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Published: March 10th 2009
Merida
Central SquareWe arrived at Mexico City to visit Marta, Martin and Oscar. We hadn´t seen them for over a year since Martin's first birthday back in Johannesburg. Marta picked us up at the airport and we went straight to a country house for a Colombian Ajiaco. I also used the opportunity to continue Martin's football lessons as we left off over a year before. His shooting, and dribbling skills had suffered greatly after all that time of playing with car toys and cartoon movie characters. But his enthusiasm was still there considering the tantrum he made after I said that I was a bit tired and was going to take a break (the altitude in Mexico was hitting me hard, and the prospect of a cold beer was very tempting).
We didn't stay too late at Marta's friends place, since the next morning we had to get ready to fly to Merida.
Merida We arrived in Yucatan in the afternoon together with Marta, Martin and Oscar, and picked up our hire car from the airport. After dropping our stuff at the Nomads hostel, we went out far a walk in the town.
Merida is the capital city of Yucatan, but
Merida
Central Square still keeps a small town feeling in the city centre with all its old colonial buildings, churches and squares. That evening we went to a great restaurant specializing in Yucateca food where we had Poc Chuc, Pollo Pibil and Sopa de Lima.
The next morning the plan was to go around the Ruta Puc, a circuit of pyramids and ruins around the Merida region. We took off at 9am, and the heat was unbearable. We visited the ancient Maya centres of Uxmal, Kabah, and Labna, and we took our time walking through all the stone ruins and climbing up the pyramids. Before we realised, it was getting late and Merida was quite a long way away... so exhausted from the heat and all the walking, we stopped at Ticul searching for a beer and something to eat. But it was such a dead little town, that we found neither, and continued to Merida where we arrived at about 10pm and managed to get something to eat at one of the few places that was still open.
On Wednesday morning we headed to the Cenote area. The Cenotes are a series of underground caves conected by subterranean currents of crystal clear
fresh water. These caves sometimes have craters that bring natural light and therefore are used as swimming holes to enjoy the cold water beneath the sweltering heat above.
We went to the Cuzama area, where the local people have exploited the tourist trade by building some make shift rail system with carts pulled by horses. We had great time climbing on and off the carts in order to let another cart through and climbing down the various cenotes to enjoy the refreshing water. The colours in the water were amazing when the sun rays managed to make their way through the craters and the various tree roots hanging down.
We also managed to get Martin to finally get in the water without crying and start beating his fear of water.
For lunch we had some more delicious Yucateca food and a few beers before making our way to Izmal, a lovely little town full of yellow painted colonial buildings. We got there a bit late though, and by the time we made it back to Merida we were exhausted and ready to go to bed for an early start the next day.
Valladolid & Coba It was time to start
heading to the East side of the Yucatan peninsula, since our final objective was to make it to the sea side town of Tulum. On our way to Valladolid we stopped at Chichen Itza, the famous archaelogical site, and now one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Me managed to slightly beat the tourist hordes arriving from Cancun, and we wandered around the Great Pyramid of Kukulcan and the Great Ball Court, were Mayans were believed to play a type of ball game. We also visited the Sacred Cenote, which was believed to be a sacrificial place for virgin women.
Once again it was an unbelievably hot day, but a strong shower managed to cool us down and completely soak us on our way out of Chichen Itza. We stopped in a simple lovely place to eat by the side of the road and to wath the rain fall.
We got to Valladolid and stayed a the Hotel Lucy, the cheapest and most basic place we could find near the town centre, but it had a TV where we could watch the Olimpics. Valladolid did not have a lot to offer, but it was a pleasant enough place
Uxmal
Piramide del Adivino and a good base to visit the nearby ruins and Cenotes. On Friday morning we visited Ek Balam after a massive 'eat as much as you like' breakfast with fruit, pancakes, eggs, and all you could think of. At Ek Balam we also visited a huge open Cenote after walking around the ruins and climbing up the pyramid.
In the afternoon we visited probably the fifth Cenote of our trip at Dzinup to the south of Valladolid, where once again we managed to get Martin in the water and continue his hydrophobia therapy. Our massive breakfast allowed us to have a late lunch of more delicious Yucateca food at the Oasis, a little restaurant in Valladolid.
On Saturday morning after visiting a beautiful church in Valladolid, we continued our route to Coba, to visit yet more Mayan ruins and Cenotes. There were hardly any tourists in this area, and we managed to have the Cenotes all for ourselves, so we took our time enjoying the cool water. By the time we got to the Coba archaelogical site, it was starting to get late, and we had to rush our way around, but me managed to climb up the large pyramid
Uxmal
Plaza de las Monjas and get kicked out of the place, since we were the last ones there. We then went for a very late lunch at about 6pm, and at the same time managed to find some cheap accommodation, since we had not booked anything. That evening we stayed up late drinking beers with the man in charge of the rooms, with his wife, and their little daughter Gracie, who made a great playing mate for Martin (they also stayed up until about midnight).
Tulum and Punta Allen We finally made it to the beach on the East side of the Yucatan Peninsula, we got to the town of Tulum, and straight away want to find our beach side bungalow at Tita-Tulum. It was a beautiful spot, with white sand, bright blue sea, lovely palm trees, and a great room for all of us with a small balcony and hamocs. We were also meeting up with Ivan, our good friend from Cali who lives in New York. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at the beach, taking in the sun, the views and the amazing sea. Our therapy with Martin's fear of water went back a few steps though, since as soon
as he heard the roar of the ocean he was sure that he did not want to go anywhere near it. He was happy playing in the sand about 20 metres away from the water.
In the evening we did some shopping for food, since the restaurant at the hotel was a bit expensive, and we also stocked up on beers and rum.
The following morning Lorena and I got up early to go diving, which was not as good as our dives in Vietnam and Australia, but nevertheless enjoyed it a lot. After sorting out a small problem with the car (I left the lights on and the battery was as flat as a pancake) and about an hour later following a few taxi rides and a huge truck helping us out with battery cables, we went to pick up Ivan in town.
It was Oscar's birthday that evening so we had some roast chicken to take to our place, together with some refried beans, freshly made mexican tortillas, and some delicious rajas and chipotle sauce... as spicy as it gets! We had plenty of cold beer to go with it and some rum and coke for enough Cuba
Libres to take us through the night. One of the main topics of conversation that night was the Swiss couple who came to join us for a few drinks... more specifically the Swiss girl, Giulietta, who was not shy to show her attributes. They were a really nice couple, and we all ended up drinking by the beach. We even had a chance to see a huge turtle making her nest in the sand.
On Tuesday we were heading off down to Punta Allen, a small village at the end of the world where we had booked a bungalow to stay three nights. Due to the slight hangover and the beautiful beach at Tita Tulum, we ended up leaving rather late, and got to Punta Allen at about 7pm (still daylight though). We stayed at 'Serenidad Shardon', a series of bungalows by the sea owned by an American lady.
Our dissappointment came when we realised it was too hot to stay inside the bungalow, and too dangerous to stay outside (the mosquitoes were ruthless and plentyful, and they wanted our blood!)
The beach was not really a beach either, just sand by the sea with a lot of algae and
old boats. To top it all off, there were regular power cuts (the whole area was served by a generator that switched off at certain times), so the fans in the house that provided a little comfort were off after midnight and the heat in the bungalow was unbearable.
We were already discussing whether to stay the whole three days or leave early, back to the comforts and beauty of Tita Tulum. After waking up in the morning it took us a while to realise that we had been broken into in the middle of the night. First my penknife was missing, then Lorena's camera, then my sunglasses... Oscar's mobile phone. It appeared that one of the little boys in the village came in the bungalow and took what he could put in his pockets... he did not take my big Nikon camera which he clearly held in his hands at some point.
So that was the end of it... we left Punta Allen after two nights, two nights too many... and full of mosquito bites. Telling the local Police about the theft did not help getting anything back, eventhough people in the town seemed to know exactly who did
Lorena & Marta
at Kabah with Chaac in the background it.
We did manage to spend some time at a nice beach, snorkling and getting Martin to get in the sea on his own at a place with no waves at all.
Back in Tita Tulum we were loving the beautiful beach, the fresh breeze and less mosquitos.
That same day we went to visit the amazing setting of the ruins in Tulum... incredible stone constructions right by the edge of the sea, with amazing vegetation and natural colours. The last couple of days we just spent by the beach, relaxing and enjoying a place that was so close to paradise.
It was time to leave, and we had a long way to drive back to Merida to catch our flight back to Mexico City. We dropped Ivan off at the bus station... he was flying from Cancun back to New York.
Our last day in Mexico City was not very action packed... just relaxing at home, out for some nice food in Coyoacan, and that was about it. We were off to Miami for our last stop before arriving in Colombia.
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