December 2020
While in Merida, we read about a nearby city, that is allegedly ALL yellow. Every building! We gotta see that!
About an hour’s drive from Merida, in the Yucatan peninsula, Izamal is one of the oldest Mayan towns in the state of Yucatan. The city was founded around 500 BC and was continuously occupied until the Spanish Conquest. Izamal was an important Mayan city, a center of commerce, religion and political power.
It was conquered by the Spaniards, who eventually built a Franciscan convent over one of the Mayan pyramids. The displacement or masking of Mayan religious sites was one of many strategies by the Spanish Colonial power to try and eradicate local belief systems.
Onwards to explore the historic center of Izamal.
Every historic Colonial building that lines the cobblestone streets in the historic center of Izamal is indeed painted a shade of yellow ochre. The feeling we get from walking the quiet streets with all this yellow everywhere is a happy mellow vibe. Color has the ability of course to influence mood and yellow is on the upbeat register.
There are many explanations for the towns comprehensive turn to yellow: but for us, the one that resonates as most likely to be correct is the the explanation that Izamal has been a pilgrimage site where Mayans offered respect to Kinich Kakmo, one of the Mayan sun gods. Thus the yellow washing with the color of the sun. Some of the houses were painted yellow ochre starting as far back as 1,000 years ago.
Cochinita Pibil is considered to be a traditional Mexican slow roasted pork dish, from the Yucatan Peninsula. But in fact, it was first a traditional Mayan dish, with archeological evidence that Mayans would dig underground pits to cook the Cochinita Pibil (suckling pig) meat. Today, underground pits are rarely used, but the meat still simmers for over 12 hours in citrus juice, with Yucatan herbs and wrapped in banana leaves.
Another interesting traditional Mayan dish is Papadzules, a soft handmade corn taco filled with cream of pumpkin seed, topped with tomato salsa.
After all the Izamal sun-colored architecture, we are inspired to follow the sun as it sets over the lagoons in the area of Progresso at the coast.
What a delightful surprise! A serendipitous symphony in pink.
This post is the fourth in our series of blog posts on our 10 week long road trip through the Yucatan Peninsula. We are currently back home in Zipolite, Oaxaca. Stay tuned for more on this epic road trip. As always we enjoy reading your feedback in the comment section.
Look how excited Ben is to see the flamingos! We have them here in Spain as well. They love the salt flats near our home. I love the yellow buildings. It certainly makes me feel good to see them. A great find. Glad to see Esco is happy and healthy. Sending hugs!
Yes we both always love to see any wildlife in their natural haitat. Such a treat. I am just remembering that he HAS seen flamingoes in the wild before, but just a few of them… in CUBA!
It was such a surreal experience to walk around a city that was all the same color and yellow happens to be a favorite color of both of us. Very uplifting.
Esco was the star of road tripping!
Peta
Charming little discovery there. You both look quite charmed there yourselves.
Ah yes Johnny, good you picked that up. Charmed indeed! How often does one find a yellow city? With a gorgeous atrium and detailed doorways….
Peta
I love the happy yellow color of the buildings. Such charm endowed with a splash of paint. And that food looks delicious. I hope you’re remaining Covid safe.
Quite an experience to walk down street after street of shades of mustard, egg yolk yellow…. We were definitely pleased we made the effort to see this city, it made for a perfect day trip from Merida.
Yes, we always felt Covid safe wherever we went (except for Tulum.. later on in the road trip) Stay tuned. Mexico uses a color coded system to indicate which places are green (very low Covid) or red (very high) and a number of shades in between. We used this while road tripping so we could decide what our route would be.
Peta
What a magical place! And, then to see flamingos! I also haven’t seen them in their native habitat. Another spot in Mexico to put on my list!
Ahhh yes.. If you are in the area of Merida, then Ixamal is definitely worth a visit, just for the experience of being submerged in egg yolk!
The flamingoes were such a treat. Any time we see wildlife in their natural habitat we both feel very grateful for that experience.
Peta
This Spanish priest was a man of extremes….lovely to see these yellow painted buildings.
Nice to read you Dina Jane! 🙂
Yes, he was indeed. While he tried to redeem himself, there is no avoiding that this was cultural genocide.
So much fun to be submerged in the feeling of wading through egg yolk or mustard.
xoxo
Fabulous Fotos. – particularly the photos of architecture. (Esco & Peta’s rear-ends are pretty cute too)
Thanks Judith, am pretty pleased with those architectural shots too!! And um thanks for the compliment on my and Esco’s butts. Not often one gets that! I will tell Esco…
Haha.
Your photography is beautiful. Those yellow buildings are amazing!
So glad to see Esco looking well and happy.
Thanks Donna for the compliment. Izamel is a photographers dream city. Between the architecture, the convent and atrium and the yellow buildings with blue skies… hard to go wrong.
Ah yes, Esco loved it all.
Peta
The yellow town is beautiful! I didn’t know about it or I’d have gone looking for it.
We also saw plenty of flamingoes in that part of the world – Celestun and Rio Lagartos. Magic!
Alison, yes Izamal is definitely worth the visit. We were delighted to be submerged in all that yellow ochre.
Always wonderful to see any wildlife in their natural habitat. We were so pleased to have come across them in this way, rather than take a boat and go searching (probably with other people). Such a delight…
Peta
Even in their state of fade, those yellow facades are still tinged with so much character and glory. And yes, Esco sure looks good 😉 My favourite (which I’ve seen before, maybe on IG?) are those flamboyant flamingos!! Gracias for the re-screening.
Yes, Amit, that is a good way of putting it… “in their state of fade”… Although after Merida, they looked quite spruced up to us! The city overall was well restored and yes full of character and history.
Esco loved the road tripping. He had us both captive in the car and as long as he saw his bed, in each new place, he was happy.
The flamingoes were the best treat. So fun to have them surprise us, as we had planned to go searching for them a few days later.
Peta
Beautiful, informative post. Maybe the tragic history created the need for yellow. Did you find your mood improved by the color?
James has a show up now that includes an 83” wide painting in all yellow. It’s called Caressed and Salted, after a series of verbs Aaron uses to describe my challah making progress. It would fit on our one living room wall. This post makes me want to try it.
Thanks Sharon. We think you would certainly have loved this submersion into yellow ochre! The second explanation for the yellow color that we ran into was that a major city clean up was ordered in anticipation of the visit of the pope, about twenty years ago, which was a moment of glory for the city! The pope specifically came to Izamal because of the historic convento, atrium and place in the history of Catholicism. It was decided that the town would emphasize its early yellow origins.
Yes for sure. Yellow is always a mood lifter! (As long as it is not that bright acidic yellow which I find has the opposite effect on me!)
Sorry to have missed James show. Always enjoy his work. That painting sounds fascinating. Send me a photo! And yes for sure a big splash of yellow in your living room would be awesome. Worth the try. Love the name!
xoxo
P
Seems to me that history often comes down to competing ideologies, for better or worse. Your photos are gorgeous. The shades of yellow on the building seem perfectly at home against the blue sky. A refreshing view, regardless of the history involved.
Not sure about “competing ideologies” here Ally. There was a well established and fully functional Mayan civilization, then one day another civilization in the form of the Spanish Armada showed up with superior military technology and invaded. This is a straight up take over, nothing competing here, the Mayans were minding their own business until the Spanish arrived with their thirst for materials, crops, wood, silver, gold and religion in the form of the Catholic church as a co invader.
Glad you enjoyed the photos.
Ben
Beautiful yellow buildings! I particularly like the corner with the statue of Mary – not for any religious reasons, just aesthetically.
Thanks Anabel, we also really liked that corner building with the unusual shape that seems to be the norm in these parts for corner structures.
Peta
The yellow is so striking, looks like a fun place to visit. Seeing the Flamingos was definitely an added bonus. Beautiful photos 😄
Thanks Gilda.. we kept finding small treasures everywhere we went on this road trip. It got better and better…
Given that we both really love the color yellow when we read about this city, we knew we just had to go there and experience it for ourselves. Quite an unusual feeling to be surrounded with so much of one color. Years ago in Morocco we missed the opportunity to see the all blue city. Maybe we will still get there one day, but in the meantime we enjoyed the all yellow approach.
P&B
Actually come to think of it, Hoi An where we went food hopping with you, has a TON of yellow ochre buildings in the historic center as well. Not all, but predominantly yellow ochre. Only thought about that once we read your comment and were talking about when you both visited us there.
xo
Sometimes I wonder how those Mayan pyramids would look like today had those churches not been built directly above them. It’s sad that in some parts of the world different people at different time in history tried to erase the culture of an entire community just like that.
On a lighter note, I really love the yellow color of Izamal. Don’t you think it reminds you a little bit of Hoi An? I love Ben’s expression when he saw flamingoes in the wild for the first time. I would have pulled the same happy face, I’m sure.
Bama, the answer to how would those Mayan pyramids look like today had they not been covered lies in upcoming posts about the prolific Mayan pyramids and cities that are scattered across the whole of the Yucatan peninsula. One could spend two full weeks visiting a different one each day and even then there would be more to still see!! Thankful for that.
YES, Izamal does remind us of Hoi An and we were just talking about that, reminiscing about how Hoi An is another place which has many yellow ochre buildings in the historic center. Often paired with white or blue but still predominantly yellow!! Love how this city was a wink at Hoi An.
Ah yes.. any time we can see animals in the wild, big or small, we get pretty excited!
Peta & Ben
Ohhh, I never thought I’d be inspired by yellow, but now I am. Yellow can signify the sun, as you suggest here, and different shades can move our moods. Mellow at times, bright and vibrant at others. Just like you and Ben. The photos are tremendous, as well as the history. And Esco, is so “at home” with you both. The flamingoes give an extra OOMPH to this post after all that yellow!! P.S. In our next move, I’m going to insist on a yellow room now.
Hahaha Pam, yes, go for it!! Color therapy is a thing. Whether at the level of a room or a whole city. Yellow ochre is your friend. Acidic yellow.. not so much!
Aw thanks for the lovely compliment. So glad you enjoyed the photos. Izamal is a photographers dream and is easy to capture well. I particularly enjoyed the light in the atrium and the shadows created there.
Peta
I practically leapt through the computer screen to catch a closer look at the flamingoes! What a find to see them and to not even need a boat ride to do so.
The yellow buildings are a lift to the mood and fascinating. Your photos of the arches from various perspectives are stunning. Beautifully captures.
Sue, I wish we had better photos of the flamingoes, as one really does need a good camera to do wildlife justice. But at any rate, the combination of the volume of flamingoes and the proximity plus the surprise factor.. really made the experience very memorable for us!
Thank you. Those arches created such an interesting architectural vista for so many different view points. It was hard to select from all our photos.
Peta
Interesting place. I bet that Spanish priest that destroyed the artifacts did so on the orders of some bishop or another big shot, and not of his own accord. That must have been some moral struggle…
Who knows what the true story really is.. perhaps you are correct. But history is full of examples of courageous “mid level management” like some Nazi officers during World war II who took great steps to not destroy irreplaceable art despite higher up orders to destroy.
Just seems so tragic to have lost so much history in one shot due to the actions of one religious group wanting to erase the memory of the prior. A bit like when Al Queda blew up all the religious and archaeological sites in Afghanistan.
Ben
Amazing find. Glad you could get there to see the town and the flamingoes.
Thanks Peggy. We had a great time.
Yellow buildings always make me feel like I’m on vacation! Maybe that connection to the sun that I am always chasing? Your photos do a great job of capturing the cheerful mood as well as the deep history of the town. Flamingo pink is another happy color; my only mass sighting of flamingos was at Lake Natron on the Tanzania/Kenya border, and I will never forget the sight!
You are so lucky to have witnessed falmingoes en masse in Africa. Quite a sight huh? I keep telling Ben that he hasn’t seen wildlife until we get to Africa together. It is on my bucket list for sure!
Thanks for the lovely comments and for stopping by to read us. Hope you keeping well.
Peta
I love color generally, and yellow especially, so even seeing this wonderful city at ‘second-hand’ makes me happy. Coincidentally, I finally decided it was time to join the 21st century; I purchased my first smart phone, and I chose the lemon-chiffon-pie-yellow one!
The flamingos would be quite a treat. There’s a wonderful and entirely true story of a flamingo that escaped from a Kansas City zoo, and ended up on the Texas coast. A Texas Parks & Wildlife ranger spotted and photographed it, and it’s been sighted a number of times — often hanging out in winter with the whooping cranes at their refuge. I’m not sure if it’s been seen this year, but it still was with us last year, and apparently quite happy. Like travelers, some birds are more adventurous than others!
What a great story about the adventurous flamingo. That would make a good children’s book! Perhaps it was just returning to its natural habitat. Something like a dog that makes its way back to its original home, no matter the distance. Wow. Pretty impressive.
Congrats on your new lemon chiffon pie yellow smart phone. I definitely find that if things like phones or backpacks or suitcases or bright colors then not only are they easier to find and less difficult to lose but we can get more enjoyment out of a utilitarian object.
Peta
Such a fascinating yellow town! Mustard definitely adds the right grandeur! Izamal is certainly an impressive locate with a rich culture and history. I literally felt for the loss of artifacts. The charming place glows like a sun indeed! What a delight to watch Flamingoes. The scenic beauty of the place is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Welcome to our Green Global Trek!
We came up with all sorts of yellow foods while strolling Izamal. From mustard, to egg yolks, to curry, banana… As this trip progressed we became more and more intrigued and enthralled with the culture and history of Mexico. So much to discover and so much to learn.
Thanks for stopping by to read us and to comment.
Peta
Fascinating about this city, Peta, and obviously well worth the road trip. As you explain, a tragic history here. Interesting about the size of the Atrium and the monastery. Also fascinating, the story behind painting everything yellow ochre. Wonderful photos! The ‘Symphony in pink’ is a great addition to this post. I feel like I am (almost) right there with you. I loved this post! (For some reason I am not getting your posts in my inbox, so I will continue checking in to catch up)😀
Thanks Erica. The atrium area felt huge.. such a glorious feeling of wide open space, flanked by the columned walkways. That’s a lovely compliment to say that you felt right there with us! Lots more to come… We are way behind in posting about this road trip, but we will get there… eventually.
In terms of not receiving notification in your inbox, you will probably need to sign up for the blog again, as when we had some work done on the site, a few followers got dropped off!!
Thanks for your thoughtful comments and for traveling with us.
Peta
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this post, seeing Izamal that is pretty much entirely yellow and reading of rich history behind it. It is quite amazing the entire town is painted in yellow and bright yellow at that. I really like the photos with the sunshine shining across the monastery – it really illuminates the warm hues of the place even more. Interesting to hear that Izamal might be adorned in yellow due to its location as a pilgrimage site to the sun gods, very fitting. Those Mayan dishes look amazing, full of colour. The meat wrapped in banana leaves sound amazing and I hope you and Ben enjoyed the food and this trip immensely. Hope you are doing well. Take care 🙂
Glad you commented on the food Mabel. While we knew that Mexico had an extensive culinatry history, we really appreciate being able to sample regional specialties that we would not typically get exposed to. The food was really delicious and we were happy to find a vegetarian specialty for me and that way Ben could still enjoy his pork dish, which I just had a small taste of.
We were definitely fortunate from a photo taking point of view with the time of day and the sunshine across the monastery creating all those beautiful shadows.
Thanks for reading and leaving your feedback for us.
Peta
Izamal is beautiful. And what a contrast with the gritty neighbourhood of Merida where your home exchange was located.
Jude
Ah yes Jude, it was a wonderful contrast to be submerged in mustard yellow and homes that have all been well restored, compared with Merida. That said, as you know, I am a fan of gritty cities and neighborhoods. I do enjoy the raw character of a place.
Peta