Chapulines?

Chapulines?

Yes, Jane and I sampled them and pronounced them edible.

They are exactly what they look like:  insects. Fried crispy and salted, they are available for fifteen Mexican pesos a cup. The flavor is distinct. I could make a meal of them if driven by hunger.

On a recent visit to Oxkutzcab, chapulines were for sale in the central plaza. The furthest bucket contains chapulines, next roasted peanuts mixed with squash seeds, and closest are mandarin oranges coated with a thick layer of sugar.  Lime juice, salt, and hot sauce are offered at no extra charge.

According to Wikipedia, chapulines, plural for chapulín, are grasshoppers that are commonly eaten in certain areas of Mexico. The term is specific to Mexico and is from the Natuatl, the indigenous language of that region.

They are collected only at certain times of year (from their hatching in early May through the late summer/early autumn). After being thoroughly cleaned and washed, they are toasted on a comal (clay cooking surface) with garlic, lime juice and salt containing extract of agave worms, lending a sour-spicy-salty taste to the finished product. Sometimes the grasshoppers are also toasted with chili, although it can be used to cover up for stale chapulines.

One of the regions of Mexico where chapulines are most widely consumed is Oaxaca where they are sold as snacks at local sports events and are becoming a revival among foodies. It's debated how long chapulines have been a food source in Oaxaca. There is one reference to grasshoppers that are eaten in early records of the Spanish conquest, in early to mid 16th century.

Health risks

Chapulines must be very well cooked prior to consumption, because, as with other grasshoppers, they may carry nematodes that can infest humans.

Read more about Mexico’s fascinating world of exotic eating experiences that tourists miss most in the books: Yucatán’s Magic, Mérida Side Trips and Yucatan for Travelers – Side Trips: Valladolid to Tulum, available in paperback and digital editions worldwide.

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

CHUMAYEL, TEABO, MANÍ, AND OXKUTZCAB BY BUS AND BIKE 2011

You may travel the world over and never find a stranger or more interesting adventuresome get-away.
After twenty-five years of exploring the back country of Yucatán we find new quests are still abounding.
Here is the real Mexico that tourists miss most.
This route was the key that unlocked the door to a rarely visited out of the tourist loop places and began our three day sojourn.
We boarded a second class bus from Mérida bound for Chumayel with our folding bicycles stowed below. For two hours we sat back whisked along the seldom traveled back roads of Yucatán witnessing the quiet and quaint Mayan villages unaffected by the passing centuries.

Even at our leisurely pace we were packing a month’s worth of activities into just three days.
So, we invite you to come along with us and share this infrequently visited magical paradise through captioned photos.
Above is the municipal building of little Chumayel and the very small street market clearly out of the path of tourists.

Chumayel is clean, quiet and quaint plus it is off the main road and seldom visited. The small village is situated in a typical Yucatecan countryside interspersed with centuries old haciendas and ancient Mayan ruins.
Spanish influence here positively dates from before 1557. According to a map uncovered and copied by the famous explorer and author John L. Stephens on his 1842 visit to nearby Maní that designates the church site you see behind me as having already existed.
This was one of a hand full of churches of Yucatán designated on that ancient Spanish conquistador map. Little has changed here over the centuries in Chumayel except for the coming of electricity and recently paved roads. It is a biker’s paradise as you can see by the conspicuous lack of traffic.
Our little Dahon folding bicycles makes this type of road trip possible and a joyful experience.

In Chumayel this street market was the busiest place in town.

No chain or even convenience stores are here, but hourly bus service links north to Mérida and south to Oxkutzcab.
As small as Chumayel is it can claim to have paved roads of access that make this an ideal place to begin our back country bicycle excursion.
 This is the town meat market. Though the meat is not refrigerated it is indeed fresh. As you can see when the meat hanging in the shop is depleted business is concluded for the day. In the morning this animal you observe tethered to the pole will be converted into inventory for the meat market. In many small towns across Yucatán this type of meat market is a common sight.
After consuming our packed along breakfast in the plaza area we were on our bikes headed for our next destination of Teabo just four kilometers away.
Just four peaceful kilometers down the road we arrive at the outskirts of Teabo. The roads are so quiet you can hear a vehicle coming for many kilometers.

Teabo is relatively metropolitan compared to its rural neighbors.
After biking in the bustling neurotic traffic of Mérida these lovely country roads where chirping birds and the wind in your ears are the only sounds soothes your mind and the fresh flower scented air makes you want to drink it in.
We feel extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful ecologically friendly and healthy environment so accessible to Mérida. These lovely bicycle places are but a short scenic bus ride away. With our folding bicycles one of the nicest things of all is at a moments notice we can change direction and be home from nearly anyplace in Yucatán in about two hours of less.
The tropical climate is another positive consideration which we happen to love. We do however try to do our cycling before the mid-day heat.
Another plus this time of year from November until March is that cold fronts will come through and hold the day-time high temperatures down in the low 20ºC or 70º’s F…ideal for cycling.

This is the vintage colonial church, quiet plaza and diminutive business district of Teabo.

 

Padre Victor arrived here at Teabo two years ago from the nearby village of Sotuta and earnestly undertook the renovation of this colossal church complex. The project became more than just renovation.  Procuring the funds and assistance needed for restoration from the government that in Mexico officially owns all church buildings and their grounds has been Padre Victor’s toughest job.
Teabo was originally an ancient Mayan settlement. A vestige of the Mayan temples are still very evident on the church grounds and nearby one of the colossal temples is still providing building materials for area construction five centuries after the Spanish conquistadors began their occupation.

Within the Teabo church restoration has been superbly done. Wall painted frescoes, altar pieces and retablos are brought back to their century's old state of splendor.
I will not try to give all the details here or explain the history because it is too involved for this story.
However I do recommend for those of you interesting in learning more to read the splendid field guide and reference book Mayan Missions by Richard and Rosalind Perry.

Truly incredible, the retablos of Teabo have not only survived all these centuries but also the protracted Caste War. In the above photo you can glimpse a close up of some of the fine workmanship that was recently restored.

Here are some of the wall paintings or frescoes that originally lavishly adorned the church and also many of the adjacent buildings of this huge complex.

Here out on the church complex grounds you can clearly see the various stages of restoration work being done. In the distance the red walls of the restored church and some of the different buildings.

Teabo is clean, neat and quiet with little or no rush. Not a single traffic light is needed.

Wood for cooking fires or [leña] is transported in a tricycle or triciclo de carga. The forest is quickly being depleted because of rising cooking gas prices.

The triciclo de carga is used not only for freight but also employed as taxis. They become mini restaurants and purveyors of anything that can be sold on the streets.
Throughout Yucatán you will find many ingenious variations of these tricycles converted to amazingly diverse uses…we continue to be amazed at their creative ingenuity.

Seven quiet kilometers down the road is our next place of adventure.
Today this little settlement has nearly no business.
These people are however self-sufficient producing enough from the small milpa farms to feed them selves but have nothing for export.

Poor to the point of poverty, Tipikal, as you can see, has no extra cash for frivolities like restoration.
Amazingly this church has stood here for nearly five centuries and considering that its condition is remarkably good. The entry gate is of a similar style to those found at the old haciendas across Yucatán.

Thirty years ago when Jane and I first arrived in Yucatán over half of the homes were palapas like the ones you see here…even in Mérida. The palapa was standard home construction for the Maya because all of the materials were available from the land. To this day you will find depictions of these homes carved in stone at area Mayan ruins like Uxmal, thus dating their use back thousands of years.
Five more kilometers down the road took us to the ancient and historical village of Maní. I will not write about Maní here because we have covered that subject extensively on numerous prior visits. See our web site for those stories.
After a brief rest and hydration stop in the shade of the Mani church, we were on our way again.
Eleven kilometers of which most were on a lovely bicycle path adorned by sculpted flowering bushes and we reached our day’s final destination of Oxkutzcab. Thirty-eight kilometers of quiet biking this day was enough for us and it felt good to shower and rinse out our sweaty clothes. Biking we must travel light because the privilege of excess baggage is not an option.
Oxkutcab is covered in the next post.     



RELATED LINKS:
A visit to Mani.
Mani field trip starting in Oxkutzcab
©2011 John M. Grimsrud

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/

Mani Field Trip starting in Oxkutzcab

MANI FIELD TRIP STARTING AT OXKUTZCAB BY BIKE AND BUS, MARCH 2008 and later joining the Maya Studies Group and the Hispanic Culture Group of the IWC of Merida at Mani.
Recent additions to the streets of Oxkutzcab are these motorized three-wheel taxis. Somehow the quiet easy-going Colonial town is falling into the mechanized world of hydrocarbon combustion.

However lunch is cooked over a leña or firewood by Roque Burgos a native of the nearby small Puuc hill town of Xul. The tiny crossroads settlement of Xul is steeped in Yucatan history from the early conquistadors to the hacienda era. The explorer and author John L. Stephens mentions Xul and its unique history in his 1842 book Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, pages 54 and 55.
Immaculate, pleasant, delicious and generous describes our lunch spot.
The façade of the Oxkutzcab San Francisco church recently renovated.
Oxkutzcab church is written up with interesting and factual information in a must read book called Maya Missions by Richard and Rosalind Perry.
For a concise informative look at Yucatan history that is well documented and to the point plus an indispensable travel guide, you will do yourself a favor reading this book before and while you visit Yucatan, one of the most interesting places on planet earth.
Perry’s book Maya Missions does such an informative job of describing such things as this above retablo and all of the aspects of churches of Yucatan that I will not duplicate his effort here but encourage you to own that indispensable book.
You will spend hours investigating these incredible chronological works of art that fill countless churches, monasteries and missions all across the Yucatan intertwined with Mayan and Spanish historical times gone by.
The above retablo is but one of several in this meticulously maintained and well restored Oxkutzcab church.
Evening dinner in the central market across from our hotel is worthy of praise and these tamales horneado or tamales that are corn meal wrapped chicken baked in banana leaves, then spiced with a tangy tomato sauce make for a Mayan cuisine .
You must be at the market at the right time in the early to enjoy these delights because when the inventory is exhausted the venders pack up and head home.
This is the Oxkutzcab market in early morning before the overwhelming hustle and bustle begins. The tri-cycle taxi drivers wait the oncoming business day when they will not only transport passengers but huge high stacked crates of fruit and vegetables.
The marked activity begins and Jane and I will mingle with the natives and have a typical Yucatecan breakfast of chicken salbutes, which are freshly fried hand made corn tortillas topped with lettuce, tomato and shredded chicken meat…varieties of hot sauce are provided and you can apply it at your own discretion…as they say in Yucatan…kill yourself. All sauces are not created equally and the prudent diner will carefully sample a very small portion before sloshing it over his meal.
Our hot chili tolerance is at stratospheric levels that would kill the average Norwegian.
The following two photos are representative portions of a large panoramic mural that adorns the entry to the Oxkutzcab municipal market and realistically depicts events and happenings that take place here daily.

After our market breakfast Jane and I leisurely cycle the beautiful country road connecting Oxkutzcab with the town of Mani where we will rendezvous for an informative lecture on early Yucatan history and Spanish church art.
Long early morning shadows cast beguiling shade upon this ancient hacienda entrance.
Little Mani is situated out of the tourist loop and off the main highway so it is amazingly quiet and peaceful. Jane and I are two hours early for the lecture and as usual will have the dubious distinction of being the only participants to arrive using only bicycles and bus transport. A nameless bust adorns the clean little Mani park.
This is the freshly painted municipal building that sports the colors of the winners of the last state elections. The edifice has been reputed to have been the home of the Xiu family who sided with the Spanish to overthrow their Mayan neighbors. It doesn’t take too much unscrutinizing to deduce that this building did not date from the pre-conquest era because of the Moorish architectural design and mamposteria constructed roof with its steel beams.
The Mani church is a collective cache of artwork that intertwines Mayan and Spanish influences like this 16th century cross depicting a stocky Mayan figure. Restored after Revolutionary War damage and moved from its original place in the adjacent open Indian chapel it has attained historical significance now that the Mayan population uses the main church. The Spanish used Mayan stone sculptors.
Seated in the passage room between the old open chapel and the newer main church are these local Mayan women who still chose to dress in their age old traditional native huipil dress. Our little folding bikes conveniently get us around the world.
Art historian and lecturer, Estela Keim presents an incredibly well researched presentation on the auto de fe of 1562 as well as Yucatan church art as our group of 25 gathers in the old open Indian chapel dating from 1580.

Mayan studies leader and author of Dreaming of the Maya Fifth Sun, Lennie Martin lectures on Mani and its historical significance before, during and after the Spanish conquest.
The lecture group adjourns to the main church where Estela Keim further fascinates us with the historical significance of this art that reflects the monumental happenings of the Spanish and their religious connections to the old and new world.
I will not attempt to describe these splendid retablos and other art works that adorn the Mani church because Richard Perry does such a magnificent job of it in his book; Mayan Missions.
When the history and significance of these ancient art works are known, the trip to Mani to witness them first hand becomes an imperative.
Ironically behind these impeccably kept retablos are located painted frescos that date back to the churches early days and have been preserved and recorded by a Mexican governmental agency.
These priceless treasures span the centuries with historical significance.
This ornate little side altar crafted on the late 1600s also conceals a retablo.

Here above this gilded back altar retablo that is unequaled in any Mexican art work of the period is a visible example of the fabulous fresco paintings that obviously adorned the entire church at one time.
Art historian Estela Keim dramatically adds a personal touch to her informative presentation, having studied extensively in Spain even learning the archaic Spanish in order to advance her extensive knowledge of this subject.
Take a close look at the intricate detail that adorns these historically significant retablos each conveying a momentous story that we had the good fortune to have explained to us by our informative guide Estela.
Archangel Michael high upon the west facade was an 18th century addition.
On the south side of this flat two-block square raised Mayan mound the crumbling remains of this mid-1500s Spanish arch is adorned by a recent Guadalupe icon.
On the east side of this Mayan two block square raised flat platform is located the two story convent and garden all part of the Mani church complex…this side is seldom seen by visitors.
The “eco-tour of two” sets out to roll home again after another intriguing and informative Yucatan adventure here in the land of mysterious and haunting history.
For photos of the Field trip with the IWC of Merida, click here to take you to the album.

NOTE; A BRIEF CONQUEST HISTORY OF YUCATAN
Because Yucatan possessed no riches, only the lowest forms of Spanish strata wound up there.
After numerous feeble batched attempts to establish a beachhead in Yucatan, by 1535 every last Spaniard was summarily driven out of the peninsula.
Using the unscrupulous invasion tactics of Hernán Cortés in exploiting tribal feuds to divide and plunder, Montejo and his rag-tag band returned to Yucatan putting the Mayan family Xiu against Cocom. Behind the scenes they used a confidence game on both sides to rile up bloody hostilities that worked marvelously coupled with invading micro-organisms that ravaged diseases of European origin and brought down more indigenous than all of Spain’s combined military might could have even remotely hoped for.
After the fall of Mérida, (T’ho), Oxkutzcab and Mani were next…Mani then becoming the first center of Spanish power in Yucatan.
Three centuries of brutal enslaved servitude passed before the Maya again stood up to the Spanish in the 60 year Caste War. After the Caste War came the bloody Mexican Revolution annihilating one in eight Mexicans.
“Peaceful places have no history.”
Recommended reading;
Ambivalent Conquests by Inga Clendinnen
Incidents of Travel in Yucatan by John L. Stephens
The Caste War of Yucatan by Nelson Reed
Maya Missions by Richard and Rosalind Perry
Time Among the Maya by Ronald Wright
Genesis by Eduardo Galeano
Open Veins by Eduardo Galeano