So after our day spent exploring a number of the finest issues to do in Merida in Mexico, our subsequent day was spent exploring the very best issues to do outdoors of Merida.
An enormous one for us was visiting the traditional Mayan temple of Uxmal, venturing to some native Haciendas (that are like these actually outdated farms) and in addition cooling off in some unbelievable cenotes.
Neither of us was excited about driving so for this, we determined to both e-book onto a personal tour or get a personal driver.
We determined to go for the latter as that was organized by our lodge and in addition was significantly inexpensive.
Factor is although, we didn’t actually really feel like a tour information was crucial for visiting a cenote, haciendas are likely to have their very own guides inside and we figured Uxmal was the one one that would profit from being visited with a tour information however we might discover Uxmal on our personal.
Uxmal, by the best way, is loads much less crowded than the likes of Chichen Itza however no much less spectacular.
In reality, I’m fairly sure the primary pyramid here’s a lot taller than Chichen Itza.
Even from a distance it appears spectacular and as you discover the grounds that impressiveness kinda follows you round.
The ticket system to get in is a bit humorous. You kinda have to purchase two tickets.
One appears to be for the native authorities and the opposite is for the location (I believe).
Anyway, it doesn’t actually matter what both of the 2 tickets are for, what actually issues is that one among them you’ll be able to pay for by card (or money) and the opposite you’ll be able to solely pay for by money so be sure you convey some money with you to cowl this.
Parking can also be fairly easy right here however seeing as we employed a driver, we didn’t want to fret about that half.
The world round Uxmal is break up off into a number of sections and also you get given a map to discover it whenever you first arrive so it’s all fairly straightforward to navigate.
The one factor that was maybe difficult initially was getting a way of the dimensions of the place relative to the map.
I discovered that I assumed we’d already seen a lot of it, solely to understand that we’d barely moved previous the primary couple of spots on the map.
There aren’t any distributors contained in the precise grounds of Uxmal itself, solely on the tickets space earlier than you enter so be sure you present up with no matter snacks or drinks you may want.
The latter is definitely an important as a result of it will get actually sizzling right here and also you get very thirsty in a short time.
I used to be questioning if it could be of any assist to attempt to describe every part of the completely different areas to go to right here however I realise that even when somebody had tried to explain these to me upfront, I’d have discovered it too boring to hearken to and so I gained’t inflict that on you.
It’s a lot extra enjoyable to discover in individual and uncover all of this info whereas it’s proper in entrance of you so I’ll allow you to get pleasure from that whenever you present up at Uxmal.
Additionally, it’s attainable to go to Uxmal for those who’re staying in Tulum or Cancun so when you’ve got been to Chichen Itza already or simply need to keep away from the crowds there, that is the right spot for it.
Leaving Uxmal, the very first thing we did was cease on the exit and have like 3 completely different drinks.
I’m not even kidding, we had been so dehydrated by that time that we needed to have a big bottle of water, swiftly adopted by a delicate drink after which, simply because it was proper there, an ice-cold coconut.
Oh, and we had an iced lolly as nicely whereas we had been there too. We had been that thirsty.
The cenote we went to go to was Cenotes Hacienda Mucuyché and what I hadn’t realised was the truth that a.) you’ll be able to solely go to on a guided tour and b.) there’s a Hacienda go to as a part of that tour.
We’d kinda determined we didn’t actually need to go to a hacienda earlier than that because it gave the impression to be a selection of both visiting a hacienda or a cenote (primarily based on our deliberate timings for the day) so it was a quite nice shock to search out that we might be capable to go to a hacienda too.
The English language tour had already began by the point we arrived however fortunately we had been capable of take part partway because it had solely been happening for just like the final 10 – quarter-hour.
Suffice to say, by the point we obtained to the primary cenote we needed to go to, we had been greater than prepared for that dip.
However that must anticipate a bit bit.
The hacienda tour was truly fairly attention-grabbing so I believe it was good to have each mixed on this tour.
For the cenote although, I used to be like “Why do we want a tour for this?”.
All of it is smart when you do it. See, Cenotes Hacienda Mucuyché has two cenotes right here, there’s one which’s open on the high and one which’s fully hidden underground.
The information takes you to 1 first and then you definitely swim by way of like a bit little bit of a ‘river’ and get out on the different facet to enter the underground cenote.
They’re each so unbelievable.
Like we had already deliberate on visiting one other cenote as a result of I wasn’t fairly positive if we’d like this one right here as a result of in images it regarded so industrial nevertheless it was so wonderful to chill off within the water right here and in addition to study every part whereas we had been there.
Oh and by the best way, life jackets are obligatory for everybody right here.
They supply all of that totally free and even have safe luggage you’ll be able to lease for a small price to retailer your belongings in.
Our plans to go to one other cenote subsequent door disappeared as quickly as we had been completed with Cenotes Hacienda Mucuyché as we felt like we’d completely loved the place we’d been swimming for fairly a while and didn’t really feel the necessity to shoe-horn in one other place only for the sake of it.
With that in thoughts, we headed again to Merida to seize our issues from our earlier lodge (Decu Downtown) and head over to our new lodge – Casa Olivia.
Now I used to be so impressed by Decu Downtown that I simply didn’t anticipate a lot from Casa Olivia earlier than we arrived there.
Like I assumed it could be good however nowhere as good and Decu Downtown however boy did Casa Olivia ship.
Casa Olivia is such a beautiful little place and the design parts listed below are unbelievable.
There’s a lot consideration paid to particulars and it’s simply so stunning.
It has solely 4 rooms and the workers listed below are so unbelievably attentive.
Additionally, they’ve a canine right here too.
It’s referred to as Olivia and I can’t keep in mind now if the place is known as after the canine or the canine after the place however no matter – they’re each referred to as Olivia.
Once more, because of the comparatively small variety of rooms right here, it appears like you might have an entire villa right here all to your self with individuals attending to your each want, it’s wonderful.
We settled in in a short time and after grabbing a drink on the bar and sampling their home made tequila, we ventured into Merida in quest of dinner.
Dinner tonight was a last-minute determination and for that we went to Nakuh which is a brand new restaurant in Merida specialising in Mayan delicacies.
We began issues off with some beers and a flight of tequilas to additional construct our information of tequilas.
We made positive to strive completely different one from those we had at La Negrita just a few nights earlier than so we might widen our tequila sampling on this journey.
The meals at Nakuh is definitely actually improbable however the workers listed below are much more so.
They saved us belly-laughing all the night and it was simply such a enjoyable place for dinner.
It was additionally very nice to strive some native Mayan dishes that you just’d by no means get in a typical Mexican restaurant wherever again at house.
In the present day had truly been an extended day so as an alternative of looking for some place else to go for drinks or something like that, we simply determined to name it an evening and head again to the lodge for a well-earned relaxation.
Will catch you up on all of the issues we obtained as much as the subsequent day on this publish right here.