If you have a day off from your spanish school, go and visit Izamal. Small town 47 miles east of Merida (it will take you 45 minutes by car to get there), the « dew from the skies » in maya, is one of Mexico’s « magical » sites. You will immediately be seduced : the whole city is painted in bright yellow, highlighting all the monuments, the convent, the streets, the houses, the marketplace, the colonial buildings.
If you are in Izamal on a Sunday, you can discover it all as well as enjoy the art exhibit, the music and mexican folklore held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Zamna Park.
The most impressive building in town is the Franciscan Convent, built on top of the ruins of yet another mayan pyramide. Its fame also comes from the fact that it was built by Brother Diego de Landa who burnt most of mayan written documents and who, later remorseful, tried to rewrite them from memory. Go through the Church and the Governor’s Palace to have a better view at the town’s rich history. At the end of your beautiful day back in the past, enjoy the light and sound show in the Convent’s atrium, Monday through Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
Give a stroll around town to have a look at the other 4 mayan pyramides, built on all 4 cardinal points. The way they were set gave the city yet another name in maya, « the city of the hills, » because once on top of the pyramides you could see far off above the city’s rooves.
You can go to Izamal easily by car or with the local bus, leaving from the small bus station on 67th street, between 50th and 52nd.
