Oxkutzcab, Yucatán - Changing Times

Jane and I originally visited Oxkutzcab nearly thirty years ago when we ventured south out of Mérida on the narrow gauge railway train, one of the last operating in the world. That train has been out of service for more than twenty years now and few people even remember it.  Read about that trip and many other railroad trips on our web site under the heading; Yucatán Roadways.
In those days Oxkutzcab was a frontier town with a vast jungle extending south across the Puuc Hills and off into Central America.
One thing that has hardly changed in all those years is that it is still a frontier. We were pleasantly surprised on this return trip. Even though the area has suffered somewhat from a lack of income due to many of its citizens being expelled from the US where they had worked as undocumented workers, the city seemed to have gained a new invigorating attitude.
The returning workers brought with them money, new found skills and a desire to make Oxkutzcab into their improved home. In what seemed to be a reversal of luck these returning workers have made a positive, miraculous and uplifting change for the better.  First we look at the recently restored church.

Oxkutzcab is still the market town for area produce. The market here bustles from predawn until late night every day of the week.
So, come along with us and visit the new Oxkutzcab through captioned photos.
After our bike trip through Chumayel, Teabo, Tipikal and Mani, we spent the next two nights and days in Oxkutzcab indulging ourselves in a fun filled fact finding tour, and  rediscovering a town we thought we knew well.

The restoration of San Francisco of Oxkutzcab church was carried out in exquisite attention to detail.

This photo is from our collection and was taken several years ago before restoration. Here you have the inner court yard, unpainted, open to the sky and crumbling. The next photos are of the same yard later.

The miraculous transformation is evident and Oxkutzcab now has a real gem to be proud of. They even screened in the court yard making the birds now nest elsewhere.

Posed for post-wedding photos this young couple lavished a small fortune on flowers that filled the altar.

Mexico is on the cutting edge of new technology. According to the above sign using your cellular-phone you can dial up a number and receive a lecture in English or Spanish about the restored church, its history and significance. We tried it and it worked!

Colorful characters help make the Oxkutzcab market interesting and amusing. In the above photo Omar Antonio Barcalar, blue shirt and bushy black hair, who we met several years earlier when Jane and I took a once a day bus trip far up into the Puuc Hills and the end of the road to the little town of Yaxhachen.  Omar, of Cuban origin, has amassed a considerable amount of notoriety from publicity he received since newspaper articles were written about his extensive natural Mayan medicinal cures.
Read that story;     http://www.bicycleyucatan.com/kiuic2006.html

Jane and I have discovered that downtown Oxkutzcab has become like a huge food court from early morning till late night. Some of the most interesting things of all are the continuously changing options and diversity of culinary options that await you.
Oxkutzcab’s  market still features the local Mayan specialty foods but the newly arrived workers  returning from years of expertly gained knowledge in the US make your eating experience more international.

Miguel Pacheco spent more than twenty years of his life as a chef in the US and has brought back to Oxkutzcab the best of the best. His Italian style culinary delights have world class quality but Mexican prices. We fell in love with the place and the owner and dream of a return visit. Jane, pictured with the owner, operator and chef Miguel is in heaven savoring elegant meals especially if someone else   has scrupulously prepared them. As she sincerely said; “I will be back”.

The breakfast burrito creation that combined the best of two worlds was not only savory in the extreme but nutritious and sustaining.

Miguel made me happy. You can’t beat a creative chief who loves to satisfy, gratify and please his clients.
Café la Cocina is located on the north side of the main market on Calle 49 and the tables situated at curb side for pleasant people watching. To top it all off, the place is also bicycle friendly.
Morning, noon and night purveyors of Mayan specialty foods that change with the seasonal commodities arrive at the Oxkutzcab market and quickly sell out their inventory. Some of Yucatán’s finest delights are only available as such places. Until you have partaken of these local favorites you haven’t sampled the real Yucatán.

Tamales are a staple food  throughout Mexico and are prepared in numerous different styles. This one is called torteado (tortilla style and steam cooked within a banana leaf which it is served in). The tamales are then served and topped with as much salsa as you like. Positively delicious!

This tamale is referred to as colado. It has a lighter, fluffier and thicker covering of masa or corn meal.
At the Oxkutzcab market most tamales are filled with chicken meat. Tamales horneado, are baked and can contain either pork or chicken. For whatever it is worth Mexico claims to have more than a thousand different variations of the tamale.

Tamales served with a smile. You can have as much salsa as you like. Habanero hot sauce is optional and you apply as much as you dare.

In Oxkutzcab like all cities of Yucatán tricycle or triciclos de carga are used for transporting anything that will fit in. This sign designates exclusive parking for these people powered freight haulers, here used as taxis.

 Just one block removed from the main market this typical narrow colonial style street is a good example of the centuries old buildings that still give Yucatán its old world charm.

Street vendors sell the seasonal fresh fruits abundant in this area.

Oxkutzcab is proud of itself and this colorful display that adorns the central park plaza depicts an ancient cart. This type was used for transport over the centuries across Yucatán and is still being used in outlying districts. Heaped atop the cart are a representative of locally produced fruits and vegetables. The large red fluted clay vases are the exact same type used to transport water in years gone by.
When Jane and I first visited in out-back rural communities of Yucatán before the arrival of piped to the home water this style vase was manually lugged to and from the village well for every drop of water.
So, there you have a brief glimpse of some of Yucatán that tourists miss most.
If you are interested in an adventure that takes you out of the main-stream and want to explore some of this peaceful, quiet and fascinating world, we invite you to try taking any one of the bicycle tours we have published on our web and blog pages…enjoy!

©2011 John M. Grimsrud

Related links:
Chumayel, Teabo, Tipikal and Mani
Mani field trip starting in Oxkutzcab
To Oxkutzcab via Dzan and Mani
More
Our website: www.bicycleyucatan.com

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

Yaxcabá, Libre Unión and Tabi, Yucatán

We packed a week’s worth of activities into just one day.
A twenty minute, seven kilometer bike ride from our home to the Noreste bus terminal in downtown Mérida is a joy with no traffic and a 21ºC salubrious temperature.
At five AM the city streets were nearly deserted and quiet. Under a crystal clear high-pressure sky filled with stars we ventured out onto the famous Paseo de Montejo. As we headed south in the pre-dawn, cacophonous birds were chirping to a crescendo from their rookery trees that lined the median…a perfect start to a tropical January morning.
We were able to sizzle along with no stops and did not see traffic until we passed the main market that was already bustling with busy early morning business.
Our little 20 inch, seven speed Dahon folding bicycles make this type of trip possible and a real pleasure because the bikes roll fast and fold for stowage in just twelve seconds. They will then load into a bus, taxi or airplane.
Our second class bus took us on a very sinuous scenic small village route, off the main road.
At eight-thirty we were off-loading at Libre Unión which is little more than a wide place in the road some ninety kilometers east of Mérida.
Several taxi drivers were there competing for our business. Jane and I had already planned to use whatever type of transport we could to make the next leg of our trip.
This was going to be a long action packed day even with the boost of a taxi ride to Yaxcabá.
We were lucky and got a flamboyant taxi driver who was bubbling over with local knowledge information and tourist guide details.

We were on the quiet colonial streets of Yaxcabá before nine AM. As you can see we travel light. Having our ground transportation with us in these interesting out or the way places opens up exploration possibilities you would never get if you travel by automobile or are on foot.

Jane and I not only received a convenient ride from Libre Unión to Yaxcabá but were informed and entertained all the way by our driver, Mario Briceño Dzul. The straight as a die highway we traveled was built by the Maya thousands of years before and known as a sacbe road. Cerros or over grown mounds lined our way and were unexplored Mayan temples. One of the reasons that this area was so popular with the ancient Maya was that it was a zone of cenotes or sink holes where water was available year-round.
To top off his entertaining and amusing ride, Mario treated us to a lovely ballad as he strummed his guitar with fervent and sentimental passion. Click here to open the film clip of Mario or see blog below..

We had our packed along energy breakfast and ate it in the park while quietly watching the city doings.

This campesino or country man lugs in a load of leña [firewood] to cook his day’s meals. The high price of cooking gas has forced many here in Yucatán to go to the woods for cooking fuel. The result has been an aggressive amount of deforestation.

Quiet streets lined with picturesque colonial buildings and a lack of traffic make this out-of–the tourist loop city well worth a visit for bicyclers.

Yaxcabá is a municipal governmental center and thus a crossroads. Because this area has been settled for countless centuries first by the Maya who built a tremendous infrastructure of straight roads between their temple towns, it was only natural that when the Spanish arrived they continued the use of these road right-of ways.

Stacked stone construction abounds here. Recycling of the Mayan temples materials made for a convenient source of building materials.

I will not attempt to explain all of the interesting area history or describe the countless splendors of the church you see here because it is done so well in the book, Mayan Missions by Richard and Rosalind Perry. This book is an absolute must for anybody who wants to explore any part of the Yucatán Peninsula and get to know this magical place better. Link: http://www.colonial-mexico.com/Yucatan/yaxcaba.html

 

Inside the recently restored church, its splendor speaks out to you from over the centuries.

Nothing was spared in the restoration of this 1750’s original retablo that now glistens with glittering gold leaf and meticulously painted figures.

This close-up of the intricate detail that was so meticulously and painstakingly restored, perhaps to better than original condition makes this treasure an artistic gem worth the trip just to admire.

There are six of these exquisitely restored original side retablos in the church and you will definitely want to take the time to witness these historical works of art that have survived trial and tribulation plus a protracted war that Yaxcabá was the center of.
Note the original wall frescos to the right of the retablo that have survived nearly three centuries.

On the church grounds the vestiges of days gone by are contrasted with some of the unrestored structures visibly and outwardly displaying the cut stone of the Mayan temples that their materials were salvaged from.

Part of the church complex restoration project is this patio which tells much of the story of centuries old splendor. The mamposteria construction with wooden roof beams, the wooden hammock hangers embedded in the cement wall just as they were originally placed, the flat floor stones formerly were facings of a Mayan temple and the Moorish arches copied from the Spanish colonial period are all in a perfect state of restoration.

Yaxcabá in January is a clean, neat and magnificently maintained town out of the tourist loop.

Our next leg of the bicycle trip took us on this quiet rural road through milpa [cornfields] country. This is a bird watchers paradise and bikers dream come true.

Little Tabi is quiet and quaint in the extreme. Our map did not ever show a paved road though now it is. Tabi is half way between Yaxcabá and Sotuta, both seldom visited places with no hotel accommodations and scarcely any eating establishments.

Tabi has two cenotes and behind this weathered little stone chapel in the city center is one of those cenotes. This cenote has a fanciful legend surrounding it. In the early 1600’s supposedly a statue of the Virgin rose up from it and the rest of that incredible story can be found in the book Mayan Missions.

Our Mérida neighbors have family connections here in Tabi. In this photo is our neighbor’s mother, Doña Chula, with her grand children and their friends. These are friendly, trusting good natured people who do not lock their homes and trust their children to roam the streets unescorted…something not done in the big city.

While we rested in the shade of the church and re-hydrated we were entertained by the local children who inquisitively had to know all about our little bicycles and how we happened to come to Tabi. Shortly this group swelled to many curious kids. Click here to see more photos of the Tabi Kids.

From Tabi we biked on this very peaceful country road with gentle rolling hills and a significant lack of traffic. Behind Jane is one of the many little Mayan chapels of three crosses from one of the religious cults that formed during the protracted Caste War as a rebellion against the Spanish conquistadors and the Catholic Church.

On the back streets as we entered Sotuta this little chapel, a relic of the past, caught our eye. This part of the country abounds in such strange unnamed and forlornly neglected curiosities that make for photo-ops.

Nachi Cocom and Sotuta are synonymous. The Cocom family of Sotuta was one part of the warring Mayan faction that fought against the Xiu family of nearby Mani for centuries after the collapse of their northern empire following a two hundred fifty year draught.
The Spanish conquistadors after being totally driven out of the Yucatán peninsula in 1535 returned around 1540 with a new game plan and that was to exploit the deep division between the two warring Mayan tribes. This was enough of a tactic to allow the Spanish to get a foot-hold and by 1542 they put down roots in T’ho now known as Mérida. For the rest of that fascinating story read the book Mayan Missions.

In the center of Sotuta this fortress looking building is known as; “The Palace of Nachi Cocom”. In actuality this building built upon a Mayan temple dates from the 18th century and was a military barracks.
As you can see this is a quiet place.
Visit our website and blog for more Sotuta stories.Click here.

At the only eating establishment in Sotuta Jane and I are lovingly greeted by this old Mayan woman who craves companionship.
Across from the municipal building is located Los Arcos where we have had lunch each time we revisit the area while waiting for the return bus to Mérida and visit with the owner Doña Margarita.
We returned to Mérida just as the sun slipped beneath the western horizon on this lovely action packed day.

Mario Briceño Dzul Dzib in Yaxcabá, Yucatán