Uxmal

Our third and last ruin visit in Mexico was the one that really impressed us the most. Uxmal consists of fascinating and well preserved structures that were settled around 600 AD. For unknown reasons, it was abandoned 300 years later.

The most impressive structure is a 39 meters high pyramid like temple with rounded edges. It is also the the first building that you see when entering the area. Even though it is not permitted to climb this building we were able to climb the 32 meters high "Great Pyramid", providing spectacular views of the surrounding ruins.

Mexican food

We all have our idea of Mexican food whether it's Tex Mex, Taco Bell or spicy chili. In reality Mexican food is very regionalized and what you find in Mexico City might not even be available in the Yucatan area. The main food staples all across the country are beans, corn and chili and wherever you go you will be sure to find amazing food.

Some of our favorites were fish burritos, mole and Pastor tacos served with pineapple. Whenever we were hungry it was wonderful to always find a hole in the wall restaurant that would make fresh tacos at any time of the day.

Cancun

If you mix Miami, Las Vegas and Ibiza you end up with Cancun. In the 1970's, the Mexican government decided it was time to create a world class resort destination that would match Acapulco.

What was a small fishing village only 40 years ago has now been transformed with an endless row of high end resorts. With the crystal clear water and picture perfect beach it is easy to see why they choose Cancun.

With our travel budget we could not stay at any of the high end resorts. Instead we slept in an abandoned shopping mall that had been turned into a hostel.

Thanks to the Mexican law no private property can extend to the waterfront. Staying at the hostel still gave us the possibility to use the same stretch of beach as the resort guests.

Perfect beach

We did not stay here...

Instead we stayed here

In an abandoned mall

Playa del Carmen

A short one hour bus ride north of Tulum brought us to our next beach. Playa del Carmen is a very popular resort destination and is often considered the hippest city along the coast.

When leaving the bus station you walk straight out onto the main tourist avenue and begin to wonder where you have ended up. The street is full of tacky "made-in-china-souvenir shops" and American food joints. You could not find anything authentic no matter how long you searched.

To our surprise, two blocks away, there was not a single resort tourist in sight.  According to the guide book, many tourists have the impression that they will get killed, or at least mugged, if they as much as set foot outside the main street. In fact, its the complete opposite, the backstreets are safe and offer plenty of great little restaurants.

As for the beach, it was the same story. The central beach is overcrowded, has pumping music and is full of people trying to sell you all kinds of crap. With a short ten minute walk along the water we were able to find an almost empty stretch of beach  that felt a world away from the loud overcrowded madness.

Tulum

Tulum is the perfect place to combine two of Yucatan's main attractions, beach and ruins. The name Tulum is Mayan for walled city, referring to the archeological site that is beautifully situated on the cliffs right next to the ocean.

On our adventures we have come across a number of breath taking beaches around the world. Still, we  had never seen a similar color combination of perfectly turquoise water and fine white sand.

Chichen Itza

The number one must see for tourists visiting Yucatan, Chichen Itza, is the most famous and best restored of all Maya sites in the region.

The Maya people were great astronomers and mathematicians and the great El Castillo pyramid is actually a Mayan Calendar. For example it has 365 steps to represent the number of days in a year and it has 18 terraces to represent the 18 months of the Maya year.

After Chichen Itza was selected as one of the new seven wonders of the world the number of visitors has risen dramatically. Now, every all inclusive visitor in Cancun takes a day trip to Chichen Itza. Luckily we caught the early bus from Merida.  We were almost finished exploring as all the tour buses started to unload around noon. As the tour buses were almost due to arrive, the locals started to turn the whole site into a giant market place that really ruined the atmosphere.

Thanks to our five am alarm clock we were able to arrive early enough to really enjoy Chichen Itza without the midday madness. The site is well worth a visit, but remember to rise early!

Where is the lake?

When the summer heat hits Yucatan it is wonderful to cool off by going for a swim. There is only one problem. If you look at the Yucatan from the air you'll see that there are no lakes, so where does all the water go?

The limestone ground of the Yucatan peninsula is full of water filled caves, called cenotes. These waterholes are popular swimming spots for both the locals and tourists.

We went to an old hacienda where you could take a horse driven rail cart to visit three different cenotes. From the ground all you see is a small hole with a wooden ladder that leads you into the cenote.

Below ground, a new world opens up. With only a tiny amount of daylight, stalactites in the ceiling and tree roots making their way down towards the water it really gives off a magical feeling.

Merida

Merida, the cultural capital of the Yucatan peninsula was our entry point into Mexico. Erika's aunt Ursula lives in Merida and it was therefore a perfect base for exploring the region.

Already when driving through Merida on our way from the airport we both felt that this is a place to fall in love with. It's narrow cobble stone streets and colorful colonial houses make it an absolutely beautiful town.

Walking through the town centre, it is impressive to see the number of colorful traditional costumes that are worn. In the evenings there is always something going on, whether it is a dance performance, night market or a parade of some sort.

It turned out that we arrived in Merida the same day as the summer heat hit. Staying outside in the middle of the day was practically impossible. Luckily enough, Ursula has a swimming pool where we were able to cool off and still enjoy the sunshine.

Prehistoric encounters along the road

Thanks to Gioconda's local knowledge we had some insider information about where to stop along our road trip. This enabled us to come up close with various types of interesting creatures.