TULUM BY BIKE AND BUS – TO THE CARIBBEAN BEACH

There is only one Caribbean and here we are just four hours by bus from Merida.From the beach front of Cabañas Punta Piedra we have a clear view of the Mayan ruins of Tulum. On our little folding bikes we left our home in Merida early in the morning to the downtown CAME bus station. then we bused four hours with our bikes stowed aboard to the Caribbean beach. We always draw a crowd when we fold and unfold our little bicycles that miraculously transform in just twelve seconds.

One of the main attractions at Tulum is our grand children. Here I am with three year old Julian who is learning English and proudly came to me to demonstrate his new linguistic talents exclaiming; “Oh my God!”

This is five year old smiling Diego who loves to see me coming so he can get his bicycle tuned. The kids refer to us as their magic grandparents.

Here is the new treasure, grandchild number three, beautifully contented six month old Flor Amber.Sweet little Flor Amber and Jane enjoy affectionate moments in the tropical jungle garden of Luis and Grisel at Tulum.  Luis and Grisel are building apartments and land developing in the local booming economy.

Mama Grisel and Flor Amber are more than just mother and daughter, they are affectionate pals and their love beams out in glowing radiance.

How could you not help but love these precious people who warmly embrace your presence with genuine affection?

A blow-me-down breeze at the beach kept the bugs away our first three days there but turned the Caribbean into a hydrotherapy bath that brutalized our bodies in seconds…but it was salubriously warm and beguiling enticing.

Our thirty-three year old happy-go-lucky Güero fits perfectly into the Tulum beach-scene where he goes with the seasonal flow and does guided tours to the sea reefs and fresh water cenotes.

This is our lovely friend Hilda with her prize son Christian. Hilda and her husband Felix are owners of the resort Puenta Piedra where we stay. Twelve year old Christian is already a certified scuba diver and enthusiastic deep sea fisherman.

This photo of Jane at Punta Piedra resort at Tulum was taken a year ago before the unrelenting sea level rise devastated this beach and the resort structures here.

This  photo was taken in November 2007 and clearly shows the ravages of the sea that took away two meters of beach sand along with countless trees and destroyed several buildings. The hurricane that caused this damage passed one hundred miles south of here and totally flattened everything that it didn’t wash away. Not a leaf was left on a tree there while it cut a swath all the way across Mexico to the State of Tabasco where it flooded 80% of that state. The effects of global warming are approaching at an alarming rate.

The storm also devastated the sea bottom as you can see by these sponges that were torn from the off-shore coral reef that is nearly devoid of life now.

Off shore you can see the second longest coral reef in the world where the waves are breaking. We found this lovely secluded spot biking off the road to enjoy our morning coffee in rare serenity. Development is coming at such a rapidly alarming rate that this precious spot will soon be filled with elbow to elbow highrises.

Our bicycles get us to see and explore things that most tourists fly by.

This is a part of the wild tropical Mexican jungle that is here to see and enjoy if you only go slow enough. Our bicycle tours have added an interesting dimension to life.





Salty sea air is not kind to man made contrivances and rapidly reduces it all to rust.

Coming from town and the main highway on the left is the bicycle path. On the highway is a caravan of rent-a-jeeps headed down the rough washed out bump ridden stone strewn pothole plagued pitiful dead end road to Punta Allen. The lead jeep will at least not eat dust all the way but these cruise ship escapees are paying big bucks for a no-brainer bounce and jolt that sends all wildlife for many miles dashing away and out of sight. When it is all over great raves will be expounded of how these daring adventures conquered the savage Mexican jungle…Ha!

These enterprising young kids turn somebody else’s garbage into spend able cash.

November 2007

AKÉ. YUCATÁN , A BIKE RIDE TO THE MAYAN RUINS OF AKÉ

THE MAYAN RUINS OF AKÉ, YUCATÁN
Aké; this is a small tranquil and quiet village located just 32 kilometers east of Mérida that makes a lovely bike/bus/taxi day trip where you will be treated to a rare commodity in this day and time.
Believe it or not at Aké there are absolutely no tour buses, trinket vending peddlers, hammock hawkers or glitzy accommodations. This is the main attraction for those that want to experience a small slice of vintage Yucatan off the beaten tourist path.
I will tell this story of Aké with captioned photos but first here is a brief Aké description of the place as seen back in the early 1840’s by the noted author John L. Stephens;
Pages 303 to 308 from volume 2 of Incidents of Travel in Yucatan by John L. Stephens:
Aké
The next morning we started for Merida, with the intention of diverging for a last time to visit the ruins of Aké. The road was one of the best in the country, made for carriages, but rough, stony, and uninteresting. At Cacalchen, five leagues distant, we stopped to dine and procure a guide to Aké. In the afternoon we proceeded, taking with us only our hammocks, and leaving Dimas to go on direct with our luggage to Merida. Turning off immediately from the main road, we entered the woods, and following a narrow path, a little before dark we reached the hacienda of Aké, and for the last time were among the towering and colossal memorials of an aboriginal city. The hacienda was the property of the Conde Peon, and contrary to our expectancies, it was small, neglected, in a ruinous condition, and extremely destitute of all kinds of supplies. We could not procure even eggs, literally nothing but tortillas. The major domo was away, the principal building locked up, and the only shelter we could obtain was a miserable little hut, full of fleas, which no sweeping could clear out. We had considered all our rough work over, but again, and within day’s journey of Merida, we were in bad straights. By great ingenuity, and giving them the shortest possible tie, Albino contrived to swing our hammocks and having no other resource, early in the evening we fell into them. At about ten o’clock we heard the tramp of a horse, and the major domo arrived. Surprised to find such unexpected visitors, but glad to see them, he unlocked the hacienda, and we walking out in our winding sheets, we took possession; our hammocks followed, and we were hung up anew. In the morning he provided us with breakfast, after which, accompanied by him and all the Indians of the hacienda, being only six, we went around the ruins. Plate LII represents a great mound towering in full sight from the door of the hacienda, and called El Palacio, or the Palace. The ascent is on the south side, by an immense staircase, one hundred and thirty seven feet wide, forming an approach of rude grandeur, perhaps equal to any that ever existed in the country. Each step is four feet five inches long, and one foot five inches in height. The platform on the top is two hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and fifty in breath. On the great platform stand thirty-six shafts of columns, in three parallel rows of twelve, about ten feet apart from north to south, and fifteen feet from east to west. They are from fourteen to sixteen feet in height, four feet on each side, and are composed of separate stones, from one to two feet in thickness. But few have fallen, though some have lost their upper layer of stones. There are no remains of any structure or of a roof. If there ever was one, it must have been wood, which would seem most incongruous and inappropriate for such a solid structure of stones. The whole mound was so overgrown that we could not ascertain the juxtaposition of the pillars till the growth was cleared away, when we made our whole, but with little or no enlargement of our knowledge as to its uses and purposes. It was a new and extraordinary feature, entirely different from any we had ever seen, and at the very end of our journey, when we supposed ourselves familiar with the character of American ruins, threw over them a new air of mystery.Plate LII
In the same vicinity are other mounds of colossal dimensions, one of which is also called the Palace, but of different construction and without pillars. On another, at the end of the ruined staircase, is an opening under the top of a doorway, nearly filled up, crawling through which, by means of the crotch of a tree I descended into a dark chamber fifteen feet long and ten wide, of rude construction, and of which some of the stones in the wall measured seven feet in length. This is called Akabna, casa obscura or dark house. Near this is a senote, with the remains of steps leading down to water, which supplied the ancient city. The ruins cover a great extent, but all were overgrown, and in a condition too ruinous to be presented in a dawning. They were ruder and more massive than all the others we had seen, bore the stamp of an older era, and more than any others, in fact, for the first time in the country, suggested the idea of Cyclopean remains; but ever here we have a gleam of historic light, faint, it is true, but, in my mind, sufficient to dispel all unsettled and wavering notions. In the account of the march of Don Francisco Montejo from the coast, presented in the early part of these pages, it is mentioned that the Spanish reached a town called Aké, at which they found themselves confronted by a great multitude of armed Indians. A desperate battle ensued, which lasted two days, and in which the Spanish were victorious, but gained no easy triumph. There is no other mention of Aké, and in this there is no allusion whatever to the buildings, but from its geographical position, and the direction of the line of march of the Spanish army from the coast, I have little doubt that their Aké was the place now known by the same name, and occupied by the ruins last presented. It is, indeed, strange that no mention is made of the buildings, but regard must be had to the circumstances of danger and death which surrounded the Spaniards, and which were doubtless always uppermost in the minds of the soldiers who formed that disastrous expedition. At all events, it is not more strange than want of any description of great buildings of Chichen, and we have the strongest possible proof that no current inference is to be drawn from the silence of the Spaniards, for in the comparatively minute account of the conquest of Mexico, we find that the Spanish army marched under the very shadow of great pyramids of Otumba, and yet not the slightest mention whatever is made of their existence.

Aké was the last ruined Mayan city that John L. Stephens explored and so aptly described on his second and last extensive journey to Central America and Yucatan.
***
These are the ruins of Aké as seen in 2007, 167 years after the visit of John L. Stephens and 467 years after the Spanish fought the two day war at this very spot with the Indigenous Mayan who built these enduring structures.
A restoration crew of 20 diligent workers under the skilled direction of archaeologist Roberto Rosado is reclaiming this Mayan ruin after centuries of degradation at the hands of nature and Spanish intruders who viewed these monumental structures as merely a stone quarry.
Jane, with the long shadows of the early Yucatán morning moist with uncontaminated dew still sparkling on the closely cropped grass, savors the fragrant aromas of fresh wild flower scented air at the ruins of Aké.
The ruins of Aké are a striking anomaly amongst the entire collection of Mayan ruins of Mexico and Central America inconsistent with the scale and proportions found elsewhere. Pictured behind Jane are the colossal steps build for giants. Even if these enormous steps were intended as bleacher seats they would only be suitable for a people of gigantic proportions which cast much inquisitive thought provoking speculation upon this unique archaeological site.
Another interesting feature of the ruins of Aké is the network of straight as die Mayan roads known as “sacbe” or white ways because they were originally paved with white stucco. The sacbe tied the ancient empire or the Mayan civilization together. Though now mostly overgrown by rank jungle vegetation the Mayan sacbe road from Aké to the adjacent ruins of Izamal some twenty-five kilometers is still viably existent and only lacks the clearing to make it usable again. This road originated at Mérida, formerly known as Ti’ho and ran all the way to the Caribbean coast a distance of nearly three hundred kilometers. Over the years Jane and I have encountered numerous sacbe Mayan roads and actually driven on them.
In the above photo you will see our little 20 inch folding bicycles that we arrived on. We bicycled from our home in Mérida to the city center where we boarded a colectivo taxi and rode to the town of Tixkokob, famous for their hammocks, where we disembarked with our marvelous little folding bicycles. We always manage to draw a crowd when we fold or unfold our bicycles because they are so very small when folded and in twelve seconds they are transformed. These are not toys, but very functional go fast machines that effortlessly sizzle down the road at between 20 and 25 kilometers per hour…and we just love them because for one thing they make this type of excursion possible.
This is the henequen mill of Aké in1988 when our Lupita was eleven year old.
This is the same henequen mill of Aké in 2007 little changed and still operating. Owned by the Solis family that has kept upgrades and improvements to a bare-bones minimum. This facility continues to turn out their end product of sisal fiber used primarily for bailing twine and other rope products where biodegradability is a consideration.
Originally this facility was powered by a gigantic ancient diesel engine with two cylinders. The engine blew up and sent an employee through the roof skyrocketing his corpse all the way to the adjacent Mayan pyramid where it came to its earthly landing. A cross was erected at that spot to commemorate his suborbital flight.
Twenty years ago that cross was still standing on the pyramid but the two cylinder diesel engine was reduced to one cylinder and ingeniously still sputtering along at about sixty unsteady revolutions per minute. A leather flat belt of enormous proportions conveyed the power from the engine up to a second story shaft that transmitted via other smaller pulleys to a myriad of flying flailing mechanical contrivances that somehow took the green sharp pointed agaves leaves and converted them to sisal fiber.
The old diesel engine finally sputtered its last sputter and now the antiquated rusty and worn old machinery is powered by electric motors.
One thing that has not changed since the beginning of operations here more than a century ago is this system of tiny railway tracks and horse drawn gondolas that quietly and efficiently transport the materials around the hacienda.
This is the boss of this no frills henequen processing establishment sitting atop a pile of the finished and dried sisal fiber ready to be sent out for processing.
At the entrance to the village of Aké Jane stops to chat with the tricycle taxi driver.
Every day in Mexico is a real adventure and this three wheeled rolling platform that started life as a two wheel motorcycle is an inspiration and tribute to inventiveness where government regulations haven’t stifled creativity.
This lovely day wasn’t over with our tour of Aké and we actually were back at our home in Merida for lunch having bicycled forty beautiful kilometers in some of the most interesting country to be found anywhere on earth and the best part of it all is that it was right in our very own back yard!

Transportation:
Taxi Mérida to Tixkokob, Yucatan
Calle 54a between Calles 65 and 67
Departs every 30 minutes starting at 5:30 am.
Cost: 10 pesos

More photos:
John Grimsrud and INAH archaeologist Roberto Rosado
Jane and John Grimsrud ready to bike back to Tixkokob after a wonderful morning visiting Aké

Valladolid, Uayma and Ek Balam

Jane and I began this three day bicycle excursion from Mérida with a two and a half hour bus ride to Valladolid stowing our bicycles below in the cargo hold while we luxuriated in the cool air conditioned comfort aboard the first class ADO bus, (Autobuses de Oriente).
We are not strangers to this third largest town in Yucatán and have stayed in every hotel around the central park or zócalo at various times over the years.
We began our visits here nearly a quarter of a century ago when we first arrived aboard the narrow gauge railroad train which has been out of service over twenty years now.
Our favorite was the Hotel El Meson del Marques made famous by President Jimmy Carter who was a frequent visitor and we have even stayed in his favorite room.
This year was going to be different because as Jane and I bicycled around Valladolid’s downtown on our orientation and fact finding tour we were shocked to see that in front of the government palace a huge stage with speaker baffles two meters high were just being put in place for the carnival festivities the next two nights.
(We always travel around Yucatán equipped with our 33db German ear plugs but we knew that they would be no match for the ear-splitting noise of Carnival.)
Our first order of business was lunch which we found at a little restaurant adjacent to the municipal market four blocks east of the central plaza. Two salbutes and a glass of horchata each satisfied our hunger. Our next order of business was a quiet hotel.

This old colonial city of Valladolid was founded just 18 months after Mérida by Francisco de Montejo’s nephew in 1543 and was the last eastern outpost of Spanish influence on the Yucatán peninsula.
Here is a brief time-line of Spanish incursion into this part of the world;
In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon, the then governor of Puerto Rico, had a pilot and navigator named Anton de Alaminos who apprenticed under Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1494 and became an experienced pilot for the Caribbean Islands.
Ponce took a seven month long voyage of conquest discovering Florida and was the first Spaniard to lay eyes on the Yucatán.
Alaminos later served as pilot for Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba in 1517 and for Juan de Grijalva in 1518. Later he sails with Hernan Cortes in 1519 in their exploration and conquest of Mexico City and the plunder of the Aztec empire.
Well, as you can see that in a very few short years the Spanish driven by fiendish inquisition religious zeal not only landed in Yucatán but had overpowered and enslaved the remaining indigenous forcing them to pull down their elegant temples and build Catholic churches in their place.
By 1557 the Spanish conquistadors had already destroyed 16 colossal Mayan pyramids and in Yucatán alone and from their ruins constructed that many cathedrals and monasteries.
The destruction of the Mayan was completed with the infectious plague of smallpox brought with the Spanish that annihilated nearly 90% of the native populace.
(This had been the exact same fate of the mighty Norse Vikings in the 1300s with the black plague.)
In the city of Valladolid seven churches with their own monasteries were built using Mayan slaves in different outlying neighborhoods to evangelize the Mayan population who were then not allowed into the main city.
To fast-forward in history three hundred years to 1847; this is when the “Caste Wars” between the long suffering indigenous Mayan and the conquistador Spanish ignited. It all started right here in Valladolid.
The previous uprising had occurred in 1761 at a small town named Cisteil near Chichén Itza and was so brutally put down that the Mayan populace withdrew into protective dense jungle in the adjoining territory of Quintana Roo where no white man’s life was safe.
In 1901, after more than fifty years of protracted war, independent Yucatán was annexed into the Mexican Republic and federal troops were sent in to bring a final solution to the Mayan problem.
The Mayan people had put up an admirable 54 year defense of their country and homelands but were ultimately crushed at their last stand in the remote jungle town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
The Mayan survivors of this Holocaust that could be rounded up were chained and shipped off to Cuba and then sold to plantation owners there as slaves. (Ironically three years earlier the U.S. government had routed the Spanish out of Cuba in order to bring American style liberty, justice and democracy to that island.)

Back to our Valladolid/ Uayma/ Ek Balam bicycle tour depicted with captioned photos;
After lunch at the central market and checking into our quiet hotel, the Don Luis, we were off for the afternoon heading west on the quiet little side road that would take us to a small village made quite famous for its uniquely adorned and recently refurbished colonial church.
The little village of Uayma is quiet to the extreme as Jane and I sit in the placid park across the street from this lovely ornate and slightly gaudy church, a classic jewel of unique adornment, and slack our thirst in the shade of some kind old trees. Our next endeavor is to capture the moment of Uayma in photos.
Recently refurbished in impeccable detail, this distinctively matchless art work in this out of the way little village evokes wondrous thoughts of inspired artisans that picked this very place to make a profound artistic statement to the world.
Built with stones from ancient Mayan temples these colonial churches hold hidden special spiritual power that bridges countless centuries and the ancient gods.

A relic of old colonial times; the above wooden hammock holder still finds use in this day and time as a belaying pin for the bell rope that ironically is made of synthetic materials here in the heartland of henequen and sisal rope.
From within the recently refurbished church with its newly installed vaulted roof, which took three years to restore, many of the original painted frescoes dating back centuries in time still give eye pleasing images.
Above are a few of the original untouched frescoes that have long outlived their creators.

Before we take leave of this placid village that is noticeably clean and conspicuously tranquil with absolutely no motor vehicles, we pause on the curb of Main Street to partake our afternoon iced coffee before biking back to Valladolid with the sun slinking low in the west and on our backs.
On the way out of Uayma we pass this forlorn railway depot with the track still intact that we had ridden so many long years ago on one of our many trips from Mérida to Valladolid and then on to Tizimin at the end of the line. When Jane and I first rode this route it was a narrow gauge train, one of the very last on the planet still in service. This train sadly quit operating more than twenty years ago.
Our quiet hotel, Don Luis chosen because the hotels we formerly used to stay in surrounding the central plaza in Valladolid were about to be blasted with ear shattering loud speakers nearly two meters tall because it was Carnival time in Mexico and especially here in Yucatán where festival is mega-decibel noise and deemed an essential ingredient for “Carnival”.
Day two: Jane and I wanted to share a special moment alone and beat the crowd to this incredible landmark of ancient Mayan heritage. We had an early morning breakfast and then stuck our bicycles in the trunk of a taxi and arrived here at Ek Balam ahead of the competition and captured a priceless and very memorable memory.
Tranquility and beauty go together here as we picked up the special vibes of this monument to the founders and original owners of Yucatán.
Recently reclaimed from the ever encroaching jungle, these monumental achievements of ancient Mayan glory days cry out with a haunting message speaking to us across the millennium of a proud, disciplined and ingenious breed of civilized people.
Beating the crowd pays a big reward that is priceless and unique to the moment.
From the top of the tallest pyramid Jane and I share a silent moment of solitude to reflect upon the history that has unfolded here in this vast remote Yucatán jungle.
This restoration speaks volumes of the ingenious creative minds of these people that pioneered in astronomy, agriculture, mathematics and natural medicine at this very place for several thousand years.
This is tranquility that speaks for itself where even the hounds have inherited the laid-back atmosphere.
This is a glimpse of what Ek Balam looked like before archaeological renovation began and reclaimed the magnificent Mayan buildings that have been the victim of neglect for the past four-hundred and fifty plus years. At least they were not quarried to build cathedrals which was the fate of so many of these temples that are now lost for all time.
In the foreground is a restored structure and off in the distance you will see one of many temples still buried beneath the encroaching jungle.
The grounds of Ek Balam are meticulously kept and restoration is progressing at a measured pace that is not disruptive to the visitors or researchers. We beat the crowd!
Our bicycle ride back to Valladolid takes us down quiet seldom traveled back roads through this poor little village of Santa Rita where we find a park and shade trees to enjoy our morning coffee. Free ranging street dogs and this scavenger hog speak volumes of this rural setting totally away from any city traffic or commotion.
Down the road we arrive in our first real city on our way back to Valladolid.
The rolling hills don’t stop this lady pushing her tricycle and headed to market.
At a very accommodating hardware store where I had purchased a new shift cable that I installed myself, this lovely young lady brings soap and water so I can wash my dirty mechanic hands after the curbside repairs of my bicycle are completed.
In the market Jane and I are treated to a scrumptious and very ample meal prepared by this lady who owns and operates her own home style kitchen for eat in or carry out meals.
These are the things that make cross country bicycling rewarding and memorable.
Pointing the way to Valladolid, we bicycle on eager and ready to find any shade on this sun-blistering afternoon.
In the central park or zócalo of Valladolid we find our shade and enjoy its cool revitalizing rewards.


The above three photos are representative of street venders patiently awaiting customers with their home made and hand stitched dresses, hand woven hammocks and other artfully crafted regional memorabilia.
Valladolid is gearing up for the bicycle tourist with rentals.
The colorful municipal market covers an entire city block and shouldn’t be missed. It is located just four blocks east of the central zócalo plaza.
This is one of seven churches and convents in distinctively different neighborhoods of Valladolid all constructed from stone quarried from ancient Mayan temples.
These colossal churches were Mayan temples before the conquest but are now lost to another era.
The old and the ancient are depicted here with this Mayan palapa home built as they have been for the past several thousand years but now they have electrical service and running water.
This is the view of Main Street from the municipal building looking out at one of the seven churches of Valladolid.
The colonial styled municipal building is resplendent with a collection of inspiring oil painted murals that are worth the trip to Valladolid just to see. The above powerfully depicts a Mayan shaman visionary resolutely facing his impending doom.
Here is the upstairs gallery of murals in the municipal building with its old colonial style roof of wooden vigas and stone bovadillas relics of early colonial times.
These Bavarian cross-country bikers are headed from Tierra del Fuego, in South America on their way to Alaska and were one of several groups we met in Valladolid at Hotel Don Luis.

Street vendors add color and convenience to the city parks with soft drinks and snacks.
The above two photos of early morning at the very clean and well kept municipal market speak volumes of the tranquility and low impact of these entrepreneurial vendors.
Valladolid has quiet and serene streets passing through several distinctive neighborhoods where the tranquility is maintained with virtually no motor traffic.
Half way between Mérida and several points on the Caribbean like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, Valladolid has a unique geographical location which keeps it from becoming an end destination for tourists.
Another factor affecting Valladolid is the fact that this was a battle ground and front line of the “Caste Wars” between the original owners and settlers of Yucatán, the Mayan and the intruding Spanish conquistadors. In 1901 the Mexican federal troops came in with high-powered weaponry and subdued the Indigenous and rounding up all of them that they could and then shipped them off to Cuba as slaves to American occupied hacienda owners.
Bloody skirmishes continued well into the 1930s.
Valladolid has a (blame the victims), “Caste War” museum that casts a disparaging look upon the Mayan Indians and presents a positive prospective on the Holy Christians that annihilated the heathen Indians in the name of their God.
Alas the reader is left to form his own opinions.

Mérida and home are only a short bus ride away so we feel fortunate to have these interesting out-of-town excursions so numerous, easy and fun filled in our very own back yard.
Biking and busing Yucatán rewards us with a diversity of adventure not to be found anywhere…we should know, Jane and I have had forty plus years of cycling all over America and Europe together.
In this photo we are back in Mérida at Caffé Latté enjoying iced coffee and good conversation about biking in Valladolid and Yucatán with Basil Yokarinas and Alixa ,on the left with one of their clients. Basil and Alixa have an ambitious cross-country bicycle tour that visits Yucatán several times a year specializing in quiet back roads and spots that tourists miss most. http://www.bikemexico.com
I am seated on the right.
John M. Grimsrud