In the past the Yucatan wasn’t very high on our list of places to go in Mexico. This visit has made up for that to some degree. There is a lot to see and do. We still prefer the Pacific coast, but have been happy to discover there is more to the Yucatan this time around. With more to see, we took off on another road trip.
Ferry to the mainland. Walk out of the ferry terminal past the exorbitantly priced taxis to the road out front to flag down a passing taxi. Then pay about three bucks for a ride to Hertz fifteen minutes away. Jump in the $1/day car (plus $13 for mandatory insurance and taxes), and ten minutes later we’re out of Cancun and on our way up the speedy toll road.
First stop on this trip was Cenote Yokdzonot. The reviews were good, and it was pretty, but it was easily our least favorite cenote so far. This place is what I imagine a cenote in the States would be like—rules, rules, rules. Everyone had to wear a life jacket to go swimming! There was only a dock two feet off the water to jump off of, and no way to swim down and see anything underwater with a life jacket on, so within ten minutes we were all disappointed enough to leave. Definitely cross this one off of any future cenote trip.
From there we drove to Izamal—the yellow town. The centerpiece of the town is the Convento de San Antonio. In typical fashion The Spanish arrived here with their religion to destroy everything the Mayans had built. The Convent is built atop (and mostly with stones from) what was a huge Mayan building. There were a few Mayan ruins right in town that we would have checked out if we hadn’t run out of time, but with the sun going down we still had a drive ahead of us to get to our hotel in Merida. Before we left, though, we sat down for the best meal we’d had in the Yucatan. We’ve been eating Poc-Chuc and Cochinita Pibil all over the place, but restaurant Kinich nailed it.
Not particularly impressed with the condition of the horses in this town, unfortunately.
Nice, quiet, relaxing town to stroll around and take pictures of yellow. And doors.
By the end of the day most of Lowe’s clothes looked like his hand.
14 Comments on “Izamal Yellow”
Wow! That’s a lot of yellow.
That was alot of yellow, very cool though!
Love the contrast of the yellow and the doors.
Pat, I’m so disappointed you could only find an old red bug and not a yellow one 🙂
Really great pics!
Mark and Cindy
demasiado amarillo, si?
Mellow yellow……
Hola!
Since Ouest is such an avid reader I thought she might enjoy this book:
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives
by Hachette Book Group
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MEMMU0A/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ezMBCb1DQS4R7
About a girl just a bit older than Ouest who takes on a pen pal in Africa & how it changed both their lives-quite a story!
Great pics as always!
Thank you! Have it in our Amazon cart for next visitor to come. We’ll make it a family read.
Izamal is an interesting place. Too bad you missed the ruins, the pyramid there gives a cool view of the town. I spent several months in the yucatan a couple years ago and loved it. I’m sure you already have plans, but if your in Merida and have time, check out Mayapan. It is a smaller version of Chitzen Itza, but not a lot of people go there so you can wander around without crowds and climb on the pyramids and stuff.
Yes the day just got away from us, even with gaining an hour leaving Cancun. Yes, made it to Mayapan on our last day heading back to Isla.
Nice!
Love the dog walking down the sidewalk!
Just curious for my own travel planning why was the Yucatan not high on your list before,why do you prefer the Pacific coast?
Love your blog and your outlook .
It just has a very different vibe than the West coast of Mexico. We weren’t as adventurous with our eating as we are now and back then we did all of our trip planning with a Lonely Planet book (which just cracks me up – we had one small computer that we shared, no phone, and a crappy digital camera…). Now when planning there is so much information on the web and it just opens up so much more to see and do. A different time for travelers now.