Below you'll find our links to our favorite blogs on the Yucatan. We've created links to the most interesting articles we've seen on the area. You'll find links to our restaurant reviews and those of others. One of the most shocking thing one discovers when wandering around town dodging hammock hawkers is there is nothing much to buy. We are compiling a couple of shopping guides one for tourist and our guests and one for locals who are trying to furnish their houses.

November 6-13, 2009 The explanation for locating WILD9 in Latin America is, quite simply, that it’s the right time in history. Nearly a billion people live in this region, and it includes some of the world’s largest economies. Equally important is Latin America’s unique importance to the health and viability of the planet. In terms of biodiversity, four out of fi ve of the world’s most biodiverse countries are here, including Mexico. Regions like the Mayan forests, the Amazon river and rainforest, and the plains of Patagonia are critical wild land areas and must be protected if our planet is to survive. But Mexico itself was selected for WILD9 for other, very important reasons. With nearly two percent of the world’s population, and a growing economic infl uence, Mexico has been called “The bridge between the developed and developing worlds.” Much of the world is watching Mexico as the country searches for new ways to manage a country of over 100 million people, with both oil and culture as major exports. Another reason for Mexico’s selection is evident in the photo – the environmental lessons for civilization are all around us. By choosing Merida, we have intentionally put ourselves in the midst of the Mayan civilization. Clearly, the ruins and the pyramids are not simply links to our past, they are also lessons for our future. As the world-renowned scientist and author Jared Diamond wrote in his bestselling book Collapse: “The societies that ended up collapsing, like the Maya, were among the most creative, advanced and successful – until poor management of their environment lead to their demise.” Finally, the Yucatan itself is a living example of the potentially devastating effects of global warming. Nearly two million people live here, entirely dependent on fresh water from underground sources. But right now, as sea levels have begun to rise, salt water is seeping into the underground rivers and aquifers, putting the entire region at risk. WILD9 will focus on this, and other related issues, because fresh water continues to be one of the most important issues of our time, a core area of work.

I've started a couple blogs about restaurants in Merida and the Yucatan. The link above is to the Yucatan Restaurants Blog of our favorite places to eat listed by neighborhood. This is the list we give to our guests at Urbano Rentals. Merida Restaurants Blog has the reviews of some of these same eateries and many more. You'll find links to other food critics on both of my food blogs. For me there is only breakfast at home or at the Hyatt. I don't know of another good place to have breakfast except perhaps in some of the small hotels that serve only their guests. Otherwise I go for tacos at Waynes. Lunch is the easiest meal as there are many good restaurants and cocina economicas open serving at mid day. Dinner is the real problem. The centro restaurants are either just too touristic and awful to bother with or I'm bored to tears with their menus. When in doubt I've found that cheaper is almost always better. There are plenty of restaurants where you'll spend $500 pesos for dinner and you could have eaten better for $50 around the corner. Beware or you'll end up like the guinea pigs in this photograph.

If anyone can save Yucatecan Cuisine from it's own bad self it's Rick Bayless. Having lived for 6 years without PBS I thought I could live with out it but I guess I'll have to buy the DVD collection for season 5 Interspersed in every show are scenes of Rick making the dishes that he found in the Yucatan or that were inspired by a special ingredient (one show focuses on the spice pastes that are the base of the seasoning of the cuisine). These scenes are shot in Rick’s home kitchen and garden in Chicago. Rick’s clear explanations and the availability of recipes for all the dishes make it easy for viewers to make these dishes at home and experience the flavors of the Yucatan that Rick rhapsodizes about. One of Rick’s favorite shows is the one where he builds a pit in his yard, along with the help of his 15-year old daughter Lanie, to prepare cochinita pibil, the Yucatan’s most famous dish. After being inspired by seeing a cochinita pibil unearthed at a friend’s house near Merida, Rick and Lanie return home, dig a hole in the ground in the yard, line it with bricks, build a fire in it and cook an achiote-marinated pig in it. They invite friends over to witness the unearthing of the pig and then to enjoy it with them at a fabulous party. This show, among all 13 shows that make up the 5th season of the series, clearly exemplifies Rick’s passion for bringing the earthy, gutsy, delicious flavors of the Yucatan into the kitchens of fans of the show in the United States. What will the neighbors think when the people next door dig a pit in their backyard?

Once again I'm pushed aside by Donatella and Ivana but at least I'm back in the News.... This tidbit from today's NY Times Magazine.. On the white lacquered dinner table of his own design, Van der Straeten spread out plates, tall crystal glasses from a collection he did for St.-Louis, chunks of amethyst stones and small black skulls by his friend the artist John Powell. What drew the loudest raves, however, were the place mats, black and white photographs by Bruce Gilden that he had torn out of Fashion Magazine. “I usually hate place mats,” Van der Straeten explained. “But I don’t want to ruin the table, so I lay out sheets of tracing paper on which I have drawn, or I use photographs, often from V Magazine because they are so large and arresting.” Tonight, Donatella Versace, Ivana Trump, Valentino and Suzy Menkes stared back at the diners, a fun but slightly unnerving piece of commentary running throughout. update 2008 I always have a hard time when people introduce me as as an architect I'm not. Or and interior designer, ewwww. What I am is a failed artist. I've always painted on the side and pride myself in refusing to sell anything to anyone. A few years ago I took a sculpture class here in Cholul with Gerda Gruber. My goal was to make tiles and lamps but I ended up making a series of two faced skulls. I gave a couple to my friend in Paris and they ended up in the NY Times. They even called me an artist. I'm not an artist. I'm a failed artist.

A couple of years after moving to Merida I was asked to host David Keeps who was writing and article on Merida for Travel + Leisure magazine. He wrote this article over Christmas of 2003 and it appeared for Christmas of 2004. It was David who suggested we rent our extra house to tourists as the hotel situation in Merida was not great. So he is really the godfather of Urbano Rentals. Since then there have been too many articles written about Merida. I've collected some of the better ones and put them on a blog called Yucatan News. Here you'll find an article in the Los Angeles Times called "Paradise for Home Remodelers". An article from the New York Times that quotes the one expat's take on life in Merida..."We gossip and talk about things like where you can find Cheerios,"...I'm sure they do too. Someone please stop the presses!

I have reviewed a few of my favorite restaurants and a few of my least favorite restaurants in and around Merida. I also provide links to people who are nicer than I am and they also review some of the same restaurants and provide addresses and phone numbers. Remember I spent 10 years in NY and 15 in Paris and I found plenty of things to complain about there gastronomically. Go to the link to hear me rant out eating in this god forsaken land of turkey and the pig.

Here are links to some blogs about Merida and the Yucatan

After working on several large design projects in Merida and not being able to find nice lighting fixtures or furnishings we decided to something I swore never to do again. We opened a store. A little store by appointment only on the corner of Calles 57 and 66. One can see a selection of the lanterns and lamps there or email us for a price list and photos. In the meantime we are developing a line of furniture as well.

Film star and director Mel Gibson has launched a scathing attack on US President George W Bush, comparing his leadership to the barbaric rulers of the Mayan civilisation in his new film Apocalypto. The epic, due for release later this year, captures the decline of the Maya kingdom and the slaughter of thousands of inhabitants as human sacrifices in a bid to save the nation from collapsing. Gibson reveals he used present day American politics as an inspiration, claiming the government callously plays on the nation's insecurities to maintain power. He tells British film magazine Hotdog, "The fear-mongering we depict in the film reminds me of President Bush and his guys".

My Yucatan vacation 12 ended up with me buying a house in Merida 6 years ago. But not everyone is so lucky. Here is a place that I'm putting links to other peoples Yucatan Vacations. The good the bad and the very very ugly. Send me your experiences or comments.

Amate Books at Calle 60, #453A x 49 y 51 has a great selection of books that you'll want to read while your here. With a great section on anthropology, Spanish literature, Art and Photography it's pretty hard to get away. It's a good place to spend an hour when it's too hot or to wet to walk from Montejo to the Zocalo without a break. There's a good selection of travel books and guides too. If you're suffering from Vanity Fair or New Yorker withdrawal as I usually am it's a good place to get a magazine or newspaper too. There's a nice selection of books at the San Angel hotel on Montejo & Calle 47 If you need maps go to Dante on the Main Square.

This Travel +Leisure article came out in December of 2004 on Merida. A friend asked us to host David Keeps for 3 hours one morning for Hacienda Petac. It turned into 8 days, actually 10 days since he missed his plane. And that was not my fault!!! Because the article was about Christmas, David came for the holidays in December 2003. A lot has changed in 3 years. Many more of the colonial facades in the city have been restored. The downtown streets are being replaced with fake cobblestone [pressed pre fab concrete]. God forbid they should use the real cobblestone which is just lying under the asphalt. Rumor and the local paper, Diaro del Yucatan, say that they are going to be burying the electrical and cable wires soon. Hurrah! And alas, someone bought the bullfight bar and turned it into a nightmare tourist trap that seems to trap very few tourists indeed. Poke your head in and look at the decor anyway, then run. Nectar is still the best restaurant in town. David Keeps and I keep in touch and he threatens to come back this Christmas on his way to a yoga retreat in Tulum. And when YOU come to Merieda buy the damned hammock first so you don't miss flight home!

James Brown who moved to Merida from Oaxaca about a year ago is currently having an exhibition of his works at Galerie Karsten Greve in Cologne through Jan. 19, 2008. James I met first through his paintings in a little gallery in the East Village called Naturemorte in the early 80's. Then I met James just before I moved to Paris. Then he turned up in Paris a couple of years later. He still has a great studio on Rue des Plantes and mostly works in Paris. There was a great house around the corner from me and I kept trying to get different friends to buy it and no one did. One day I heard it had been sold. It turns out James and his wife Alexandra bought it! I had lost touch with him for about 15 years. So now they are renovating the house and they have moved out of NY and all there stuff from a decade in Oaxaca + the NY loft and aparment is piled into their new home, floor to ceiling.

It's not much fun to play spot the Republican in Merida anymore. They're not as scarce as they once were. Since the articles in Fortune, Financial Times and The New York Times there are a lot more of them coming down. I've boycotted Walmart for years because they are HUGE contributors to the Republican party and are the antithesis of everything I believe in. So recently I went over to buyblue.org to see who was giving what to whom. There were some surprises. Of course about the only airline you can fly on without contributing to Bush&Co. is Aloha Air and that won't get you here. Delta, Continental, Southwest & Northwest all contribute to the Repbulican Party. If there is a Blue Bank, Oil company, Pharmacutical company, Insurance company I did not see it. If you're shopping at Pier 1, Williams Sonoma, Safeway, Kroger, Office Depot, Home Depot you might as well write out a check to Tom Delay. If you consume Pepsi, Coke, Krispy Kreme then you have a big butt and you may as well be down at Hooter's, they are all on the same side as Diebold and Halliburton. What can you do? Order your guide books from Blue Barnes & Noble and not Red Amazon. Get you money out of Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo & don't use American Express. Choose Ralph Lauren over Perry Ellis. Neiman-Marcus not Nordstrom or Saks. LL Bean, J. Crew, GAP & Levi Strauss are all true blue. You'll lucky Republicans can keep shopping at Target, Sears, Penny's too but you'd better stay off ebay. Don't worry you can still go to Starbucks and use your Apple Computer as long as you use Google and not Yahoo. (note to self get off of Yahoo ASAP). Only Qualcom contributes more to the Democrats...Sprint, AT&T, Verizon are as Red as Heinz Ketchup! At least you can safely stay in any number of hotels and B&B's in Merida that are not contributing to the Republicans. But you can also stay at the Hyatt or Starwood who are safely on the blue side. Just don't send home a Halmark FedEx! Oh, and don't rent a Ford!

It's not all sunshine and cheap real estate. Here I'll be scooping the poop, metaphorically speaking, on some of the worst things about the yucatan from not flushing the toilet paper to hammock hawkers.

When we first came to Merida there was a core group of Gringo's living here who gathered at the Merida English Library every month and dispersed into seperate groups to drink and gossip. Eight years later the groups are more diversified and the gossip is more juicy as a result. Here are some links to give you an idea of who lives in Merida now and some blogs of interest for tourists and residents.

Artist and Birdwatcher Vija Celmins finally ended her search for a home in Merida on Saturday. After two years just at the moment when she was going to make an offer on a house in my neighborhood Ermita another house popped up in Mejorada and she grabbed it. The lawyer was dragged out of bed early Sunday morning. The papers signed Vija was off to Chichen Itza for the rest of the day. Spent the night at Hacienda Chichen and was up before dawn on the bird walk. By noon she was back on a plane to New York. Update...December 1, 2007 Vija's house is almost finished. Only one year later and over budget. She's threatening to bring guests in January 2008....

Like general popo you're just a regular guy. But you need to educate yourself if your not going to get ripped off in one of Merida's truly annoying tourist shops downtown. Another one of our guests was ripped off recently. Jeff went out on his own and bought a guayabera. A couple of days later we were frantically shopping for gifts for the kids and he came across the same shirt for $15 usd and he paid $60 at a shop across the street. My advice on this is don't walk into any shop where there is someone standing outside begging you to come in. Avoid the shops when there is someone standing around passing out cards or flier. He did shop around for a hammock and went home happy. I've made this new blog Shopping in Yucatan for you shopping addicts like myself who don't need a hammack or a gauzy tie-dyed moo-moo...at least not yet! It's for our guest but you tourists might learn a thing or two as well.

While there aren't a lot of antiques left in the Yucatan there still seem to be plenty in France. In the Luberon valley there is a little town that was a secret 20 years ago called Ile sur le Sorgue on the river of the same name. Ile Sur le Sorgue is a great place to shop for antiques even today. Especially in the fall and winter when the tourists have gone. Not far away there is another little stream called Les Seyrels and my friends Charla and Walide own and rent a 19th Century farm house hidden between an olive grove and the vines of the local Beaumes de Venise muscat grape vines. Le Mas de Seyrels is a magical house in the most magical corner of France. Charla and Walid also rent houses they have outgrown in Paris. There is a great depot-vente full of treasures on near the Champ des Mars apartment! J'arrive!

After the last turtle has made her nest and made tracks for the sea you'll be wanting your breakfast. Shambala is where we like to stay but there is no restaurant and even the breakfast is substandard, instant coffee? WHY Roberto??? So we usually go to Maya Tulum where it's fun to watch all the yoga students eating and not eating. They're all from NY and LA and they're all dazed and confused because they have not seen a blow dryer in 3 or 4 days. Actually we go there because the pancakes are good enough and the fresh fruit shakes are perfect. The service is very good too. For lunch Zama's is still a good place to go. It's always crowded. Does the wind always blow at Zama's at lunch time. I think it does. The appetizers are good. But, If you really want to eat go to Ana & Jose's. The seafood is the best here of anywhere I have been along the beach. Mezzanine is a newish Thai restaurant and tiny guest house. I'd love to believe the food is good and I have heard that it can be. Three times I have been there and I am sure the chef was sadly, not. The food was not good but I'll go back again. I want it to be good and after 4 years in Merida I am dying for something Asian. I'd stay at Mezzanine if I could but with only 2 or 3 rooms it's always booked. But for Dinner I am going to town. LA NAVE has the best Pizza outside of Rome and the first time I was there I did not have it. I've never made that mistake again. I always have a pizza and then decide whether to have another one or order something else. It's usually full of Italian fashionistas. Sometimes there is a model with them but most often not. I suspect the models are picking through a salad at Maya Tulum while the photographer and stylists are doing some serious eating at La Nave. My Dog Stirling snapped at the waiter at El Pequeno Buenos Aires. I don't know if he was protecting me or the Argentinian Mixed Grill of Angus Beef steaks, sausages and lobster. The waiter came back. The meal was great and hopefully they will let us back in. Stirling can stay in the car next time. Someday I'd like to stay at Boca Paila Camps in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. It's very Camp Beverly Hills. Last time I went it was too noisy on the beach side and they wouldn't show us a room on the lagoon side which is protected from the wind by the dunes. I'd stay there for sure. You sleep in deluxe tents pitched on platforms high above the sand and beach. The view from the top of the building the houses the restaurant and restrooms is the best in Tulum. And the beaches are more or less deserted this far down in peninsula. The most chic hotel is strangely in town. Latino is hidden one street east behind the main street. It's a touch of Playa del Carmen in Tulum. One touch is nice but lets not get take it a step further. If you like Playa del Carmen....please stay there.

The first time I went to Tulum was in 1995. I was ready to leave Paris after 15 years and looking for a place to be. I was in New York and my return flight to France was cancelled because of a blizzard that lasted 3 days. My best friend Anne and I got on one of the first flights out of town, we went to Tulum. There were only a hand full of hotels there then and we stayed in one that had only been open for moments. But there were endless beaches and not too many people. I met Josh a couple of years later and we started exploring Mexico in earnest. We'd always come back with things to sell at our store but what we were really doing is looking for an escape from the city. We stayed in some little cabana's on the beach for about $20. They were called the "baby whale", and they were on the exact spot that Anne and I had considered buying for 20k. We could not at that point imagine our urban selves as beach bums and on our next trip went to Patzcuaro and Oaxaca. Tulum was just a truck stop back then with women cooking on grills in their front yards for the drivers. Now the town has some excellent restaurants and the beach is a string of small boutique hotels and cabanas. Now that we live in Merida we go over to Tulum often. When we go we stay at Shambala Petit Hotel. A guy named Roberto bought the baby whale and painted the bright orange cabanas white. He left the interiors minimal and white too. On my 50th birthday in June we stayed in the last cabin before the beach. Early that morning about the time I was born 3.30 a.m. a giant turtle laid her eggs in the sand right in front of our cabin. I took this as an excellent omen. About a month later hurricane Emily passed through Tulum and destroyed my turtle nest but spared the hotel. Well the turtle will be back and so will I. But I still haven't figured out what the omen meant. Oh, why now? Because the ejido land between the town and the beach has now been sold to developers and soon hundreds of homes and condo's will spring up. Thousands of people will move in and Tulum will just be a nightmare. But for a little while longer it's still a dream..... UPDATE DEC. 2007: Too late! Rumor has it Donald Trump is moving in. I hear there are lovely secluded beaches in Uruguay!

Which came first Cancun or Corona? I don't know and I don't care. I have been to neither since discovering the local brews Montejo and Negra Leon. Watching the Corona ad's alone is reason enough to never give another thought or penny to that skunky overly exported brew. The link above will take to you this guy from Houston who did go to Cancun and discovered our local Yucatecan brewed beer. He can actually write and spell better than me so I recommend you go read his review. Here is taste.... Negra Leon and Montejo are two beers from the Yucatan that are seldom discussed among beer connoisseurs, yet both are good, solid well-brewed lagers. Here's why... Whenever I travel anywhere, I always make it a point to sample the best of the local cuisine, and that means drinking beers and wines that I can't easily find outside their home turf. This year, I enjoyed a thanksgiving vacation to Cancun and nearby environs, and in this corner of the world, "local beer" means beers made at the old Yucateca brewery -- Negra Leon and it's younger brother, Montejo. Leon was first brewed in 1900. The beer is based on the Vienna amber style and is similar in flavor, body, and character to Dos XX Amber. I find Leon to be a little richer and bolder than Indio (another Vienna style amber lager from Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma), but still lighter in color and body than Modelo's flagship Vienna, Negra Modelo. Side by side, I find very little to differentiate a Leon from a Dos XX, which is a good thing since Dos XX already has a huge following and is generally acknowledged as a very good quality beer. Montejo was first brewed in 1960 and was named to honor Francisco de Montejo, the founder of the city of Merida. Montejo is a pilsner style beer that shares more in common with the all-malt light pilsners of the Netherlands than it does with the sometimes grainy tasting derivatives that are popular in the U.S. It is entirely possible that this beer is brewed using adjunct grains, but if they are used, the grain is very well handled since there is little in the flavor or body to signal its presence. Compared to other Mexican brands, it shares a similar firm malty tasting base that reminds me more of Bohemia than any other Mexican brand, though the hopping rate is definitely lower than that fine brew. A surprisingly good, very drinkable light lager.

Here are a few tips on how to buy a hammock and where to buy a hammock and how to say buzz off in spanglish when you've had it with the hammock hawkers in centro

Every time I drive through a village I am amazed to see the cats, dogs, chickens, goats and rabbits hanging out amongst one another in peace and harmony. Is it just to hot to eat one another or is this some sort of new eden? There is no humane society in Yucatan as far as I know. There is a great need for one and I have heard good things about these people who rescue and care for stray animals. Albergue Franciscano del Animal Desprotegido Take the Periferico north from the Cancun exit. Turn right at the Cholul exit, and the Albergue is on your left, across from the Modelo University. For more information, you can email Silvia Cortes at slv_cc@hotmail.com or call +52-999-948-3590. Update: Yucatan Living bless them have more info on animal rescue and the dog days of Yucatan.

If you are thinking about renting a bike in Merida and what fun it will be to whisk around town please get life insurance and name me as the beneficiary. At least if you are a pedestrian you'll be able to jump out of the way of on coming vehicles. Buses are a fine way to get around downtown. Most of them are empty and it's loads of fun to watch the drivers run down pedestrians and tourist in VW convertibles. There is nothing more entertaining than a nice old smoke spewing bus crossing paths with a family of 6 on a moped. It draws a crowd every time. Swallow your pride and take a buggy ride! Seriously, It's the law of the jungle here if it's bigger than you are it has the right-of-way! UPDATE: OCT 2007 For about a year now they have been closing off the street in front of my house in Ermita on Sundays to traffic for the bici ruta. A morning of pedestrian and bicycles only from Paseo Montejo through the center of town and down to Ermita. You can rent a bike at either end. I still see an accident on the corner of calle 66 & 75 at least once a week and it usually involves a car and a bike or a motorcycle. UPDATE: December 2007 Here I just ran into this blog about cycling around the Yucatan and by the gods if these oldsters can do it so can you. http://bicycleyucatan.blogspot.com

I moved here in October 2001 from New York City in a state of shock from the previous month's events. I had absolutely no plan and thought I'd just sort of retire. I continue to buy antiques in France once or twice a year and sell them with a friend in New York. When Josh and I arrived in Merida we naturally scoped out the antique scene here. It seems that during the "Southwestern" craze or phase of design in the 90's or was it the 80's, Mexico was pillaged and there remain very little "antiques" of value here. It also seems that what is here needs to stay here for the houses that are quickly being bought up and restored by foreigners. So I won't be sharing any secrets about where to find antiques any time soon. But there is a little flea market and craft fair in Santa Lucia park on Sunday mornings. I had a store in New York in Soho called Naturemorte. The rent went from $6000 to $20,000 per month in 2000. Since I could buy a house here in 2000 for on month's rent in Soho, I did. There was no plan to move here but after 9/11 we jumped in a U-haul with Anges and Penelope our two wire hair fox terriers. We luckily fell into working with Salvadore and Josephina Reyes Rios on a couple of design projects and that was great introduction to Merida. We concentrated on finishing our house, Ermita, and then we did a house for Josh's parents, Orangerie which they have since sold to a couple who live in New Haven, CT. It was David Keeps who had the idea that we should rent our houses to tourists and it has been the success of that venture that has led to our current life of designing houses for 'new friends' and neighbors. So much for my early retirement.

If you are planning a trip to Merida your first stop on the world wide web should be Yucatan Today. If you have any questions about Merida and the Yucatan you can probably find the answer at Yucatan Today. The address book and the maps are very useful. But if you read closely you will see that they only recommend their advertisers and honey you are going to need a big bag of salt because you are going to need to take everything they say with a grain of salt. Well lucky for us all Yucatan is rich in salt. Read about all those rich and powerful Mayans who controlled the salt trade below. Hours spent on Yucatan today before you get here will be days saved for relaxation and exploring once you get here. You can pick up a copy of the print version in just about any hotel or cafe.

Over the past couple of years we have been renovating properties in Merida. Sometimes for clients and sometimes for ourselves. This winter of 2007 we will be finishing up our last projects for clients and only doing our own projects in the future. We have a couple of houses going on the market this fall that can be seen at the link above. We've been involved in buying and selling more than 20 houses in Merida over the past 6 years. As a local resident it's sometimes possible to find a 'deal' before an agent or speculator picks it up. But over the past couple of years I've still found good buys with several agents. My favorite people to work with are Keith Heitke & Eric Partney at Mexico International and Alec Stephens at Real Estate Yucatan.

This book by Karen Witynski & Joe Carr has become the bible of home owners and potential home owners in Merida and beyond. In fact the kitchen of Josephina Larrian and her architect husband Salvadore Reyes Rios p. 124 has spawned dozens of copies. No doubt there are even copies of this kitchen on Central Park South and Rue des Cherche-Midi by now. But the point is it is a beautiful book and essential for reference if you are planning on buying or house or visiting a hacienda in the Yucatan. You can stay in many of the haciendas that are featured like Petac or San Jose Cholul. Dine on the terrace of Hacienda Xcanatun p. 71. It is one of the two best restaurants in town. Well almost in town. And since I know you are going to ask... the floor tiles can be made to order at the factory in Ucu and the kitchen and bath tiles come from Barro y Barro. You can find this other books by the same authors from Amazon.

The Cathedral in Merida is Mexico's oldest with construction. San Idelfonso was constructed from the ruins of the Mayan City of T'ho. It sits on the main square and is the starting point of most visits to the city. You can easily see a dozen of these churches within a 20 block area of the Centro Historico. For the past 6 years I've lived just off the park beside the Church of Ermita de Santa Isabel. The last stop on the original Camino Real to Campeche the Hermitage today is pretty much unchanged. I've started this new blog with photo's I've found that tourists have posted on the internet. If you have something to add please do in the comments there.

Salt is a basic human requirement; most people requiring approximately 4 grams per day. It is estimated that Tikal's population of roughly 45,000 consumed approximately 131.4 tons of salt annually. Not only is it required in diet, but it can also be used as a preservative. During the Classic and Post Classic Periods small island populations on Caye Ambergris and Isla Mujeres traded salted fish. An exchange relationship between island communities and the mainland was critical because these geographically isolated groups were incapable of sufficient subsistent agriculture. Salt was also frequently used for ritual and medicinal purposes. Remnants of large religious shrines and temples in Emal on the Yucatan Peninsula suggest the surrounding salt beds were considered sacred. It is also believed that salt was commonly used during childbirth and death. A midwife would offer salt to both parents at birth and a saline solution was sprinkled throughout the house following the death of a family member. In the Yucatan village of Dzitás, Robert and Margaret Redfield witnessed salt being prescribed for epilepsy and honey and salt for severe birth pains, suggesting that similar practices may have been evident in ancient periods. The Maya concept of hot-cold and its relationship to illness apply as well. Anthony Andrews suggests that salt was considered a "cold" medicine and often used to cure fevers. A controversial issue among experts is whether salt was used as a currency in ancient times. The fact that many other parts of the world were using salt as a form of currency supports this concept. However, Spanish reports during the conquest suggest that it was more an item of small-scale barter, rather than a major monetary unit. The Yucatan coast is abundant in salinas, or coastal salt flats. The dry season (January to May) allows for inland saline-filled swamps to recede, leaving residual salt-encrusted mud. It is estimated that 20,000 metric tons could be yielded annually. The central area, particularly the Peten region, contained little to no salt sources. The need for salt and the abundance of the resource in the Yucatan prompted rigorous trade. so have the Margharita with salt for sure! l