Michael Powell's Blog, page 92
January 31, 2014
Ek Balam: The Home of Black Jaguar
Just twenty minutes north of Valladolid are the ruins of the Maya city Ek Balam. This fantastic archaeological site is home to some of the peninsula’s most beautifully-preserved Maya sculptures.
Ek Balam is Mayan for “Black Jaguar”, a powerful king who, according to inscriptions, arrived and established the city on April 7th, 770 AD. The city enjoyed a short-lived golden age, prospering for a little over a century. The date of the final inscription found at the site is from Sepetember 23rd, 89...
January 30, 2014
The San Bernardino Convent in Valladolid
In open mockery of the strict grid pattern of Valladolid’s street plan, the Calle de los Frailes (Street of the Friars) cuts diagonally southwest across the city center. After a lovely walk of about fifteen minutes, this historic street ends at the steps of the former convent of San Bernardino de Siena.
Construction started on the San Bernardino in 1552, under the auspices of Franciscan monks who had settled in the newly formed Valladolid. Local Maya laborers were politely asked to help build...
The Casa de Los Venados
The largest privately-held collection of modern Mexican art in Mexico can be found in the home of John and Dorianne Venator, in the heart of Valladolid. The couple have been indulging their passion for over 35 years. Their home, which is one of the city’s most historic properties, has been packed with over 3000 individual pieces.
Casa de los Venados, or “Home of the Deer”, is both a play on the Venator surname and a nod to the importance of the animal to the region and to the ancient Maya. Tho...
The Cenotes of Valladolid
Pools of fresh water riddle the limestone earth of the entire Yucatán peninsula, but Valladolid is blessed with some of the most beautiful. In a single morning, we visited three incredible cenotes, the first of which we found right in the middle of town.
The Cenote Zaci takes its name from the Maya city on top of which Valladolid was founded. We visited after a delicious and cheap breakfast at the city market, and were astounded by what we saw. I had expected something akin to an open pool, bu...
January 29, 2014
Valladolid
We spent two nights in Valladolid, the second city of the Yucatán state. Found about two hours due east of Mérida, near Chichén Itzá, it’s a magical place… and that’s official. In 2006, Mexico added Valladolid to its honorary list of Pueblos Mágicos, only the second town in the Yucatán to win the honor, after Izamal.
Our base of operations during our stay in Valladolid was Casa Hamaca, a cool Maya-themed hotel a few blocks south of the Plaza Grande. The proprietor, an expat from North Dakota,...
The Incredible, Horrible Chichén Itzá
On a visit to Chichén Itzá, you are going to oscillate violently between love and hate for your fellow man. The mathematics, artistry and astrology involved in constructing these buildings, so advanced for their time… it’s amazing. People did this? People are awesome! But still, there’s no way around it: people are terrible. Today, the site is overrun with money-grubbing locals, megaphone-wielding guides and sheep-herd tour groups. On leaving, I said to Jürgen, “The ingenuity and ambition of...
The Casa-Museo Montes Molina
Most of the fabulous mansions along the Paseo Montejo have either fallen into a state of deterioration, or have been converted into banks. But the Casa Montes Molina is a fortunate exception. Owned by the Montes-Molina family for generations, visitors can today tour this amazing house, or even rent it out for special events.
The mansion was built in the early twentieth century by Don Aurelio Portuondo, a Cuban businessman who fell in love with a local beauty. Don Aurelio was in Mérida working...
January 28, 2014
The Corners of Mérida
When founding their cities around the Yucatán, the Spanish were nothing if not organized. Mérida is laid out on a perfectly square grid, with a street naming convention that is logical almost to a fault. North-south streets have even numbers which increase as you head west, and east-west streets have odd numbers increasing as you head south. So, the street to the east of Calle 54 is Calle 52. If you’re on 44/73, and go north one block and west one block, you’ll be on 42/71.
The numbering syste...
The Anthropology Museum in the Palacio Cantón
The Palacio Cantón isn’t just one of the loveliest buildings on Merida’s Paseo de Montejo, but also home to one of the city’s best museums: the Museo Regional de Antropología de Yucatán. During our visit, we weren’t sure whether to be more impressed by the exhibits or by the building itself.
The palace was constructed in the early twentieth century for General Francisco Cantón Rosado, a wealthy railroad baron and former Governor of the state. Designed in the Beaux-Arts style of France’s Belle...
January 26, 2014
Other Sights in Campeche
We had circled the path of the old fortifications which once protected the city, and taken a trip into the jungles of the interior to visit Maya ruins, but it wasn’t until our final afternoon in Campeche that we spent much time exploring the city itself.
Comprising a five-by-eight grid of streets, the center of Campeche hasn’t changed much since the fortifications were erected in the early 1700s. We ambled along the roads, stepping up onto the overly-elevated sidewalks when a car would pass by...
