Ruta Puuc - Three lovely days in Yucatán

LABNÁ, XLAPAK, SAYIL AND KABAH VIA GRUTAS LOLTÚN ON RUTA PUUC 2011
Three lovely days in Yucatán.
We invite you to come along with us on our bike-bus tour where we will share this eco-friendly adventure through a captioned photo story.
Beginning in Mérida after our five kilometer bike ride to the Tikal Restaurant for their breakfast special, we next boarded the 9:30 AM Lus bus at the Noreste terminal at calle 50 y 67 bound for Oxkutzcab. Our folding Dahon bicycles were stowed below and before we reached the outskirts of bustling Mérida the bus was full.
This three hour Sunday morning bus trip is a perfect starter for your Yucatán back country sightseeing adventure.
We traveled the back roads of Yucatán, entered the quaint colonial villages and got a first hand look at the colorful local population, many of whom would be our traveling companions.

Just twenty kilometers out of Mérida at Acanceh we had already left behind the big city rush and our back country sightseeing adventure was just beginning.

 Bustling open air markets, festive circus carnivals, wooden scaffold bullfight rings,  jubilant marching processions, street venders, people powered tricycles (triciclos de carga),  and more all generated a cacophony of bizarre sounds commingled with a tantalizing olfactory enticement of regional cooking generating uncontrollable mouth watering temptations.
This is the real Yucatán that tourists miss most!
Our meandering back road bus route next took us to Tecoh, Telchaquillo, Tekit, Mama, Chumayel, Teabo, Tipikal, Maní, and on to Oxkutzcab.
We are not strangers to these fascinating places and you can see them all in more detail on our web site. We invite you to take a look.

Oxkutzcab is the hub of many interesting adventures that are far too numerous for one visit. Again visit our web site to glimpse these possibilities. They include the market/food court, restored colonial church, hill-top hermitage chapel, plus side trips to the Grutas Lol-tun.
We recommend a taxi to go up to the Grutas Lol-tun and then bike back down the hill making sure that your bicycle brakes are in good working order.

Something else we also find a lot of fun is to rent a tricycle taxi [tricitaxi], (people powered not the motorized kind), by the hour to sightsee the city.

You will find this a fun thing to do everywhere you go in Yucatán.
Yucatán is a strange and interesting place that makes for an outstanding photo opportunity.
This story presents another side trip adventure possibility.

Day two of our journey begins before 7 AM when we roll out of our convenient hotel Trujeque across from the city center park with our fully provisioned Dahon folding bicycles bound for the local taxi stand adjacent to the tortilla shop, “molino” , (west side of the main market).
There was no set or posted prices for our destination of Labná so haggling would be required. This can be a lot of fun if done in a good natured way. Six taxi drivers joined in the negotiation and price quotes began to fly around - 100, 200, 150 pesos were mentioned and I suggested 50. Oh no! The banter goes on and someone suggests 120 pesos…we nod yes and were on our way.

Jesús, our taxi driver, and Jane survey the packed and stacked cargo as we ready ourselves to depart Oxkutzcab. One of our folding bicycles would go inside and the other was lashed along with empty orange crates in the trunk. Jesús had come to town with those orange crates full earlier in the morning.
Jesús had an interesting story to tell. He and his family had left the little fishing village of Champotón, Campeche thirty years earlier when the fishing industry collapsed from over fishing and petrol chemical pollution. Jesús has a heritage of large families and was one of eighteen with thirteen children of his own.  His mother died at the age of 102.
He must have had some pangs of conscience about the fare or actually got to like us because he pulled off onto a dirt road and picked us a bag of fresh oranges, which were a welcome supplement to our cross-country diet. By the way the angelic aroma of orange blossoms in the Puuc Hills this season makes you want to drink in the sweet air and linger.

Here south in the Puuc Hill we were just far enough away from the semi arid northwestern Yucatán with its low spiny scrub and coastal ciénegas used since ancient times by the Maya for their sea-salt production. Here in these beautiful rambling hills of dry jungle form the transitional land between the northern semi-arid Yucatán and the steaming – teaming tall jungle of Central America. Notice the tall trees

Here we were high up in the Puuc Hills at Labná where we would have our breakfast in the peaceful jungle tranquility before the gate opened at 8 AM. As you can see we travel light on our three day excursion. For this day’s travel we did however pack along eight liters of drinking water and 500 ml. of suero, a solution of essential bodily salts necessary for survival when heavily perspiring. All pharmacies stock this product and have it in flavored liquid form and also in envelopes of powder to mix with water.
Jane is unfolding her bicycle, a process that only takes twelve seconds.

Labná in the early morning is worth the effort. Here you can glimpse the ornate stone work of the ancient Maya and their style of arch building.

Jane framed by the famous Mayan corbelled arch of Labná; You can see that the hand work involved in building these structures where each stone was manually shaped and sized to fit before the advent of machinery or even iron cutting tools was an effort of unimaginable proportions.
These buildings had been plastered and ornately painted.

Jane with Felipe Zapata the overseer and manager of Labná; He is from Oxkutzcab and his cousin owns a new hotel there that we had visited the previous week.

Our next stop is at the Mayan ruins of Xlapak, a short way down the peaceful road from Labná. On the back of my bike is the bag of oranges that were a gift from our taxi driver.

These intricately carved stones were in a style unique to this area. We met a man some years ago that maintained that if you imbibed enough of the hallucinogenic morning glory seeds that you too could envision this type of sculpture. He added that if you only ate four seeds that you would feel good, but if you took forty you would begin building pyramids…we never tried.

Our third stop for the morning and our coffee break.

Sayil is impressive and of a similar style of nearby Uxmal which is connected by a straight paved sacbe road as were all of the Mayan temple sites.

Back on our bicycles and a short way down the lovely and quiet paved road where the only sounds were birds chirping and the passing wind in our ears we come to the Mérida-Campeche cut-off.

The Mérida/Campeche bus you see here passes several times a day. There is however no bus service along the Ruta Puuc road we had just traversed.

Pointing to the Ruta Puuc at the Mérida/Campeche cut off intersection these sign give you the kilometers to each of the Mayan ruin sites.

We spotted some shade and went to soak it up at the Yucatán/Campeche border inspection station. The friendly inspectors were from Mérida and proved to be jovial.

With a straight smooth road and a slight tail wind Jane and I were doing at times 38 kilometers per hour heading north to Kabah…biking at its best.
We would recommend that if you are interested in visiting these lovely Mayan ruins that you spend the night in Santa Elena and bike to Kabah very early in the morning. This place is just too good to rush through. You can then leisurely enjoy what this place has to offer without the competition of hoards of tourists that disembark their tour bus with only thirty minutes to climb over everything and snap their photos. You will be richly rewarded for your efforts with an unforgettable memory.

This is what you see when you enter the gate at Kabah…there is a lot more to this place.

Here is the smooth road that sizzles you along all the way from the Campeche cut off to Santa Elena. Jane got a few second head start on me and she is just a small distant speck in the above photo. I had to huff and puff to catch up.

Our rest stop at Sacbe Bungalows in Santa Elena is the perfect place for quiet, tranquility and convenience. www.sacbebungalows.com.mx
After a cool-me-down shower to take the day’s road stress out of our bodies Jane and I relax in the unhurried jungle atmosphere ambiance.
Cycling options here are great. We recommend visiting nearby Uxmal by loading your bicycle aboard the bus that passes Santa Elena at 7:30 AM. That way you will arrive early, beat the crowd and have plenty of time to leisurely cycle back to Santa Elena for lunch.
The Kabah trip eight kilometers south should also be started early to capture the jungle morning ambiance in the Puuc Hills at its finest time.
Another cycling option from Santa Elena is north to Ticul and beyond. A note of caution; make sure your brakes are in top operating condition before you start down the Ticul hill. If you have any doubts we recommend that you walk your bike down.
We invite you to visit our web site for more detailed stories of bicycling and exploring this one of a kind magical tropical paradise…Yucatán and beyond.

©2011 John M. Grimsrud

Related Links: 

Santa Elena

Oxkutzcab

BicycleYucatan

Bus Terminals - Mérida

Mérida

TICUL, DZAN, MANÍ AND OXKUTZCAB OCTOBER 2010 by Bike and Bus

With our folding bicycles loaded for an unlimited get-away sojourn, we pedaled to the TAME bus terminal in downtown Mérida. Jane and I weren’t coming home until we felt like it.
At 9:30 AM on a blue skied Monday morning we boarded our Mayab bus and rolled across Yucatán’s seasonally green out-back. This was good!

 Read more:
http://bicycleyucatan.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/ticul-dzan-mani-and-oxkutzcab-october-2010-by-bike-and-bus/

MÉRIDA SOUTH BY BIKE ON CALLE 42

Leaving Mérida and heading south by bicycle we have found the quietest route, not necessarily the fastest, taking you through an assortment of interesting neighborhoods. Even from the north of the city you can be out past the “periferico” or rim route overpass in less than an hour poking along at a leisurely pace. There are only five stop lights the entire length of calle 42, but scores of “topes”, speed bumps, which we easily glide over on our slow moving bikes.
Calle 42 may not be an interesting trip by car but by bicycle neat shopping places like this simple little sidewalk shop will conveniently fill your traveling needs.
One hour of biking will take you out of the city and two more hours to Acanceh or Tecoh. Convenient return transportation is no problem with folding bicycles from any of the cities you see on the above map. The optional (red) routes are all on quiet roads.
This is a very historical map reproduced from a British Admiralty chart dating 1840. It was used by John L. Stephens on his epic expedition of exploration when he and his partner Catherwood journeyed across Yucatán visiting the Mayan ruins and making priceless sketches of the peninsula. The classic book Stephens wrote, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan is still in print and we consider it one of our all-time favorites and a must read.
This 1840 chart was three hundred years after the Spanish conquest and just a few years before the catastrophic Caste War broke out. John L. Stephens’s route is overdrawn in blue and the bold print names represent places where they made sketches. One very significant thing to be noted from the above chart is the conspicuous lack of highways and designated roads.
Remember that this was the beginning of the industrial revolution and steam power had not yet reached Yucatán.
Another interesting thing of note is the fact that the very straight roads in use at that time were built by the ancient Maya and were still in use by the Spanish who wrecked the smooth paved surfaces with their wheeled carts.
Well, believe it or not Jane and I were amazed as we made this bike tour that our excursion took us on the exact same route as John L. Stephens took one hundred and seventy years earlier. We rode the now paved ancient Mayan sacbe roads where the neatly cut side stones are still visible after countless centuries of use.
Here in John L. Stephens own words from his epic book; Incidents of Travel in Yucatan is an excerpt describing his departure from Mérida and journey south, the exact same road that Jane and I had bicycled;
Pages 65, 66, 67, 68; subject 1842 trip to Tekoh 8 leagues from Mérida.

It was our intention to resume our exploration at Uxmal, the point where we were interrupted by the illness of Mr. Catherwood. We had received intelligence, however, of the ruins of Mayapan, an ancient city which had never been visited, about eight leagues from Mérida, and but a few leagues aside from our road, by the haciendas, to Uxmal. The account which we could obtain were meager, and it was represented as completely in ruins; but, in fulfillment of our purpose we at that time entertained going to every place of which we heard any account whatever, we determined to visit this on our way to Uxmal. It was for Mayapan therefore, that we were now setting out.
Our saddles, Bridles, holsters, and pistols, being entirely different from the mountings of horsemen in that country, attracted all eyes as we rode through the streets. A friend accompanying us beyond the suburbs, and put us into a straight road, which led, without turning, to the end of the days journey. Instead of the ominous warnings we were accustom to in Central America, his parting words were, that there was no danger of robbers, or any other interruptions.
…I would remark that no map of Yucatan at all to be depended on has ever been published…
At a distance of a league we passed a fine cattle hacienda, and at twenty minutes past one reached Timucui, (on modern maps spelled Timucuy), a small village five leagues from Mérida. The village consisted of a few Indian huts, built around a large open square, and on one side was a shed for a casa real. It had no church or cura, and already we experienced a difficulty which we did not expect to encounter so soon. The population consisted entirely of Indians, who in general throughout the country speak nothing but Maya; there was not a white man in the place, nor anyone who could  speak in any tongue that we could comprehend. Fortunately, a muleteer from the interior, on his way to Mérida, had stopped to bait his mules under the shade of a large tree, and was swinging in a hammock in the casa real. He was surprised at our undertaking along a journey into the interior, seeing that we were brought to a stand at the first village from the capitol; but, finding us somewhat rational in other respects, he assisted us in procuring ramon leaves and water for our horses. His life had been passed in driving mules from a region of country called the Sierra, to the capitol; but he had heard strange stories about foreign countries, and, among others, that in El Norte a man could earn a dollar a day by his labor; but he was comforted when he learned that a real in his country was worth more to him than a dollar would be in ours; and as he interrupted to his nearly naked companions, crouching in the shade, nothing touched them so nearly as the idea of cold and frost, and spending a great portion of a day’s earnings for fuel to keep from freezing.
At three o’clock we left the hamlet, and at a little after four we saw the towers of the church of Tekoh. (On recent maps spelled Tecoh)

In the following captioned photos you will visit those haciendas and interesting seldom visited towns that we biked through following the route of Stephens and Catherwood.
Our first stop 5 kilometers south of the periferico is the silent little Tahdzibihén park.
Haciendas and ranchos along our way are quietly reminding us of this area’s history.
The straight old Mayan sacbe road beds are still functional and used to this day and as you can see there is a conspicuous lack of motor vehicles. The city noise is left behind.
This is biker’s paradise with almost no traffic and absolutely no stop lights.
These little road side chapels are a remnant of the days of the Caste War when the Maya broke away from Spanish domination and salvaged what was left of their ancient traditional religions and commingled it with Catholicism. For more about the Cult of the Santa Cruz, check our blog: http://bicycleyucatan.blogspot.com/2008/02/cob-to-valladolid.html
Speaking of spin-off commingled religions this house is adorned with just about every possibility to fend off evil spirits. With three types of Mayan crosses, the green, triple and stone they even have the Zionist star and for good measure the political party logo to boot! Check out the no frills 15 amp electrical service entrance next to the door.
This tranquil little town of Tekik de Regil seems to be waiting for something to happen but little of consequence will take place until eleven o’clock when this molino opens to crank out hot tortillas for the mid-day meal. Yucatecan dogs do not sleep in the sun.
From the heyday of the henequen era in 1908 when Yucatan was awash in money for the privileged few this decadent hacienda church was put up in this poverty stricken little town. The architect that was brought in for this job also did the main concert hall in downtown Mérida.
This is the business end of the hacienda where the machinery that processed the raw product of henequen into sisal rope needed in the WWI war effort rained in untold wealth.
We are out in the country here at the silent diminutive town of Timucuy about six kilometers from our original planned destination of Acanceh or Tecoh. We are very flexible on these out-of-town pleasure trips and only influenced by the wind direction and heat of the day. Well, the temperature was lovely but the wind was on the nose so we naturally did what was necessary and slowed down. The net result was that when our pre-determined turn around time came at ten AM this is where we were.
After leaving Mérida it is a welcome relief to come to a place that is so laid-back that the only noise comes from chirping birds. Being bicyclers we naturally enjoy places with no pushy-shovey traffic or smoky-noisy motorized vehicles. After Mérida these nearly vehicle free towns are almost shockingly quiet.
In front of the Timucuy church and across from the central town plaza Jane and I enjoy our morning iced coffee under the shade a kind old tree situated in the middle of the boulevard. This is just wonderful and well worth the effort.
When our coffee was finished the Mérida bus pulled into the plaza, we boarded and 30 minutes later we disembarked in downtown Mérida. We were home for lunch completing a 40 kilometer bike ride and a spirited bus trip back. (The TV in the bus didn’t work.)

Cobá to Valladolid

Cobá to Valladolid
The perfect bike trip: The wind and sun were on our backs and the temperture was a cool 14.8º C. This incredible trip from Cobá through Chan Chen 1, Xuilub, Xocen and Chichimila to Valladolid is part of the story below by John M. Grimsrud.
For a printable version of this, click: here.
VALLADOLID, COBÁ AND BACK TO VALLADOLID THROUGH CHAN CHEN 1, XUILUB, XOCEN AND CHICHIMILA.

Our trip started with a bus trip from Mérida to Valladolid:
Valladolid’s colonial buildings stand at this intersection known as five corners dating back in time to when this was Yucatán’s cotton capital in the mid-1850s.
For nearly five-hundred years this old Spanish city was the last eastern conquistador outpost on the Yucatán peninsula where the indigenous were not allowed to enter. The 60 year caste war, lasting into the early 1900s had some of the bloodiest battles and actually saw the Spanish driven out of Valladolid.
At five corners intersection fresh backyard produce is put up for sale freshly harvested from this ladies home garden.
Don Luis hotel has become a bikers stop. Jane visits with Dulze the receptionist who arrives each morning at five am and never fails to greet us with a pleasant smile.
In the city center the main church is an anomaly facing not west like nearly all others in Yucatán but north. It has been said that this deliberate diversion from tradition was retribution for terrible atrocities committed against the indigenous inhabitants whose temples stones built this church.
A rough six kilometer bike ride on a bumpy butt busting bouncy bicycle path will take you to this cooperatively operated attraction of Dzitnup. Featuring two cenotes, underground natural swimming holes, and a number of low-key mom and pop trinket shops staffed by local residents who appear to be garbage blind.
Dzitnup cenote actually attracts busloads of painfully white skinned tourists fresh off the cruise ships.
Back in Valladolid we got well fed with frijol con puerco a traditional Monday Yucatán dish of black beans and pork. We were invited to park our folding bicycles inside in the shade. Jane is with our excellent waiters.
In the municipal building downtown on the zocolo square an extensive collection of historical murals graphically depicts Yucatán history, which was not peaceful.
Situated on an open balcony adjacent to the art exhibit in the municipal building is this shockingly haphazard array of twisted together live wires that constitute the main service entrance.
The standard in Yucatán is that there is no standard.
Traditional Mayan chicken salbutes in the municipal market are worth the trip but be cautious with the lethally hot comatose level chili habanero sauce that could get you in the end.
A western sun sets on Valladolid’s north facing church.
Early morning breakfast at the municipal market gets us charged up for the next leg of our bike/bus excursion.
Breakfast at a fraction of Mérida prices coupled with copious quantities of local specialties. Our traditional Yucatán feast includes huevo’s rancheros and Motuleño’s.
Two complete meals with fresh tropical fruit juices were less than fifty pesos or just over four dollars.
Motuleño’s are on the red tray, rancheros on the other.
After our first day bicycling the Valladolid area Jane came up with a brilliant strategy for the next leg of this tour. We would bus to Cobá, bike the area and ruins our second day. Our third day we would get an early start and with the sun and Caribbean trade wind at our back make our 85 kilometer return trip to Valladolid via a newly paved jungle road.
This is our home in Cobá, Hotelito Sac-be where we spend our second day bicycling the area and visiting the Mayan ruins. Telephone for reservations at Hotelito Sac-be (01) 984 206-7140 or (01) 984 206-7067. Rooms are 250 to 400 pesos.
Our second floor room at Hotelito features plenty of fresh scented jungle air with cross ventilation, a very important consideration especially with Jane’s asthma.
The owner of Hotelito Sac-be, Modesto and his helpful daughter.
Cobá lake is filled with crocodiles that have become semi-tamed by hand outs that make them into a potential menace especially with their large appetites and instinctive flesh fetish. This little girl is tempting fate with her presence and could vanish in less than a blink of an eye. I have seen these seemingly slow reptiles strike with the speed of a coiled rattle snake.
The packed parking lot at the Cobá Mayan ruins gives a photo op side show.
Mid-day at Cobá the crowd is nearly overwhelming as Jane bikes through the crowded parking lot. We will be back when the shadows are longer and the crowd thins.
What is this? A feather bedecked bongo beating carnival side show? I am not sure but there is an element of curious entertainment here.
Just inside the gate the only mid-day shade I spotted was this, so we opted for a late day return.
Another mid-day crowd shot confirms our resolve to let the multitudes thin.
The late afternoon Cobá crowd has thinned and we make the rounds of the various temples by bicycle. Bike rentals and tricycles with drivers are available but we prefer our own little folding bicycles and have to pay a small user fee.
This huge temple is only restored on one side and this is off hours. Mass-tourism is heavily impacting the Yucatán where tens of thousands of tourists are off-loaded every day along the Caribbean coast.
Tricycle taxis await inquisitive temple climbers.
As the shadows become longer in late afternoon a serene ambiance floods over the jungle and miraculously the crowd also thins. Check out the Spanish moss festooned from the tall tropical forest trees. Close to the Caribbean heavy daily rain accounts for the tall trees and moss.
Cobá blends with ghosts of the past that seem to awaken as the sun slips over the horizon in hushed twilight.
Early morning and late afternoon are preferred times to quietly visit the ruins.
Day two ends as twilight passes serenely over Cobá lake
Day three we roll west out of Cobá before 6 am with a star studded sky and 14ºC. Our day’s jungle trek of 85 kilometers is across a just paved road abounding in wild life. There where so many parrots we couldn’t count then all.
The sun is up but the air is still early morning fresh as we roll into our first town of Chan Chén 1, a jungle outpost.
Two hours of riding has gotten us here for our breakfast.
At our next stop, Xuilub, besides the lovely silence only punctuated by wild birds chirping and the occasional rooster we love the conspicuous lack of motorized vehicles and garbage.
This is deep in the land of the old pre-Hispanic Maya where all still speak the language and keep time honored traditions alive in cooking, farming, medicines and dress.
In the traditional huipil Mayan hand embroidered dress, this smiling lady still carries on her time honored customs.
The state government initiated a program called Indemaya.
This green painted roadside wooden cross is symbolically part of a Mayan cult of the holy cross or talking cross.
Xocen, Yucatán is home to the church “iglesia cruz tún”. The church and culture have intertwined over the years as you can see by the name of the church that is part Spanish and part Maya. “iglesia cruz” is Spanish and means church and cross. “tún” is Maya for stone; thus the church of the stone cross.
Jane and I quite by accident stumbled upon this sacred Mayan temple with its warning sign admonishing all who enter; “not to take any photos because you will be punished by the government”.
This is the church of the stone cross filled with symbolism dating back in time with another no-photo sign in the door.

In spite of the implicit no-photo signs this “welcome visitors” sign beckons us to enter…and we did getting a surprise.
When I spoke Maya we were brought directly into a festive feast on the altar of the stone cross that until recently was forbidden to any non-Maya. There we were presented with a dish of liquefied and sweetened corn known as atole.
We were at a loss as what to do next so we patiently watched to see what others did to get some clue.
The center of the low altar held the stone cross dressed in a huipil dress adorned with embroidery in addition to the three crosses. On one side were two smaller wooden crosses.
Adjacent in glass opening boxes were religious icons with a definite catholic connection, with a Virgin of Guadalupe on one side and some saintly ceramic cast figure on the other. There was also a painting of Jesus Christ.
Before the altar was a long high table with kneeling pad attached and the table top covered with lighted candles.
Next from a huge caldron we were given delicious wild turkey in a thick spicy sauce along with hand made tortillas, all blessed on the altar, and no eating utensils.
Fortunately we had previously been introduced to the customary way of tearing a tortilla in two and rolling it into a cone to scoop out the thick sauce. The large pieces of turkey meat were placed, (with our fingers) in the tortillas to form tacos.
Next we were given dark course bread, also blessed and finally a pinch of honey sweetened corn dough.
The following photos of the stone cross came from the university web-site. With all due respect we took no photos, not just because we didn’t want to get stoned!
Also check out the university web-site for more of this incredible story;
www.uady.mx/~biomedic/revbiomed/pdf/rb95617.pdf
These are the photos of the sacred Mayan stone cross from the university web-site.
Bicycling back to Valladolid we spotted this cross near Chicimila, a town very important in the Caste War. Click on the following link for our previous post on the Caste War and this area. http://bicycleyucatan.wordpress.com/felipe-carrillo-puerto-tihosuco-and-valladolid-yucatan/

We biked back to Valladolid, completing 85 kilometers and spent the night, thus finishing day three of our out-back Yucatán bicycle adventure.

Xocchel, Hacabá, Sanahcat, Polaban and Homan
After our bike trip from Cobá to Valladolid, we took a bus to Xocchel and biked some Yucatán side roads to Homan. Our destination was Cuzama but we were pedaling into a strong hot wind when we spotted a bus heading for Mérida. It took less then a minute remove our packs and fold the bikes and sit back and let the bus carry us home. For the story and a printable version, click here.