End of A Yucatan Adventure

Hi All,

Well as they say, all good things come to an end.
We spent some time (I rented a car again for a day) at Playa Del Carmen. This place has exploded in growth, surpassing Cancun (which took 30 years to develop) all in the last 10 years. They have 36,000 hotel rooms here compared to Cancun at 24,000. And its beautifully planned out. They have a long (5th avenue) pedistrian only street down the middle, lined with a shops and restaurants. The beach area, near the pier for transportation to Cozumel Island, is lined with upscale condos and beach hotels, amazing place. I really like this area of the Riviera Maya, it is growing and many more resorts along the coast are being added, including major golf courses.

Well its been an amazing trip, seeing the Mayan culture and the incredible Cancun and Mayan Riviera coast. I think this is a place to return to!!

Yours in Travel
Bill

Tulum - Location Location Location

Hi again all,

On Monday (April 20), we had the car one more day so needed to continue touring. Sitting on the beach would have to wait. We drove about 2 hours south of Cancun city to the Mayan fortress site of Tulum. Tulum is perched high up on the edge of a cliff overlooking the blue Caribbean ocean. It's the only Mayan ruin with a great little beach tucked right into the site. Most of Tulum's main structures were built in 1200 AD along with protective walls, yet it began it's life long before the birth of Christ. Tulum's structures, compared to other sites I've seen on the trip such as Chichen Itza and the Puuc Hill sites, carry little or no architectural beauty or detail, but its location is nothing short of spectacular. The Mayans knew the "3 L's" of real estate - Location Location Location! It is so popular, it became crowded quickly. This is another site to visit early!

On the way back to Cancun, we stopped at a beautiful little coastal spot that is renowned for snorkelling - Akamal. I got a chance to go out in the reef and snag a few shots at beautiful coral reefs and a few spotted angels. This would be a great site to hire a boat and go much farther out on the reef.

Another town visited yesterday was Puerto Morelos, a cute little fishing village only 20 minutes south of Cancun. Had a great fish dinner there, see my 1 kilo grilled fish! Puerto Morelos' quaint, serene and layed back atmosphere is unfortunately not long for this world as it is in the heart of the Mayan Riviera and is being developed here rapidly. Major condo developments and resorts are on the books for this area, and you can already see signs of it. Drive a few blocks out of town north of this little village and it looks like you are on the shores of Laguna Beach, amazing.

Wednesday we visit Playa Del Carmen - talk about major development! - more on that next time, its an amazing story.

Back to you on Friday. Here are a few more pictures. I hope to get some more in the gallery, its just too slow on these computers :)

Yours in Travel

- Bill

Izamal - You Can't Miss My Place, it's the Yellow One on the Left

Hello again all,

Left Merida on Friday, and went to a small ruin site north of town that morning. Dzibilchaltun, is unique in that it has existed from about 1000 BC to the conquest in the 1500's. Its not much of a site compared to others, but interesting history with an amazing museum of local artifacts. Right in the middle of the ruin was a cenote. Cenotes are sink holes, that have developed from the collapse of underground caves after many years and water from underground streams have filled them. They are constantly refreshed from moving underground water. They served as the water holes for these ancient cities and were a center of activity. Today the locals love to swim in them. One is pictured here.

We traveled a bit west and visited a hacienda - Hacienda Teya, just out of Merida. Hillary Clinton visited this one some years back. Haciendas were the huge ranch homes of the wealthy Spanish back in the 1800´s. They are similiar to our plantation homes in the south. Many have been converted to upscale hotels and restaurants. They raised Henequen, a sort of sisal material used for hats, clothing. But henequen is a relative to the aguave plant...and so its principal use was for distilling Tequila!! but due to trademark reasons, they can´t call it tequila!!


On to the small city of Izamal, where we stayed. This is the "Yellow town". The whole place is painted yellow!! everywhere you go. Its a cute little town. Enjoyed the local market, sitting in the town square and eating a peeled orange from the local vendor. They offered to put chile on the orange (usual treat), I chickened out. The main feature of the town was the Convento de San Antonio de Padua. Convent, a meaning different than we are used to, meant a place for the priests to stay. I was built by Franciscan Landa in 1562, geez that was a long time ago. He was an incredible historian, and much of what we have learned about Mayan history and the conquest years we owe to him. Pope John Paul II visited here in 1993. I can´t imagine the fanfare in this little town.

The place we stayed was a cute little B&B just out of downtown, run by two Americans. A big jungle lot, with bungalows all over and a rock bottom pool. Had a nice breakfast in the main palapa, with free wireless Internet :)

Well, we are now in Cancun. About a 3 hour drive east from Izamal, and we are at last in tourist city. I can´t believe this place. Take the Las Vegas strip, stretch it out in a single file row of hotels right on a beach with the most beautiful blue, warm water and you have Cancun. I think I heard it has some 24,000 rooms here. Prices are high and the action is big. Table dancing at Senior Frogs in the middle of it all (no, we didn´t do that :)

It's quite a contrast, from the little Mexican villages we have visited up to now, but it serves the locals. Incredible number of service jobs.

Hey somebody has to do it, serve the tourist industry..right_

Well tomorrow we have the car one more day, so will be off to visit Tulum and the Maya Riviera coast.

Yours in Travel
- Bill

Merida - The Capital of Yucatan State

Hello All,

We are in Merida. We arrived on Wednesday. It was once ( 1800´s) said that you could get to Paris easier from here than to Mexico City. And in fact, European influence is much stronger here than other parts of Mexico. They created their own version of the divided, tree lined main blvd of Paris (Champs Elysées) right here in Merida. Funny thing is, its a show place blvd. You go 2 blocks back, and you have the basic, single story Mexican village type structures.

But Merida is a beautiful town, lovely large plaza in the middle of town (Grand Plaza), fun place to stroll at night. And since the day time temperatures reached over 100 Deg F here, its the night time when things come alive.

Yesterday was a day trip to the second most important Mayan ruin site to see in this area. Uxmal, is about an hour drive south of Merida. What an incredible place! Another World Heritage site, this was my favorite so far. Uxmal is in the Puuc hill area, and its architecture is characteristic of the Puuc Hill Mayan region. Beautiful beveled layers, flat facades with intricate frieses, and many carvings. I hope I can capture it with a few pictures.

Its getting hot here now though, so couldn´t stay out in the sun too long.

Driving here in Mexico has been interesting. The Mexican drivers in this region are good drivers, they aren´t crazy fast paced ´weavers´like the Italians or other places in the world. The roads are good and well marked, the main danger is the crazy rules. Any time someone can just park in a lane of traffic. Particularly the police, just stop and open the door!! But all in all its been smooth.

Gotta run, need to beat the heat for today, will be back with you in a few days

Bill

Arrival - Valladolid, a little City in the heart of Mayaland

Hello All,

Well we are here at last. Left at "Ohh- dark 30" on Monday morning. Off to SAN and then to Phoenix then to Cancun. Rented a car in Cancun to head out west over the Yucatan Peninsula. Customs took 1- 1/2 hours, seems agents were off for Easter :( but all in all it went smooth. The first night´s stay was in Valladolid, a small town about 2 hours west of Cancun. Long story about car arrangements, but ended up with a stick shift. No problem until you come to a stop and forget you don´t have an automatic. The car bumps higher than it does on the speed bumps!!

We arrived at our B&B guest house, The Casa Hamaca (hammock) and it was beautiful. (See picture and night time in this small town) Denis Larsen, our host, American from east coast has lived in Valladolid for several years. He has built a wonderful guest house (see píctures in gallery, click here plus more trip pictures) in Valladolid. Enjoyed chatting with Denis and learning more about the area and the Mayans.

Approximately 1.5 million Mayans still speak their native Mayan language. In fact, many only speak Mayan in the small villages! 25 years ago Mexico discouraged speaking Mayan, forced Spanish only, now after about 10 years ago, they encourage native languages, so many are practicing it again; and it´s coming back to life.

Tuesday morning, off to Chichen Itza, a world heritage site and when you see it you will know why. This was the principle town about 900 AD, then Itza people moved in. Then the Toltecs (from near Mexico City) either conquered the city or influenced it through trade and exchange because many Toltec influences are present (so the archaeologits say!)

The El Castillo, is the principle temple and stands out as probably the most famous ancient structure in Mexico. It is impressive. Someone was killed climbing down from the top, so the temple is now closed to climbing.

On Wednesday, left the wonderful hospitality of Denis, and drove about 3 hours west to Merida, after first visiting the site of Ek Balam, the Black Jaguar (in Mayan). This site is rarely visited, and proved to be remarkable. The main tower is one of the tallest in the peninsula, and was a great site ( you could still climb it!) to see what the Yucatan region looks like. the scene from up there is probably the same as it was 1000 years ago.

1/2 way up the tower, was an amazing frescoe that helps you visualize what the Mayan temples looked like when they were built and used. The frescoe shown here was hidden behind a totally bricked in wall, and was discovered about 10 years ago by accident!! Note the 1- 1/2 inch thick stucco plaster covering the rock. This was probably typical of the sites, and in many cases was painted many colors. Look at what shape the carvings are in after 1000 years!

Well hot today, about 100 deg! so will stay inside here in Merida (siesta!) and walk the streets tonight. Thats what they do here! no one is out mid day!

We will be in touch again in a couple of days. I´ll try to have more pictures in my gallery for you to see, just click on the link here in the blog.

Yours in travel,

Bill & Phyllis

Yucatan - The land of the Mayans

Hi Friends and Family!

I'm off again to see another part of this amazing world while I still can. This year it’s the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Phyllis is joining me on this trip. We are excited to see the Mayan Ruins. We will travel west from Cancun for a week stopping at some key Mayan ruin sites including Chichen Itza. We’ll visit the cities of Valladolid, Merida, and Izamal.

I'll try to post to the blog including some pictures every couple of days. Check back and travel with us! Click on the posted pictures for a larger view. Past weekly postings can be found in the "archives" here on the blog along with some postings from my prior trips

We’ll see you on the road!! If you can drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you:

email me at: doubleucubed@mac.com

Yours in Travel,

Bill