When arriving in Mérida you’re instantly taken with the brightly coloured casas that line the calles of the Centro Histórico district – the ornate doors and grilles, the vibrant coloured walls, the shadow play of light on the whitewashed limestone – it’s a feast for the eyes. Occasionally, if you’re fortunate, a door will be…

I realise I’m waxing lyrical about Hacienda Mucuyché but I was so impressed with the site and of course Cenote Azul Maya. It’s a must do experience if you’re ever in the Yucatan. Staying happily this side of touristy (at least when we were there), there’s also a large cenote-water swimming pool with poolside restaurant…

What makes Mucuyché different from the other haciendas in the region is the presence of two cenotes. Cenote Carlota is a vast half open cave with 7-metre crystalline blue water and named after Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine, Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess of Saxony and Empress of Mexico. Empress Carlota – Spanish spelling – was…

Our trusty taxi driver José Luis picked us up from our casa at 8am sharp to drive us the 56ks out to the intriguing Hacienda Mucuyché. It took a while to get out of Centro but soon enough we were in the low jungle scrub of the Yucatan, barrelling down dusty, flat, straight roads in…

On a baking hot Saturday morning, my walk took me down bustling Calle 64, all the way to Barrrio de San Juan, through the yellow colonial gate and over to the intriguingly named Ermita de Santa Isabel – the Hermitage of Saint Isabel. Built in the 16thcentury, the Hermitage is dedicated to Our Lady of…

Paseo de Montejo is amusingly referred to here as the Champs Élysées of Mérida. Well… I’m afraid to disappoint the people of Mérida, because it isn’t quite that… It is however, an impressively wide grand green boulevard – splendid in the faded kind of way that only the steamy tropics can give you and a…

We were last in Progreso some 30 years ago, so unsurprisingly a lot has changed. In the 90’s it was a relatively small dusty kind of place that had pretty much one purpose – to serve the Malecón, The Pier, supplying cargo and trade as well as being a major cruise ship terminal. At a…

It’s very quiet in Mérida on a Sunday with the sound of the church bells tolling from early morning, the green parrots chattering, trilling and whistling away in the trees with the occasional Auto Progreso bus barrelling down Calle 64, packed full of local day-trippers heading to the beach.  On a hot Sunday in town…

We spent the morning at the El Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, a rollicking cab ride away on the road to Progreso – much further afield than we’ve been before and quite the surprising journey. As you leave the European inspired Paseo de Montejo, the ‘Champs-Élysées’ of the Yucatan (that’s not me suggesting the moniker,…

At the very heart of Mérida is the Plaza Grande, an elegant green square bordered by historical buildings such as the Palacio Municipal, the Palacio de Gobierno and, topping  them all, the impressive Catedral de San Ildefonso, at 460 years the oldest cathedral not only in all of Mexico but also the oldest in the continental…