¡Que viva Yucatan! – Part 2

Chubby snacks at the Fat Lady’s

Mérida is the only city on the Yucatan Peninsula with a population over one million, but it’s still similar to many cities founded by the Spanish in Latin America, so the starting point for exploration is the Main Square, which isn’t called Plaza Mayor, but Plaza Grande. The most important buildings, however, can be found around the square – the Yucatan State Government Palace, the Cathedral of Mérida and the town hall. There’s also the museum of contemporary art located in the square, but the most interesting museum in the city, the Museum of Mayan Culture and History or the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, is located in the northwest of the city. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to visit the museum in the spring of 2021, and due to the epidemic, the museum almost completely moved online. However, we couldn’t experience the hustle and bustle of the city online, which was, despite the obligatory masks, genuine. Souvenir shops, markets, shops and many restaurants lined the streets around the main square and it was difficult to decide where to look for a refreshment. But the name and pleasant smells led to Gorditas Doña Gorda, which in translation means Chubby snacks at the Fat Lady’s. The restaurant offers small bread pockets filled with a variety of fillings, from chicken to cracklings. Due to the size of the chubby snacks, you can try at least two, but if you’re hungry, you can make a try at even more different ones.

Among the flamingos and in the abandoned salt pans

After a couple of chubby snacks, we arrived in Celestún in about an hour. It’s a small seaside and especially fishing town on the west coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Here the glamor of the east coast is replaced by Mexican authenticity. In the main square, we observed performances and organized recreation, treated ourselves to fresh crispy waffles and local ice cream, and grabbed a refreshment at the city canteen. Despite all the culinary temptations, it was the beach that we chose as the next destination, and for a reason. The long sandy beach offered a pleasant refreshment, followed by dinner under a thatched roof in the restaurant. But even there the interesting pandemic-related measures were in place, as restaurants at the beach weren’t allowed to offer alcohol and so it was necessary to get a beer from the store around the corner, which was pleasantly chilled to –4 degrees Celsius.

The second day was entirely dedicated to Celestún and the biggest attraction – the colonies of wild flamingos. You can reach the place by boat from the main pier in Celestún, as well as from the pier at the bridge that crosses Ría Celestún, which is home to flamingos and many other birds as well as other animal and plant species. The trip also includes a short stop at a cenote where you can also go for a swim.

But while Celestún is an ideal place for a carefree holiday, this wasn’t the purpose of our trip, and the next morning was followed by a slightly longer all-day road trip to a village with less than a thousand inhabitants and no phone signal, supermarkets, industry or even a gas station. But more about the village later, as this section was one of the most interesting on the entire trip through the Yucatan Peninsula.

Through ghost towns and past the pyramids to the capital of Campeche

About 20 kilometers from Celestún, there’s a side road that in Maxcanu joins the road marked 180, which otherwise connects Cancun with the city of La Coma in the far north of Mexico, about 50 km before the border with the USA. The reason for choosing the route, however, wasn’t that it being a few kilometers shorter than the main road, but a visit to the abandoned haciendas of Chunchucmil, Kochol and Santo Domingo, located in the places of the same name. If you’re a fan of exploring ghost towns, then you’ll be exploring the impressive, though abandoned rooms with great interest, otherwise you might just take some photos.

But you’ll definitely stop at the pyramids in the ancient Mayan cities. The most famous of them is certainly Uxmal, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and boasts the Pyramid of the Magician, the only one that has rounded sides. The next important Mayan center is Kabah, which is connected to Uxmal by an 18 km long embankment and, in addition to these two, there are also some smaller ones, such as Xlapak and Sayil.

Campeche – the cutest city in the Yucatan Peninsula

The next destination on the way to the jungle was the city of Campeche with a population of nearly one million, the picturesque capital of the eponymous state, which boasts picturesque Spanish architecture. The city was founded by the Spanish conquistadors on the site of the Mayan city of Can Pech and named San Francisco de Campeche. There isn’t much left of the old Mayan town which had around 3,000 houses, but the town, which was founded in the 16th century, is almost entirely the same as it was half a millennium ago. This was also due to the walls which, in principle, effectively protected the city from pirate attacks, but today you can see the walls and walk along them at the same time as visiting the city museum.

Like any Spanish colonial city, Campeche has its main square, called Independence Square, where it makes sense to start walking around the city, as it’s right next to the city walls, the museum and the cathedral, and not far from the luxurious 19th-century Carvajal mansion. The whole city is full of charming streets that turn into restaurant gardens during the day. Of all the places visited, the city of Campeche was certainly the cutest and worth a long stop, including a walk by the sea along the beautiful promenade.

Where there is neither a virus nor a telephone signal

Next was a short stop in Champoton, a charming seaside town that boasts excellent beaches. After a short walk, the impression was that it was just a small version of the capital Campeche. But since this route was also the longest shift on the entire trip, we left the city, perhaps unfairly, too soon.

A straight road led to the next base camp, or accommodation if you will, for the next two days, which took us through places with quite original names, such as Revolution, Vicente Guerrero or General Ortiz Avila, and all the way to the turnoff towards the final destination of an almost four hundred kilometer-long road trip. Miguel Colorado was waiting for us with open arms, and after the obligatory temperature measurement upon arrival, the masks also came off. In a village with a population of less than one thousand, the COVID-19 clearly wasn’t a topic of conversation or a cause for alarm, as the virus couldn’t reach us, not even by phone, because there was no mobile signal in the village and also no mobile internet. On the other hand, the villagers didn’t even seem to have locks on their doors and it seemed like the whole village lived like one big family. Of course, we were happy to join this small family, which was a mixture of guests in the accommodation facility, and we soon went around together. More about the adventures from the jungle in the next issue, when again there will be no shortage of Mayan cities and pyramids on our way to Yucatan’s east coast.