Both of us were looking forward to the Gulf coast side of Yucatan – to Merida / Campeche and Progresso. Merida is the “safest” city in Mexico – here is a link I found – I don’t need to write why, just click the link: https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2019/03/why-is-merida-the-undisputed-best-city-to-live-in-mexico/
Todd read somewhere that all the cartel leaders have a pact that they can take their family on vacation to this area and there will be no fighting between cartels. Whether or not this is true…who knows! But we arrived on a Thursday afternoon and the vibe of the city was 100% different than what we had seen for the first 4 weeks….and excited to start touring around. A quick trip to the dentist for Todd to get his two teeth crowns for his implants ($1200 compared to $3500 at home) measured up and after that we checked out the Mayan Museum and drove around picking up supplies for our next few days.
Mayan Museum – Todd sure likes a museum now!
This was the coolest tree at the museum – flowers were merging from it – they were so unusual.
We were only here for 5 days, because its was a transition week to get to Campeche – and we were coming back to the area at the end of Feb. So we went through the Merida guide and picked a few things we really wanted to do. We set out on Saturday morning to Izamal – I first heard about this town through a Liz and Dennis’ youtube channel that I watch (https://www.youtube.com/@EatSeeRV/videos) It was a quick 1 hour drive in Polly the Polo, another great car for 6!
Polly the Polo!
I was glad we are early birds – as we got to see everything in the town before it got really busy! Izamal is a colonial city founded in the mid-16th century and built on the remains of an ancient Mayan city. The historic buildings and houses are all painted yellow and the streets are so narrow and quaint. Check this video out of us walking and talking: https://youtu.be/D0DH5J6OzEg This was a really cool walking tour! We didn’t waste time, and our first stop was the cathedral and convent – WOW!
On the grounds of the cathedral
The altar
The ceiling above the altar
Backside of the cathedral
Our next stop was the largest pyramid on the surface of the Yucatan Peninsula: ¨Kinich Kak Moo¨. This was blocks away from the cathedral and surprisingly was no entrance fee – you just walked up.
Overview photo of the ruins, with yellow painted buildings
At the top of the ruins
Here is a video of us walking up the ruins: https://youtube.com/shorts/WQlWe1Zt3O4 This town is full of one way streets, so Todd wanted to drive through the town for a bit, cause it was cool and different. Here is that video: https://youtube.com/shorts/rce2sHheLsU
We wanted to continue touring off the beaten path, heading back home and ended up in a town called Motal – it was a bit cool/rainy by the time we got here. This was a town of “red” – everything near the town centre was red. As we were driving, Todd scoped out a shoe shop that had cowboy boots. So we parked and walked through the centre, when he found a glasses shop and bought a new pair of sunglasses (his were accidentally broken a few days prior) before we went back to the shoe store where he found this amazing pair of cowboy boots for a whole 750 pesos ($52). The sales guy was wondering if we were getting ready for the bull fighting happening tonight! No, we weren’t. But we will be attending a bull fight at the end of Feb.
The old convent in Motul
Todd’s new cowboy boots – only 750 pesos ($52)
Here is the map of the tour we did
I worked a couple of days while we were in Merida – so Todd had to venture out on his own a bit. We did manage to spend Sunday afternoon down in town Centro – I love how pedestrian it all is. So much history here too – very colonial. Here is a quick tour of our flat: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DY-9Ikl2CSI (if its too fast, just click on the video, it will pause). We’ve learned that every Airbnb is so different with what they supply, such as: toilet paper, salt, pepper, oil, bottle opener, wine opener, kitchen knife, bowls, plates bigger than a saucer, more than one burner, lime squeezer – so we adapt to every place we go. Having a car makes it easier to haul our goods, but at some point our “goods” will need to be scaled down.