One way to make a very nice loop drive beginning and ending in Santa Elena in the Yucatan, is to leave in the morning, breeze through the ruins at Kabah, Sayil, Labná, Xlapak and Loltun Cave, and wind up in the town of Ticul about midafternoon. Ticul is great. We went there a few times…
We're on the last of our tour of Yucatan's Puuc Route: Sayil, Xlapak, Labná and Loltun Cave. All closely connected (geographically at least) to Kabah. Sayil: we're still talking a heyday of about 700-900 AD on these sites. Sayil is all about The Diving God E, who may or may not be a maize deity…
So, you've toured Uxmal; now you're wrung out and strung out from the jungle heat and all the awesomeness, and you need a place to crash. This region has several lodging options, but you'd be nuts to stay anywhere except the Flycatcher Inn, near the Uxmal ruins in beautiful downtown Santa Elena. The Flycatcher's proprietors…
If you are lucky enough to embark on a road trip like this here one, here are some examples of the Yucatan's local flora and fauna you may encounter: In any given Mayan ruin you will likely meet some jolly iguanas who smile "¡bienvenidos!" at you as best they can. …if you're here in April,…
In this leg of your Yucatan road trip, you leave Hacienda Yaxcopoil and drive in a southerly direction on Highway 261 into Mexico's Puuc region. Destination: the ruins of Uxmal ("ush-MAL"), which are my absolute runaway favorite of the whole Mayan world. Hope you hit the road early, because Uxmal is so big with so…
I want to make clear to both readers of this blog (HIIIII!) that we made this trip I've been posting about around the northern half of the Yucatan Peninsula – a rental-car road trip loop that began and ended on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan in Puerto Morelos, Mexico – in 10 days during…
Continuing our April 2011 tour of the Yucatan, we left Mérida in the NW corner of the peninsula and turned south and west toward Celestun, a beach town on the Yucatan's Gulf Coast. I wanted to gather seashells and see some flamingos that were reputed to hang out in a salt marsh south of the…
It's excellent. Fresh food in bright colors that's good for you, in tasty combinations that are found nowhere else – not even in the rest of Mexico which as you know has terrific food in general. Yucateca food, specifically, is all about handmade Mayan corn tortillas made to order, table by table, that are so…
If you can find more than 3 days to tour Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, have I got the 2-week trip for you. The roads are all still in good shape, it's just as easy to get around, and you'll be seeing a wide range of cities and towns, museums, ruins, and cenotes. You can even find…
Folks, you don't need to sail a boat to have an excellent vacation in Mexico. I've found what might be The Most Perfect Short Trip Possible. You could for example leave Chicago after work on Thursday, land in Cancun, spend Friday-Saturday-Sunday on this tour I'm about to share with you, return to Chicago Sunday night…