Sleepy Towns in Hot Places

While we thoroughly enjoyed starting our round-the-world trip with some quality beach time, we soon decided it was time to head West, deeper into the Yucatan.

Our first stop was Merida – about 4hrs from Cancun.  We arrived on a Friday night and checked into our first hostel, “Nomadas”, which offered cheap & cheerful digs and helpful advice on surrounding sights and activities.  That night, we checked out Noche Mexicana – a local weekly fiesta – before returning to a boiling hot room.  After some work adjusting our room’s ceiling and window fans, we were finally able to get some sleep in the sweltering night heat.

While in Merida, we joined a tour to the spectacular Mayan ruins of Uxmal – beautiful & impressive. We were surprised at the lack of tourists there, but didn’t mind!  The heat was intolerable, though, and I turned a bright shade of red and nearly passed out.  After cooling down and rehydrating, we enjoyed a delicious traditional Yucatecan dinner before viewing the “Sound & Light Show” after dark, which lit the ruins in a rainbow of colors synchronized to accompanying music and story. When we arrived back to our room at the hostel, we were welcomed by a huge cucaracha on the wall – ah, just like home in NYC!

View at Picasa Uxmal is an amazing ruins site.02-May-2010 15:26

We enjoyed the beautiful pool at the hostel, especially the hammocks hanging over the pool. People are really into their hammocks here and it’s easy to see why! We had some delicious fresh mango sorbet and Erik fell in love with elote ice cream – corn flavored ice cream with kernels and all – delicious!

Valladolid was a cute, quiet colonial town with a beautiful cathedral, delicious food and fascinating cenotes (underground sinkholes that are nestled into caves). We swam alongside catfish in the deep, fresh, crystal blue waters of Cenote X-Kekén. Simply stunning.

View at Picasa Heather at the Cenote05-May-2010 13:26

From Vallodoilid we visited the ruins of Chichén Itzá, which is crawling with tourists & souvenir vendors since recently becoming one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Quite majestic and fascinating, but we found the commercialization detracted from its beauty.

View at Picasa At the two equinoxes, thousands gather to see a perfect shadow line along the pyramids angled edge.04-May-2010 14:27

Perhaps our best dinner yet was had at El Meson del Marques. Set in a charming garden courtyard, we loved the local fish and shark dishes, guacamole made tableside and drinks – we were pleasantly surprised it only set us back $30!  We had fresh homemade  coconut ice pops that were the best we ever had and only cost 8 pesos each (about 60c USD).

Erik loved them so much that he ran to grab us some the next day while waiting for our bus out of town. We liked our little palapa (thatched-roof) room, but were not sad to bid farewell to the stench of the bathroom.

We were so happy to check into our air-conditioned hotel room in Campeche – luxury! This quaint city with its pastel colored-buildings (which we later learned are now maintained by the government since becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site) was a beautiful old walled city that was the first place that the Spaniards landed on in mainland Mexico in the early 16th century.

View at Picasa It was so interesting to see the juxtaposition of the old fort walls with new construction and modern vehicles.07-May-2010 19:15

We went on a tranvia (tram) tour that took us to all of the gates and walls of the city, one of which houses a nice museum. It’s refreshing and amazing to see how much of these old structures have been preserved. I had the best coconut shrimp in Campeche, but unfortunately Erik seems to have gotten ill from something whilst there. I’ve been really worried about him, but the Cipro he’s been taking seems to be doing the trick. It’s bound to happen while here in Mexico, but I seem to be ok for now. Knock on wood!

I was hoping he would make it through ok for the 12 hour overnight bus to our next stop, Veracruz…

You can view all of our photos from Merida, Valladolid, and Campeche.