Visiting Izamal: Follow the Yellow Adobe Wall

“What I wouldn’t give to see nations prior to the arrival of colonialism.” – Old Sean

The Yellow Lands

Following my brief vacation to Campeche, I’ve attempted to cram in a few more activities prior to online university starting.

On this occasion, I was invited by my friend Lu to visit the city Izamal with her two sisters.  The girls wanted a few photos and a day of exploration and I wanted to be not woefully helpless with my broken Spanish and questionable navigation skills. 

Izamal (translated to “Dew that Falls from Heaven”) is an unusual place for sheer religious connotation alone.  As the Ancient Maya civilization continued to degrade, Spanish invaders drove towards the diminished temple-city.  What they found were enormous stone-works, creeping tangles of jungles and the last remnants of an ancient society.

An Overview of Izamal

Prior to any Spaniards, Yucatan was ruled by various tribes, including the famous Mayan people.  Izamal was one of their most important strongholds.  The original founder Zamná (a priest of the god Itzamná) named the location Izamal, a grand stone city honoring two of the Mayan’s more prominent gods (including a flaming macaw that descended from heaven to scoop up tribute). 

By the time the Spaniards arrived, however, the Maya civilization had atrophied greatly for unknown reasons. 

In short order, Catholic missionaries strode in and began tearing down these last icons.  Across Yucatan, temples were deconstructed and convents were established in their place.  When feasible, at least.

Many of the larger stone temples were dismantled.  The large, sturdy foundations which had once housed pyramids were restructured to create a Spanish missionary, where natives were converted into Christianity. 

The man credited with this project is something of a paradox.  Friar Ludgar is responsible for erasing the last vestiges of Maya codex’s off the face of the Earth.  Inversely, he is also the most reliable firsthand witness as was meticulous about writing his discoveries down.  As such, he has a unique dichotomy among historical opinions. 

Fast forward a few centuries and Izamal was to be visited by the Pope in 1993.  In preparation for his holiness’ arrival, the town surrounding the convent was repaired, cleaned and painted.  Though the legends differ a bit at the reason for the color scheme (the color of the staple crop corn, the color of the sun or something to do directly with Pope John Paul), Izamal was ultimately painted entirely yellow with white trim.

Hence, the modern city of Izamal is known as Ciudad Amarilla or the Yellow City. 

Reconstructed Faith

Izamal has been on my list of places to visit since I arrived in Merida, for proximity if nothing else.  However, the entire city is quite small and tourists can probably knock out most of the more compelling features within a day. 

The most prominent feature in Centro de Izamal is the enormous yellow structure, Covento de San Antonio de Padua.  The structure is actually built upon the expansive ruins of one of Izamal’s original temples. 

When the Spaniards arrived, they determined the amount of effort needed to dismantle the temple was costly, and as such built the Christian feature atop the pyramid.  Covento de San Antonio de Padua is a beautiful structure on it’s own. 

Raised over the city, the Covento holds a lush green courtyards and strong weathered pillars.  The interior shows traditional icons of Christianity as well as some faded painting uncovered from over three hundred years ago.  The back of the Covento is equally impressive.  Stones taken from the original pyramid were repurposed as quality building materials for the Catholic structure. 

Market Squares

Upon leaving the initial temple, we loitered around the square for a while, browsing the various food stalls, craft centers and a large interior market around the corner.  True to form, Parque 5 de Mayo showcased colorful hammocks, odd, fluttering toys, numerous Maya-styled carved trinkets and a strong turnout of food carts.

My favorite proudly sold marquesitas with Nutella filling.  Parque Izamal was directly adjacent and equally pretty, with the cartoonish colorful human-sized letters “Izamal” placed directly in the center of the park. 

Unfortunately, many places in Mexico try to lure tourists into horse-drawn carriages.  The horses are often decked-out in outlandish regalia which is somewhat hard to stomach.  It doesn’t seem like a happy existence for any of the creatures. 

We next walked down Centro Cultural y Artesanal, which is a splendid little street looping past the Covento.  Flags and streamers flutter overhead and cobbled roads feel good to stride along, especially when cluttered on the narrow sidewalks so signature to Mexico.  However, another casualty to COVID, this are was mostly shuttered. 

Repurposed Ruins

We next wandered off to check out the various Maya ruins tucked in the various corners of the city.  These included Zona Arqueologica de Izamal, Habuk Archaeological Site and the once-a-Maya-residential area, El Conejo.  Another tourist casualty of our current COVID area, these areas were mostly gated off or under restoration.  From beyond the iron-wrought fences, however, impressive towers of stone were expertly stacked far into the sky, occasionally creating picturesque platforms for trees to lean over the sides. 

Finally, however, we managed to find a bit of luck.  The largest and most famous intact pyramid of Izamal is called Kinich Kakmo Pyramid.  This huge structure is actually a steadily risen pyramid leading to an expansive plateau before extending further to an even higher, much steeper pyramid atop it. 

Those attempting to climb the structure should bring sturdy shoes, as the ground isn’t terribly level.  Additionally, the view from atop the pyramid isn’t particularly impressive. 

Yucatan is very flat, lush and green, making the landscape seem undramatic.  Climbing the dense structure is a lot of fun all on it’s own, with pitching ground under a layer of creeping grass, a surprisingly welcome cluster of elevated shady groves and a very welcome breeze rushing in to shatter the ever-present humidity.

Maya Eatery

Following our climb, we next went to visit Kinich the restaurant.  This was predictably right next to the pyramid itself and is painted the traditional bright yellow of the town.  It is recommended that visitors make reservations in advance, because at four PM, once we had eaten our meal, there was still a sizeable crowd waiting for their own table. 

There’s good reason for the hype.   Kinich has numerous traditionally made Maya foods.  My personal favorite was the Chaya iced-drink, which is a leafy bush native to Mexico a bit similar to spinach.  Locals can blend and chill Chaya into a fine little chilled beverage.  The handmade tortillas are served in dried gourds to retain moisture and can be used with virtually every item found on Kinich’s menu.

With a hefty amount of food in our stomachs and Mexico’s heat settling on our shoulders, everyone was fairly tired.  We checked out a few more streets and passed by the central portion of the city once more, but by and large, we were ready to start driving home. 

Return to Merida

Overall, Izamal is a very nice, historically-potent corner of Yucatan, certainly worth a visit, walk-around and a meal or two.  It’s particularly kind to anyone wanting to take photos (my companions were dedicated photographers during this trip, more so than me). 

I’m going to try taking just one or two more trips before my classes start next week, but time and distance are likely against me.  I’ll post once more before classes start.

Until then,

Best regards,

Old Sean

Written October 25th 2020

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