Day 23: Conkal to Izamal

January 21, 2026

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Charly, our host and the owner at the so comfortable Casa de Campo oin Conkal. had suggested 8:00 a.m. for breakfast. but we negotiated 7:30. So it was great when he messaged us that he was ready to go, at 7. Breakfast was on the patio, by the pool. We could see various birds flitting about, so I kept jumping up to get some shots. This woodpecker, for example:

We are calling it the Yucatan Woodpecker, because of its red Mohawk. Could be a Golden Fronted, though.

When we told Charly that we had bagged a Summer Tanager in his tree yesterday, he was very interested. We spent some time convincing him that this was not a Cardinal, and that our Tanager was not all red by virtue of being an immature male. Charly seemed to whip up a bird ID site on his laptop very quickly, and though he never claimed to be a "birder", we see this evening that his place is an established e-Bird hotspot.

The bikes are ready to go as we head for a relaxing breakfast.

The breakfast that came forth was just what one would need to begin a tough day. A fruit salad with papaya, apple, banana, and guava, topped with honey, granola, and yogurt. Then eggs and toast, the toast even boasting butter (not always a given in Mexico) and available jam packets, which we pocketed. Those two packets could make this a two jammer?

Charly, and his gardener, wished us well on our trip, and we told of our new idea of returning here for perhaps a week, and having it as a base for cycling to ands around Merida, which is only about 10 km away.

We sailed out into the streets of Conkal, which while not serene as was our hotel, was still sort of restful for the slow pace of the various vehicles putt-ing along the streets. When we left town, we were cruising along, still bolstered by the good breakfast. But soon we came to a fork in the road. To me the choice was easy, one way was paved and the other dirt. But Google Maps had already ruled, we got the dirt.

The dirt carried on for a bit, being not too bad, and then it forked again. Correct, we got the dirtier dirt.

Dodie declared that she could not safely cycle this, so she started to walk. This can be a fateful point. First off, I am no longer that great at walking. Next, walking which is necessarily slow, is tantamount to just standing out in the sun. It was ok, because we had enough water, and now we added electrolyte powder that had been gifted to us by our neighbour Marnie. We spent 2 1/2 hours out there, covering 10 km.

We decided that this road, carefully chosen for us by Google, was actually just a power line access road.

The photo below may not quite look like it, but it marks the point at which the rotten road became cycleable.

And we are off! The turn to the left leads to the 2 street town Santa Cruz. That is definitely not Karen Poret's Santa Cruz!

We arrived at Nolo, which actually was a reasonably sized little town. We came in at the cemetery, and were quite glad that after our time on the hot trail through the bush we were here under our own power, and not shoved in the back of a hearse, if they even had one.

Our big stop was at Tixcolob. Because the Mexicans pronounce the "x" as "sh", this was Tishcolob, which we decided to call Shish Kebob.

While on the one hand you have fresh markets, with meat hanging out on hooks, a lot of the Mexican food is highly processed and packaged. The truck below pulled up beside me, and the signage told the tale of processed meat.

There was also this nicely named restaurant. Colibri is the hummingbird and Toh is the Motmot.

We came alongside the market, and found places to sit on the median of the street. The photo shows the requisite group of other old timers.

The quality at these butchers looked pretty good.

The market did seems to have some ready to eat food, but unlike some, there were not a lot of tables and diners.

The fruits and veggies always look so great!

Every market has a taquilleria. I have never actually watched the machines in operation.

I am very taken with the slow moving cargo bike and cargo moto units that trundle around the little towns. The low step access to most makes them ideal for grandma to go to the market, and their movement is slow and gentle.

Lots of families may also crowd onto a single motorbike. Dodie noticed this cute kid and with Dad's permission gave her an Oreo.

Tixcolob actually means "place of poisonous snakes" in Mayan, but its main claim to fame is the manufacture of hammocks.

We left town, and were on the lookout for any cows. I had been sending video "interviews" with cows to the grandkids, and Joe was asking for more. We thought these goats could be worthy stand-ins, but they took one look at me and fled!

Out of town again, we ran past some small plantations of agave for sisal. They seem a very strange plant, and we have no idea how an agave for tequila looks any different.

Our road, meanwhile, was this. It allowed us to make up lost time.

Citilcum was too small, I think, to have a church or square, and likely we just blew through.

We finally entered Izamal, with its famous yellow painted buildings. The city was painted yellow (and white) in 1993, when Pope John Paul II visited. It is also true that yellow, associated with the sun, was a sacred color in Mayan cosmology.

In past years we have stayed at a hotel near the giant yellow convent, off the main square, called St Miguel Arcangel. But they had no vacancy this time, so we moved to another corner to a place called Hotel Rinconada del Convento. We think rinconada means little corner, so that fits.

The back-end of the convent, from our hotel.

Since few rooms have a desk, I usually find a chair and type the blog on the side of the bed. This time there was no chair to be found (?), but the hotel staff offered me what seems to be the former office of the founder of the place.

Great as the office looked, I would be too lonely working in there. So I stole a coffee table from somewhere to sit on, and this blog page like all the others, comes to you from "bed".

We went out for a look at the convent and the square. We had planned to spend an extra day here, climbing the pyramid in town, looking for the cenote, and suchlike, but we are slightly rushing back to Coba, so the dentist can check out my tooth. It has stopped hurting for now, but Dodie is recommending to not chew on it. It is difficult dining opposite the chewing police. I tried to convince her that the bad side was the other side and that I was chewing "legally", but she is not easily fooled. She is worried, and has my best interest at heart, of course!

Some of the many caleches by the convent.

The info panel about the convent had an English side, but it was totally faded out.

Here is the story:

Founded in 1549 by Franciscan friars, construction began under Fray Diego de Landa.
Completed in 1562, it became an important Marian sanctuary in Yucatán.
The original architectural project featured a large atrium, four chapels, a church, and a convent.
Corridors were added in the 17th century, and the church's facade was reformed in the 18th century.

This convent was founded in 1549 by the Franciscan friars, but its construction did not begin until some years later, under the care of Fray Diego de Landa. It was erected on the ruins of the ancient pre-Hispanic building known as Pap-Hol-Chac.

In 1562, the works came to an end and Fray Diego de Landa himself brought an image of the Immaculate Conception from Guatemala; thus, over time Izamal became the most important Marian sanctuary in Yucatán.

The architectural project was due to the architect Fray Juan de Mérida and presented the characteristics of the numerous convents built in the 16th century: a large atrium with four Indian chapels, the church, and the convent itself with its garden.

During the 17th century, and in at least two stages, the corridors that join the processional chapels were built to shelter the participants in the processions; with them the nave of Indian materials was destroyed, the virgin's dressing room and its staircase were also added to the rear part of the church nave.

Towards the 18th century the church facade was reformed; the mural paintings are from the 16th century and early 17th century.

We headed over to our customary restaurant on the square. Here is their menu:

The lady in blue is the "waitress", but she has sone kind of disability or leg strain right now, so I sat down with her to discuss our order. When it came to drinks, I asked for lemonade, but she said "no tengo". So I asked for horchata. Same reply. I reminded me of an episode from the Gerald Durrell stories, ion which a waiter ran through a series of rejections of requests for food and drink, before admitting that he had red wine only. With this lady, I went into the market and came back with a bottle of "Jamaica". This is essentially cold hisbiscus tea. Only later did I learn that Dodie doesn't like Jamaica. I should have gone with Coke. The lady in blue did have Coke!

My new favourite is called empanizado. It's essentially schnitzel. I get kicked put of Germany and come to Mexico to order schnitzel! p.s. meals here are now 150 pesos. Not exactly cheap!

Meals usually come with a stack of tortillas. These look pleasantly whole grainish.

Dodie got a fairly large hunk of chicken.

We watched an old lady totter down the stairs beside us. A large man got up to give her a hand. We realized to our surprise that her intent was to board not an abuela-mobile, but a motor bike.

She has her cane stowed and a firm grip on her take out meal.

Our meal came with a green salsa that the waitress lady said was not piquante. What a fibber. It was liquid fire. I took some of my chicken that I had dipped in it, rolled it in a tortilla, and offered the resulting burrito to one of the nearby dogs. A Mexican dog no doubt likes hot sauce. And it did. But it unrolled the burrito and ate only the chicken. It had to offer the tortilla to some of its dog friends around. Finally one was found that was willing to eat it. Mexican dogs don't like tortillas? Strange.

Dodie thought it unwise to attract dogs to our table. But when we were done, she took leftover chicken out to them in the street. But she avoided teasing then with unpalatable leftover tortillas.

Naturally, I also went for ice cream, in the square. This time I bypassed "coco" flavor and went for Oreo! Sadly, the quality was not good. Lacking in sugar? or ?? But the waffle cone was great.

We necessarily passed by the statue of bishop Landa. This was the guy from the 1500's that burned all the books of Mayan knowledge. But paradoxically he also wrote his own book, documenting Mayan culture, religion, and language.

Whoever did the statue portrayed him about right.

Well I am drinking my leftover Jamaica before turning in. Tomorrow is a long day, as we head toward Chichen Itza!

And oh, how about this Lesser Goldfinch:

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 836 km (519 miles)

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