Izamal, the Golden City of Hills

Pope John Paul II visited Izamal in 1993, held a special meeting and said mass specifically for the Indigenous people of the area in the Franciscan Convent that was built from and over an important Mayan ruin.

The atrium in the Convent is nearly as large as St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and is surrounded by an arched walkway.


Our accommodations here were right across the street from the Convent in the center of this walkable small town.


We had a couple of great meals here and did some craft shopping. This was our last stop before heading back to Merida to turn in the rental car and fly back to Mexico City where we spent New Year's Eve before flying home to SLC.
We did a long drive back to Merida along the Gulf Coastline on a very narrow road past fishing villages to Progresso. Unfortunately the pictures from this last leg of the journey are stuck in my camera which is missing at this moment!
This trip was perfect!

Chichen Itza, Mayan Wonder of the World

Our plan for visiting this site worked perfectly. We stayed at the Hotel Dolores Alba not two miles away from the ruins and got a very early start. We were the fifth car in line waiting for the gates to open at 8 am. Because of our preplanning we were able to enjoy the ruins practically by ourselves and before the temperatures were uncomfortably hot! It was awesome!







The day before it had rained so everything was so green and fresh. We had a lovely walk around the ruins which we have toured twice before, but it is one of the seven new wonders of the world so we didn't feel we could come to the Yucatan and drive right by without appreciating the Mayan architecture and astronomical knowledge in such beautiful tropical jungle one more time!

Valladolid's Colonial Churches & Casa de los Venados

We did a long walk through the colonial center of Valladolid past a few 500 year old churches and homes. The former Franciscan Monastery had original frescos in a city block sized fortress that once was home to the indigenous people of the area.





At 10 am we showed up as instructed by fellow traveler Chrystal at the home of John Venator, former CEO of Comptia, at his restored home/museum of Mexican folk and contemporary art, Casa de los Venados.

John himself answered the door after we knocked and spent nearly two hours showing us, along with four other American tourists, through his 18,000 sq. ft. masterpiece of colonial architecture with over 3000 pieces of art, mostly commissioned to fit in the various themed rooms that he has ready for his friends and family.

John is a true collector, passionate about his artwork and home in Mexico which has won a number of awards for design. He was very gracious to lead us around and point out some of his favorite pieces. It was an incredible experience, I felt he was very generous with his time!

From Laguna Bacalar to Valladolid via Tulum & Ek Balam

With big tears streaming from my eyes we left Casita Carolina’s. I can’t remember a travel experience that I enjoyed more than our time at Laguna Bacalar with Caroline’s family & friends. We were included in each special meal from Christmas Eve through Boxing Day. The gathering each day on her porch was interesting & varied; we met many other like-minded travelers while soaking up the perfect temperature in gorgeous surroundings. It was a great time! There was even talk of Casita sitting or even acquiring this property in the future; we will see what the universe holds, it’s out there waiting to see what happens.

We decided to take the road north that allowed for a quick view of the beautiful Caribbean Coastline near Tulum. We thought we might like to see the ruins of Tulum but after parking the car next to dozens of tour buses and hiking to the entrance we were both scared away by the hundreds of people waiting to pay the entrance fee as hundreds more filed out of the archeological wonder. Luckily we were of common heart about leaving as we hopped aboard the train back to the parking lot.

Instead we did a courtesy tour of a very elegant all-inclusive resort, Mayan Dreams. It’s five swimming pools on the ultra-blue, white sand beach were tempting, but at over $400. per person each night, we politely bowed out.

Heading inland we passed another Mayan wonder, Coba, again frightened away by the holiday crowds. Just after Coba we happened upon a very sad sight, a dead body in the road , an unfortunate bike accident victim covered with blue tarp with three grieving people huddled around him. Keith suffered nightmares about it last night, how sad it was to see such heartbreak!


We made our way to Vallalodid for a late lunch in a restored colonial hotel on the central plaza.

After lunch we made our destination for the day, Genesis in a tiny Mayan village many miles away from civilization next to the newly discovered run, Ek Balam. The lodging was very creatively designed by a Canadian woman, Lee. She had the B & B built in very ecofriendly ways, sun showers & compost toilets (hippy talk for cold water & outhouse). Her work exchange partner, Kevin, was interesting to talk with, Keith tried to teach him a bit of Spanish and even gave him his prized verb book after Kevin took a solemn vow to practice each day. The water pressure was incredibly lacking (think leaking faucet, that’s the amount of cold water that we had to bathe with) so we left this morning after touring the ruins at Ek Balam.




We came back to Vallalodid for the day where we found lodging with great water pressure right across from the cathedral. Today looking through a hostel, having breakfast & yummy cappuccino and checking in, Keith napped and I walked around the historical center.


We both went out this afternoon and did a bit of shopping, the embroidered linens and panama hats are too nice to pass up. Keith also had his beard trimmed, a latin american favorite activity for both of us.
Doesn't he look handsome in his new hat & spiffy beard!

Our dinner choice was sharing a plate of Yucatan traditional foods in another restored mansion, this one was home to a beautifully tiled religious shrine.





Ahhh… the colors and creative spirit of Mexico!