Mexico Pt 2: Yucatan Peninsula

An hour long flight from Mexico City and we arrived in the hottest place on earth; Merida, Mexico. 

It's hot here.... as in.... scorching... High's of 100+ degrees each day... 

Like, I've never experienced this kind of heat and humidity. Merida makes D.C. in the summer seem absolutely lovely by comparison. 

Merida was a nice, but very quiet town, coming from Mexico City. During the 19th-20th century it was a prosperous town and that faded grandeur can be seen in the massive Colonial-style mansions that line the broad avenues. Since we arrived midday, we had time to kill and nothing planed, so Sean, Candace, and I wandered downtown to the historical center and plaza mayor to check out the area and find somewhere for lunch. 

Having arrived on a Sunday afternoon made finding an open restaurant some what challenging. (One of the first lessons I learned, the hard way, as a newbie to Latin American culture is that one shouldn't plan to do much of anything on a Sunday, especially not going out to eat. Unless you live near a very thriving tourist area; like Miraflores). We finally found a nice little restaurant to eat at. And we got to try some of the local cuisine. Tacos de canzon (dogfish tacos) for me, cochinita pibil (pork cooking in banana leaves), and pollo poc chic (essentially grilled chicken). The food was good, but nothing compared to the delicious meals we had eaten back in Mexico City. 

Day One: On our first full day in the Yucatan we got up bright and early and boarded a bus that brought us out to the ancient Maya city Uxmal. Uxmal is considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites next to Chichen Itza. Compared to other archaeological sites in the region Uxmal is also one of the better maintained and remains in a good state of preservation. Although you can't climb the pyramids here, unfortunately. The complex consists of a governors palace, the nunnery quadrangle, and a large well-preserved ball court.

Uxmal in all its glory 

Sean at the Governor's Palace

warrior figures atop the Governor's Palace

Also, as part of this day trip we were able to visit Kabah, a site just south of Uxmal. There is a raised pedestrian causeway that connects the two places (however, we were kinda lazy and didn't walk the 18km, we were driven). Kabah features a famous structure that is covered entirely in hundreds of stone masks dedicated to the rain god Chaac.

the ball court and Sean climbing different things

Day Two: On our last full day in the Yucatan we got up bright and early yet again to head farther out to visit Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is the most famous and most well preserved of all of the Maya pyramids on the Yucatan, and thus it is the most tourist-y and most visited. Our guide for the day told us that approximately 5,000 people visit Chichen Itza every day. Chichen Itza was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.

side view of Chichen Itza (with no people around!)

The whole site is remarkably well preserved, if not a little commercialized. The ambiance of the whole experience was detracted from (in my opinion) by the hundreds of vendors that lined the paths that wound among the ruins and the vendors who were walking around hawking their wares (Not that that stopped me from buying post cards). I just felt that the vendors should maybe be kept out of the central part of Chichen Itza since the place got really crowded by midday when it was filled with tons of tourists and tons of vendors. Never the less visiting Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Kabah was a once in a lifetime experience that I am supremely grateful that I was able to have.

obligatory tourist photo with the pyramid 

detail of a feathered serpent at the steps to the Skull Platform

there were sun-drunk iguanas lounging everywhere, this one let me get with in a foot of it before it scrambled away

one last view of Chichen Itza

Aside from seeing thousands of years old ruins of epic proportions, which is a really cool thing on its own, we also had the opportunity to go swimming in the cenote Ik Kil near Chichen Itza. Cenotes, which dot Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, are sinkholes that were formed in the Peninsulas porous limestone bedrock and are filled with natural mineral rich fresh water. Cenotes were considered sacred by the Mayans because they were the only source of potable water in a region that would go through serious dry seasons and it was thought to be a place where one could communicate with the gods. Today these cenotes are still cared for by Mayan women, who maintain each cenote as an eco-park. There is a 70 MX peso fee to get in, but it is definitely worth it to experience this unique experience in an idyllic setting. Plus, it was a great way to cool off and get refreshed after a hot, sweaty day walking around in the full sun and 100 degree heat. 

Looking down into the cenote (image source)

And thus ended our trip to Mexico! We had a fantastic time exploring this country. It was really such a pleasant surprise that we enjoyed both Mexico City and the Yucatan so much. And we definitely want to go back in the future. 

Next stop the Dominican Republic! 

This one time we went to Mexico...

Sean's first IRT trip of the year went off without a hitch!

Earlier in May I flew to Mexico City to meet Sean who was flying in from working for two days in San Antonio, TX. I did not know what to expect of Mexico and Mexico City, at all. It was not a country that was high on my list of places I one day hoped to travel to. It actually didn't even make my Top 10. But, to my great surprise and delight I found the Distrito Federal to be a beautiful and endlessly fascinating city that I definitely plan on returning to. Sean's time in Mexico City was limited to four days (two of which were completely taken up with work) and then we spent three more days on the Yucatan Peninsula in Merida. 

While Sean had to spend his first two days in the D.F. working, I had two full days to spend exploring the city. The first day was given over to a full day tour curated by Eat Mexico Culinary Tours with another IRT spouse, Naomi, who accompanied her husband to Mexico as well. We spent the whole day exploring markets and street food vendors with a knowledgable and fantastic guide (AND! If you like food and food related things-you can read more about my EatMexico review on my good friend Jessica's food blog here). It was an amazing way to get to know the city's historic center intimately. And we got do what I love the most- eating some scrumptious food, to boot. 

a tortilleria, pulpo tostada, fresh made tlacoyos- all delicious! 

On our second day in Mexico City, while Sean was still working, Naomi, our friend Kat and I all went to Chapultepec Park to check out the National Anthropology Museum and Castillo Chapultepec. Chapultepec Park is one of the largest urban parks in the Western Hemisphere, it's a peaceful and verdant oasis in the middle of a pretty bustling city. In addition to the castle, and the National Anthropology Museum, it also hosts a lake, a contemporary art museum, a modern art museum, a zoo, and a theater. It's like a small town in its own right! I don't think there was any way we'd have been able to explore all of the park- even if we had a whole week to devote to it. The National Anthropology Museum is definitely a must-see if you go to Mexico City. It was a massive building that houses huge galleries devoted to showcasing artifacts from each ancient culture in Mexico; Maya, Oaxaca, toltecas, and many more. From there we walked across the park and up the hill where the Castillo Chapultepec sits, offering impressive panoramic views of Mexico City. 

snaps from the National Anthropology museum and the castillo

On Sean's first 'cultural' free day a group of us took a guided tour out to Teotihuacan, about an hour outside of Mexico City. Teotihuacan hosts the very well preserved ruins of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican pyramids in addition to a much larger complex of residential compounds that surround the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. We spent the day climbing up one pyramid, walking along the Avenue of the Dead, climbing up the other pyramid and generally walking around totally awestruck that people thousands of years ago were able to construct something so massive that is still standing today when there are houses that were built in the U.S. like fifty years ago that are just falling apart now.

In front of the Temple of the Sun, and yes! we climbed all those steps to the top. 

Now, Friday night was hands down the highlight of this trip for me. Our friends from the U.S. Embassy took us to a Luchadore match....you know what I'm talking about... masked and greased up wrestlers duking it out in a staged and pre-choreographed fight. It was just as fantastically hilarious and ridiculous as you are imagining it would be. Tickets were so cheap at Arena Mexico that we got seats two rows from the ring. The whole event started off ridiculous and just continued to escalate in ridiculousness as the evening progressed.

Luchadores in the ring

On our last day in the city we visited the Frida Kahlo Museum, the Diego Rivera Museum, and the Palacio Nacional to see Diego Rivera's murals. For a girl with an Art History B.A. seeing the places I've only read about and seen digital images of- it was pretty powerful to visit these places. The Frida Kahlo museum was amazingly curated to show a wonderful picture of the life of an extremely talented artist. The Diego Rivera Museum is another astonishingly beautiful place- and one that I had not expected. It's constructed entirely out of volcanic basalt so it has an imposing and foreboding exterior, but the inside is 6 floors of pre-Colombian and Maya artifacts that Rivera collected during his lifetime. On the second floor are the only surviving sketches of his now destroyed murals commissioned by the Rockefeller's for the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Also, in a side gallery were his larger-than-life paper mache sculptures. Inspired by his studio turned museum we cabbed it across the city back to the historic district to see if we could get into the Palacio Nacional to see his murals depicting Mexican history. 

The only photos I got before the docent told me 'no photos please'

Before we made it to the Palacio Nacional we were all starving, so after a few minutes of searching we came upon a whole in the wall restaurant, that was the size of a closet offering Oaxacan fare. We all sat down and were served beef gorditas, chicken and cheese quesadillas all topped with red salsa and queso fresco and some delicious guava juice. (I don't have any photos of this as I was too busy using my hands to eat this delicious food). Full and content we ambled a few blocks over to the Palacio.

the busy, busy streets of the historic district

different views of the truly impressive Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional 

And in typical South American fashion, we tried to get into the Palacio Nacional but were denied because none of us were carrying our actual passports with us, just copies. But of course strategically positioned right after the guards is a group of old Mexican men in Bass Pro fishing vests saying that for 150 $MX he can bring all four of us into the Palacio even though we don't have our actual passports, quickly explaining to our suspicious group something about how we would be 'sponsored' by him as he gives us an hour long tour of the building. Kind of a rip-off, I know, but we really wanted to see the murals. And it turned out to be a really informative tour given by a quirky old guy who enjoyed talking about Mexico's political history. 


Thus ended our time in Mexico City. I was sad to leave, but...

On to the Yucatan!

Hello from Lima!

Two Months In 

Well, Sean and I have officially been living in Lima for about two months now. Quite a bit has happened since we departed Boston, MA back in early March... we obtained resident visas for Peru, signed a lease on a beautiful apartment in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima, I spent a month in Spanish classes, and we travelled to Mexico for a week. It has been quite a whirlwind. 

We're off to a great start in our new life living abroad.

Living abroad has its ups as well as its downs. And in some cases it's taken a bit of adjusting  to on my part, but I think we are both settling in to a rhythm of a new normal here in Lima. So, in this blog I'll continue to update on a regular basis for anyone who is interested enough to read it!

I'm planning on playing catch up for the next few posts. I've got a trip to Mexico to write about. And I will do a post of snapshots of life in Lima. 

And I'll leave you with this photo that many of you probably know from my Facebook page... 

View of the beaches from above