roman Catholicism throughout the region.
This Maya Book Burning event and Friar Landa’s later apology and attempt to recreate the writings are portrayed in the Maya Murals that adorn the walls of the Governor’s Palace on the Gran Plaza in Centro Mérida.
A new sign marks the small city of ManiThe Church and Convent of San Miguel
A beautiful atrium within the church groundsAn internal staircase and statueA door to a door to a doorA tranquil garden
After wandering through the church grounds and planning to return home, I wanted to head towards Tipikal and then to the main highway North to Mérida. My trusty GPS laid out our route and before I knew it, we were heading, not to Tipikal, but towards Dzán and hidden peril!
First a definition: “In the middle of nowhere”
Pronoun: a place that is remote, uninteresting, or nondescript. “a stretch of road between nowhere and nowhere”
This definitely fits the bill!
While driving between Dzán and Ticul, in the middle of nowhere, we happened upon a teeny, weeny bit of road debris!
The culprit!
We were very fortunate that more damage or injury didn’t occur, but that pointy bit took a large chuck of rubber out of the driver’s side front tire and we quickly pulled over to examine the damage and our very flat tire!
While Doug and I attempted to jack up the car, the girls were busy flagging people to slow down and go around! Several slowed and asked if we were OK… several sped past with little reduction of speed!
Then, a couple of local men stopped and with a much better jack were able to assist us in changing to our spare tire! After their labours, I wanted to thank them with some money, but they declined… in essence, when translated, they said “Today we help you, tomorrow you would help us”! There are wonderful people here in the Yucatán.
Without any further incident, we returned home to Uaymarima in time to take in a great sunset!
This blog continues our road trip to the Loltún Caves and other sites south of Mérida!
Once we had left the Loltún Caves, we continued on the wonderfully narrow Puuc Route to the Mayan ruins at Labna and then past Sayil, Xlapak and Kabah on our way to The Pickled Onion in Santa Elena.
Here’s a short description of the ruins at Labna, again courtesy of Wikipedia, …
Labna (or Labná in Spanish orthography) is a Mesoamerican archaeological site and ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Puuc Hills region of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is situated to the south of the large Maya site of Uxmal, in the southwest of the present-day state of Yucatán, Mexico. It was incorporated with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
The site is a comparatively small and compact one. Among its notable structures is a large two-storey ‘palace’ (“El Palacio”), which is one of the longest contiguous structures in the Puuc region at approximately 120 m (393.7 ft) in length. From the palace, a ceremonial road (sacbe) extends to an elaborately decorated gateway arch (“El Arco”). This structure is 3 m (9.8 ft) wide and 6 m high, with well-reserved bas-reliefs. The arch is not an entrance to the city, but rather is a passageway between public areas. Next to this gateway stands “El Mirador”, a pyramid-like structure surmounted by a temple. Also on the site is the Temple of the Columns.
The structural design and motifs of the site’s buildings are in the Maya architecture regional style known as Puuc. This makes extensive use of well-cut stone forming patterns and depictions, including masks of the long-nosed rain-god Chaac.
The site was built in the Late and Terminal Classic era. A date corresponding to AD 862 is inscribed in the palace.
It’s a nice shaded walk from the Labna parking lot…… past the ticket office and out to the main site.There’s a small building as you enter the site…… that contains several examples of recovered carvings!The large two-storey ‘palace’ (“El Palacio”), is one of the longest contiguous structures in the Puuc region being 120 m in length and having 57 bedrooms on its two levels.Wondering why they would plant an orange tree so close to their house! 🙂More of the same very long structure!Very intricate carvings…… wherever you look!The “El Mirador” or ‘lookout’…… is perched atop an unrestored moundLabna’s most famous feature……an elaborately decorated gateway arch “El Arco”…… is joined to the palace by a ceremonial road (sacbe)!The surrounding stone walls contain many wonderful carvings!In another part of the site one finds…… some more residential buildings with vaulted ceilings…… well preserved doorways…… and evidence of an upper floor!
Labna is not one of the largest Mayan sites in the Yucatán, but we’d always wanted to visit it to see some of the highlights we’d only seen in other folks pictures or magazines! It was well worth the trip!
Realizing our day was quickly running away on us, we continued along the Puuc Route past the other Mayan sites of Xlapak, Sayel and Kabah to the village of Santa Elena and our stop for the night, The Pickled Onion!
Welcome to The Pickled Onion…Getting ready for a great meal with Mango Daiquiris…All of our dinners…… had great presentation…… and superb flavours!… and a beautiful moon to light our way back to our rooms for the night!
What a great way to complete this first adventure along the Puuc Route!
That’s it for this blog post… we will continue with our trip home… including more pictures of The Pickled Onion and visits to Oxkutzcab and Mani and our fateful meeting with road debris… all on the next blog!
One of our ‘bucket list’ items for our winters in Uaymitun was to visit the Loltún Caves, so we planned an overnight trip to do so!
But before we head south to our adventure in the caves, just a few items of interest!
As I mentioned back in Post #2, Val and I had skipped into Mérida to purchase tickets to Programa 1 of this season’s OSY Symphony! On Sunday, Jan 28th, we attended the concert… thumbs up from all!
The Symphony Orchestra of Yucatan opens its season with a brilliant program of Russian music: The Great Russian Easter, overture created in memory of Mussorgsky and Borodin, who with the composer Nicolai Rimski-Korsakov were part of the Group of 5 nationalist authors. Also, the famous Spanish Capricho , inspired by the composer’s trips to Cádiz will captivate us with the multiple solos of violin, flute, clarinet, cello and harp. Finally, we can enjoy Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 , which describes landscapes and winter dreams.
The lovely Teatro Peón Contreras…… with its spectacular chandelier!We had a great time with Doug & Janine…… and George & Val… pictures courtesy of Raymondo!We had lunch at La Tratto in Santa Lucia Park… I am ready!
During one of our recent jaunts into Progreso, Elaine and Janine visited the Mercado de Artensanias… while Doug and I had other ideas!
Lunch at Comida China on Calle 80 in Progreso!And we lived to tell the tale!We caught up with the girls having Coco Shrimp in Crabster on the Malécon… and a Cappuccino Maya!A relaxing bench in the Progreso main plaza!
Usually we have 2-3 times during our stay where the low tides are really low and our off-shore sandbars appear!
Low… Low tide!
Now… on to the Loltún Caves! Hopefully I won’t overwhelm you with too many photos, but I’ve trimmed my chosen ones from a cast of hundreds! In any case, the pictures won’t do justice to the beauty of the caves!
Courtesy of the YucatanToday.com website, a description of the caves…
Its name is derived from two Maya words, LOL (flower) and TUN (stone). Located in the hilly Puuc region, 110 km. southeast of Mérida, these are the largest caves on the peninsula. They are also the ones that are the most studied. Evidence has been found here of human contact going back 7,000 years. Mammoth, bison, feline and deer bones have been found in the caves, along with fresco paintings on the walls.
The entrance to the caves is down……down……down! Our trusty guide was a local Mayan gentleman named Pablo!A magnificent banyan tree sending roots down!This photo and the next show some…… ancient Mayan pictographs on the stone face!And now into the caves… no more captions as a picture is worth a 1,000 words!
Ok… one caption… look close and you’ll see some friendly bats!A Toltec statue found in the cave!
The final chamber before climbing back to the surface.
More Mayan pictographs
Doug and Janine capturing the moment!With our great English speaking guide, Pablo!The Lion… needs to be seen to be believed! 🙂The steps up to the surface!Looking back down the steps!Back near the entrance and the baños were found some recovered stone pillars (stella)!Beautiful flowers on the grounds!One intrepid traveller from BC!
Our trip to the Grutas de Loltún was memorable and very worth the drive!
That’s it for this blog post… we continue our southern trip with Labna, our overnight at the Pickled Onion and then Oxkutzcab on the next blog!
One of the places that Doug & Janine had not visited on previous visits was Izamal, known as “The Yellow City”!
We left after a quick breakfast to ensure we arrived before it got too hot… taking the back roads and highways to see the sites!
Our route took us to Telchac Puerto, south to Motul, then east through Suma and Teya to Tepekan and then south again to Izamal.
About half way from Motul to Suma there’s a small village (name unknown) where we stopped for a stretch and to take some pictures of an old hacienda.
The main haciendaThe machine room where the henequen is processed…… have a distinct architecture!A horse of another colour!
Once we’d arrived in town and parked on the plaza, we visited the Hotel San Miguel Arcangel for a pit stop and cappuccinos!
A new sign on the plaza… similar to many other towns.The patio in the Hotel San Miguel Arcangel
Once refreshed, we toured the Convento de San Antonio de Padua!
A long walk up many stairs!Bells and more bells!October 13 1795!Just loved the cloud formations!A gorgeous wooden entrance to the church!A very elaborate nave!Looking out to the courtyardAn interior atriumA corridor of the conventAnother view of the facade of the convent!
Once we’d finished our tour of the convent, it’s always fun to take a horse-drawn buggy ride through the streets of Izamal!
Buggy rides anyone?Why yes, thank you!Us too! Us too!A street scene in Izamal! Yellow buildings abound!The back of the main pyramid while on our tour!A Mayan hut!Capilla de los Remedios
At the end of our buggy ride through the streets of Izamal for about a 1/2 hour, we had our drivers drop us off at our favourite restaurant, Kinich!
Restaurante Kinich, El Sabor de Izamal!Very yummy food… as always!
While we were dining, the heaven’s opened in a torrential downpour for about 1/2 an hour! Luckily for us, it stopped and we were able to walk a block down the street to the entrance for the Kinich Kakmó Pyramid.
The entrance way up to the pyramid!Doug taking a picture of Janine taking a picture of Doug….After the first flight of stone stairs, you cross a large plain to the actual pyramid!Looking back down the stairs towards the conventZooming in on the conventAt the top of the first flight of stairs on the pyramidA happy couple on the pyramid!Many of the buildings here…… have a very Moorish look to them…… including the Peace Arch.
As we finished our tour of Izamal, the weather started to turn again, so we took the fast way home by the Cancun-Merida highway!
That’s it for this blog post… visits to Loltun Caves, Labna and Oxkutzcab are queued up for the next blogs!
