Venture-Out's
Definitive Excursion #7:

Izamal
'The Story-Book Town'

L ike an artificial mountain straddled toward the side of a valley of steep 'pyramids', Izamal's original centerpiece projected from a massive stone-hewn mound (with its flanks of broad staircase) projecting, in turn, from a more massive plaza-platform which rose above its immediate surroundings: a massive ceremonial/civic center.

Situated as it was, the structure must have appeared to be on a giant stage to the lower civic center below -a stage whose audience district were the streets and rooftops of the center itself, and whose loges were the stepped levels and acmes of the surrounding, nearly adjacent pyramids -an appearance which persists today.

Together, the site served as a major pilgrimage center dedicated to the principle god of the, then, Mayan pantheon: Izamna .

So sufficiently imposing was it that, by 1548, the Spanish Conquistadors had the original centerpiece razed to provide the space and material for the surrounding pyramids (and their loges) to, instead, look down upon the central seat of what became the peninsula's major monastic order, the Franciscan, and their immense, and perhaps equally imposing Convento de Antonio de Padua .

Soon after the transformation of the centerpiece, and the consequent influx of holy dignitaries, the architecture of the ceremonial/civic center, piece by piece, also transformed to become the delightful cobblestone-streeted colonial hodgepodge which it remains today. Moreover, its buildings (all painted a yellow-ochre) appear to have been influenced by the size of the blocks mined from that original centerpiece -so much so that they took on a very odd appearance.

Set on oversize pediments along overly slender streets, its heavy, though narrow, buildings are most peculiar. In relation to their storied floors, their windows are distributed so disproportionately high, that if an adult were caught peering out through one (obscured from the window's sill down) at a passerby, the passerby would have the overwhelming feeling that he, or she, were being gazed upon by a person who was, from the waist down, a giant -while, from the wasit up: a midget.

Even when not so partially concealed the townspeople are still an oddity. So long insulated as they must have been by the Franciscans, they exude a genteelity difficult to describe. A couple of examples might help:

Upon entering a restaurant off its main square during my first visit some fifteen years ago, the restaurant's clientele not only stopped eating to announce their 'saludos' to a me, a perfect stranger, but also did not resume to eat until I myself was seated.

Upon my last vist, a typical young lady, named Nicte-Ha ('Water-Flower') matter-of-factly described the reason for the town's arched gates:

"The Mother Virgin put them there to keep out the snakes."

Stated so cheerfully and aglow with such innocence that: not only could there be no room for any misgivings, but also no room for wanting any.

Little has changed since that intrepid explorer-journalist John L. Stephens wandered into its bounds from the jungle to, in 1843, first describe Izamal to the outside world.

By day, surrounding woodcutters and farmers converge (though, now, as often on bicycle than on foot) onto its mainsquare to still peddle their wares. By night, the town's matrons converge (though more in the soft glow of a nearby makeshift cinema than a pyramid's keepfire) to still park their posteriors on the benches immeadiately rimming the square's interior to keep an eye, and ever-vigilent chat-line open, on the entirety of the town's young ones who, in pairs, circle (also, now, as often on bicycle than on foot) the paved promanade immediately surrounding the square.

With more gaslights then electric lights, more horse carriages than cars, and with only Jarana dances (made festive with fireworks and colorful baloons alit and set aloft with candles) -all set like the optimum vision of a very superb fairy tale illustrator, Izamal remains the charmed anachronisim it must certainly have always been.

The small, and most comfortable eco-lodge complex of Mancanche, straddles both the adjacent jungle and the town's narrow suburb. With its nearby ranch (within easy strolling distance) offering a large swimming pool and optional horseback riding, there is really no other accommodation to consider. It is also a favored local for the international meetings of Earth Watch.

PRICES:
$129US/Each 1st 2 Adults
$69US/Each Adult thereafter
$49US/Child Under 12 Traveling w/Parent(s)
2 Adult Minimum; 8 Person Maximum

INCLUDES:
-Fuel
-On-Route Continental Breakfast
-Ice Box for:
On-Board Refreshments & Snacks
(Purchased by Passengers)
-Entry Fees
-Astute Driver/Guide
-Mancanche Accommodations
with Breakfast
-Bicycles & Co-Guide
-Sales Taxes

EXCLUDES:
-Auto or Van Rental
(Disparity of Auto to Van Rental Prices
plus Time of Year
Prohibit Accurate Inclusion in Package Price)
Auto or Van Rentals Are Quotable at Time of Arrival
-or-
as Pre-Rented w/Your Local Travel Agent)
-Auto Insurance = $5US/Driver/Day

Note: There are no scheduled Tour, Eco-Tour, Colonial Tour-bus excursions.

The itinerary, direct from your Cancun hotel, passes through the dense chicle-gum forests of northern Quintana Roo to the large colonial town of Valladolid where we take a prolonged rest stop aside its main square with time for the brought-along-lunch and a walking tour of its vicinity. We then proceed on a leisurely pace to snake on good road through dense (and, at times, overhanging) jungle, and the subsequent henequin plain region (and its cozy colonial villages) approaching Izamal. Reaching the eco-lodge complex of Mancan-che we clean up, then, free time for dining (your choice) at the odge or beside the town's square; then overnight at the eco-lodge.

After early breakfasting at the lodge, a full morning is spent bicycling the town of Izamal with a resident co-guide. Returning to the lodge for a late lunch, upon its completion, we head for the lodge's ranch for pool swimming and optional horseback riding in adjacent jungle.

Plus:

Return, or:
Overnight at the same Mancan-che Eco-Lodge
plus next day departure for any additional Definitive Excursion
Add Overnight Accommodations of 35US/Room of 2 Persons
plus Same Day Rates as Above

Customized Bus or Jeep Caravan Excursions are available on this itinerary.

Individuals with questions are welcome to contact me, John Pastore .

"A teepee is a pyramid, isn't it?"