A Trip through the Citrus Belt

A Trip through the Citrus Belt

As I felt more relaxed last week and after getting my first ever manicure, I decided to visit some of the smaller towns in the south of the Yucatan.

Another Moto-Taxi

Since I really had no fixed plans, I went to the second class bus station ad checked to see which bus was leaving first to one of four towns I had considered.

The winner was Ticul, which had been described as an hour from Merida and full of shoe shops and with a beautiful church. Well, Ticul was not exactly what I expected. First, the trip lasted three hours and we stopped at every small town, hit every tope (speed bump) and used the narrowest roads I had seen here in twenty years. After our arrival at one pm, I went to a restaurant (Los Almendros) which claim to have invented Poc Chuc (a dish of thinly sliced fried pork with bitter orange sauce and fried red onions.) .It was delicious and the best I have ever eaten. The lunch however was strange – about a half pound of poc chuc, some watery beans and tortillas. That was it!

The moto-taxi from the downtown to the restaurant was similar to the one we had used to get to Uxmal. A motorcycle in front and an area with seats for two or three in back.

After lunch, I walked back to the center of town, where almost everything was closed: It was siesta time, about 2:30pm. I had forgotten this custom, because Merida has gotten away from it. The church was closed, the tourist office was closed, the art shop was closed and so, I caught the next bus to Oxkutzcab, http://www.oxkutzcab.com/ a place with a citrus market and other points of interest. Since I had not planned this excursion too well, I thought I would get a map at the hotel. This was not to be – they did not have any so I only saw the citrus market and an old church.

Next morning, off to Mani, an important city for the Maya and the place where Diego de Landa burnt so many of the Mayan codices. Now, it is a quiet small town. The road out was lovely, a very straight road (perhaps the same route as an old Mayan road.) The citrus groves on either side reminded me of San Juan Capistrano and other parts of Orange County, thirty year ago.

The beautiful old church was undergoing restoration, its walls are about three feet thick and the gardens were lovely and are still attractive, although a bit overgrown.

The economical bus took two hours to get back to Merida.

Next time I will research the towns more carefully, will use the economical bus (not the second class one) and will print maps before I leave.