Mexico Lindo Gone South

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México lindo gone south

After having visited the Incas in Peru it was time to visit the Mayas in the south of Mexico.
But first, we were to rest and chill.
After all 3 weeks in south America had taken a hit on our bodies, specially on Nadine, that cold from Rio had not gone away,it was time to take it easy.
We flew from Cusco via Lima to Cancun, a place to, land, get a car and get out, way too touristy for us.
After an hour ride we arrived at Playacar, our home to be in Playa del Carmen.
Playacar is a big golf club-like closed residential area right next to Playa del Carmen, there only a few hotel-resorts, golf courts,residences snd condo's, all away from the busy city center.
The first morning the only thing we did was rest, type our blog and made an appointment with a Dr. recommended by a friend.
We were sent to have samples taken from our throat and also an X-ray was taken, it turned out Nadine had a real bad infection of Staphylococcus aeros, so she got the first price, antibiotics, and because i was there too i got a shot as well, first antibiotics in almost 30 years for me!
Huge compliment to the Doc, he knows how to give injections, we didn't feel a thing.
After that we decided to meet a couple of old friends and have some real Mexican stuff.
Ceviche, fish tacos and lots of sea food, together with some aguas frescas and cervezas, all of this at " los Aguachiles", recommended by a friend who used to live here, it was so good we lunched there 3 times.
The next day we took off to Xcacel, a small Cenote about 40 mins from Playa, we had heard it was small and quiet, Cenotes ( big-huge wholes in the ground )
When we arrived we noticed it was indeed very quiet and only Mexicans, so no gringo crowds.
We were amazed as we waited to get in, since the only let an X amount of people each time, that only 3 other people were waiting with us, wow we thought....
Unfortunately as time passed more and more people came and suddenly we went from 5 to 35, no prob, we thought, the sign read " maximum of 20 people at the time", well, not really.
As they allowed us to enter we discovered that A: all 35 of more had gotten in and B: the place was the size of a small pool, so the place looked and felt like the river Ganges ( India ) on an Buddhist celebration day.
Without even getting in we headed back to the beach we had passed on our way.
As we went over the dunes we could hear the waves breaking, feeling the nice breeze and then.... The Blue- Turquoise sea welcomed us to the Mexican Caribbean.
Walking on the beach we got to realize that this place is actually a turtle reservoir, a place were they come to bury their eggs in the sand and leave, poles marking the " drop zones" stand along the beach, some of them even fenced, we guessed those were about to hatch.
The reason for the fence is not only they are about to pop but the big iguanas crawling around with their long tongues sticking out as if they were already savoring one or two licking their lips, going yumm-yumm.
These big fellows ain't shy, the group laying behind us found out the hard way as one of the iguanas turned out right between them begging for a slice of pizza.
Once we got sunburned we went back to Playacar to plan our next day.
A must do of course, Tulum.

Tulum had been in our list since we started dating, due to the fact that one of Nadine's friends had spoken so highly about it, and it was nothing but true.
This kind of places, ancient,historical, once -center of civilization-are incredibly energetic, the vibe that floats in them is unique,one feels privileged to be able to experience it. Some of us, but not all of us , as the clock passed the first buses started to arrive, some of these people could have been better off in an outlet shopping mall, the secret is ( as always when you want to keep the positive energy) to avoid them and walk into another direction.
Tulum is, we must confess, smaller than what we'd thought, so we were out of it in 2 hours, taking with us great pictures, good memories and a lot of + energy.
We then went to Cenote Cristalino, our second try to experience these famous holes on the ground.
This Cenote turned out to be really nice, picture a cave with stalagmites and bats hanging from the ceiling, clear cool water with little fishes,small turtles and secret tunnels below ( if you like scuba diving this must be a great place to go exploring).
It was a cool- refreshing experience.

Once again we headed back to our favorite lunch place, just around " la quinta" on Costituyentes avenue.
This time Fried Shrimps in a coconut batter, Octopus tacos and a " coctel" oysters, shrimps, octopus in a light tomato sauce with pieces of avocado, with a couple of cold beers, Wow!
Besides eating, did we do anything else? Yes, rest.
The thing with food is, it brings not only pleasure to your palled but it brings back memories with it.
Memories of a moment, a time in our lives, of someone who made it for us,and it gives us more to remember in the future, so the moment i saw that Victoria beer i had to think of my dad, and order one, cheers to him.
Nadine bravely tried everything that was recommended or served and stood out on the test.
We met a dear friend who used to live in the Netherlands for diner at " La Perla Pixan " a restaurant that serves REAL traditional Mexican dishes like Escamoles ( Ants eggs) and Chapulines ( Grasshoppers) with Guacamole, Mushrooms and Chinicuiles ( fried Maguey worms) all these considered a palled's adventure.
Hesitant at first Nadine questioned the Chapulines and the Escamoles which it's more than normal, even i hadn't tried the latter, remember these are Ants eggs something you don't find everywhere.
To the surprise of us Mexicans, Nadine actually liked it so much that she order a second serving of those eggs right there and in the days to come made us come back for more grasshoppers.
After the protein filled supper we headed towards the Quinta Avenida or Fifth Avenue in Spanish, playa de Carmen's most lively street.
Bars, restaurants, cafes, shops, at both sides of it, it was like a Mardi Gras of red-skinned tourists and local folks, very nicely done we might add.
The stroll made us tired so we headed back to Playacar and got ready for our next trip.
This time Chichen Itza.
Once again we arrived just in time, although it took us a good 2 hrs. cruising the Highway from Playa we were able to beat the buses and avoiding the big crowds, for the first 30 mins at least, after 11:00 am it turns into a big parade of hats, sun block and cameras.
After walking through a market like street with vendors at both sides of the road we arrived into the main square, it is an impressive view as you reach the opening and the big famous pyramid, El Castillo, awaits.
The pyramid's incredibly looking and it has a few interesting features.
One of them is that its design allows an echo to be heard, if you clap your hands at the base of it you will be able to hear it at any point of the square and another one is, the stairs.
They have to big sculptures at the bottom of them representing Quetzalcoatl ( a feathered serpent) that seems to move from the top of the pyramid to the ground when the spring and summer equinox takes place, these special effects take place with the movement of the sun.
Chichen itza is a lot bigger than Tulum, it has a ball court ( juego de pelota ) in which warriors would play a ball game.
In the most common theory of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kg (9 lbs), and sizes differed greatly over time or according to the version played.
The game had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice. The sport was also played casually for recreation by children and perhaps even women.
Take about sudden death in a sport...
After this we searched for a bit of shade in the surrounding maya buildings where it was a bit cooler and more quiet, away from the crowd.
After chilling out we took a walk to the huge Cenote Sagrado inlands passing again little stands with vendors, a good 300 meters away from the square.
The Cenote is big and green, surrounded by a rock wall covered with plants and trees, unfortunately ( or not ) swimming was not allowed in here, don't know if it is because the risk of bumping into an skeleton, since this well was used to perform human sacrifices or simply because of water pollution, either way we took some good pics and headed back.
In a matter of seconds rain started to fall on us,the place got darker and darker and the vendors ran all over trying to protect their goods as we hurried towards the car.
Instead of going back to Playa we planned on going to Mérida, capital city of Yucatan and colonial jewel.
Mérida is very colorful, filled with low older buildings, good food with famous dishes and far from touristy, once we settled in the hotel ( really cute colonial style with a little fountain in the patio, around the corner from the main plaza and it's Cathedral) we took off to have lunch-diner.
The Yucatan peninsula and Merida are famous for their typical dishes, all regions in Mexico are for that matter, here we were up to try them and we did, at the Chaya Maya, one of Yucatan's most renown restaurants, we had:
Salbutes with turkey ( a salbute is a puffed deep fried tortilla that is topped with chopped cabbage, pulled chicken or turkey, tomato, pickled red onion, avocado, and pickled jalapeño pepper.)
Empanadas de Cazón ( patties filled with Shark meat)
Papadzules ( tortillas filled with egg and pumpkin seed )
Cochinita Pibil ( pork meat marinated in an orange-chili-axiote sauce and steamed in a banana leaf)
Arroz con Leche ( milk rice with cinnamon, raisins) no apple sauce here, sorry Germans.
Rico caballero pobre ( a bread pudding like, covered with anisette, syrup, raisins and an spiced ice cream, NOT light)
After this meal a marathon was needed so we took a long walk in the small, narrow streets of the city.
Right next to the colorful Cathedral there's a big " station" like building were young artists can show their sculptures and drawings in an exposition, at the end of the tunnel you come out on a shopping street,
full of little telecom shops, small mini markets, shoe stores and many eateries with way too loud music. We went around the block and came out at the main square surrounded by the Church, the government building, bank, etc.
In here rural Mexico takes their girls out on a date, sit down on a bench, look at people, at each other, listen to some marimba and harp music, and some birds too.
We too sat on a bench, next to a smaller church close to the hotel and did some people watching of our own.
The morning after we headed towards Ek Balam, a jungle hidden mayan city in direction of Valladolid.
It took us around 2 hrs to get there ( would be the same from Playa del Carmen) and again a stormy rainfall was waiting for us but stopped after 20 mins, as you could imagine the jungle or rain forest smells incredible after rainfall, it gives it a bit of an special effect.
Truly special was to climb on the tall pyramid and see the others hide in the jungle, the summit was surrounded by nothing but tree tops, amazing.
It gave us the feeling we had just discovered a forgotten city,it was just around 10 of us in the whole site and we were really happy we had gotten away from the mass's, the sounds of the jungle, the smell, the quietness, it was amazing.
As the evening started to fall the mosquitos started to get hungry so we headed to Valladolid, a small town with a couple of cute streets, again the main square and to our surprise a couple of tourist buses, we didn't bother to get out of the car as we were a bit tired so we explored this town by car and headed back to Playa del Carmen.
We should have ( and must you ) visited Isla Mujeres and Cozumel, swam with some whale sharks and small fishes but, a tropical storm hit the area on the last days of our stay so we couldn't.
If you are visiting with kids, you should go to Xcaret or Xel-ha, these are amusement parks surrounded by water, and of course water as a theme, very good for kids and families, nit cheap though.
It was time to chill, enjoy the rainy weather, watch some Netflix, plan out trip to Ciudad de Mexico and rest.
The huge metropolis is waiting for us.

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