Ticul Plus Muna, Dzan and Maní

We first came to Ticul by narrow gauge train in the early 1980’s and little did we know at the time that this relic of the past narrow gauge train, one of the last remaining in the world was soon to vanish. At that time we saw pottery works and countless ladies shoe shops where the shoes were made and sold.
On our many return trips over the years we have gradually discovered the numerous fascinating treasures that Ticul and its friendly people have to offer.
Ticul, 82 kilometers south of Mérida or about 50 miles is known as; “The Pearl of the South”. Besides a number of strange and interesting things in the city, Ticul also has its unique geographical position adjacent to the remarkable monuments of the past depicted in the above oil painting.
From left to right across the top of the painting; The Puuc Route (Puuc is the name given to the hills in the region) with five distinct Mayan temple sites and also the Grutas de Loltún, “caves of Loltún”; next is Ticul’s pink marble Mayan style arch built by the notable stone carver Rómulo Rozo who also built Mérida’s Monumento a la Patria on the prestigious Paseo de Montejo boulevard; next is one of the most impressive Mayan temples ever built, Uxmal.
Depicted across the center of the painting are; Ticul’s main church started in 1591 that took nearly fifty years to complete, in the center are the town craft people, the shoe maker and potter, on the right is one of the many area Mayan temples.
Across the bottom is the huge hacienda of Tabí, one of the most prestigious of Yucatán and it is flanked by typical Mayan clay figures of the pre-Columbian era.
On the north side of Ticul at the city entrance is Arte Maya with probably the best quality Mayan reproductions to be found anywhere. The showroom there is well worth the stop; it is simply extraordinary.
Arte Maya began here back in 1974 and has produced reproductions of indigenous sculptures of such high quality they are used in the nations leading museums.
The same family has continuously produced the very best class of workmanship here with the ultimate in attention to detail. Above is the entry to the showroom.
Naturally talented Lourdes Gonzalez is a big part of this family operation at Arte Maya and proudly continues reproducing the very finest in Mayan art.
Down the street from Arte Maya is the shop of Señor Mena where bigger than life statuary is sculpted that ultimately finds its way to the local street corners around Ticul. Fifteen years of dedicated work by Señor Mena has made Ticul a photo-op attraction not to be missed.
This night time exposure photo is taken from the plaza looking at the 1591 church.
Art is everywhere in Ticul. Dance rehearsal in the decoratively painted plaza band-shell tells a lot about the city pride of this very clean and prosperous city.
Perched atop a prominent hill overlooking Ticul is this distinctive Mayan style arch that was constructed by the internationally famous sculptor Rómulo Rozo back in the 1950’s
The president of Mexico even arrived for the dedication
Carved into a corner stone of the Ticul Mayan arch is the name of the stone carver, Rómulo Rozo, who left his distinctive creations all across Mexico.
The distinctive pink stone of this arch and the “Monumento de la Patria” (Monument to the history of Mexico) on the prestigious Paseo de Montejo Boulevard in Mérida came from a quarry on an adjacent hilltop on the road south to Santa Elena. The stone for the monument was transported to Mérida on the old narrow gauge railway train.
The Ticul Mayan arch is so famous it is plagiarized in wall painted advertisements.
A view looking away from the Ticul Mayan arch and into the rolling hills of the Puuc region will give you some idea of the narrow back roads and isolated open spaces of this semi-arid tropical forest region of northwestern Yucatán.
At age seventy-five Arturo Gutierrez actively works in his shoe manufacturing business and even made a splendid repair of Jane’s shoes while we waited. The remarkable thing about Arturo is that he as a little boy recalled Rómulo Rozo the famous stone sculptor, how he dressed and his stone cutting shop where he trained area men into the sculpting trade. Most amazing of all is the fact that the stone cutting shop of Rómulo Rozo was in this very same building.
This is the shoe manufacturing shop of Arturo Gutierrez where Rómulo Rozo previously did his stone cutting. The bicycles belong to the employees of the shoe shop.
One of Rómulo Rozo’s most widely plagiarized works of art is this little figure that they refer to here as “Pancho”. The sculptor originally named it El Pensamiento or “The Thinker”.

Above: El Pensamiento photo from Wikipedia
Sculpture by Rómulo Rozo displayed in the Museum of Art in La Paz, Bolivia.This is the image that was plagiarized after it was shown in an exhibition in the National Library in Mexico City in 1932.When it was on exhibition, somebody placed a bottle of tequila in front of it, took a photo and it was widely circulated in newspapers around the world as the drunken or sleeping Mexican…an image still thought of today.

The variety of paint jobs and size of “Pancho” seen endless…all the shops sell them.
This Mayan lady with her white as snow clothes asks for help for food. We have found that in the Mayan villages when we take a break for a rest stop, the generous people are always offering us food. They will rarely take money for the food.
Mayan food is mostly vegetation, nutritious and delicious like these salbutes.
We had lunch at a “cocina economica” (Economy kitchen) – the pork was delicious and the price was right!
Considering that this Ticul church was begun back in 1591 and took nearly fifty years to complete, it has been kept in remarkably good repair.
The old church is spotless like the rest of Ticul.
Moorish style arches and architecture were brought to the New World by the Spanish.
Ticul sets a high standard for cleanliness and preservation.

We next made a side trip west to Muna, a small market town dating from the 1600’s that was a cross-road with straight Mayan sacbe roads leading off in four directions. The elevated stone work of these Mayan roads is still plainly visible in and around Muna.
This colonial hand carved pulpit pictured above has miraculously survived the centuries.
The Muna market is traditionally Mayan and this lady is the local medicine vender with a herbal cure for nearly all ailments.
A view from a municipal building in the central plaza contrasting the old and the new.
Our next bicycle trip took us east on a lovely and quiet road to the small town of Dzan.
Winter time in the Yucatán countryside is ablaze with vibrant wild flowers that supports a huge honey industry.
Bicycling on the quiet road to Dzan is literally like taking a breath of fresh air richly scented and perfumed by flower blossoms.
With an overcast sky the multitudes of wild flowers seemed to be ablaze with dazzling luminescence.
We arrived in Dzan in time to see a very noisy pageant leave the church with sky rockets exploding as they went.
Down the road at Maní we stopped at one of seven chapels there and across the street was a tortilla shop or molino that lured us with its inviting roasted corn aroma. We had our morning coffee and sprinkled salt on the hot tortillas.
Sitting on the altar of the little chapel is this neatly decorated work of art of unknown age.
The chapel was impeccably clean and well maintained like the rest of the area. We had no competition for seats and the shelter came just in time because a cold rainy drizzle settled in.
No gold or rich adornments are found here but the Mayan people are the treasure.
At the chapel corner in Maní we left the pavement to visit this new development. Under the roof are wood logs that house the hives of small black stinger-less Mayan bees that produce a much prized honey.
Padre Luis is making a Mayan style village that is soon to be finished.
The 1547 church in Maní is getting a major make over of paint and plaster and does not look its age any longer.

The rain persisted. A truck came along and offered us a ride to Oxkutzcab and we happily loaded our bikes and climbed aboard. It was still raining in Oxkutzcab so we folded out bikes and caught the next bus to Merida. Two two hours later we were home in Mérida in our warm dry house. …the pleasure of biking and busing in Yucatán…it is great!

John M. Grimsrud ©2010

Ticul to Abalá, Yucatan

This blog continues our journey from Ichmul, through Peto and on to Ticul, Sacalum, Mucuyche and ending in Abalá.
At Peto we made a miraculous connection and in less than five minutes of our arrival there we were on another bus headed north to Ticul.
We arrived in Ticul before dark and went directly to the Posada El Jardin Cabañas our favorite lodging. The cabañas are located conveniently just three blocks from the bus terminal on Calle 27 between 28 and 30. As their business card claims; “For Nature Lovers”, Large Rooms, tranquil atmosphere, patios, terraces and gardens. Well, we can roll our bicycles directly into our large and commodious quarters. What we like the most besides the jungle atmosphere in the city is its location so convenient to marvelous bicycle roads both in the Puuc hills with the many Mayan ruins and also north toward Mérida. www.posadajardin.com
Another plus to the Cabañas El Jardin is its close proximity to this lovely little unpretentious cocina economica restaurant Zazil, also on calle 27, where we enjoy lavish dining at the best bargain price in town. We are repeat customers.
Here I am with the owner of Zazil, José Gonzalez Rosado and his lovely wife who also happens to be the one to put together these extravagantly presented feasts we keep returning to enjoy.
Six A.M. and Jane and I are taking our departure in the cool early morning air from the El Jardin Cabañas headed north in the direction of Mérida. This is our fourth day out on the road and we have been enjoying a complete news-fast of no TV, radio, newspapers or even conversation pertaining to world events. This is just part of the reason that we have big smiles this early in the morning.

Jane and I make our first stop of the morning at this little out-of-the-way town of Sacalum and have our over-the-road breakfast of whole-wheat tortillas buttered with peanut butter and filled with Jane’s own muesli. Three of these give me enough staying power to make it until lunchtime.
This is downtown Sacalum, in Maya known as Land of the White Earth, which is also written up in Richard Perry’s book Mayan Missions where he describes the huge stone outcropping where the strange church is perched..
Little Mucuyché is one of the haciendas that John L. Stephens visited and wrote about on his 1842 visit to Yucatan.
Page 83 volume 1; Incidents of Travel in Yucatan by John. L. Stephens;

Hacienda Mucuyché
This is one of the most unchanged wild places in the Yucatan peninsula and it is very close to Mérida. Here is an excerpt from their book “Incidents of Travel in Yucatan” page 83;
After breakfast the cura left us to return to his village, and we set out to continue our journey to Uxmal. Our luggage was sent off by Indians of the hacienda, and the major domo accompanied us on horseback. Our road was by a bridle path over the same stony country, through thick woods. The whole way it lay through the lands of the provisor, all wild, waste, and desolate, and showing the fatal effects of accumulation in the hands of large landed proprietors. In two hours we saw rising before us the gate of the hacienda of Mucuyché (Figure 4). To the astonishment of the gaping Indians, the doctor, as he wheeled his horse, shot a hawk that was hovering over the pinnacle of the gateway, and we rode up to the house.
This pen and ink drawing by Frederic Catherwood depicts the Hacienda Mucuyché that greeted Stephens and Catherwood after their two hour horseback journey across the overgrown Mayan sacbe road from Xcanchakan.
I had been looking for the sacbe road route from Mucuyché to Xcanchakan that was traveled by the explorer and historical author John L. Stephens on his 1842 trip to Yucatan and I was told that this lady, Doña Canita with her ornate earrings was the one who knew all about local travel. I asked Doña Canita if it was possible to traverse this old sacbe road that has become severely overgrown since Stephen’s 1842 passage. She said; “you can make the trip by horse, but not with your little ‘caballito’”. The little caballito that Doña Canita was referring to was my little bicycle. I had tried this route from the other side and found her to be correct and upon inspection of the Mucuyché side my respect for her advice was confirmed…Doña Canita was indeed road wise.
The day turned hot by 11 AM and we made the decision to bike the ten kilometers to the tiny town of Abalá and catch whatever transportation to Mérida presented itself first.
Again the pleasure of our Peto trip was in the adventuresome journey. (Above is the tiny church of Abalá taken from our speeding colectivo taxi headed for Mérida.)

Bike and Bus: Tecoh to Tekit and Ticul, Yucatan

TECOH TO TEKIT AND TICUL; BIKING THE TRANQUIL QUIET MAYAN BACK ROADS OF THE “GRUTA RUTA” by John M. Grimrud
Jane and I took a 7:20 AM departure from Mérida’s downtown 2nd class bus terminal at the corner of 50 and 67 with our Dahon folding bicycles stowed aboard. This was the beginning of our two day off the beaten path bicycle excursion, first by bus arriving at Tecoh at 9 AM.
Yucatan has a one-of-a-kind topography. This is where 65,000,000 years ago an event happened that drastically and forevermore altered life on this planet.
The meteoroid that impacted the earth struck the Yucatan with such an impact it brought about an ice age so abruptly that the dinosaurs were totally demised.
Read the following; T. Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez, (a good read)
National Geographic Magazine had several articles over the past 20 years
This impact formed the Chicxulub Crater whose epicenter was thirty kilometers north of Mérida and the after-splash of molten rock sent projectiles as far away as Belize and the Mexican state of Veracruz.
With that meteoroid impact the Yucatan peninsula became a geographical rarity with no rivers, only aguadas, cenotes and grutas…these are essentially the same thing but with different exposure to the earths surface.
Aguadas are open ponds near the surface.
Cenotes are sunken open ponds or sink-holes in the limestone rock.
Grutas are subterranean caves containing ponds.
Well, Jane and I will bike the zone of grutas and cenotes that I call the “Gruta Ruta”.
The following short story is told with captioned photos;
***
At Tecoh the new director of the grutas is Baldo Kugeh, above in his no-frills office. Last spring when Jane and I first discovered that the Tecoh director of tourism, Javier Francisco Acosta was busy developing an off-road bicycle route to 13 different area grutas we couldn’t wait to return to check it all out. Well, we discovered at the municipal building that our friend Javier was gone because the new governor makes it her practice to fire all employees and install her own group of cronies with their own agenda.
This is the quiet and tranquil “Gruta Ruta” with its conspicuous lack of motor vehicles.
Along the “Gruta Ruta” in the small town of Sabacché, this is one of the typical Mayan homes along the picturesque main street.
This is main street Sabacché where goats range peacefully free on the “Gruta Ruta”.
José Pech Ramirez, a resident of Sabacché struck up a conversation with us and soon we are all off to visit one of the recently improved grutas by bike traveling across an ancient “sacbe” Mayan road with local knowledge because there are no road signs.
As José Pech was speaking to us in his limited English his friends gathered across the road to observe the activities. Sabacché is more than just quiet, there is virtually no motor vehicle activity and the only business in town consisted of a molino to grind corn that had no tortillas and a small convenience store located in a Mayan thatched roof palapa. The people were more than just friendly, when I went to the Molino to try and buy a few tortillas for a snack I discovered that they only ground the corn to make masa. I spoke to them in Maya, and the lady asked me if I was hungry, I said yes. Even though they had no tortillas in a few minutes a little girl arrived in the park with tortillas and a big smile. We have always found that these wonderful people would freely share whatever they had.
As we ate our tortillas, free ranging turkeys came to visit pleading for a morsel.
This is the new stair leading down into the gruta/cenote and above is a palm thatched pavilion. This dense jungle setting has a mystical aura of fresh scented flowering foliage and only the exuberant sounds of wild birds singing. We arrived by way of an ancient Mayan sacbe road, (sacbe in Maya means white road and they were straight as a die, leveled and plastered smooth). Still in use and perhaps thousands of years old the sacbe road gave us an eerie and haunting sensation as we passed the way of countless generations through the pristine jungle way. This gruta is was part of the adjacent area settlement that includes the Mayan ruins of Mayapan which had more than 4,000 stone structures.
Here José ponders the gruta as he gives us a factual tour rich in area history. His grandmother is a Mayan medicinal woman or “curadura” knowledgeable in the local traditional herbs and other native plants. She is eager to share her years of knowledge with everyone. José invited us to his home for dinner, but we graciously declined because we still had more than 30 kilometers of biking ahead of us and once we eat heavy our bicycles just about refuse to move and our hammocks beckon us to repose.
On the main street of Sabacché this welding project is being carried out with a bare minimum of tools and equipment. Soon this spiral stairway will be installed in one of the nearby cenotes as this tourist project grinds along through political turmoil.
Along the “Gruta Ruta” road to Tekit this humblest of roadside chapels religiously keeps a candle burning.
This “Gruta Ruta” roadside chapel has a distinctive Mayan significance and is closely tied to the Caste War cult that worshiped the “Talking Cross” and symbolizes the three green crosses in their secret ceremonies. This cult religion sprang up back in the 1850s at Chan Santa Cruz know known as Felipe Carrillo Puerto and inspired the Maya to persist.
On the “Gruta Ruta” the distinct lack of motor vehicles is a real plus to us bikers who prefer the sound of the breeze in the trees and free birds singing.
This is Tekit our day’s destination after a bus ride to Tecoh and 47 kilometers by bicycle.
Tekit’s finest accommodations and only rooms for rent are at the no frills Posada Can Sacbe which in Maya means (camino de culebras) road of snakes.
After a long and lovely day of bicycle excursion we are delighted and richly rewarded with this ample Mayan style eating extravaganza of roast pork and black beans done to perfection and garnished with traditional sauces.
Lupita the owner, operator and culinary artist who prepared our delightful traditional Mayan style lunch with her ninety year old mother who still radiates her special beauty.

We silently rolled out of quiet little out-of-the-way Tekit early as the first patrons began opening the market and the last stars still glimmered overhead. On this next 30 kilometer leg of our bicycle excursion we left the small rolling hills of the “Gruta Ruta” and entered the area of the grander Puuc hills that extend across the southern part of the state of Yucatan. With only the two very small towns of Mama and Chapab along our way we enjoyed the open country of fresh air and wildflowers with dazzling iridescent morning glories decorating a perfect morning ride. (The ancient Maya, masters of herbal medicine used seeds of the morning glory to take psychedelic trips akin to LSD).
This is one of many Mayan Gods that are represented in statuary adorning the streets of Ticul at the foot of the Puuc hills where we boardrd a bus for home in Mérida and arrived in time for lunch ending a spectacular two day bike/bus out-back Yucatan get-a-way…stay tuned for more! For more adventures check out: http://bicycleyucatan.wordpress.com