After breakfast in Merida, we drove to see the Ake ruins. These were massive and impressive Mayan ruins. Over time, some trees have started to grow from the ruins.This shows the number of levels the Mayans used as these structures were built. It also shows the brewing storm clouds that were moving in!These columns built by the Mayans were very impressive that they were still standing! I was surprised because most ruins do not have columns like these. It also shows the dark clouds becoming more foreboding!Right after I took this photo of another Mayan ruin in Ake, the clouds opened up and we had a major rainstorm. I brought a rain coat, but it was warmly stored in my hotel room and not available when I needed it. Despite the storm, we gathered under a large tree and continued listening to a lecture about the Mayans and learned more about the site. Everyone was completely soaked. It was sort of refreshing because it had been warm and humid throughout the morning. I protected my camera under my big hat. The Yucatan is quite an interesting and surprising place!The next agenda was lunch in a nearby town. This was shredded dear meat cooked in yummy spices. I has some wonderful slices of avocado too! The small bowl on the plate was filled with very hot habanero spices! These spices were extremely hot!! I sprinkled only the liquid in the spice bowl onto my food. The spices added a nice zest to the meal.Next, we drove to Izamal and enjoyed seeing everyone celebrating Our Lady of Guadeloupe. These embroidered dresses were an important local custom of the celebration. I absolutely loved the colors!All kinds of vendors were setup throughout the community!!I was not able to identify the role of this woman, but she appears to have been honored as part the celebration. She saw me looking at her and welcomed me to take her photo! She grabbed the purple sash and ran it along her arms so that it would be included in the photo. It was quite fun to take her picture!This is the top of the church in the town. There is some controversy because it was built on top of one of the main Mayan ruins.I enjoyed watching these ladies leave the church wearing their beautiful dresses!Inside the church we saw a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As we left the church to walk to another famous Mayan ruin, it was fun to see the colors and festivities of the celebration!!I enjoyed how this horse and carriage were decorated!!Vendors were setup everywhere throughout the town!!The locals were relaxing on the curb!I loved the colors on this lady’s dress! We was walking down the steps from the largest Mayan ruin (by weight) the Yucatan region. I climbed up one series of steps on this Mayan ruin, reached this plateau, and could then see another series of steps to the top of this pyramid. I decided to forgo the final series of steep steps and instead enjoy watching people climb up and down the ruin.
I loved going to the Merida market!! It is huge and so colorful!! It covers more than 10 blocks!! It was amazing all the spices available!!The fresh fruits and vegetables were everywhere!!There were beautiful leather crafted shoes as well as every other possible leather product!!Merida is famous for its embroidery. I loved the colors on these bags!!Every spice you can imagine is available at the Merida market!! Ajo is garlic and cebolla is onion.These radishes were massive and so colorful!!These green chilis are habanero chile and they are extremely hot. In the restaurants were we have eaten our meals, they have always added one habanero chile on our plates. I had one small taste and my tongue still burns!! No more habanero chiles for me!! Fresh meat was readily available! Our guide told us that everything would be sold today.The red sacs in these chickens are unlaid eggs!!There was a whole area for poultry in market. I could not believe the size of these turkeys!!These tomatoes were so colorful and beautiful!!I loved all the colors and textures of so many different vegetables!!The bouquets of flowers were so beautiful!!One of the main experts from Merida is honey!! I was amazed to learn that it is one of the largest money makers for the city of Merida. It was available to buy in both large and small containers.Merida is famous for its embroidery and these shoes were so beautiful and colorful!!There are many religions icons sold in the market.There are also superstitious icons sold in the market.Good quality jewelry is available in the market!There was a large section of fish for sale at the market too.After the seeing the market, we drove to Xcambo to see these Mayan ruins. They are famous in the area.The Catholic church built a chapel on the Mayan ruins.This massive male iguana was enjoying sunning himself on the Xcambo walls. I guide warned us to not get too close as they can bite!!I really enjoyed seeing this Mayan structure!!As we left Xcambo and were driving to Progreso, we say wild flamingos in their natural habitat!! I have never before seen flamingos in the wild!!In Progreso, we ate lunch and had a great view of the beach!! After lunch we changed into swimming suites and enjoyed cooling off in the Gulf of Mexico!!I loved the colorful sign for Progreso with the water behind it.
Ek Balam Ruins are very old Mayan ruins that were a series of different buildings. This is Juan and we was a superb guide telling us everything about Mayan culture and history that you would ever want to know! I really enjoyed learning from him!!This huge iguana created us as we arrive at Ek Balam. As soon as he heard my camara click, he quickly ran under the sidewalk.The was a gateway into a series of Ek Balam buildings.This shows the huge size of the Mayan ruins.This shows the number of layers as the structures were built.These stairs were well constructed and I climbed to the top!! Climbing down is much more difficult than climbing up! No one in our group fell as they climbed down!The Mayan craftmanship was amazing. This photo was taken from the top after I climbed the stairs.This is a ball stadium were participants used a rubber ball made from the rubber plants that grow in the Yucatan region.This is an enormous staircase at another Ek Balam building. It is very steep and our leader did not want our group to climb up because of the risk of falling. Most people that tried climbing needed to either use their hands when climbing down, or to sit on their bottom and slowly scoot down. It was amazing to see everything that the Mayas built here!!This is a photo of the cenote at the Ek Balam ruins. It is basically a very deep sink hole down into the limestone. The water is a deep turquoise and there is fresh water that continually flows into it. At the surface, the water was refreshing, but it quickly became much colder the deeper you go. The catfish in the cenote are blind because they swim in the caves associated with the cenote.
Fiesta on Wheels 