Dining at the Market in Izamal

Yesterday’s post made me look back fondly to my 2020 trip to Yucatán. I made the acquaintance of a tour guide who helped me find medical care for some really bad blisters from too much walking the streets of Mérida. He recommended a nice jipijapa straw hat, which I bought because I was grateful for his help.

He lived in Izamal, which is an hour drive from the city. We got to talking about food. His favorite restaurant in Izamal was the city market, especially a stall which sold tacos de cordero, or lamb tacos.

Since I was planning to visit Izamal in any case, I noted down the info he gave me. Because my blister was healing slowly, I arranged for a taxi to drive me to Izamal, where I stayed at the Gardenhotel Macan Ché Bed & Breakfast. As soon as I dumped my bags, I walked to the city market and had two lamb tacos at the place recommended by my friend in Mérida (shown in the photo above). They were delicious—and very reasonably priced.

Izamal is known for its multiplicity of Maya ruins, especially Kinich Kakmó. More famous is the Convento de San Antonio de Padua, a huge yellow structure which combined a church, a monastery, and a fortification. Pope John Paul II visited there in August 1993.

After seeing the sites, my blister was healed; and I was able to take the Oriente bus back to Mérida.

The Oriente Bus from Izamal to Mérida

I was surprised to find that intercity bus travel in Yucatán had improved markedly since my last visit. Even the second class buses looked new and were air-conditioned. In 1980 or thereabouts, I remembered riding a Unión de Camionéros de Yucatán bus from Uxmal to Campeche with broken windows, busted seats, and no air conditioning.