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RUTA PUUC RUINS

From Merida Mexico

Public Transportation to Ruta Puuc Ruins

Day 16 - Sunday, February 18, 2018. Up and out the door by 6:50 am to catch The Oriente Ruta Puuc bus from the TAME bus station by 8 am. Sadly, the Airbnb breakfast was canceled - but there always is tomorrow. We flagged down a bus with Centro (city center) on its windshield to get downtown and walked one-kilometer to the TAME bus station. We could have found a southbound bus to get to the station, but I haven't figured out how to catch southbound busses yet.

On our way to the TAME bus station, we noticed the Plaza Grande streets were already being blocked off and the vendors were setting up for "Merida en Domingo,"the Merida-on-Sunday weekly street celebration at Plaza Grande. It looks like the celebration is an all-day affair and may still be going full tilt when we return from the Ruta Puuc ruins. This was shaping up to be another perfect day.

Touring the Ruta Puuc Ruins

Labna Ruins

World famous for having built a beautiful Maya construction carved in stone: "El Arco". http://www.yucatan.travel/arqueologia/labna?lang=en

It was incorporated with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labna

Admission: $55 Pesos ($2.87 USD)

Time to Explore: 35 mins

Touring the Ruta Puuc Ruins

Xlapak Ruins

(pronounced (shla-pahk) Here you can find one of the greatest jewels of Puuc architectural style, also called "The Palace."

http://www.yucatan.travel/arqueologia/xlapak?lang=en

Xlapak is small Mayan archaeological site in the Yucatan Peninsula. It consists of three main groups in the valley of the Puuc Hills.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xlapak

Admission Cost: Free

Time to Explore: 30 mins

Touring the Ruta Puuc Ruins

Sayil Ruins

(pronounced sah-yeel). You can see "The Palace" and its 70 rooms. Another impressive building with inlaid sculptures of gods.

http://www.yucatan.travel/arqueologia/sayil?lang=en

Sayil was incorporated together with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayil

Admission Cost: $55 Pesos ($2.87 USD)

Time to Explore: 35 mins

Touring the Ruta Puuc Ruins

Kabah Ruins

Kabah Maya Site

(pronounced kah-bah). Its period of greatest height was about the year 800 AD. It communicated with Uxmal by a sacbe road that starts precisely at"El Arco", a kind of main gate of the city.

http://www.yucatan.travel/arqueologia/kabah?lang=en

Kabah is the second largest ruin of the Puuc region after Uxmal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabah_(Maya_site)

Admission Cost: $55 Pesos ($2.87 USD)

Time to Explore: 50 mins

Touring the Ruta Puuc Ruins

Uxmal Ruins

Uxmal

(pronounced oox-mahl). The city encompasses 15 groups of buildings, spread from north to south, in an area approximately two kilometers.

http://www.yucatan.travel/arqueologia/uxmal?lang=en

It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its significance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uxmal

Admission Cost: $233 Pesos ($12.17 USD)

Time to Explore: 2 hrs

Public Transportation Back To Merida

Purchase tickets for Campeche Mexico

After the Ruta Puuc tour, we arrived at Merida's TAME bus station around 4:30 pm and walked over to the CAME bus terminal next door to purchase round-trip ADO bus tickets for Wednesday to Campeche, another city highly recommended to visit. Two round-trip tickets cost $722 pesos ($40 US). The express bus leaves Merida at 8 am for a 2-hour ride. The return-to-Merida bus leaves Campeche at 7 pm, so it will be a long day.

Merida en Domingo

Plaza Grande in Merida Mexico

The street dance at Plaza Grande was in full swing mode when we returned. All four streets surrounding the plaza were blocked off to traffic and lined with restaurants, street vendors, food carts, snack carts, and trinket vendors. A large stage highlighted the same Mexican swing jazz band and the professional Yucatan dance troupe that performs at the Parque Santa Lucia on Thursdays. They were followed by a hot world-class Cuban Salsa horn band which laid down the funkiest Latin rhythms imaginable. Hundreds of couples took to dancing in the streets to their toe-tapping pulsations. Whoever runs sound for these outdoor venues know what they are doing as the sound is perfect, balanced, clear, and punchy. (Merida on Sunday: since the 1980s, every Sunday, the Meridano Historical Center closes its streets to vehicular traffic and is transformed into a large urban kermes, with a wide range of activities and food and beverages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klxyp96-sbo&feature=youtu.be.

In the heart of Plaza Grande, we witnessed a police drum and bugle corps. They put on their own snappy and well choreographed military music show. At sunset, a group of six tactical police, wearing black special forces uniforms, and sporting assault rifles, took down the Mexican flag and goose-stepped their way out of the plaza. It was all very patriotic, and I had to remind myself that I was in Mexico and not in the US.

Wanda and I literally pigged out at the stands starting with roasted beef tacos and Relleno negro salbutes served by two cute kids waiting on tables. Later we sampled a unique nachos dish with white corn niblets, cream sauce, cheese sauce, mayo, legumes, and peanuts coated in chili powder. Although the nacho-mayonnaise dish was actually very tasty, I did get nervous about the mayo as it was unrefrigerated in the 90-degree heat. We stopped at another street vendor cart and topped it all off with a Marquesita; a chocolate syrup and cheese filled crepe.

Time to return to our Airbnb walking down Calle 62, which was also blocked off for the carnival day. Unfortunately, I am starting to feel a few walking blisters forming.

Retired Rocker and Yucatan Today Magazine

Day 17 - Monday, February 19, 2018. I believe I was right to fret over the mayo yesterday evening. I woke up a bit queasy. Not bad, but it was clear that I wasn’t going stray very far from our bathroom. That said, Wanda ate all of the same foods and does not have any symptoms.

I spent the day reading the Yucatan Today magazine and planning tomorrow's day trip http://yucatantoday.com/?lang=en. Yucatan Today is a monthly magazine devoted to promoting the Yucatan, and this particular issue concentrated on Merida and the surrounding towns. One article touted the Cenotes de Homun, a small town just three kilometers past Cuzama. Homun is surrounded by several cenotes that rival the better-known and better-promoted Cenotes de Cuzama. These cenotes looked surprisingly like the cenotes that the guy at the colectivo was trying to sell me on yesterday. I Googled some more info on these cenotes and was convinced that they were the same cenotes. Apparently, Cuzama gets all of the write-ups, but Homun is the new kid on the block trying to break into the tourism market. With some 6,500 cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula, new ones are opened up to tourism all the time. If I feel up to it, we will check out the Houm cenotes tomorrow. The rest of today was spent playing with my travel guitar and amp while Wanda worked on the website.

By evening I felt well enough to walk to Wal-Mart and pick up some more Neutrogena 70+ sunblock and some fresh AAA batteries for little Vox guitar amp.