This is the third in a series about the HE Travel Mayan Wonders Cultural Tour. Click if you missed Part 1 or Part 2
By Sara Moses
Today we had a free morning to explore the Hacienda grounds and tour the abandoned works and airy main home. Wouldn’t it be relaxing to sleep in that hammock? And just look at this bedroom floor!
I fell in love with the hand-painted tiles found all over the property.
Later we drove into downtown Merida, the capital of Yucatan, where we toured a bright cathedral,
with great knockers.
We had a casual lunch in a bright bar.
That evening, we had a mariachi band serenade us, and I LOVED it. It was loud, and super! And they even played something we could salsa to!
We stumbled upon another cathedral, brightly lit for a wedding.
The next day we got another early start in order to visit Uxmal, a collection of structures covered in intricately carved, high-contrast, angular motifs.
I found a pile of rubble under a tree, and when I walked around, was surprised to find it was a neat stack of carved pieces, labeled by archaeologists. (Note the gigantic Temple of the Magician in the background).
Later we toured the Hacienda Sotuta de Peon, a living history museum where we learned more about the importance of henequen (sisal) to the local economy, from ancient times to fairly recently.
This is me. making sisal rope using a more modern method than I tried in the Mayan village.
And some serious industrial equipment for extracting the fibers for large-scale sisal rope production.
Of course I took photos of more gorgeous tiles.
We wrapped up our day with a swim in a cenote!
