One thing you won’t see in Mérida over Easter, or anywhere in Mexico for that matter, are Easter bunnies (maybe in Walmart) or Easter egg hunts – here, there are two things that dominate the period of Semana Santa (Holy Week): religion (of course) in this deeply Catholic country, and food – the fattier and…
Author: paulandanthony
We're recently early retired from long and exhausting careers in Brand Design Strategy and TV Producing / Writing. After two long years of being trapped by COVID in our home town of Sydney Australia, we're ready to unfurl our wings and fly off on new adventures that will take us first up to Far North Queensland then the UK and Mexico - revisiting favourite places we haven't been to in over 30 years. Now living in Far North Queensland, Australia.
Labná – In The Footsteps Of Stephens & Catherwood
Just another 8 or so kilometres down the Ruta Puuc from Sayil and you come across yet another wonder of the ancient Maya world, Labná, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This temple complex was built in the late and terminal classic era and has a date of 862 AD (but using the Mayan calendar) inscribed…
Sayil – Place Of The Ants
A further 9 kilometres along the Ruta Puuc and you come across the Mayan temple complex of Sayil, with the same dusty carpark, empty of cars and people! Once again, we were the only ones there at this site, so free to roam these wonderous structures at will. Sayil is a Classic Maya site, built…
Kabáh – Lord Of The Strong Hand
Travelling through the dense jungle along the hilly Ruta Puuc, the first of our four Mayan sites of the day, Kabáh, presented itself suddenly to either side of the road. We drove into a dusty car park with a small ramshackle ticket office, paid our 70 pesos entry and then wandered off into the site…
La Ruta Puuc, Yucatán
La Ruta Puuc (the Puuc Route, “puuc“ in Maya meaning hills or mounds) in the Yucatán jungle packs a lot of adventure into one day, as there are major Mayan cities, temples and pyramids every few kilometres. Our trusty driver, José Luis, picked us up from the casa at 8.30am, negotiated the downtown traffic, and…
Domingo en el Barrio
The bells ring out early from the nearby churches of Santa Lucia and the Parroquia de Santiago which are packed with devoted locals all Sunday morning. Dawn breaks to the song of White-Winged Doves which have an endless cooing call that sounds like ‘who cooks for you?’ https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/4038 The great-tailed grackles also start up early and…
Santa Bárbara Cenotes
After the small wonders of Mayapán we headed to the Santa Bárbara Cenotes – a place I’d read about and had been recommended. Now I have to say I reckon we were spoilt rotten on our last trip to Mérida, discovering the wonderful Cenotes Hacienda Mucuyche – especially visiting so early in the morning, which…
Mayapán – The Last Great Maya Capital
Mayapán is around an hour’s drive out of Mérida, with our trusty driver José Luis whisking us from our downtown casa, through the outer barrios and out into the dead flat Yucatan jungle scrub that goes on and on, with little change of scenery other than the odd bend in the road, a dilapidated Hacienda…
High Noon en el Jardín
There are some truly spectacular tropical flowering plants in our Mérida garden. No scent at all, but incredibly dramatic shapes and forms. They’re mostly Macaw-flower Heliconia and Shell Gingers in deep reds, offset by the vivid green of the palms and fruit trees. There are also massive native trees such as the Mamey Sapote (Red Mamey) –…
Progreso Progresses
In the year since we last visited Progreso on the Gulf Coast of Mexico a lot has changed. The Malecon improvements are finished and looking great (it was a dusty mess last year) – the roads are clean, paved and landscaped (young palm trees establishing themselves) and there are plenty of funky new restaurants that…
Travels With My Ant 