Destinations
William Lawson
A Yucatan Adventure for Driving Enthusiasts!
A Yucatan Adventure for Driving Enthusiasts!
William Lawson
And there was the cenote…
And there was the cenote…
William Lawson
Ni Chac - A Yucatan Bourdain Moment
Ni Chac - A Yucatan Bourdain Moment
William Lawson
Hacienda Chochoh, a Dog, and some Flowers

Doggies, hacienda and flowers

Hacienda Chochoh, a Dog, and some Flowers
Destinations
William Lawson
Wild Lunch at Codornejo - Akil, Yucatan

…wild lunch in Akil Yucatan…

Wild Lunch at Codornejo - Akil, Yucatan

Destinations

A little bit of Merida, a little bit of Yaxcopoil

Susan and her husband were back in town with their parents and they wanted to see one of the Yucatan's many haciendas. The original idea was to go to Sotuta de Peon but since the House and Garden tour they were on finished too late to make that happen, I thought it better that we visit the Yaxcopoil hacienda. 

I caught up with them at the last house of the House and Garden tour, run by the pioneer Yucatan magazine, Yucatan Today.  It was a beautiful old home, and unlike many of the older homes in Merida, is still lived in by its' owner. Have a look:

With the tour behind us, we drove to the nearby hacienda Yaxcopoil, but of course, as always happens on one of our tours, there was a diversion. A detour, a small stop, a side road; these are the things that make the trip memorable and today was no exception. Everyone was hungry and wanted to eat before visiting the hacienda where Doña Nica most likely was no longer making panuchos under the tree on her makeshift griddle over a fire, and so a quick ride around the block in Uman yielded the La Margarita restaurant, on the main square, serving home cooked meals. The menu? Bistek con papas and espelon con puerco, a version of frijol con puerco (pork and beans) that is very special as the espelon is the tender, new version of the black bean and gives the dish a particularly delicious consistency.

Energy restored, we continued on to Yaxcopoil and enjoyed this immensely photogenic hacienda in the warm glow of afternoon light, before returning to Merida for a well deserved nap.

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Magical Mystery Tour #2

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This is the photographic chronicle of my second Magical Mystery Tour outing, as described in the last installment here.   

On this occasion, as I had some garage sale items to deliver to the beach, I thought it would be interesting to take a drive I never had made before - the road from Chuburná to Merida, via the back road through Sierra Papacal and the hacienda Suytunchen. 

It was a beautiful, sunny day and the tour started, as usual, with a detour to see the fishing boat "refuge" or harbor in Chuburná. A stop along the beach also provided a glimpse at the major work underway to reclaim the eroding sandiness there.

Once you leave the beach area, you are driving on a raised one and a half lane, pot-holed road that cuts across the mangroves. You will see egrets, ducks, cormorants a pelican or two and on this occasion I saw a couple of small groups of flamingos. Not being equipped with a super birders zoom lens, I could only take photos from the road and at a distance. 

At the end of what seems like an interminable road where the vegetation changes from marshy mangrove to scrubby underbrush, you suddenly find yourself on a wide, brand new stretch of highway, and a sign announcing the CICY. I always wondered where the CICY was, having heard they had another property. Well here it is, out in the middle of nowhere with a security guard and gate - to prevent intruding zombies from attacking, I suppose. 

This wide, well marked highway is like an oasis in a mirage, as it appears after the long drive along the pocked road from the beach and then disappears when you enter the town of Sierra Papacal. Please, someone explain to me the logic of building a perfect, modern highway - that is only 1 kilometer long and abutted by crappy roads to get there in the first place?

The balché tree is in bloom however, and growing right there by the mystery highway so I was able to get some good photos of the flowers.

Sierra Papacal was next, but there was nothing in the tiny village that caught my eye, even with a circus in town, except a sign for a turnoff to Suytunchen, which sounded interesting so I went there instead. It turns out Suytunchen is another hacienda, this one raised cattle up until recently, when it became a venue to be rented for social events. The daily rate is around $25,000 MXP for the location; you provide everything else. As you can see, it is small, but has some great photo op potential. The afternoon light warms up the bright colors painted over those melancholy, silent walls, that have watched the telenovela of life play out in front of them.

With the light fading fast, this was the last stop of the Magical Mystery Tour #2 - a slightly shorter version than the first, but nevertheless, a worthwhile trip.

From Suytunchen, a sign indicated the road to Merida and I was on the Progreso-Merida highway in minutes and home.

 Stay tuned for the next Magical Mystery Tour!

Santa Rosa Hacienda, Maxcanu, Granada and Oxkintok

With no one at home and a free afternoon, I decided to take an exploratory trip to the Oxkintok ruins which I had previously only caught a glimpse of on my way to some secret caves in the area with local guide Victor. 

However, on the road to Maxcanu where I would be turning off towards Oxkintok I saw signs for the Santa Rosa hacienda, one of the Starwood properties here in the Yucatan and decided that I would like to check it out instead and pehaps hit the ruins afterwards. 

What I found was an absolutely gorgeous property, not unusual for the Starwood hotels, along with really friendly and welcoming service and perfect afternoon light for some photographs. The lunch, served for the only visitor in the hacienda - yours truly - was delicious and served in a professional and courteous manner that the Temozon hacienda can only dream of.  

With a delicious lunch in me, I continued on to Oxkintok, via Maxcanu and a curious town called Granada, a name I had never heard of in the Yucatan so of course I had to check it out. Not much there, except another grand hacienda, unrestored and full of villagers watching a baseball game in what used to be the main corral of the building.  

The road from Santa Rosa to Maxcanu. Granada? Really?

The bright blue church (facade) in Granada, Yucatan.

A quick drive through Maxcanu where the Sunday afternoon drinking activity was fully in session with groups of drunken men on many street corners. Maxcanu deserves a more detailed photographic study, but the clouds were moving in and I had precious little time to get to the ruins before a) they closed and b) the rain started, so I quickly continued on to Oxkintok.

The drive to Oxkintok from Maxcanu takes about 10 minutes if you take the old highway that goes right through the ruins. It is a pot-holed, unpaved mess in most parts and will take out a tire if you are not careful, and those holes are hard to see with all the rain. I arrived at the ruins in time to spend about 20 minutes before they closed, and after 5 minutes, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour had me soaked to the skin in just a few seconds. The photos are not great but you can get an idea of what is there - which is probably bigger than some of the other, more popular sites around such as Chichen and Uxmal. The place is HUGE. 

Izamal aka the Yellow City

Why is this city yellow? It depends on whom you ask. One theory says it was always yellow, while another and in my opinion more believable theory states that it was painted Vatican yellow in honor of Pope John Paul's visit here.

That's right, the Pope came here and if the Pope can get all the way over here from his comfy palace in the Vatican, so can you. 

Izamal is about an hour and a bit outside of Merida, towards Cancun on highway 180. There isn't a lot to do on the way, unless you count the town of Kimbilá, which is known for its textiles although a recent visit left me feeling a little Shania about the whole place: So you have hipiles? That don't impress me much.

In Izamal itself, you should visit the monastery, which has as its front yard the second largest atrium (after the Vatican) in the WORLD. That's right. And the whole structure is on the base of a Mayan pyramid that once stood here and whose stones were used for the construction of this and other buildings around town.  

There is still the Kinich Kakmo pyramid just across the way, a few blocks walk actually and very near the Kinich restaurant which serves up splendid Yucatecan fare and is a must-visit when in town.  

Other interesting places in Izamal are the combination embroidery shop/herbal medicine place (you will have to ask) as well as plenty of handicrafts and artisans goods at several galleries and boutiques. One thing to keep in mind is that if you should visit the shirtless man in charge of the herbal remedies for everything from cancer to impotence to AIDS and want to engage him in a conversation, make some time available as he will go on for hours.