Izamal Mi Corazon

As soon as we got off the bus we knew Izamal was the vibe.

This town was made for photo shoots.  Buildings in the center of town are painting a magnificent shade of yellow and it’s glorious. 

It was easy to get here from the Estacion de Centro in Valladolid, the journey takes around 2 hours and cost 76 pesos.

The weathered stucco, the patinas, the colonial architecture it’s all so visually pleasing right from the start. We dropped our bags at the hotel, San Miguel de Archangel, and went to the Mercado Municipal for lunch. We got very acquainted with a plate of salbutes.

This was a lively typical market and it was good to see it thriving. In comparison the  market in Valladolid was a ghost town. 

 

Our hotel is an eccentric place and our room has a balcony right on the Parque Cinco De Mayo. 

The stage in Plaza Izamal was decorated with rainbow flags so we asked a ship keeper what was going to happen. When he said there would be a parade and a drag show we lost our minds.  I absolutely love drag shows and seeing one in Mexico would surely be a highlight of the trip. We watched a very tame, by gay pride parade standards,  go right by our balcony.

Here’s a few gems from the night. We were completely obsessed with the performer in black and neon green. I think we has been living for this moment since he was seven years old.

Next day it was back to photogenic moments and eating! Izamal has great market food and you absolutely must go there for breakfast and lunch. Our hotel’s continental breakfast was a paltry peice of white toast and a cup of coffee so tacos sounded pretty good even if it was 8 am. A regional specialty is venison tacos which I didn’t know I was eating until after I’d devoured the plate and washed it down with an orange Fanta. I can tell you they were outstanding.

We had planned to have a “special” meal in Izamal, meaning we would go to a restaurant with a full menu and table service.  There’s three in Izamal that serve regional specialties.   The one we really wanted was Kinich, which annoyingly was only open for lunch on weekdays. I guess it’s because of the pandemic, I really dont know why they had such limited hours but it was annoying. So we went to our number two choice, which I won’t name because I don’t wanna be leaving a negative review. It wasn’t like it was bad, the portions were generous the service was kind, but it just sucked. The amount of money we spent here could have treated both of us to kick ass tacos for a week. Vicki had the poc chuc It was done pretty well, but it was so uninspired! Basically a plank of pork, a side of pickled onions and a little bowl of tasteless salsa.  I had a traditional dish called papadzules.  I was skeptical, because the main ingredient is hard boiled eggs. The eggs are chopped up and rolled in a thick tortilla topped with a sauce made from ground pumpkin seeds. Very very traditional, so I wanted to try it.  My entrée had to have had a dozen hard-boiled eggs in it. The rolls were as thick as toilet paper tubes, and there were four of them! Jam packed with eggs! It was completely submerged in sauce, and topped with at least six more chopped hard-boiled eggs. Enough about that. And I’m not posting a picture.

Next day, while peddling around on rented bikes, we did happen upon a very cute little place that also had a traditional menu which was a little bit cheaper than the more well known places. It’s not listed anywhere, not even on Google maps,  it seems like they might’ve opened two weeks ago. We went in there for a break and had lovely glasses of  Chaya con pina with a little dish of chips and black beans.  

 

Highly recommend Restaurante Otoch if you want a special traditional meal in Izamal.

Back in the bikes, We wrote all over the central yellow district, and into the outskirts of town where every other house was blasting its raucous Sunday afternoon Reggaeton.

Biking around is super fun and we eventually made our way to one of the ruins that are scattered all around the town! This was a pyramid temple to the sun god. We got there right when it opened and were the only people there.

Again, great care must be taken on going up and down these things, one wrong move and you're toast.

There’s also a huge convent that you can visit, it’s pretty boring once you’re inside but looking at it from a distance it’s pretty cool.




There’s a lovely fresco near the main entrance. Highly highly recommend a visit to Izamal. Energy is really good there, there’s good shopping and everyone seems to be pretty content with their lives. How could you not be when you’re surrounded by such a gorgeous color?

All photo credits Vicki Spagnoli.