Much of the memorable events of travel are found in good food. On our fact finding journeys we prize above almost everything else splendid local foods. Here in Valladolid nearly everything edible is worth the trip. This lovely and scrumptious chicken dinner in savory sauce garnished with beans, chilies, olives and sautéed onion is served with yellow rice and fresh corn tortillas.
Would you believe finding this in a cocina económica?
Huevos a la Mexicana or Mexican style eggs when done right make for a sustaining breakfast that will keep your bicycle in motion until noon. Fried eggs over toasted tortillas and smothered in a savory sauce laced with garden fresh green peas sliced avocado, thick bean soup, and a stack of hot tortillas made from real corn not maseca. (We maintain that the maseca tortillas are de cartón or cardboard tortillas.)
This lovely traditional breakfast comes with several types of chili sauces and ripened bananas.
Would you believe that this and several other local specialties can be had at the municipal food court across from the main plaza where lunch and dinners are available all day at very affordable prices?
Also from the municipal food court you might want to try Motuleños, fried Motul style eggs made famous by Siqueff Restaurant that now has a Mérida location on calle 60.  They are bicycle friendly. This is an ample meal smothered in ham and cheese or the huevos a la Mexican, scrambled eggs mixed with a variety of diced chilies and whatever the cook has on hand.
At night on the streets of Yucatán you are sure to catch the aroma wafting up from street carts where a scorching grill sizzles with hot dogs, sautéed onions and toasted buns that are than covered with as much jalapeños chili peppers as you can tolerate. Hot dog in Spanish is known as perro caliente, and in the Mayan language; Choco pec.

For a traditional taste of Yucatecan food prepared in the authentic Mayan style head to the open air municipal market three blocks east of the municipal plaza or zocolo.
These young fellows are enjoying tamales baked in a banana leaf and filled with corn masa and chicken. The large bucket on the table contains the spiced tomato sauce that is the preferred topping. The small tamales are known as vaporcitos and it is customary to order several at a time. These tasty treats are steam cooked at home and then brought to the market in the large aluminum kettles you see in the background.

This is a typical array of home made items sold on the street by independent Mayan women who daily set up these provisional shops on fruit boxes. From their home gardens fruits and vegetables of the season, ground chili pepper, and achiote, a deep red coloring with a mild flavor extensively used in traditional Yucatecan dishes, some baked goods and hand crafts are sure to be found.
In the above photo the round white items, crackers that are three to a bag, are unique to the Americas and made from yucca root, also known as cassava root that tapioca is made from. They are very labor intensive to make and these lightly sugared delicate treats must be sampled. Another unique item to these street venders is the elegantly scented fresh corn cakes about six inches in diameter and half an inch thick roasted to a deep golden brown on a comal that will sustain you for hours.
Jane makes a purchase from the Mayan street vender lady who keeps her marketing overhead to a minimum and personally brought her handy work and produce to put on the market.

New to Valladolid, guided bike tours and bike rentals.

On a recent bike trip around the Valladolid area, we were happy to discover Mexigotours. Plan an extra day in Valladolid and take the tour. It is well worth the time and the price is economical.

Vivyana Hernández Molina and Toon Vande Vyvere, owners and operators of MexiGO tours and bike rentals.
Tours in English, Spanish, French, Dutch with a guide who speaks Maya.
They take you to the out of the tourist trap places for an unforgettable experience of a lifetime.

The tour takes you to two beautiful cenotes plus a visit to a Mayan home and a couple of villages.Take a guided bicycle day tour in the heart of Yucatán that is not only ecologically friendly but healthful. Photo opportunities in bird watching country plus sampling authentic exquisite Mayan foods 100% natural are just part of what you will enjoy.
E-mail; mexigotours@hotmail.com
Phones; +52 (985) 8560777 cel: 521 (985) 1082018
Above is one of the two beautiful cenotes that you will visit on the tour.

The ecologically friendly bicycle tours are at an easy pace, divided into pleasant segments in the tranquil back country guided by informative guides that open a seldom seen side of Yucatán to you.

Jane in front of the MexiGO tour and bike rental office in Valladolid. MexiGO is located behind the cathedral and 1 block from the central park at Calle 43 No. 204B between Calles 40 and 42. For a map, click here.

We have biked to the places on this tour. Check out our website * for stories of some of the places we visited on our trips to Valladolid from Tulum and along the Caste War Route.
This is part of the very noisy Revolution Day parade making its way around the municipal plaza with the arches of the local government building in the background. The celebration is supposed to be a one day event but the clever Mexicans have managed to stretch it out to four days.
To make the congestion even more intense Revolution Day happens to coincide with the American Thanksgiving so the airlines and rent-a-car agencies were booked full with returning Mexicans.
A visit to Valladolid must include a trip to the open air municipal market where local items ranging from hand crafts to all the locally produced fruits and vegetables are on sale.
At the municipal market you will do business with the people that actually brought their own home produced products. Typically Mayan women, in their elegantly adorned dresses like the one above will transact the business.
If you choose to take the MexiGo one day guided bicycle tour of the Valladolid area this is just one of the many sights you will get to visit.

The variety of natural foods mixed with local color makes for photo opportunities and lasting memories at the municipal market.
Fresh pork meat in Yucatán is high quality and the tasty but greasy deep fried pork known as chicharrón are both staples of the Yucatecan diet found in the municipal market.

The twenty-first century is here but in Yucatán, blacksmith made hand-hammered iron is forged in the same old way as before the industrial revolution. The beautiful relics of the past are not produced for the tourist trade but for everyday use.

These are some of the tools of craftsmen here; hammers, chisels and punches plus essential hammock hanging paraphernalia like the wall inserts and “S’s” to connect them. Besides the machete, the caó, the question mark shaped sheet metal implement above on the upper right is an essential garden tool here.
When garden production is down it is desperate times for some.

Tom Jones of North Carolina purchased an old colonial home here nine years ago and restored it. Six months a year he and his wife take up residence in Valladolid to enjoy a slower pace of life in the land of take it easy while waiting for northern winter to pass.
Jane and I met Tom in the local tourist information office across the street and he invited us to join him for coffee and conversation.

We visited the villages of Chichimila and Tixhualactún.  Visit our web page on Valladolid for those stories: www.bicycleyucatan.com/valladolid plus stories of many other places of interest in the Valladolid area such as Uayma and the beautiful Mayan ruins of Ek Balam.

In Celebration of the Jaguar; The following lively painted statues are now adorning the main boulevard, Paseo de Montejo  of Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico in conjunction with the 9th  World Wilderness Congress.

For more information on the Wild9 organization, check out their website using the link below:

http://www.wild9.org/02_ING/01_00_Home.php

por John Grimsud, Martés 19 de Mayo.              POR BLOG EN INGLES

Entre Mérida y Progreso se encuentra el pequeño pueblo de Xcunyá en el cual está localizado un nuevo parque ecológico experimental llamado A’ak.

En tan solo tres años de existencia este experimento ha hecho cosas maravillosas. Esta operación no gubernamental está probando que la vida si puede seguir adelante sin la necesidad de estar conectado a la red eléctrica y se puede vivir bien sin contaminar el medio ambiente.

Esta excursión fue organizada  por el grupo Mérida Verde y coordinada por George Ann Huck, a la izquierda en la foto. Tuvimos la oportunidad de participar en un recorrido informativo de tres horas.   El objetivo de este centro experimental es incorporar la antigua agricultura maya, las plantas medicinales, y la propagación de la flora y fauna con tecnología moderna en un ambiente respetuoso del medio ambiente.
Nuestro guía Carlos Ancona Valdez, con la camisa azul, comparte sus múltiples conocimientos con nosotros.
Esto fue una experiencia de la cual todos pudimos aprender algo, lleno de formas innovadoras e ingeniosas para el uso de la energía alterna.  Desde poder regar con energía eólica hasta el perfecto manejo de aguas residuales, este sitio tiene soluciones respetuosas al medio ambiente.
Tiene como uno de sus objetivos involucrar a la comunidad entera hacer conciencia sobre el cuidado del medio ambiente y se están enfocando mucho en los jóvenes.
Electricidad producida por el viento y energía solar son unidas en un cuarto de control donde éstas son almacenadas, transmitidas y convertidas en corriente directa alterna para cubrir todas las necesidades del hogar.
Este lugar es un cambio para mejor ya que demuestra el uso limpio de la energía.

La vieja y nueva manera de agricultura maya se combina con el reciclaje. La Maya antigua usaba el ka’anché o cama de tierra elevada para sembrar hortalizas.   Lo qué se ha desarrollado en el parque experimental  es el uso de artículos que normalmente serían desechados y estos se  utilizan de una manera innovadora del ka’anché maya.

Tenemos física básica utilizada en actividades cotidianas para el bien de la tierra. Aquí hay un aparato que parece un tipo de máquina para pinball. Bien, usando el calor tropical del sol esta cosa saca mediante sifón del lado izquierdo hacia el derecho aire caliente donde el efecto chimenea manda el aire caliente por las bandejas de frutas y hierbas. Es un deshidratador solar muy funcional. Las uvas pasas eran una sensación.  Orégano y otras hierbas casi se secan frente a los ojos.

Todo el grupo disfrutó de ver las alternativas ingeniosas  de consumir combustible fósil..

Como magia este horno solar utiliza espejos y no produce humo. Esta gente no está vendiendo nada sino promoviendo una manera más limpia de vivir en este planeta.

Las puertas están abiertas los sábados de 9am a 1pm.
For more information on alternative energy: contact Yaaxtec, www.yaaxtec.com
tel. Mérida 999 196. 6513 Carlos Buenfil Mañé

For more information on A’ak:
Ciencia Social Alternativa, A.C.; office phone is; (999)195 6513
caranva@kookay.org or www.kookay.org

Muchas muchas grácias a Janet Bremer de Mérida Verde y su hijo Nick por traducir el reportaje arriba

A poem written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. called “Requiem,” which has these closing lines:

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon ,
“It is done.”
People did not like it here.

We are starting a new feature on our website: www.bicycleyucatan.com. We are adding guest editorials on topics that relate to the environmental degradation and renewal in Yucatan. A healthy environment is very important to our life and good bicycling in Yucatan.

Our first guest editorial is by Natural Jim Conrad who knows the Yucatan well. Please click the following link to read his informative article: ON SETTLING ON THE YUCATAN’S NORTHWESTERN COAST

We invite comments.

HAMMOCKS OF YUCATAN; MÉRIDA, THE LAND OF TAKE IT EASY.
REST, RELAXATION AND COMFORT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!

The Yucatecan hammock is the most versatile, most easily stowed and comfortably sensible furniture item that is
perfectly suited to tropical living and you can easily take them anywhere.
Yucatecan hammocks lend themselves well to an easy going laidback atmosphere that goes hand in glove with the
natural ambiance of ecologically friendly tall shade trees or cool high ceiling open-air tropical dwellings. For all the information about hammocks that we think you need to know, check out our website: www.bicycleyucatan.com

TIZIMIN, BUCTZOTZ, DZILAM GONZÁLEZ AND DZIDZANTÚN BY BIKE AND BUS JUNE 2008;
Here is another out of the travelers loop road trip to the places that tourists miss most.
Twenty five years ago when Jane and I first ate in this Tizimin restaurant called Tres Reyes, we arrived by train from Mérida. Well that train has been out of service for over twenty years now but this fixture of downtown Tizimin still hasn’t changed. Over those years the town went from third largest in Yucatan to second largest and it is a mystery to me because the place has no alluring magnetic cultural attractions. To the north of town is Yucatan’s only real cowboy country complete with huge ranchos and lots of beef cattle.

Our travels continue to Buctzotz, Dzilam González and Dzidzantún. Read more: http://bicycleyucatan.wordpress.com/tizimin-buctzotz-dzilam-gonzalez-and-dzidzantun/

TABASCO; THE CHOCOLATE ROUTE BY BIKE AND BUS

Our inspiration and motivation for this innovative out of the tourist loop trip we owe to our bicycle friends Basil Yokarinis and Alixa who conduct superb Yucatan bicycle tours that happen to extend into far reaching ends of Mexico. www.bikemexico.com
When it comes to researching their itinerary they are tops!
Computer savvy Basil combines GPS positions with Google-Earth to get the very best routes and studies mountainous quantities of research material to compile into itineraries especially tailor-made for excursions for their individual tour groups
Jane and I made our first of many trips through the state of Tabasco back in the mid-1980s when there were no bridges along the Gulf Coast…only rusty old ferry boats that sometimes were laid up for repairs or shut down for lack of fuel. We have driven the beach or ambled through coconut plantations when the road was washed away. We have put our faith in a string of wooden sticks extending out into a pond of floodwater extending off to the horizon across Tabasco’s wetlands supposedly marking the submerged road below.
Many innovative upgrades have been made over the years like all new bridges replacing the dilapidated old ferryboats but last year Mother Nature again played her trump card and submerged more than 80% of the entire state of Tabasco under hurricane season rainwater.
Basil and Alixa, our bicycle buddies, also put us on to a book that absolutely primed our inquisitive pump and whet our adventurous appetite for another dimension in Mexican travel.
The True History of Chocolate by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe. This must read compendium of historical fact coupled with intriguing well illustrated chronological stories begins here in our very own back yard…southern Mexico seven thousands years ago when the Olmec of the Tabasco region first cultivated and consumed “cacao”.
The Olmec melded into the Maya who continued with cacao and brought it to the Yucatan even using it as currency.
A few weeks ago Jane and I had the good fortune to make a bike and bus trip to the Mayan town of Sotuta and there we discovered the last pre-conquest Mayan link to cacao that was being cultivated at the time by the chieftain Nachi Cocom.
When the Spanish arrived with their cattle they completely changed the ecology and the agricultural habits of Yucatan and the indigenous Maya.
Ironically our next step in this adventure story led us to the furthest western Mayan settlement of Mexico in the state of Tabasco at Comalcalco.
To make this story even more interesting, this is the very spot where seven thousand years ago the first Olmec settled, “The cradle of American civilization”, and became the first to cultivate cacao.
To this day cacao continues to be produced in this same region!
Here is our bike and bus back-country tour story with captioned photos;

On the street of our first stop in tropical Tabasco, we are in the river city of Frontera.

South of Frontera along the mighty river Grijalva, this quiet road meanders through extraordinarily beautiful lush and exuberantly green tropical wetlands where bananas grow everywhere like wild weeds.

Street food is first quality and reasonable. A few steps from our hotel in the central park we eat our fill of tasty “tacos al pastor”…habanero sauce, the green stuff, is lethally hot!

“Paletas”, are popsicles and here in the land of cacao chocolate is a standard item…the chocolate cream paletas are worth the effort of the trip.

Early morning on Frontera’s placid waterfront. This is the expansive delta country where numerous mighty meandering rivers flow down to drain the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala. This river system has countless tributaries dotted with isolated villages perched in small savannahs only accusable by boat in a prolific ever flowering wetland.

Looking south and upstream behind Jane you can see numerous small floating islands of flourishing foliage drifting down in a never ending procession of tropical growth.

The old boat bone-yard eventually pulls down all things that float and not all vessels die with their boots on.

Frontera’s waterfront market puts out an ample breakfast of, “huevos a la Mexicana” or Mexican style eggs…beans and rice are standards with almost all meals.

Our first stop in Comalcalco is a restaurant and Ismael Suarez Rodriguez and his happy crew go overboard to please us with hospitality and elegant Tabasco style cuisine that beckons us to return.

In the world of chocolate this modest little candy store in the heart of Comalcalco’s downtown can’t begin to relate the intriguing story behind an eco-friendly family industry that has it roots in a several thousand year old area cacao production beginning with the ancient Olmec.

Ing. Vicente A. Gutiérrez Cacep is the director general and driving force behind “Cacep Chocolates” and he has dedicated his life to the highest standard of quality beginning with the seedlings and each and every step of production to the finished product you see here.

Jane and I bicycled out along a perfectly lovely country road, reminding us very much of Holland through lush green farmland for our early morning guided tour of the Cacep Chocolate Hacienda Jesús Maria and processing facility.
We began our tour at the root of the process in the nursery where several types of cacao plants are germinated and also grafted varieties are created that produce special fruit on specific sized and shaped plants.

The small plant on the left is a cacao started from seed and all the rest are the same age, but grafted and the difference is obvious. The seedling require up to seven years to produce and the grafted varieties begin in four years.

This is the beginning of the fruit, this tiny flower requires a certain insect, known as midges to interact in the germination process. A thick carpet of decaying leaves covering the ground is essential for this delicate process to be carried out.

The young fruit grows directly out from the tree trunk similar to papaya.

For cacao production a thick canopy tropical jungle is required with natural composted leaf mulch to work in harmony with the insects and bacterias that make the cycle complete.
This is a completely eco-friendly plantation where no insecticides or herbicides are used, only naturally prepared plant substances are administered for nutrients and repellents.

Harvested cacao fruit awaits the extraction of the precious seeds.

Within the cacao fruit pod are located the seeds packed in a white creamy ooze that is wonderfully flavorful and it is a delight to suck that creamy covering.
I am surprised that nobody had made a market for this heavenly ambrosia that is only washed away in processing.

Discarded fruit pods are put aside for composting.

In the above photo of cacao being sun dried you will notice two different colors. The light brown beans in the foreground are called “lavabos” or washed. The darker brown beans in the background are known as “fermentados” or fermented, a process that takes up to seven days and causes sprouting to occur changing the flavor aspect completely.

Cacao beans smoking hot out of the roaster are done for a special order. This is but one of many steps in a very complicated process that transforms the cacao into various end products that range from candy bars to chocolate for drinks and various powdered foodstuffs.

In days gone by chocolate was made by hand ground on a stone metate like the one above and various ingredients were added such as vanilla, cinnamon and different types of sugar.

At the Cacep cacao hacienda Jesús Maria they have preserved many historical items from their beginnings like this original open air kitchen using clay pots, an open wood fired stove and hand grinder.

Smiling, efficient and helpful production manager, Mariana Triano Cupil guided us through the hospital-clean final manufacturing facility, part of Cacep chocolate.
Learn more about this incredible operation at www.cacep.com in English or Spanish and see first hand the many types of eco-friendly one-hundred percent natural products produced here where it has been cultivated several thousand years.

After a wonderful time with a special friendship formed Jane and I pose with the owner of Cacep Chocolates Vicente A. Gutiérrez Cacep and his retired but still active father.

On our week long Tabasco tour Jane and I visited numerous cacao plantations, haciendas, markets and retail outlets. Our conclusion; Cacep Chocolate is the very best in every way.

Here at Comalcalco in the land of the ancient Olmec Indians, “The cradle of American Civilization” is located the western most Mayan temples of the later Chontal Maya.
Third from the left in the above photo is archeologist José Jacobo Mugarte Moo, the director of these historically important ruins, the only Mayan ruins ever built of brick.

Below are some scenes from a video of the ruins at Comalcalco:

Every afternoon on this downtown Comalcalco street corner this man sets up shop selling his collection of live land-crabs ready to take home and steam up.
We have also seen this fresh food business in the Bahamas Islands, but it only flourishes in tropical places with extensive unpopulated beaches.
Little investment is required, they are caught by hand and as you can see the no expensive merchandising is required to make the sale.

An early morning taco breakfast at an open air restaurant on the streets of Comalcalco.

Chicken panuchos dazzlingly presented and deliciously delectable.

Fresh milk is still delivered on the streets of Comalcalco by bicycle and dispensed in a tin measuring cup by the smiling milkman.

Owner and operator, Victor Fuentes of Hotel Pat-Mal, Morelos No. 606, Comalcalco, where we enjoyed our clean, quiet, cool and convenient room where we were able to roll our bicycles right into our room.

We enjoyed the market in Comalcalco and tasted many delightful foods from the market.

These large tortillas made from fresh corn were delicious!

Comalcalco was a very friendly place and we definitely plan to return!

Mani Field trip starting in Oxkutzcab, March 2008

Field trip to Mani conducted by Lennie Martin of the IWC Maya Studies group and Estela Keim of the IWC Merida Hispanic Culture group.  Jane and John started the trip in Oxkutzcab, Yucatan and biked the following day to Mani to join the group.

For photos from Mani, click the link below and view as a slide show:

http://picasaweb.google.com/MeridaIWCPhotos/2008FIELDTRIPMarch28

http://bicycleyucatan.wordpress.com/mani-field-trip-starting-at-oxkutzcab/

Recommended Reading:

Ambivalent Conquests by Inga Clendinnen

Incidents of Travel in Yucatan by John L. Stephens

The Caste War of Yucatan by Nelson Reed

Maya Missions by Richard and Rosalind Perry

Time Among the Maya by Ronald Wright

Genesis by Eduardo Galeano

Open Veins by Eduardo Galeano

Dreaming of the Maya Fifth Sun by Leonide Martin

SOTUTA BY BIKE AND BUS: Historical crossroads of the Mayan civilization.

We began this unusual out-back Yucatan day-trip with our usual 7 kilometer bike trip to the local bus terminal on the corner of 50 and 67 in the city center of Mérida.
We rolled east-bound out of the bustling city traffic with our folding bicycles stowed aboard to the out of the tourist loop history laden diminutive town of Sotuta.
Our first visit to little Sotuta had been nearly twenty-five years earlier at the end of the thriving henequen era when Sotuta was at the end of the still functional narrow gauge railroad line. In those days the town was renowned for being the stronghold for a dissident populist democratic movement in Yucatan and even had one of the most powerful radio stations blasting out their autonomous egalitarian message. The Mexican military maintained a fortified barracks prominently placed on the main city plaza from the beginnings of the Caste War that begin in 1848 and was not relinquished until 1998 when indigenous rights were at a proverbial boiling point. This heightened indigenous rights movement was brought about by the EZLN or the Zapatistas who squared off and took on the Federal government January 1st 1994 forcing their issue of human rights into international news.
A quarter of a century ago when traveling across Yucatan small villages could easily be spotted off at a distance nestled under a grove of fruit bearing shade trees adrift in a sea of henequen fields extending far out to the horizon in all directions.
Amazingly now on our 80 kilometer ride from Mérida to Sotuta we spotted but one small area of cultivated henequen, a token patch in a miniscule village of Huhí, 20 kilometers northwest of our final destination of Sotuta. This is bicycle paradise.
The quiet narrow paved country roads of the Sotuta area are scarcely two meters wide and have a conspicuous lack of motor vehicles and you can hear them coming from five kilometers off.
Sotuta is a strange little place whose complicated and poorly recorded history speaks to us today through the structural remains of its few antiquated edifices that are anthropological memorials.
Discover the detailed history in the following books; Inga Clendinnen’s Ambivalent Conquests, Richard Perry’s marvelously documented book Mayan Missions and Nelson Reed’s fact filled compendium The Caste War of Yucatan. Current political history of Mexico’s indigenous is brought to life in John Ross’s outstandingly powerful book; ¡ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible. It is a must read.
Now look at this out of the way Yucatan town through our captioned photo story;

This is Sotuta’s downtown main street adjacent to the city central plaza with its conspicuous lack of motor vehicles. Sotuta is clean, quiet, friendly and poor.

This bare bones meat market is definitely a low overhead operation catering to drive up bicycle riding clients on the main street of Sotuta.

Tall trees, brilliant flowers and time worn statuary adorn the central plaza park.


Meticulously clean traditionally dressed Mayan ladies carry their ground corn home from the molino in the style of Yucatan, on their head. This corn is from local milpa farms.

This is one of four retablos dating from 1550 to 1730 to be found in the Sotuta church.

From the church you can view the alleged historical home of Nachi Cocom.

This is a memorial in Sotuta’s central plaza to the gallant Mayan king and war-lord Nachi Cocom who stood his ground against the Spanish conquistadors in the mid-1500s.

Above is an interesting and paradoxical memorial to the Mayan king Nachi Cocom with his alleged home in the background. For whatever it is worth the above structure was definitely built upon a Mayan temple. It was constructed in the 18th century and Nachi Cocom died in 1561. Cocom was supposedly converted to Christianity but continued to worship his ancestral Mayan gods. From the sixty year Caste War that began in 1848 until 1998 the above structure was a military barracks.

Looking west from the church door tranquil fresh air with no motor traffic or stop lights offers a blessed contrast to Mérida’s horn-honking high-powered aggressive neurotic pushy packed streets.

Friendly old “El Goyo” keeps the city plaza spotlessly tidied up. He shows us his treasured watch, a gift from his 45 year old son that immigrated to the US and now-days seldom returns to visit. Many local families are divided by this economic immigration.

Real wealth is found in the smiling faces of these otherwise economically depleted locals.

Sotuta’s centuries still speak out in the ornate stone work gleaned from the now non-existent Mayan ruins. The Spanish utilized the temples of old for building materials.

Under heavy political pressure generated by the Zapatista uprisings in the state of Chiapas, on January 23, 1998 Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo came here to personally give this property back to the people of Sotuta to be used as a museum.

The Sotuta museum building has an interesting but cloudy history. It is obvious that it stands upon a Mayan temple and the structure is constructed from materials taken from it. The dates of subsequent construction at this site are purely conjecture. It is likely that the famous Mayan king Nachi Cocom had his home here when the Spanish took Sotuta in 1542 and made a prisoner of him in 1549. The Spanish built a military barracks at this spot in the 18th century and it became an armed garrison in 1848, occupied until 1998.

Within the museum building is found a photo presentation by Humberto Suaste Blanco depicting time honored Mayan rituals from prominent centers of indigenous heritage. Also some history of the Spanish influence with their wars and occupation is explained. An exhibition of many colorful typical regional indigenous costumes from various Mexican locations gives a prospective of diversity like this colorful one from the west.

Looking out from the museum toward the church gives a panorama little changed over the centuries of colonial Spanish influence.

Looking down from the same museum balcony to the seldom traveled street below that circles the cities central plaza gives some idea of the tranquil remoteness of Sotuta just 80 kilometers remover from the hustle and bustle of Mérida. The entrepreneurial street vendor has set up a very portable covered kitchen and dining area which is typical of enterprising Latinos.

In front of the municipal building non-polluting quiet taxis queue up for prospective customers. Few motor vehicles and no stop lights give the place a pleasant charm.

This is our no frills lunch spot housed in an ancient colonial building on the city plaza.

Our lunch spot owner Margarita Rejon, seated and her friend Mirna Cocom jovially entertain us with hilarious accounts of local happenings…the food was great.

Speaking of Cocom, a family name synonymous with nearly five centuries of Sotuta history, here in the central plaza is a stone bust of Nachi Cocom…still a legend.

Beauty in a smile and friendly pleasantness give this lovely lady bedecked in her typical Mayan hand stitched dress a special charm that make Sotuta a nice place to be. She keeps the park spotlessly and maliciously clean.

With a Mayan smile this young couple represents Sotuta’s next generation.

More than just a family, this group has something unique in their backyard. Only three blocks removed from the city plaza they have a cenote and gruta where neighbors come to cool off and swim in its refreshing waters. In years gone by the cenotes were crucial sources of water here in Yucatan where there are no rivers or lakes.

Above is located the municipal market and the city museum and in the foreground awaits the meat fresh for the morning market. Here there are more bicycles than motor vehicles.
Cocoa or chocolate was cultivated here and used as currency by the Mayan people when the conquistadors first arrived.

I load our bicycles aboard our bus back to Mérida and get a snooze along the way.

Our Dahon folding bicycles collapse in twelve seconds and fit in a space the size of a traveling bag easily stowed onboard a taxi, train or airplane. With seven gears they effortlessly roll along with the big bikes.

Here is a short synopsis of chronicled local history;
The peaceful Mayan people ruled the Yucatan until around the year 1000 AD when the Itza invaded giving such names as; Chichen Itza.
The Cocom family dynasty displaced the Xiu at Mayapan around the year 1200.
In 1460 the Xiu family dynasty killed the Cocom leaders and their families.
This led to a war dispersing the family Chels to Ah Kin Chel;
The Cocom family from Mayapan to Sotuta
And the Xiu family to Mani
Below is a painting with historical information found in Mérida’s municipal building.
MAYAN RESISTANCE

NACHI COCOM;
Nachi Cocom was one of the Mayan leaders during the conquest. His strong, rebellious spirit contributed to his heroic resistance to the Spanish, inflecting many losses on the conquistadors. It was several years before he finally surrendered his arms to the enemy. Now an old man he was forced to accept Christianity, and was baptized in the name of Juan Cocom. However, in secret he continued to worship the stone gods he had never really abandoned.
The following excerpt is from my recommended reading list; Inga Clendinnen’s “Ambivalent Conquests”;
Page 81: “Not long after the, (auto de fe), Landa was urgently called to Sotuta. The heavy summons probably had to do with the suicide in prison before interrogation of Lorenzo Cocom, chief of the head village, lord of the province, and brother and successor to Juan Nachi Cocom, Landa’s old informant, who had died the previous year. Cocom’s suicide was interpreted as proof of his guilty involvement in idolatries.
Certainly fear ran before the friars. When Pizarro and his brothers arrived in the head village they found the villagers had fled, to return only when some of their encomenderos – now identified as their protectors against the assaults of the friars – arrived. In Kanchunup, a village only half a gigue from Sotuta village, two Indians had hanged themselves at word of the friars’ coming. Such proof of ‘wickedness’ strengthened the friars’ resolve and the vehemence of their interrogations. One Spaniard forced to serve as constable to the Inquisition in Sotuta recalled that some chiefs and lords were flogged while they hung suspended until the blood ran. But it was of Hocaba-Homun, with Fray Miguel de la Puebla in charge, that the darkest tales were told. While the Spaniards pressed to serve the inquisition in the other provinces carried out their duties with aversion, the enlisted constable in Hocaba-Homun seems to have taken some pride in his work. Dissatisfied with the hoist, he constructed a version of the ‘burro’, extensively used by the Inquisition in Spain for the administration of torture of the water and the cords. The victim was secured face up on a wooden frame, and cords were twisted around thighs and upper arms. The cords could be tightened by the turning of a rod inserted between the flesh and frame. The victim’s mouth was forced open, and quantities of water were poured in, usually through a cloth to increase the sensation of drowning. In the careful protocol observed by the interrogators of the Spanish Inquisition the accused was given ample time between each ‘turn’ and vessel of water to confess his guilt, but the Hocabá constable observed no such niceties. His individual contribution was to trample on the distended belly of the victim, so that the swallowed water was violently discharged. At least one Indian died lashed to the ‘burro’.
Inga Clendinnen’s Ambivalent Conquests is filled with numerous pearls of insight into the world of Yucatan and the Maya. I will condense analogy she made regarding the relationship between the Maya and honey bees. The Maya had a sense of the mutual benefits of inter-dependence, of the enhancement of the individual through membership of a complex of groups. The Maya had an attachment to collective life between age and youth, male and female, and greater and lesser rank and of man within the natural order. Those routines were to prove durable when subjugation had swept away the external material signs of rank. (This is part of the reason that the Mayan collective community has survived nearly five centuries under conquistador oppression.)

Peaceful places have no history, so Sotuta’s history is packed with incredible events from the conquistadors to the Caste War and the henequen revolution.
If you are interested in history that shaped Mexico you will find each book of my recommended reading well worth the effort.
If you are interested in bicycle adventures then you must cycle this end of the planet.
Try this web site: www.bikemexico.com

The name of Nachi Cocom is from the Maya and “Naal” refers to his mother’s family; thus Na-Chi or mothers name Chi.

A visit to Mani, Yucatán by John M. Grimsrud
Mani is a small quaint, quiet and tranquil Mayan village 80 kilometers south south-east of the capital city of Mérida. Nearby is the shoe and pottery manufacturing city of Ticul plus the garden market capital of Yucatan, Oxkutzcab.
Mani is also situated on the age-old seldom traveled but famous “Ruta de Los Conventos’.
This seemingly unpretentious diminutive settlement has the incredible distinction of being continuously inhabited by one of the most technically advanced civilizations the world had ever known for the past 4,000 plus years… an astonishing and impressive claim to fame that few places on this planet could proclaim.

Today minute and modest Mani is serenely passive but this off-the-highway rural community was once the tragic site of one of the most heinous degradations of cultural heritage and spiritual annihilation that this world has ever witnessed.
January 6th, 1542 the Spanish conquistadors established a permanent encampment on the Yucatan peninsula at the height of their fanatic inquisition fired religious rampage.
This was a mere fifty years after the first Spanish explorer; Christopher Columbus set foot upon the New World at the Bahamas Islands.

Between 1549 and 1559 under the tyrannical direction of Fray Juan de Mérida the enslaved indigenous Maya were forced to pull down their ornate astronomically oriented sacred temples that pre-dated Christianity by thousands of years and with the remnants build a Catholic church and convent upon their native soil.
The inquisition crazed conquistadors inflamed by self-righteousness were mandated by their God to plunder the Yucatan’s indigenous residents whom they deemed to be heathen heretics that worshiped ancient pagan gods in false temples indulging themselves in unholy sacrifices which they had been doing for more than three very un-Christian millenniums.
The Spanish inquisitionists were by this point in time well practiced in ethnic cleansing and imperialistic expansionism having successfully purged the Iberian peninsula of the Jews and Moors.
In spite of the 500 years of degradation, slavery and absolute plunder of the Mayan civilization it is a remarkable attribute to these long suffering original inhabitants of Yucatan that they still to this day perpetuate the sacred rituals of their ancestors, speak in their original Mayan tongue and even dress in their traditional custom.
To this day the Mayan daily partakes of the culinary specialties of their ancestors.
These Maya are the people that brought the human race such things as corn (maize), tobacco, chocolate, cotton, tomatos, pineapple, peanuts, chili peppers and turkeys that have all impacted mankind monumentally to this day.
Besides a myriad of food products the indigenous of the Yucatan introduced to global humanity they also were the hemispheric healers armed with thousands of medicinal plants that even now enhance more than 500 American prescription drugs.
Quinine and ipecac are still standards of the pharmacy but cannabis and hallucinogenic mushrooms eased pain and altered the mental state that were but a few in the huge inventory of medicinal remedies dispensed by these technologically advanced original inhabitants.
What the Mayan received in return from the Spanish conquistadors were horses, rats, cockroaches, pigs, weeds, fruit trees and thousands of men all infused with diseased petulance that unleashed a pandemic that rapidly dwindled the indigenous populace.
Smallpox murdered more native Americans than several hundred years of systematic Spanish slaughter.
There definitely was some pay-back involved when the Indigenous of America sent home to Europe syphilis with Christopher Columbus that became epidemic by 1495, along with tobacco and cannabis to smoke. The great exchange saw winners and losers on both sides.

Former convent San Miguel Arcángel in Mani, Yucatán as seen today.

THIS PEACEFUL COURTYARD IN NEAR THE ATRIUM WHERE FRAY DIEGO DE LANDA BURNED THE MAYAN BOOKS AND THEIR RELIGIOUS ARTIFACTS WHILE BRUTALLY TORTURING HIS VICTIMS.
To further plunder these overrun indigenous, in 1562 Fray Diego de Landa burned and destroyed 5,000 Mayan figures of their God, 13 altars, 27 parchment books made of deer hide and 197 decorated pottery containers of worship.
All of this was done to drive these “heartless heathens” to Christianity.
From the book “Genesis” by Eduardo Galeano; 1562: Mani page 137

The Fire Blunders

Fray Diego de Landa throws into the flames, one after the other, the books of the Mayas.
The inquisitor curses Satan, and the fire crackles and devours. Around the incinerator, heretics howl with their heads down. Hung by the feet, flayed with whips, Indians are doused with boiling wax as the fire flares up and the books snap, as if complaining.

Tonight, eight centuries of Mayan literature turn to ashes. On those long sheets of bark paper, signs and images spoke: They told of work done and days spent, of the dreams and the wars of a people before Christ. With hog-bristle brushes, the knowers of things had painted these illuminated, illuminating books so that the grandchildren’s grandchildren should not be blind, should know how to see themselves and see the history of their folk, so they should know the movements of the stars, the frequency of eclipses and prophecies of the gods and so they could call for rains and good corn harvests.

In the center, the inquisitor burns the books. Around the huge bonfire, he chastises the readers. Meanwhile, the authors, artist-priests dead years or centuries ago, drink chocolate in the fresh shade of the first tree of the world. They are at peace, because they died knowing that memory cannot be burned. Will not what they painted be sung and danced through the times of the times?

When its little paper houses are burned, memory finds refuge in mouths that sing the glories of men and of gods, songs that stay on from people to people and in bodies that dance to the sound of hollow trunks, tortoise shells, and reed flutes.

***
As atonement for destroying the books of one of the greatest civilizations the world had known obliterating their art, literature, mathematics, astronomy and medicines Fray Diego de Landa wrote a document of the conquers view entitled; “Relation de Cosas de Yucatan”.
***
Disembarking the local bus from Merida on a week-day morning at the central plaza in modest little Mani we were pleasantly struck by the hushed quiet and unhurried tempo of life so seldom found anywhere in the world today.
Jane and I spent an incredibly interesting day at Mani, shooting 350 photos between the two of us, had a very memorable meal of the traditional Mayan Poc Chuc at one of the smaller restaurants named “La Conquista” on a side street less than two blocks from the church and laid plans to incorporate Mani into our cross-country bicycle touring.
(We have made our return to Mani by bicycle and it again proved to be a very special place that somehow generates haunting sensations of the great Mayan civilization that called this place home for over 4,000 years and to this day has not lost its grip.)
If you are looking for quiet, peaceful and serene, then week-day visits are a must.
I must add here that in this world of rapidly changing times you owe it to yourself to visit this minute look into the past at Mani if for no other reason than the winds of change have piped-up and are spreading fast.
Consider this; in the early 1970s when I first visited the Yucatan peninsula over half of the inhabitants lived in thatched roofed palapa houses as they had since they first settled here 4,000 plus years ago.

MANI HAS A CONSPICUOUS LACK OF MOTOR VEHICLES AND STREET NOISE. OBSERVE THE CONTRASTS; THE PALAPA THATCHED ROOF HOUSE, (RIGHT) THE MAYAN LADY,( MESTIZA) IN HER TRADITIONAL DRESS, (HUIPIL) AND CARRYING ON HER HEAD IN THE TRADITIONAL WAY HER MAIZE, (CORN) TO BE GROUND AT THE MOLINO, (CENTER). WITH THE EXCEPTIONS OF THE PLASTIC BOWL ON THE HEAD OF THE LADY AND THE TIENDA, (LEFT) WITH ITS GAUDY COCA-COLA SIGNS THIS SCENE COULD HAVE TAKEN PLACE SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

BEDECKED IN GOLD THE RETABLO OBSCURES THE RECENTLY RESTORED ORIGINAL PAINTED FRESCOS PARTIALLY VISIBLE ABOVE THE ALTAR.

THE MASSIVE CHURCH WALLS ARE THE REPOSITORY FOR THE STONES THAT FORMERLY COMPRISED THE MAYAN TEMPLE THAT HAD ORIGINALLY STOOD UPON THIS VERY SPOT.

WE SPENT REFLECTIVE MOMENTS AND TRANQUIL TIME HERE IN THIS ANCIENT CONVENT AND CHURCH CONVERSING OF THE HAUNTING EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE WITHIN THESE VERY WALLS.

THE MASSIVE MANI CHURCH AND CONVENT BUILT UPON THE SITE OF THE FORMER MAYAN TEMPLE AS IT IS TODAY AND LITTLE CHANGED FOR THE PAST 450 YEARS.

THIS IS THE CORRIDOR OF MANI’S MUNICIPAL BUILDING WITH ITS COLONIAL SPANISH ARCHES AND EXPOSED WOODEN “VIGAS” OR CEILING RAFTERS BUILT WITH STONE FROM MAYAN TEMPLES.

THIS PAINTING HANGS IN THE CORRIDOR OF THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING. IT DEPICTS THE “AUTO DE FE” OF 1562 WHEN THE SACRED WORKS OF THE MAYA WERE DESTROYED. IN THE SAME CORRIDOR IS A DISPLAY OF RECENT PHOTOS OF THE MAYA OF MANI MAKING A CEREMONY TO CHAK, THEIR GOD OF RAIN.

WITHIN THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING IS LOCATED THIS SCHOOL THAT PROUDLY PROCLAIMS; “NO TOBACCO SMOKE SCHOOL”.
OBSERVE THE ORNATE MAYAN HAND CARVED STONE DOOR JAMBS THAT ARE BUT SMALL REMINDERS OF THE GLORIOUS TEMPLE THAT THEY WERE TAKEN FROM AND THE IMMACULATELY CLEAN SURROUNDINGS.

A LOOK AT THE OLDER SIDE OF MANI WITH A PALAPA THATCHED ROOF HOME THAT IS QUICKLY BECOMING A THING OF THE PAST. THIS TRADITIONAL STYLE OF HOME CONSTRUCTION DATED BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS HERE IN YUCATAN.

A STREET VIEW FROM A SMALL CHAPEL REVEALS MANI’S TRANQUILITY.

PLAYFUL YOUNG GIRLS OF MANI ARE DESCENDANTS OF CONQUISTADORS AND THE MAYA MIXED.

HERE IN THIS OPEN AIR KITCHEN ON THE SOUTH WEST CORNER OF THE ZÓCALO PLAZA A WOMAN IS PREPARING PUCHERO OVER AN OPEN FIRE ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING. PUCHERO IS A TRADITIONAL THICK MEATY SOUP WITH LOTS OF VEGETABLES. THIS LUNCH IS FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN AND IS DISPENSED FOR TWO PESOS PER PERSON OR 20 U. S. CENTS.

OUR TALENTED WAITER AT THE LA CONQUISTA RESTAURANT PROUDLY DISPLAYS ONE OF HIS MANY PAINTINGS THAT ADORN THE DINING AREA ALONG WITH WORKS DONE BY HIS FATHER.

OUR AMPLE AND DELICIOUSLY SAVORY LUNCH OF POC CHUC

THIS IS OUR BUS BACK TO MERIDA BEING LOADED WITH A PAY-LOAD OF LOCALLY GROWN PRODUCE DESTINED FOR THE MARKETS THERE.
***
So dear reader as you can see a day-trip out of Merida can be action packed, fun filled, informative, educational and extremely unusual…like a trip into another time and place.
After this day-trip you will be back to Merida in plenty of time for a leisurely dinner and an evenings worth of entertainment.

For more on Mani and our later bike trip there, click the link below: http://bicycleyucatan.blogspot.com/2007/08/kaxil-kiuic-yucatan.html