After cleaning 65 days of salt from the boat in Cancun, we rented a car and headed to Merida and Chichen Itza. Merida was a 3 hour drive west of Cancun. We were surprised how barren and scrubby the land was. We had become used to jungle like, lush surroundings since leaving the Baja, so it came as a bit of a surprise to see the change.
We stayed at a lovely small hotel near the center of town, within walking distance of the numerous plazas. After a relaxing delicious breakfast served at the hotel, we spent most of the day walking around exploring. Merida hosts music and entertainment at the local plazas, so we watched local folkloric dancing and listened to music several times after dinner.
Having rented a car, we were able to get out into the countryside to visit Izmal, site of beautiful Mayan ruins. Unlike Chichen Itza, there were few people there and we were able to climb up the extremely narrow steep stairs of some of the buildings. Some of the stairs were quite dizzying and one had to be careful not to loose balance and tumble down. We also drove to the beachside town of Progresso, on the Gulf of Mexico. Not many people there either, it almost felt deserted. Tourist season was over! We were told however that Progresso is the go-to village to escape Merida and have some beach time. It was beautiful, but extremely hot. We did not last long in the sun.
On the return to Cancun, we spent 2 nights at the Hacienda Chichen Itza which borders the site of the famous Mayan ruins. It was a beautiful resort and very relaxing. From there we walked 10 minutes to the ruins which were very impressive, but busy. One aspect we did not enjoy were the souvenir vendors lining the walkways in the ruins. They set up early every morning, wrapping and unwrapping their wares in newspaper. Fortunately we did not experience the vendors at Izmal!
We headed back to Cancun to ready ourselves and Bagan for our trip back to Toronto and Kingston for Easter. Upon our return, we would leave Cancun and start heading north to Isla Mujeres to await the weather window to cross the Strait of Florida to Key West.