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1 <!doctype html> 2 <html lang="en"> 3 <head> 4 <meta charset="utf-8"> 5 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> 6 <title>Izamal, Yucatán, México - Chris Bracken</title> 7 <link href="/css/site.css" rel="stylesheet"> 8 <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/favicon/apple-touch-icon.png"> 9 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon/favicon-32x32.png"> 10 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/favicon/favicon-16x16.png"> 11 <link rel="manifest" href="/favicon/site.webmanifest"> 12 <link rel="mask-icon" href="/favicon/safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#140f42"> 13 <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon/favicon.ico"> 14 <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#603cba"> 15 <meta name="msapplication-config" content="/favicon/browserconfig.xml"> 16 <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> 17 </head> 18 <body> 19 <header id="header"> 20 <div class="site-title"> 21 <h1><a href="/">Chris Bracken</a></h1> 22 </div> 23 24 <nav class="site-navbar"> 25 <ul id="menu" class="menu"> 26 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/">Home</a></li> 27 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/about/">About</a></li> 28 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/code/">Code</a></li> 29 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" rel="me"href="https://bsd.network/@cbracken">Fediverse</a></li> 30 </ul> 31 </nav> 32 </header> 33 <main id="main"> 34 <article> 35 <h2 class="post-title"><a href="https://chris.bracken.jp/2001/08/izamal-yucatan-mexico/">Izamal, Yucatán, México</a></h2> 36 30 August 2001 37 <p>Took a trip a few towns to the east this morning, to Izamal. While Mérida is 38 known throughout México as the White City, Izamal is referred to as the Yellow 39 City due to the preponderance of yellow buildings. With a population of 15,000 40 or so, it’s much quieter than Mérida, and horse-drawn carriages are still used 41 as transportation by some of its residents. The two big tourist attractions 42 here are the ruins of Kinich-Kakmó, one of 12 Mayan temples that originally 43 stood at the site of this town, and the Franciscan Monastery, one of the first 44 in the New World, built from the stones of the largest Mayan temple in Izamal 45 after it was torn down by the Conquistadors.</p> 46 <p>The Convento de San Antonio de Padua sits on one side of the Plaza Principal, a 47 block from the city’s bus station. Climbing up the ramp in front brings you to 48 a large flat terrace and the entrance to the buildings themselves. From there, 49 you can enter the chapel, visit the arboreum or climb up to the top levels of 50 the monastery. If you look carefully, some of the stones in the walls and 51 arches have Mayan designs on them—these were part of the temple that originally 52 stood at this location. Facing away from the monastery, you can see 53 Kinich-Kakmó towering over the jungle six or seven blocks away.</p> 54 <p>Kinich-Kakmó, which is about 200 m x 180 m, was built between 300 and 600 A.D. 55 and was recently restored. From the top levels, the temple provides a great 56 view of the city. Following a narrow dirt path around the back affords a 57 spectacular view of the surrounding jungle and the vast, Saskatchewan-like 58 flatness of the Yucatán peninsula. All over the place, big, lazy iguanas 59 sunbathe on the rock walls of the temple. Just beside the entrance, at the base 60 of the front side of the pyramid, is a great-smelling tortillería.</p> 61 <p>We ate at the Kinich-Kakmó Restaurant, and it was delicious though a little 62 pricey. We each had a Montejo beer and lime soup, followed by Poc-Chuc¹ and 63 Rellenos Negros², along with some fresh handmade tortillas. As with many 64 restaurants, homemade tortilla chips and salsas are served with the meal. The 65 total came to about 160 pesos, which is enough to buy you several days worth of 66 groceries at Wal-Mart or San Francisco in Mérida. The main dining area is 67 outdoors under a thatched Mayan style roof (and yes, lots of people still live 68 in traditional Mayan huts—some have corrugated metal roofs these days, but just 69 as many use the traditional palm fronds). The waiters even offer bug-spray if 70 you need it. Fortunately, due to some creative engineering by the staff, you 71 don’t need it. Clear plastic bags of water dangle by threads from the roof and, 72 in the words of the waiter, ‘when the bug sees his reflection as he gets 73 closer, he sees himself reflected so big and ugly that it scares him away.’ It 74 seems to work—we didn’t see a single fly or mosquito during lunch, and there 75 were tons outside. Royal Thai in San Rafael, California does the same thing, so 76 there’s got to be something to it.</p> 77 <p>Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the memory card for the camera, so no 78 pictures, but it was well worth the trip.</p> 79 <h3 id="glossary">Glossary</h3> 80 <ol> 81 <li><em>Poc-Chuc:</em> A Yucatecan dish made with pork marinaded in orange juice.</li> 82 <li><em>Rellenos Negros:</em> A spicy, black Yucatecan soup made from beans, with 83 pieces of chicken and a hard boiled egg bathing in it.</li> 84 </ol> 85 </article> 86 </main> 87 88 <footer id="footer"> 89 <div class="copyright"> 90 <span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"> 91 The content of this site by 92 <a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://chris.bracken.jp/about"><span rel="cc:attributionName">Chris Bracken</span></a> 93 is 94 <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0">CC BY 4.0</a>. 95 </span> 96 </div> 97 </footer> 98 </body> 99 </html>