It’s hard to believe how many, many sights / sounds / joys / tastes / feelings / and magic there has been for us in the Yucatán in such a short amount of time. But then again, we tend to be cared for by local people and magical coincidences when we are traveling. We tend to strike a nice balance between planning ahead (thanks Sammy!!) and listening to our intuition / going with the flow (that’s more my influence 😆). What’s truly magical is this land and the people here…everywhere we’ve come had been a warm embrace. Part of what makes the Yucatán so special is that it was an autonomous indigenous state until 1904 and has only been part of Mexico the last 114 years (not long at all really). So, their ways and food and language and clothes and customs are still intact and strong.
We’ve just come from eating Huevos Motuleños in a small town called Motúl that our host recommended we go to. AMAZING! It was upstairs at the Mercado Municipal at Doña Evelia. One of the many things we enjoy while traveling is finding the markets where the locals eat — and to have the best food!!! Happy tummies = happy Sofia and Sammy. And we’ve eaten so well throughout our trip!!!
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sterday, before we went spelunking through spectacular cave systems at Grutas del Loltún and learned how caves were a portal to the underworld and sites of protection during the Caste Wars with the Spanish and Mexicans from the capital, we had the BEST panuchos (tortillas filled will beans) con carne asada from a woman’s stand outside her casa. Flavors like you wouldn’t believe.
Our New Years Eve was especially lovely. After a few days of rising early, we chose to sleep in. After a late breakfast at our casa, we went to El Corchito, an ecological reserve about half an hour north of Merida and took a small boat to cenotes surrounded by mangroves. There, I floated for a LONG TIME in a subtly sulfuric natural pool (like a hot spring but cooler), and imagined releasing all of 2017 into the waters (to the Mayans, water transformed energy, and as I’ve mentioned, water was a portal to the underworld. Water is also associated with the moon, the divine feminine, our emotions, and LIFE itself. Think of the water of the womb, the rain, how nothing survives without water!). Anyhoo….I LOVE swimming and floating…and it was the perfect way to say goodbye to 2017.
The reserve closed at 5, so we drove to the beach in Progreso, and watched the last sunset of 2017 on the beach!! I danced and had a little ceremony on the sand to say goodbye, and Sammy swam and had their own sunset water ceremony. It was perfect!
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We had to find a place to eat dinner, but everywhere was booked for private New Years parties! So we pulled out our trusty Fodor’s travel guide (which has been a great companion this whole trip) and I called a couple places and found an Italian restaurant open (hooray)!!! We ended up eating our only non-Mexican meal while here…at a spot called Ristorante Bologna owned by an actual Italian who has lived here for 40 years. We sat under the full moon, and enjoy yummy homemade pasta and vino, and Sammy spoke Italian with the chef and owner (and we got special treatment which was nice).
One of the New Year’s customs I learned about while living in Spain was the ritual of eating 12 grapes at midnight. After we finished dinner, the restaurant offered us uvas / grapes and we said yah why not? So we created our own rituals: we ate each grape, one by one, and created 12 intentions for our year with each one! It was perfect.
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fter that we went home, swam in the pool at our guesthouse Tu Casa B&B for a minute and rang in the new year at midnight from our bed right before falling asleep. Then of course, we woke up the next day to enjoy the first day of the 2018 at ancient temples on the Ruta Puuc and walking through the forest!
