Martin um die Welt: 4) Merida, Loltun, Kabah, and Uxmal

Sonntag, 4. Januar 2015

4) Merida, Loltun, Kabah, and Uxmal

The next morning (03.01.) we met with Fabio and Lorie and found a taxi driver that would take us on La Ruta Puuc to the limestone cave Loltun and the Maya ruins Kabah and Uxmal. When we arrived in Loltun, the driver stopped next to the entrance and brought us to some real local Mayans. We like the place and its charming owners a lot and so we had some late breakfast there. All cooked on real fire :) The owners were happy and told us that mostly Germans and Dutch would come to them while the Gringos (Americans) pass by in the big tour buses. We then entered Loltun with a guide. A guide is mandatory there and does not necessarily cost something. We were told by the guide that we could pay anything from 1 peso to whatever we liked. However, he quickly told us that 50 peso per person is what he usually takes. The guide told us that it was the biggest cave in the world. Well, at least it is among the biggest in Mexico^^ Still the cave was impressive! It houses some of the oldest Mayan relics in Yucatan peninsular. The carvings and old paintings were interesting. Especially the navigation system used by painting the own hand at the wall.

late breakfast at a real local Mayan hut... pictured is the people's kitchen

impressive Loltun limestone cave

don't you bump your head!

nice colors and huge halls

sinkholes from underground... this hall was extremely huge

From Loltun we then drove to Kabah. These are rather small Mayan ruins. But they were more fun that Chichen Itza because we could climb many of the temples here. The ruins were also housing plenty of huge lizards sunbathing on and between the old temple stones.
Uxmal was our last stop. Unfortunately it started to rain. But it stopped as fast as it started and we could explore the ruins. Uxmal was really big and we liked it much more than Chichen Itza. Especially the views from the high temples were great.
When we returned to Merida, we ended our day with a great dinner near the Plaza de la Independencia at Los Trompos. The evening before we enjoyed dinner here too when I had baked potatoes and Franzi a house salad. But this time ate a pizza and the almighty Ke-Burro, which was the best burrito I ate so far :) After dinner we enjoyed the night views of Plaza de la Independencia with the nearby Cathedral and Palacio.
The next day (04.01.) we went shopping to the big Mercado close to Plaza de la Independencia. We were to find out that Mexico has some good shopping to other for faked clothes, sunclases and more. Not as good as Asia, but better than its Central American neighbours^^ Before we left for Campeche, we treated ourselves with a local Nutella Crepe :)