July 14 ❤ Izamal

Candy and I woke up in time to eat the breakfast that was included with our stay.  The owners are American and the wife suggested some things we should do in our short time in Izamal.  We packed up our stuff and stored our bags before heading out to explore.

First, we went back to the Franciscan monastery to check out the inside. 

The grounds outside the Franciscan monastery.

Part of the inside of the Franciscan monastery.

After we left the monastery, we bought our bus tickets to go back to Cancun and then went in search of the small museum in the middle of the town.  We had the map from our bed and breakfast, but it didn't help us out much.  We ended up relying more on asking people around the town.  Fortunately, we found the museum quickly since the town is very small.  They had beautiful pieces of art from around the Yucatan.

An art exhibit in the museum in Izamal.

Jesus at the wheel.

After we left the museum, we made our way to Kinich Kak Mo, the largest pyramid in Izamal.  It is much more deteriorated than many of the other Mayan ruins I've been to, which may also be the reason that there was no entrance fee, only a suggestion to make a donation.  The view from the top was absolutely amazing, though.

On our way up to the top of the pyramid Kinich Kak Mo.  Looks like we're walking up into the clouds!!!

The beautiful view from the top of the pyramid.

After our hike up the pyramid, we were melting from the heat and hungry.  We made our way to Kinich, the nearby restaurant that our bed and breakfast recommended.  I ordered queso relleno and Candy got relleno negro.  The food was amazingly good and we slurped down two drinks (tamarindo and horchata) since we were dying of thirst.  The restaurant was beautifully decorated.

Queso relleno (stuffed cheese) and tamarindo.  You can see the tortilla warmer with Izamal carved into it.  They served home-made tortillas.  Yum!!!

The view inside the restaurant Kinich.

After eating, we made our way back to the center of Izamal to get a taxi.  We wanted to cab it to each of the five talleres (workshops) scattered on the outskirts of downtown Izamal.  Each of the workshops was the artisan's home, making the visits much more special.  We worked out a price for a couple hours of the taxista's time and were off to our first stop: the papier-mache workshop.  Unfortunately I was a bit shy on our first stop and didn't get a picture with the artist.  I did buy a couple of papier-mache people, a man and woman that hang together, one hanging onto the other's foot.  They were really unique and special.  Most of the display room was covered in papier-mache butterflies, but I liked the people better.

After that we went to the Don Aurelio's miniature workshop.  I bought a pair of people sitting on a bench and took a picture with the artist.  He was very charming and gave Candy all kinds of information about the prints she bought.  You can read a bit about him in this link...well, if you can read in Spanish :).  Izamal Artist Aureliano Pool

Aureliano Pool, posing with me and his artwork that I bought.  Such a sweet man!!!

Next up was the hammock workshop.  The couple was there and unfolded a couple hammocks for me to look at.  They were very kind and told me that the material used to make the hammocks would soften up considerably with use until it was very soft.  There was a loom with a hammock in the works in the middle of the room and a baby in the hammock on the far end of the room.  Candy wanted to know if that hammock was like the other ones and they said no, that it was made of silk.  I was debating over a natural color or a multicolored hammock and decided on the multicolored one.  It's a matrimonial hammock, so it fits two people.  They also had singles and mini ones for sale.  The mini ones they said could be for a baby, a doll, or decoration.

The couple at the hammock workshop packing up the hammock I bought.

The hammock in process and if you look closely you can see the baby squirming in the hammock in the far end of the room.

Next we went to the woodworker, Don Gabriel's workshop.  He had some amazing pieces of art, but I liked the wooden jaguars the best.  Candy ended up buying a wooden box with a bull carved into the top.  He signed both of our purchases before packaging them for us.

Don Gabriel with the carved jaguar I bought.

A few more pieces of carved wood in Don Gabriel's workshop.   My mom would love the owl!!!

The woman at the bed and breakfast had suggested we spend the most time at the jewelry maker, Don Esteban, because he talks the most out of all the artisans.  She was right.  They showed us around the whole workshop, including which plants produced the items they used to make the jewelry and how they prepared them for the jewelry.  They used thorns at the end of the leaves of henequen plants and cocoyol seeds to make their jewelry.  

They cut the henequen thorn into parts, getting one to two parts that they are able to use for the jewelry.   He said they would use the middle two pieces of this thorn that he cut in front of us.

Candy with Don Esteban, who is wearing a traditional Mayan hat.  He was excited that Candy was wearing traditional Mexican dress.  She bought this shirt in front of Chichen Itza.

In front of the henequen plant in back of the workshop.

The cocoyol seed that he had partially polished for us so we could see the before and after.

The man who was acting as our guide (I think his name was Javier), told us that people always ask how many workers work for them and he tells them 6,000.  The reason is that they drill holes in the cocoyol seeds and then set them on the ground for ants to clean out the nut inside.  If you look closely at the polished seed in the front, you can see a cluster of ants around the hole drilled into the seed.

The hard-working ants cleaning out the nut inside the cocoyol seed.

Javier told us that one of the bracelets made of the henequen thorns needed thousands of thorns and a month and a half of work to complete.  So crazy!!!  Each piece of jewelry was a masterpiece!!!  Candy and I bought some of the jewelry and Don Esteban sang us a song in Mayan and then in Spanish.  He was quite a character.  Such a happy man.  Candy asked about the fruit on the tree that was outside of the front of the workshop.  They said the fruit was called nance.  I remembered I had eaten nance ice cream in Merida.  They gave us a cup of the fruit to munch on before we left.  They were nice and sweet.

The nance fruit tree in front of the jeweler's workshop.

The taxi driver returned us to the city center.  We stopped by a store selling guayaberas and also stopped to get some snacks at Super Willy's for the bus ride home.  We got a taxi to take us back to Macan Che to pay and get our bags before we waited for the bus to take us back to Cancun.

The bus came at 4:30 and we didn't get into Cancun until 10:30.  After a pit stop in Valladolid, Candy got a bag of chicharrones with a spicy sauce on top.  She thought that was the best part of the trip.  A couple of teenage boys next to us was staring at us, especially after she bought the chicharrones.  ;)  We were exhausted by the long bus ride and were frozen by the end since they crank up the air conditioning.    I was proud that we made it back to Cancun without a hitch after using all different types of transportation.