April 14, 2008

After a cancelled flight, a delayed landing, and 10 hours (or so it seemed) of standing in lines for customs and whatnot at Cancún airport, we were finally ready to hit the road in our chic PT Cruiser (not actually what I had rented, but I didn't care at that point). Unfortunately, it was almost 6 p.m., so making it to Chichén-Itzá as planned seemed unlikely.


We decided to escape the Cancún hotel zone as soon as possible and to get as far as Valladolid, a small town about an hour and a half away. We were losing daylight, and so we made sure we were on the toll road, which is worth the expense to drive on well-maintained roads that don't stop in 20 towns along the way. Our Frommer's guidebook suggested a hotel called El Mesón del Marqués, located on the north side of the main plaza. After circling the plaza twice, we located the hotel, and they had vacancies. Whew.


After checking in, we went downstairs to the restaurant. This hotel, which we picked because it was the first listing in the guidebook, also has one of the best restaurants in Valladolid. The appetizer we ordered, guacamole a la mesa, was just that, guacamole prepped and served tableside. The server added in olive oil, which we thought was an unusual touch. Everything we ate was incredibly good, and combined with the music, courtyard setting, and cervezas, we we're feelin' Mexico.

Map of the Yucatán Peninsula

April 15, 2008

Valladolid is home to some very important history. The Caste War began there in 1847, and also the first signs of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. We went out into the square to get a look at the plaza in daylight and stopped for breakfast at Las Campanas (The Bells), located near the San Gervasio Cathedral.

We were happy our travel delays led to time spent in such a charming city, and we hope to return.

Ek' Balam
After packing up and checking out of the hotel, we drove north 30km (is the US the only place that still measures in miles?!) to Ek' Balam, a pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization. In Yukatek the name means "black jaguar." Ek' Balam was at the height of its importance as a city during the Late Classic period (600-900 A.C.). After the Maya abandoned it, the site was engulfed by the low-lying jungle. As with all of the Mayan pyramids, Ek' Balam was discovered when archaeologists and adventurers saw a group of hills with trees and brush covering them. Digging in the mounds, they uncovered treasures of buildings and artifacts hidden for hundreds of years. At Ek' Balam, restoration has been ongoing since 1997.

The largest structure, known as The Acropolis, has a 5 meter-tall jaguar's mouth featuring winged Mayan warriors, as well as inscriptions in Mayan. From the top of this structure you can see the pre-Columbian sites of Coba, but I had a hard time finding Coba. The Acropolis measures 480 feet across, 180 feet wide, and 96 feet tall. This palace has six levels where the governors and higher echelons of the cities population lived. Archaeologists believe it was not built by one person or all at once. Luis and I found it interesting that we could climb to the top of The Acropolis, which is taller than El Castillo (the tallest structure at Chichén-Itzá), yet people are no longer allowed to climb El Castillo because in 2005 a woman fell from the top and died. Mexico must not be as litigious as the States.

I read that Ek' Balam is never overwhelmed with tourists, and this was true the morning we went. It's much more quiet and peaceful than Chichén, and I highly recommend it as a day trip for anyone travelling to Yucatán.

Chichén-Itzá
After leaving Ek' Balam, we drove the mother of all Mayan ruins, Chichén-Itzá. The original plan was to tour the ruins before noon, when the busloads of tourists from Cancun start pouring in. Due to travel delays, we were arriving right at noon, along with the buses. We hired a local guide to take us through the ruins, and she was well-worth the expense.

The famous Mayan pyramids of Chichén-Itzá are over 1500 years old. The name Chichén-Itzá is a Mayan word meaning "at the mouth of the well of the Itzá." This derives from chi, meaning mouth or edge, and ch'en, meaning well. Itzá is the name of an ethnic-lineage group that gained political and economic dominance of the northern peninsula. The name is believed to derive from the Maya itz, meaning magic, and (h)á, meaning water. Itzá in Spanish is often translated as Brujas del Agua, or Witches of Water, but a more precise translation would be Magicians of Water. Clear as mud? Thought so.

The city had another, earlier name prior to the arrival of the Itzá. It is represented variously as Uuc Yabnal, Uuc Habnal, Uuc Hab Nal, or Uc Abnal. Most sources agree the first word means seven, but there is debate as to the correct translation of the rest. Translations include Seven Bushes, Seven Year Corn, Seven Stone Corn, Seven Lots of Corn, or Seven Caves. Our guide translated it to Abundant Corn.

The site is divided into three sections. The North grouping of structures is distinctly Toltec in style. The central group appears to be from the early period. The southern group is known as The Old Chichén.

The main attraction is the central pyramid, El Castillo del Serpiente Emplumado, which means "Castle of the Plumed Serpent." The feathered serpent is a popular deity in many Mesoamerican cultures.

The End of the World As We Know It
Just beyond El Castillo is a large ball court where Mayans played a game called pok ta pok. Anthropologists believe that the object of the game was to hurl a ball through a ring that was mounted on a wall, seven meters above the ground. Each team had six field players who would attempt to pass the ball--using any body part except their hands--to their captain, who would attempt the shot using a racket of sorts. The captain of the team that made the first successful shot was then decapitated as a sacrifice to the gods. This was seen as an honor and guaranteed entrance into heaven. There are carvings on the stone walls (see photo at right) that show the captain being beheaded, with seven serpents growing out of his neck.

One fact worth noting about the ball court is the repetition of the number seven, which was sacred to the Mayans. There were seven players on a team, the rings were seven meters high, and sound in the court echos exactly seven times. Our guide demonstrated this by standing in the middle of the court and clapping her hands.

Another interesting fact (in a doomsday sort of way) is that Mayan prophecy says that on December 22, 2012, the great warrior serpent Kukulkán will rise from the ground beneath the playing field and end the world for good. Bummer.

We explored the older part of the ruins on our own because our guide was almost too knowledgeable, and we were hot, thirsty, and our stomachs were rumbling. After leaving the ruins, we had a memorable meal (that we wish we could forget) across from the entrance to Ik Kil cenote.

Cenotes in Yucatán
There are over 3000 cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula, with only 1400 that have been studied and registered. Cenotes are underground caverns and pools, or sink holes. Once the only resource for fresh water in the jungle, centoes also were sacred places to the Maya because they represented the entrance to the underworld. Ik Kil, the "Sacred Blue Cenote," is a perfectly round well-type cenote with dramatic vegetation and waterfalls. The cenote is 196 feet wide and about 130 feet deep, and approximately 85 feet from the surface. A grand stairway leads you down the steps into the water. We didn't swim because it was a bit crowded (again, get there before noon if you can), and we were ready to head out to Mérida.

To Mérida
We arrived in Mérida at around 7 p.m. Again we drove around the block a couple of times before we finally saw our hotel, Luz en Yucatán. Luz is highly recommended if you're into independent travel. Tom, the owner, doesn't require deposits, but he does ask that you let him know if your plans change. That kind of relaxed and casual lodging policy is rare. We were shown to our room, which was decorated tastefully and simply. Two cervezas were already chilling in the fridge.

We flipped on the TV and soon noticed that when a commercial came on for junk food, a little message would appear at the bottom of the screen with health tips warning you to eat healthier. "Come mejor." "Come bien."

That night we went to a semi-vegetarian place called Amaro's. Amaro's is highly recommended in Frommer's. Apparently it also appears in several other guidebooks because it seemed like we were surrounded by fellow Americans with Frommer's and Lonely Planet guides. But the food was still good, so I can see why it's a popular place.

April 16, 2008

A Lebanese Breakfast

This morning we walked to a Lebanese restaurant for breakfast. Yes, it seemed odd to us, too, but Lebanese food is easy to come by in Yucatán. From 1880 to 1910, the first wave of Lebanese immigrants arrived in Mexico to escape the oppression of the Islamic Ottoman regime. As conditions worsened, more Lebanese escaped to Mexico. The largest group of Mexicans of Lebanese descent lives in Mérida. In an atmosphere tolerant of their customs, they were able to maintain many of their traditions and their culinary heritage.

We ate breakfast at Café Alameda, a simple and informal (metal tables, plastic chairs) place to grab a light meal. The menu featured popular Middle Eastern dishes, but with Spanish names. Kibbe is quebbe bola and hummus is garbanza. We had eggs, coffee, and mamules (walnut-filled pastries).

The Main Plaza
After breakfast, we walked to the main plaza. Wandering down the streets, we came across the Palacio de Gobierno, and went inside. (It's a museum now. We didn't invite ourselves in to the governor's palace,) The Palacio de Gobierno, built in 1892, is located on the north side of the plaza. It houses 27 murals by Fernanco Castro Pacheco that illustrate the violent history of Yucatán.

The Cathedral of San Idelfonso
The Spaniard Francisco de Montejo founded Mérida on January 6, 1542. When the Spaniards arrived, Mérida was a large Mayan city known as T'ho, situated on what is now the main plaza. After conquering the city, the Spaniards dismantled the pyramids and used the huge stones as the foundation for the Cathedral of San Idelfonso (1556-1599), the oldest cathedral on the American continent.

The Cathedral, situated on the east side of the plaza, is directly across from the Palacio Municipal (1735), Mérida's Town Hall. On the south side is the Casa de Montejo (1542), the former home of the conqueror of Yucatán.

Hacienda Xcanatun
Tom made lunch reservations for us at Xcanatun, a hacienda on the outskirts of town. The restaurant, Casa de Piedra, is a favorite of locals, guests, and guidebook writers. I read about it so many times both while researching the trip and once we got to Mérida that we had to see it for ourselves and taste the food so many had raved about. The history of haciendas also piqued my interest.

The food did not disappoint. Presentation was creative, my salmon was perfectly cooked, and there was not a crumb left of the tequila-infused key lime pie.

What is most striking about visiting a hacienda is the contrast between the opulence of the hacienda and the poverty that surrounds it. The homes outside the walls of Xcanatun were small and run-down. Many occupants are families who left the crime and corruption in Mexico City to raise their children in Mérida. Once you pull into the parking lot of the hacienda, however, you're in an oasis of lush vegetation, five-star meals, $400-per-night hotel rooms, and spa services. There is even a grand piano in the restaurant.

After stuffing ourselves beyond belief, the only thing to do was to hang out on a hammock for a long siesta.

Dinner and Theatre
Dinner was at Pancho's, recommended by Tom. We ordered micheladas and the camarones (shrimp) al pastor. Using shrimp was a bit of a twist. Typically it's tacos al pastor, made with pork. Tacos al pastor is a dish developed in Puebla, Mexico, likely as a result of the adoption of the shawarma spit-grilled meat brought by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico. Having derived from shawarma, it is also similar to the Greek gyros and the Turkish döner kebap, the latter perhaps where all ultimately have their origins.

We walked to Teatro Peón Contreras for what we thought was a performance of Ballet Folklólrico: Yucatán and It's Roots. The show was sold out, but we were told to hang out for a few minutes, and if seats were empty, we'd get in for free. We lucked out and were shown to our seats. A band came out and began to play, and I waited for the dancers and their colorful, twirly skirts. When the dancers failed to take the stage, we used a cell phone light to get a good look at our tickets. We discovered that we were really at a performance by Amaury Pérez, a Cuban singer/songwriter. Huh. Well, it was entertaining (and free), so who could complain?

More Photos

April 17, 2008--My birthday!

Happy birthday to me! We had a packed schedule at Los Dos Cooking School. Los Dos was 95 percent of the reason we included Mérida in our trip. The cooking school has been featured in Condé Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, and Gourmet magazines, but we first heard about it on a television episode of Rick Bayless' Mexico: One Plate at a Time.

Chef David Sterling might be a gringo from Oklahoma, but he knows his stuff when it comes to Yucatecan cuisine and history. Our favorite way to "get" the local culture of any place we visit is through its food, and Los Dos is the place to go to learn about Yucatecan food.

Our morning started with breakfast at the school. We met a couple from the Netherlands (she was Portuguese, he was German) and two New Yorkers, one who owned a bed and breakfast in Mérida. After introductions, the history lesson began.

The most important thing to know is that there is a difference between Mexican and Yucatecan food. Yucatecans will say, "Let's go have some Mexican food." Yucatecan cuisine is a fusion of native Mayan food with European influences. In traditional Yucatecan cuisine, there are no enchiladas, jalapeños, or many of the other foods with which we're familiar. You can bet it's still spicy, though. Yucatecans use the habanero, an extremely hot pepper believed to originally have been taken to the peninsula from Cuba. I tried the habanero salsa (I'm Texan, dammit. I had to represent!), but I don't feel the need to do so again any time soon.

That morning we learned about everything from Mayan farming to the origins of chocolate to the history of local spices and how Christopher Columbus misnamed spices, such as calling allspice "big pepper." Chef Sterling recommended three books to learn more: Spice, The True History of Chocolate, and America's First Cuisines.

Mercado
Next we gathered our things and headed out to the mercado to buy the groceries for the recipes we were to cook. Guidebooks describe this market as "Mexico with no holds barred; not some sanitized gringo version of a Mexican artisan's market, so be prepared." Chef Sterling gave us fair warning that if we got lost, he would never see us again. Keep up with the group. Check.

Mérida's municipal market is a vast, noisy affair. You'll find clothes, shoes, art, hardware, stoves, hammocks, rope, jewelry, vegetables and produce, meat, chicken and even live birds. There's a section I tried to ignore that Chef Sterling said, "blurs the line between food and pet." The produce sections were incredible. We saw varieties of squash, fruits, and spices that you can't get in the States. My favorite new find was chaya (see above at left), which is similar to kale or spinach, but with two to three times more nutritional content.




Back to Los Dos
After making it out of the market alive, we had two taxis waiting to take us back to Los Dos. We spent the afternoon making tortillas, pollo pibil, arroz verde, and my favorite Los Dos recipe, Crema de Cilantro. Crema de Cilantro is essentially a leek and potato soup, a recipe that's thousands of years old, but a relatively new addition to Yucatecan cuisine. Chef Sterling's recipe has been "Mexicanized" by adding squash for texture and taste, serrano chiles for heat, and cilantro for fresh, aromatic flavor. We ate it hot, but it is supposed to be just as delicious when served chilled.

While everything finished cooking, Chef Sterling invited us to have a cerveza and put our feet in the pool. Half an hour later we came inside for a big, satisfying Yucatecan meal.

Crema de Cilantro

• 1 lb. calabaza (pattypan squash or zucchini), stems removed and cubed
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• 8 cups chicken stock (I use vegetable stock.)
• 2 large leeks, chopped, including about 1 inch of green (Substitute: 3-4 large spring onions, or a mix of onions and leeks)
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 chiles serranos, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups cilantro, rinsed, finely chopped and firmly packed
• 1/2 cup Mexican crema (Substitute: créme fraîche, plain yogurt, or sour cream)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• One recipe Totopos
• 10 squash blossoms (optional), cleaned
• 4 Tbs. cilantro, rinsed and finely chopped

STEP 1: IN A LARGE SAUCEPAN CONTAINING THE STOCK, cook the cubes of squash and potatoes for approximately 20 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender.

STEP 2: MEANWHILE, IN A LARGE SKILLET, sauté the leeks, garlic and chiles in the butter until the leeks are translucent. Add to the potato/squash mixture; stir and continue cooking, returning to a simmer, approximately five minutes. Using a handheld immersible blender, purée the ingredients until fine. Add the cilantro and purée again as above to incorporate all ingredients. Add crema and purée one last time until thoroughly blended. Check for seasonings.

STEP 3: TO SERVE, ladle hot soup into warmed bowls. In the center of each serving, float a few of the totopos on top of the soup. Then float one squash blossom per bowl on top of the strips. Sprinkle finely chopped cilantro over the entire bowl including the rim.

More Photos at Los Dos


The Beach is That Way
We left Mérida after lunch and drove to Tulum, ready for some quality beach time. We arrived around 7 p.m., and checked into Om-Tulum cabanas for the night.

April 18, 2008

Under the Sea

In the morning we drove to Akumal, about 20 minutes north of Tulum. We stopped for breakfast, filled up, and went to the dive shop where we were scheduled for a scuba dive. Unfortunately, our instructor wasn't there because he had dropped an oxygen tank on his foot. Sort of glad we weren't going 35 feet under the ocean with that guy.

We came back an hour later and met our guide, Charlotte, who runs a local dive shop with her boyfriend. Charlotte is a French woman who came to Tulum two years ago to do cavern dives. She fell in love with the caverns and the dive instructor (she swears she fell in love with him first, not the cavern) and moved to Tulum.

Charlotte taught us the basics, mostly in English, sometimes in Spanish (which Luis says she spoke very well). We also learned how to set up our equipment, which isn't typical on a recreational dive, but she felt it was important to learn.

Charlotte also showed us a few extra hand signs to indicate types of fish--turtle, barracuda, shark. "So...about sharks," I asked. "How common would you say that it is to see one around here?" Charlotte said it's not likely. "But sometimes you get to see one!" she said. Get to?

After a couple of hours of instruction and a trial run in shallow water, it was time to go out on the boat.

Big Waves and Small Boats
We piled into a boat and headed out to sea. Now, when I watch scuba divers on PBS, they're in pristine water. Fairly flat water, at least. This is the scenerio I was expecting. The scenario I was in was that I was in a boat, now seeming much too small, rolling over huge waves and crashing down with a loud thud after each one. Strapped into an ill-fitting BCD (buoyancy compensation device) and a heavy oxgen tank, I was hanging on for dear life. "Maybe this was not my best idea ever," I told Luis. This certainly wasn't like PBS.

The driver said we were at the dive site. We sat on the edge and fell backward into the water. Once we were all upright and bobbing in the waves, we began a slow descent together, finally reaching the bottom and sitting on the ocean floor. Charlotte had us repeat the training exercises again, such as simulating losing our octopus (that thing in my mouth in the photo below), clearing water from our masks, and borrowing air in an emergency. We were ready to explore.

Luis and I started to get the hang of using breath to ascend and descend, and we followed Charlotte over reefs, past a sea turtle, then another, then a baracuda. She shined her flashlight into little holes where sea creatures were hiding, and I passed the camera to her so she could get some shots of Luis and me. Charlotte warned us that beginners sometimes forget to keep breathing as they take a photo. Hold your breath, and you'll start to go up, which can be bad if you go too fast.

The Slow Ascent
We had been underwater for about 50 minutes when Charlotte signaled the end of the dive, and we began to ascend. In no time, we were back on the boat. I was on such an adrenaline high that I didn't even mind the waves on the ride back.

As we were unloading the equipment, I mentioned to Charlotte that I had wanted to do a cavern dive, but we didn't have time to get Basic Certified before our honeymoon (a prerequisite to a cavern dive). Charlotte and her boyfriend specialized in cavern and cave dives, and she said that she thought we did well on this dive. We didn't use up our oxygen too quickly, and we seemed comfortable with it (little did she know about my shark and big-wave issues). She offered to take us on a cavern dive in a cenote the next day. We had planned to snorkel in a cenote, but to scuba dive? Scuba definitely beats snorkeling.

Chaya Smoothies!

We were ravenous after the dive, so we went to a nearby restaurant called Turtle Bay Cafe. Luis had a burger, I had a lentil burger, and we both had big, fat French fries. I also tried a chaya smoothie (chaya, pineapple, and orange juice), which was absolutely delicious.

Back on the beach in Tulum, we lounged, ordered drinks, and relaxed until dinner. Around 7 p.m. we drove down the road to Zamas, a hotel and restaurant. We sat at a table on the beach (our toes were in the sand), and listened to the band play some sort of reggae music. It was very busy, but the food was good and the atmosphere was especially nice...dinner by candlelight with the sound of ocean waves crashing on the beach.