post-mexico post (part 2)

our next stop was the charming city of merida where we walked the town square, checked out more churches, and had our first real yucatecan meal. many rounds of palomas helped us cope with its surprisingly bustling traffic and teeny tiny crowded sidewalks.







we left merida in search of gulf-side mexico. our day long drive took us through the tiny fishing towns of progresso, telchac puerto, and others that i can't remember the name of now. we had the high hopes of finding some off-the beaten-path beach town haven, but instead, our highway suddenly turned into a dark, dusty dirt road where we were well aware that rental cars are verboden. instead, we stopped at the next mayan ruin conveniently close on our map and sipped tequila from our very own castillo... or maybe not, but that is what we all dreamed about doing.


xcambo



by surprise, we found our tourist-free haven in izamal - a tiny community of mustard-toned homes and businesses with a beautiful cathedral/convent adjacent to the main town square. we liked it here so much we decided to stay a couple of nights in and use it as our daytripping base.



izamal's most famous tourist was a certain juan pablo (that's pope john paul to you and me) back in 1993.




while in izamal, we wandered around the town cemetery.



dabney and i were snapping away taking pics of the cemetery's many heartfelt memorials and colorful tributes when we turned a corner and stumbled upon this.



completely creeped out, we grabbed hold of each other and briskly returned to our rental car.

our beachside paradise of solitude, the anti-cancun so to speak, awaited us in isla holbox, an island community where souped-up golf carts are the main mode of transportation and nary a souvenir shop could be found. holbox (pronounced ole-bosh) was recently written up in the ny times travel section. however, it must have made it into some reasonably well-read european media outlets long ago because nearly ever hotel/resort was owned by italians.







we learned that a large percentage of the yucatecan population sleeps in hammocks each night. in holbox, we became intimately aware of why. if one sleeps diagonally in hammock, the body lies completely horizontal. this posture is very, very, very comfortable and can be maintained for hours on end. the four of us became experts, believe me.



it was onto the picturesque town of tulum where we made a brief stop, spent the night on the beach in a palapa under mosquito net-covered swinging beds, and went for a long walk under threatening skies. it was a sign to keep going.



after one more night in playa del carmen, we bid adieu to the boys and headed to cozumel where i fully expected to be overrun boatloads of cruise passengers. downtown cozumel didn't disappoint in that regard, but once we got out on the open road in our 50cc scooter and away from the oodles of silver shops and cheap leather stores, it was truly beautiful.



with its jagged dramatic eastern coastline, cozumel's landscapes often reminded me of hawai'i.



the picture above captures how we spent our last 3 days, minus the ubiquitous palomas. dabney's base burn finally turned tan, and i got perpetually browner with each minute of exposure.