Merida Impressions

Merida, a town that seems to have appealed to all Yucatan tourists! Upon our first steps out of our hotel, we hear music: drummers have congregated on a balcony near Plaza Grande and practice for the upcoming Carnaval!!! Later on the same evening, dancers spring up on the Plaza de la Independencia to the sound of Mexican music. (Check out our short video with those musical tid bits:  http://youtu.be/HLBnpN0qG10).

We both decide that we will stay here one week rather than 3 days as previously planned!

The following photos are images of Merida that wil stay with us for a long time; the cathedral, the Palace of Governors, the folklore dances on the Plaza de la Independencia, the Plaza Grande, the long illuminated passage to the Museum of Modern Art, and the people of Merida. How often have we been asked to buy shals by these young Chiapa women or for Heiner to try one of those typical guayaberas or for me to get in one of those flowery hipil worn by Mayan women?

And what about street food????? Mexico is supposed to be one of the countries with the largest choice of street food and Meruda is a good example of that...And there are foods that sell better in the morning (gorditas) than in the evening (tamales and pastor). We loved the churros while strolling in the Plaza Grande!

Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza has become a tourist mecca for several years now  It is the best restored archeological site of the Mayans culture and for that reason, one that cannot be missed.

Originally, all these buildings were painted in bright colours, mainly in red and blue and adorned with yellow trimmings.

The size of this site is overwhelming and we spent several hours wandering from El Castillo to the Observatory while admiring the immense "ball game site" referred to as Gran Juego de Pelota to finally get to the Sacred Cenote or Cenote Sagrado, where objects of sacrifices (people, animals and objects) were found at its bottom . 

El Caracol, so named because of its spiral staircase is one of the most inspiring building of Chichen Itza.  From its towering structure, Mayan priests decreed the times for celebrations, rituals, corn planting and harvest depending on star configurations.

The immense ball court was very impressive, as well by its size (it is the LARGEST  in Mexico!) as with the rituals associated with the games. 

The soccer-like game was played by well equipped players trying to get a hard rubber ball through a stone ring...without using their hands. Some carvings suggested that at some points the use of bats might have been permitted. Anyhow, carvings depicting decapitated people suggest that the losing captin and may be his team mates may have been sacrificed! No "negociations of contracts" here...You loose, you die!

And speaking of sacrifices, we finished the visit by a slow walk - it was very hot -to the Sacred Cenote, a huge 60 meters in diameter and 35 meters deep natural sunken well.  This sacred well appears to have been a place of pilgrimage for ancient Maya people. Archaeological investigations support this as thousands of objects have been removed from the bottom of the Sacred Cenote, including material such as shell, gold, jade, wood, obsidian, cloth, as well as skeletons of men and children. Today, it is overgrown with wines and is a rather calm and serene place after the crowds of the main architectural site.

Along with the sites of Machu Pichu, the Taj Mahal, and the Roman Colosseum , Chichen Itza has been declared one of the 7 new wonders of the world.

Valladolid

Adios sea and surf, we are driving inland to Valladolid more precisely. From there we will go by bus to the site of Chichen Itza. Valladolid - or V as we decide to call it because its name seems to be a tongue breaker for us - has a special place in the history of Mayans and Yucatan. A place that saw much violence occuring between the Spanish conquerors and the Mayans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valladolid,_Yucat%C3%A1n

Valladolid felt like an"real" place, and we liked its pastel painted facades, its busy streets with food vendors of all kind.

And by pure coincidence, we happen to be in Valladolid during one of its most important religious celebration: in honour of the Virgin Mary of the Candles, masses are celebrated; but with music! On our first evening, there were mariachis made music during mass. On the second evening, choirs invited the people to sing along and very very long queues formed with peole of all ages wanting to touch the statue of the Nuestra signora de la Candelaria.

But Valladolid, who has become an important touristic site, was also the lace where we had a degustation of tequila (a distillery exists near by) as well as of Mayan chocolate specialties. We like Chocolate with chillies the best!!!

We admired the quite impressive Templo de San Bernardino built between 1552 and 1560 and found time to taste some Yacatan specialties in the restaurant Las Campanas (left plate is Pollo Pibil and right plate is Longariza, a smoked sausage made in Valladolid).

Tulum

Time to get moving again...we take the 2nd class ADO bus passing by Playa del Carmen to arrive in Tulum at noon. Tulum is located on the Caribean site of Yucatan.

What you see below is the reason why we went to Tulum...to see one of the most spectacular site of Mayan architecture.

After visitng the ruins under full sun for the whole day, we were happy to come back to the village of Tulum.  We really liked the feel of Tulum  and it will prove to be the most fun and easy going place to be of our whole trip. One can eat and any time of the day or night, there are all kinds of restaurants and little pubs, jazz bars and one wonderful authentic eatery where we discovered somptuous antojitos (tappas) and aguas de fruitas...El Rincon Chiapaneco! Every day and night we stayed in Tulum, we went back to El Rincon for more edible discoveries!  Our preferred antojitos were the panuchos!!!

The days in Tulum were wonderful; while our Posada was pretty, we did not spend much time there, preferring taking our breakfast in a pretty little hotel restaurant in Tulum's centre that served very good coffee with huge croissants (Maison Tulum), and then going back to the beach for more swimming.

Our first days in Cancun, Yucatan

A new destination for us: Mexico. We leave Toronto with a temperature of -25 and can hardly wait to find ourselves in a sunny and warm place.

We arrive at the Cancun airport where we arranged for a pick-up that will bring us to the Hacienda de Castilla in the heart of Cancun. The van is there, with 2 drivers! Their English is about zero and Marleyne's Spanish not yet at the level where we can have a conversation. So, the ride is quiet.

We will spend three night in Hacienda de Castilla.

We do not expect much from Cancun but we like to have a little bit of time to get familiar with the country before exploring! The area is a popular one, the kids play in the street, music and TV sounds can be heard from the houses besides the hotel...

Well, the exploration begins after unpacking and showering: we asked the friendly Paul at the reception where we can go and have a bite to eat.  (The staff at the Hacienda de Castilla was very very nice and helpful: Paul liked to chat and Sandra, who spoke perfect English was a very efficient and helpful manager!)

At first, he is hesitant: the touristy area is far from here...but we let him know that we do not want to go to the Zona Hostellerias but wold rather eat Mexican fare...It is just around the corner...We stop in a small street poblano, sit on red plastic chairs, have our first beers in Christmas mugs (!) ,and eat tortillas... We must be in Mexico!!!!!!!!!!!

The next days are spent walking around Cancun popular districts, shopping for sandals and sun protective hats, and familiarizing ourselves with the different food names and appellation. And one warm evening, we discover pastor! An adaptation of the libanese dish of of the shawarma spit-grilled meat brought by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico.Pork is marinated over one or two days in a combination of dried chiles and then slowly cooked with a piece of pineapple on top. Absolutely delicious!

On Sunday, we take the ferry to Isla Mujeres in Puerto Juarez...we have heard so much about this destination. In the 1970s, this used to be a casual destination for boheme people who just wanted to rent a cheap little cabin on the beach and watch the blue sea...Well, Isla Mujeres seems to have changed a lot since then: it has become the destination for the tourists of the world! Prices are higher, accomodations seem to be overpriced..but there are some cute little restaurants, a wonderful beach and a great bar with a view of the ocean where we sipped Mexican cervezas looking at the Sunday crowd driving by in scooters along the avenue.

On Monday, we take the bus back to Puerto Juarez to find a little oasis of sun and sea..

And we find one, located on the beach in front of Isla Mujeres. The owner convinced us that he had the best prices for lunch...cooked a la Yucateca. And we could have 10 small Corona beers or Coronatita for 130 pesos (12.00$)...How to resist???????????

Mexico - here we come!

Be honest, you cannot blame us for leaving Kingston!  Just look at the forecast!

After an intensive search of "places south", while looking for great deals on flights ... our destinations will be:  Mexico!  At $371 round trip per person, we could not say NO!

So we booked.  Now we are working on our accommodations   Marleyne (H writing) is doing a great job, and keeps her Spanish language exercise book in the bathroom.  I call that: preparation!

Here are some of the places we wish to visit, in addition to some Mayan towns.

The link for these archaeological sites in the Yucatan peninsula is here:

http://www.locogringo.com/research/ruins.html

We hope to see some of them.

Our app for updating the blog is limiting us to text (for some reason the uploading of images does not work on our various Android devices).  But M will try to upload some shots to her facebook account via Instagram.  So, be patient if you do not see our blog updates with images.  We will be working on them when we are back.

Pinky arrived!
We got Pinky for shorter travel destinations such as the downtown marina and Home Depot, as long as we don't buy Gyprock plates!
Unfortunately, Pinky will not be powerful enough to transport us to Italy, the centre of Vespas.
But we think we got close enough...via the Chinese version.
And we think that Pinky looks smashing!
Here we are looking forward to our next ride, sans snow but with warmer weather..don't you agree it is a fantastic acquisition for our future travels?