Iglesia de San Servacio in Valladolid was built in 1545 In most of these outlying towns it requires about $40 per week in income to meet living expenses, whereas workers in Cancún can earn nearly twice that amount. When they return home to the villages, they bring all of their earnings with them to their families. The workers, Raúl said, are “smart” because when they are working, they live at the hotels where they eat, shower, and live rent-free. Raúl said the men worked in Cancún during the week for about eight dollars a day, This wage was significantly higher than the $5 a day usually earned on the peninsula. They outnumbered men on the street who were mostly absent on this sunny and hot May morning in the middle of the week. From the bus windows, we saw local women in the huipil, the traditional garment worn by indigenous women from central Mexico to Central America, doing their errands. In Valladolid, a Spanish colonial town founded in 1543, there were larger stores. Inside there is a main room usually with a dirt floor. Palm fronds are laid upon the wood frame for a peaked roof. Traditional Mayan homes are oval-shaped huts made of sticks bound together to form walls. With exceptions, the lifestyle of modern Mayans has not strayed from their ancestors’ of the last millennia. Thatched hut dwellings were the predominant local housing we saw from highway 180. Starting in April, humidity levels rose and the temperature hovered over 100 degrees. Raúl said that the average year-round temperature on the peninsula was 93 degrees Fahrenheit. The huts were made of sticks which we were told kept dwellers cool and comfortable year-round. One such dwelling could last almost 20 years. The entire Yucatán peninsula is sparsley populated with only a fraction (about 4%) of Mexico’s total population.įrancisco told us that the thatched-roof dwellings were durable. Outside, dogs slinked around and small farm animals sometimes shared the road. Along the route there were thatched-roof dwellings which held patterned hammocks inside. The bus climbed onto south highway 180 and followed it through villages such as Cocoyol, Catzin, Chemax, Xalaú, and others. Highway 180: Route From Cancún to Valladolid Yucatán’s South 180. Guided tours are recommended for an extensive and remarkably safe visit into these interesting backwater places. Important archeological sites in the Yucatán still await reclamation from the jungle today –such as smaller Cobá in Quintana Roo. We would reach Chichén-Itzá out of Valladolid, the Mayan/Spanish colonial city which is sometimes called the most colorful town in Mexico.Ĭhichén-Itzá’s famous complex of Mayan ruins dates from the Classic period of 600 CE to 1200 CE. On arrow-straight highway 180 we drove into small local communities along the two-lane road. They took us out of Quintana Roo’s Cancún to Yucatán’s Chichén-Itzá about 125 miles away. Francisco drove the air-conditioned 40-seater as Raúl toted a microphone and told the group about some of the things we were seeing along the way. I left the hotel and met the bus in Cancún town at 8:00 a.m. We frequently saw black-headed, blue-bodied birds called Yucatán jays. The ancient Mayan cities and later Spanish colonial ones that sit on top of them are a stark contrast to the touristy jet-set beaches of Cancún.Īn extensive jungle stretches across the Yucatán’s three states of Quintana Roo, Campeche, and Yucatán that are inhabited by human communities as well as wild animals such as jaguars. Setting out from Cancún into the Yucatán jungle Iguana With its mysterious, virtually-intact looming pyramids and temples as well as startling tales of human sacrifice and one of the world’s most accurate cosmic calendar systems-all over 1,000 years old-I was excited to adventure out of the comfort of Cancún’s “Zona Hotelera” into the Yucatán jungle interior. The destination was to one of the most famous sites on the Yucatán peninsula and the world: the ancient Mayan archeological site of Chichén-Itzá. Though the tourist board in Cancún was telling of more resort development by the mid-1990s, it already boasted of 85 hotels and about 9,000 guest rooms during my trip.Īfter two days acclimating myself nicely to the Caribbean climate and working my way un poco with the Spanish language, I signed up with a local tour operator for a 12-hour bus tour. I visited the Yucatán from Chicago for a few days in May 1988. Today, oozing like wet plaster into the Caribbean sea, the beaches are a new jet-age resort. It was trodden by the conquistadores and used by pirates as a hide-out. Author’s photograph.Ĭancún’s sandy spit of land at the northern tip of the Yucatán peninsula was uninhabited by the ancient Mayans. Walsh Serpent head at the base of El Castillo. FEATURE image: Chichén-Itzá serpent head sculptures guard a staircase.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |