Yucatan Peninsula

I arrived in Mérida International Airport in the afternoon.  It was a hot and humid day in August.I hailed for a taxi to take me to Zocalo Square (Main Square, cost $11). I did not expect much traffic, but I was surprised that Mérida can be quite congested with traffic and pollution. 

Mérida is the capital and largest city in the Yucatan Peninsula. It is the twelve most populous city in Mexico. As the state and regional capital, Mérida is a cultural center, featuring multiple museums, art galleries, restaurants, and shops. Mérida retains an abundance of beautiful colonial buildings and is a vibrant cultural center with music and dancing playing an important part in day-to-day life. The town has a casual, relaxed feel despite the traffic and human congestions. Most buildings are in stucco and painted in light colors. I did not see lots of plants in the tropical city, if I did, most of them just grew naturally without any human intervention.

Zocalo Square is full of people sitting on benches, talking, and taking a relaxing stroll. The shades provided by the trees are so inviting, and it makes you want to sit and chat on one of its famous benches 'for two', on any time of the day. It is a mixture of present and past, framed in by the San Ildefonso Cathedral, the Montejo House, the State Capital Building and the City Hall, creating a whole architectural feast. Horse-drawn carriages are plenty parking on the side of the cathedral on Calle 61, and they might be a good idea for a ride on a hot day. 

The cathedral is the oldest on the continent, built between 1561 and 1598. Much of the stone in the cathedral's walls came from the ruins of Tihó, the former Maya City. Next to the cathedral is the old bishop's palace, which is now converted into an art museum, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Ateneo de Yucatán. There are 17 exhibition rooms display work by contemporary artists, mostly from Yucatán. Palacio Montejo is a fine example of the Spanish architectural style known as plateresque. A bank occupies the building now, but you can enter the courtyard, and view the garden, and see the charming residence once lived by the Montejos descendants (the Montejo family once conquered Yucatán). Next, you can go to the second floor to see the meeting of all the city council at Palacio Municipal (Town Hall), and enjoy the view of the square from the balcony.

The streets can be quiet as soon as the sun goes down when the people go straight home after work. It can be very charming at night with spot lights beaming the structures around Zocalo Square. 

The next day, I had to wake up early (4 am) to catch the first bus at 6 am to Uxmal. 

One way fare is peso 32 (US$3). The journey takes about an hour. Entrance to Uxmal is 88 peso ($8). Uxmal is a large pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya Civilazation in Yucatán. Uxmal holds some of the most complex and beautiful examples of the regional Puuc-style architecture, and its magnificent pyramids and structures make it a popular tourist destination. The Maya architecture here is considered matched only by that of Palenque in elegance and beauty. Thanks to its good state of preservation, it is one of the few Maya cities where the casual visitor can get a good idea of how the entire ceremonial center looked in ancient times. Some of the outstanding buildings here include: The Governor's Palace, Adivino (Pyramid of the Magician),Nunnery Quadrangle (government's palace), and the Ballcourt.

It may be a good idea to come here as early as possible as the sun can be pretty hot by 10 am (I am glad I did). A tour which include lunch is 300 peso plus the entrance fee. For Uxmal, joining the tour is not a bad idea cause one has to walk out, and wait by the roadside for the bus back to Merida (I waited an hour). This can be confusing as too many buses go by. 

Again, I woke up at 4 am the next day as I was planning to visit Chichèn Itzà.

The bus ride cost 49 peso and the journey is about 2 1/2 hours. Entrance is 88 peso. Chichèn Itzà is also another large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya Civilization. The site exhibits a multitude of architectural styles, from what is called “In the Mexican Origin” and reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico to the Puuc style found among the Puuc Maya of the northern lowlands. The site contains many fine stone buildings in various states of preservation, and many have been restored. The buildings are connected by a dense network of formerly paved roads, called sacbeob. The buildings of Chichén Itza are grouped in a series of architectonic sets, and each set was at one time separated from the other by a series of low walls. The three best known of these complexes are the Great North Platform, which includes the monuments of El Castillo, Temple of Warriors and the Great Ball Court; The Ossario Group, which includes the pyramid of the same name as well as the Temple of Xtoloc; and the Central Group, which includes the Caracol, Las Monjas, and Akab Dzib. Dominating the center of Chichén is the Temple of Kukulkan, often referred to as "El Castillo" (the castle). This step pyramid has a ground plan of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. 

You can walk up El Castillo. Each side has 91 steps, and you can have a very nice 360 degree view of the surrounding. It can be hot once you're up there. Bus stops in front of the site, so it might be a good idea to go on your own instead of joining a tour. There are lots of souvenir shops outside. 

That night I had a delicious Sopa de Lima, a lime soup with a chicken broth base accompanied by shredded turkey and crispy tortilla. I left Merida the next day heading back to Tijuana. It cost $8 to the airport.