We leave our luxurious holiday home today, but not after a final dive in the pool, finishing the water melon, and packing our bags. We take it easy, and leave at 10, after short calls with Oma Tiny & Opa Jan and Opa Hans.
We take the toll road to save 40 minutes for 237 pesos (10 euro). The road is quiet and parallel to the Train Maya that was building last year. It has stops next to the major Maya sites, but we have not seen a train passing by.
When we leave the toll road for the final kilometers to Izamal, we pass by many tiny concrete, square houses with 3 square holes: one for the door and two for the windows. But there is no door nor windows. Inside, a hammock is hanging. It’s very basic but this is how the people live.
Izamal is build upon an old Maya town, we see the ruins rising in between the yellow houses. Izamal is also called the yellow city, as all houses are painted yellow, and the city of hills, because of the temple pyramide remains. Moreover, it is a place of pilgrimage as several saints statues are said to perform miracles.
We start with visiting the church and museum. Pope John Paul II visited the church too, according to many of his pictures and even two statues.
We’re just two days late for the major catholic festival, but we still see the colorful flags in the streets. They are plastic and the wind blows them off their line, poluting the whole city. It’s again a windy and a very hot day of 38 degrees. Therefore, Cleo, Zeno and Olga start a hunt for ice cream, while Tim climbs the Kinich Kak Moo, a temple pyramid of the Maya sun god.
It’s a steep climb, and there are no clear steps, the final meters, Tim has to go on hands and feet. The view is not really worth it as it lies on the edge of the old Town and it is so huge that once in the top everything is far away. Tim is overheated and sweaty when he rejoins Olga and the kids.
We leave yellow Izamal behind to visit the Maya ruins of Aké. On the way, we see a lot of smoke. We even wonder if it’s safe to continue driving when we see the flamed on the left side of the street. Tim even feels the heat of the fire. The other drivers on the way do not seem to bother. They just continue their travels, and so do we.
Aké is a small town in the middle of nowhere , based around a deserted Hacienda and a still working sisal factory. The children think sisal is made of their hair, as the resemblanse is obvious. The archeological area contains three pyramids, one with a lot of pillars on top of it, called the palace. The other is small and the remaining one is quite steep. It’s so hot, that the air burns if you inhale through your nose, so Olga and the kids play underneath a huge tree as Tim climbs to the top.
The coming three nights, we are staying in Merida, the big capital city of Yucatan. It has sprawling suburbs and the first tall buildings we’ve seen in Mexico. We do our grocery shopping in a big supermarket. We try to fit the groceries in our small car, and it seems to work, only the go pro somehow lands in between the car door and we notice it too late. The screen is broken. Our intention not to do more damage these days is broken too.
We go to our new apartment. It’s even better than the previous one with a large kitchen, dining area, huge TV’s and most importantly a private pool.
The first thing we do is jump into the pool, cool down and play. Then it’s dinner time (noodles) and time to get ready for bed, another busy day awaits tomorrow.