tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62007753547371617932026-01-08T21:07:32.988-08:00Food and Travel . . .Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger235125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200775354737161793.post-39328572999458416452019-04-01T13:46:00.000-07:002019-04-04T05:30:18.815-07:00

The Great Plaza of Edzná A great place for us to go while we were staying in Campeche was the Maya ruins of Edzná. It's a small but spectacular and uncrowded archaeological site. It was only about a half an hour from the Hacienda. It's not as well known as Chichén Itzá or Uxmal but is a very interesting ancient Maya city to see. First Glimpse of Edzná The interesting

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Hospital Building  The Hacienda Uayamon is a fantastic hotel to stay near Campeche City. Hacienda Uayamon is an old Henequen-Sisal plantation and it's really out in the middle of nowhere down many little rural Mexican roads.It's a beautiful luxurious old place that can be busy with weddings and special events. Luckily there was no big events happening while we were there. It was very

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Bonampak Ruins Lacandon Guides After the fantastic boat trip to Yaxchilán, we headed into the hills to the Lacandon Maya jungle and the fabulous Bonampak Murals. The Lacandon are one of the most isolated and culturally conservative of Mexico's native peoples. Almost extinct in 1943, today there are roughly 650 speakers of the Lancandon language.   Lancandon customs

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Structure 33 at Yaxchilán Got up early (5:00am) at Quinta Chanabnal in Palenque for our driver Jaime and guide Edgar to pick us up for the 21/2 hour drive to Frontera Corozal. That's where we'd take our boat to the Yaxchilán archaeological site.  Until recently, Yaxchilán had been very difficult to get to. A very Long boat ride was the only way in the old days, no roads existed within a

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Gulf Coast Plain from the Temple of the Cross Ancient Palenque stands at the precise point where the first hills rise out of the gulf coast plain. The dense jungle covering these hills form an evocative backdrop to Palenque's exquisite Maya architecture. It was an important ancient Maya city in architectural magnificence, cultural and historical importance. Palace

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Maya Presidential Suite Private Stone Pool It was a long drive from Campeche to Palenque in the Chiapas Jungle. It took 5 hours but finally arriving at Quinta Chanabnal made it all worthwhile. The iPhone GPS took us right to the somewhat hidden turn-off for the hotel in the jungle. Driving into the property you realize that it's a world apart and only 3 km from the Palenque ruins. King

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Hacienda Puerta Campeche and Calle 59 Puerta de la Tierra When we got to Hacienda Puerta Campeche we were right downtown on the main street, Calle 59, at the old wall and the Puerta de la Tierra. Perfect location to explore the city of Campeche. The Hacienda Puerta Campeche is located within the cities's walled historic district which makes it walking distance to everything. The

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Entrance to Las Grutas de Loltún The Grutas de Loltun is a truly amazing place. They are ancient Maya ritual caves beneath the limestone shelf of the Yucatán Peninsula. It takes about an hour to walk the 1,000 meters through the true cave system that was dark enough in a few places that my iPhone flashlight really helped. Most of the system has colored lights though.There are some slippery

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Ruinas Uxmal Visited Uxmal from our hotel Hacienda Temozón which took about half an hour in the rental car. The ancient city is a huge site with ruins scattered throughout the grounds surrounded by lush green and dense jungle. The ruins are beautifully preserved and restored. Even though its not that far from Mérida, there were really no crowds and in general hardly any other

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Casa Principal and Hospital to the Right  Hacienda Temozón is 350 years old and is a fantastic, historic hotel to stay at in the State of Yucatán Mexico. It's located in the heart of Maya country and is an authentic 19th -century hacienda, once a family owned farming operation that has since been converted into a small luxury hotel. It only has 28 rooms but the rooms themselves are

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Palacio Cantón The Palacio Cantón was built between 1904 and 1911. Its owner and builder, General Francisco Cantón Rosado (1833-1917) only lived here for six years until his death. His family continued living here as a family residence. The family lived here for several decades and the donated the building to the government of Yucatan in 1932. Artist View of Ancient Tikal

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Hotel Rosas & Xocolate Had a great time staying at the famed Hotel Rosas & Xocolate in Mérida Mexico. The hotel is located on the most important and beautiful avenue of Mérida, Paseo de Montejo which has a historic past that makes it important historically to the Yucatan Peninsula.  Brunch at Rosas & Xocolate It is very close to the historical center of

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Tulum and the Caribbean  On the last day we went to the State of Quintana Roo and visited the Maya ruins of Tulum and Coba. It is an extra popular ruin to see because its very beautiful. It's on the Maya Rivera and easy to get to from Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Pueblo Tulum itself. Even with the crowds its fun to see. El Castillo Historically, Tulum was an important

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                                La Iglesia On our journey back to Hacienda Chichen we took a route that brought us to the Maya Ruins of Coba. As far as excavations go its the opposite of Ek' Balam. Coba is a gigantic site that's so big you either have to rent a bike or hire one of the guys that

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Ek' Balam Acropolis One great thing about staying at Hacienda Chichen is that it is located in the middle of the Yucatan Peninsula which makes it a good base for exploring the maya ruins. We left the Hacienda and got to Ek' Balam early and there weren't too many people there yet. It was like we were discovering the ruins.  Four way Entrance to Ruins Ek Balam is a Maya

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El Castillo — Temple of Kukulcan Met Jaime at 8:00 at the Hacienda so we could see the ruins of Chichen Itza early, while it was fairly quiet. We walked the short private trail and soon we were in the ruins. Private path to Chichén Itzá Ruins Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city started by the Maya people in the Classic period. It is located at the northern end of the Yucatan

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 16th Century Casa Principal  Arrived at Hacienda Chichen and happily checked in to our cottage suite. The location was fantastic, just 10 minutes to the ruins of Chichen Itza while surrounded by a beautiful jungle. The Hacienda has a very interesting history and has been used by many major archaeologists in studying the ruins of Chichen Itza. John Lloyd Stephens and artist Fredric

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Kinich – El Sabor de Izamal The horse drawn carriage dropped us off at the wonderful Kinich Restaurant to have a true Yucatec Maya lunch. Luckily we were early so we beat the crowds that arrive little later. Entrance to Kinich The Kinich restaurant serves wonderful Yucatecan food. We were seated quickly in the beautifully open restaurant. It's definitely a tourist spot,

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San Antonio de Padua Monastery On the way to Chichen Itza, we stopped in Izamal to see the city and have lunch at Kinich, the most famous Maya Restaurant in the area. Izamal is a Mexican Magical City. Monastery with Horse Drawn Carriages Below  Izamal was an important ancient Maya City. The Dimension of its buildings and network of roads (Sacbeob) constructed between 600 and

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Old Chapel and Casa del Patron Entrance Got the rental car a block from the Mansion Merida and left for the one hour drive to the Hacienda San Jose near the Maya town of Tixkokob. Didn't take the toll road but the road between Merida and Tixkokob is Libre and high quality with minimal traffic.  Old Entrance to  the Hacienda The beautifully restored Hacienda is filled with

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Mansion Merida After all  fun and excitement in Mexico City we took a plane to Merida to start the exploration of Yucatan and Quintana Roo in Mayaland. After seeing the options in Merida for our stay we chose Mansion Merida on the Park in the Historico Centro. It was a perfect choice and perfect location. Charming Room Overlooking the Park Dating back to 1644, Mansion Merida was

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Tenochtitlan in 1519 Tenochtitlan was the Capital City of the Aztec-Mexica culture from 1325 to 1521 CE. The main temple of the Mexica was called Hueyi Teocalli in the Nahuatl language. It was dedicated to two gods, Huizilopochtli, the god of war and Tlaloc, the god of rain. Each god had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases. Construction of the first

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Pujol Bar Area The whole experience was fantastic at Pujol after a long day of exploring Teotihuacan. It was pretty exciting to be going to one of the best restaurants in the world after seeing an ancient city. Street Snacks Octopus with Habanero Ink, Ayocote In fact, Pujol was named as the best restaurant in Mexico by the Wall Street Journal and ranked 4th in the world by

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Temple of the Moon Got up early at the St Regis for our trip to Teotihuacan. Our driver/guide Carlos was down at the front door and ready to head to the ruins. Off we went…  Pre-excavated Mound The City of Teotihuacan (the place where the gods were born) is situated around 50 km north-east of Mexico City. Built between 100 — 650 CE, it is well known for the huge size

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Entrance Courtyard to National Museum of Anthropology The great thing about the St Regis is its location near Chapultepec Park and walking distance to the National Museum of Anthropology. It took us about a half an hour but we got to the Museum before the crowds. Coatlicue The Museum of Anthropology is the main museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. It

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