santa fe, new mexico -- home to some of the oldest buildings in the us

i've always heard great things about santa fe and it's supposed to be one of the most travelled to destinations in the united states. so instead of spending the night in albuquerque, we traveled a little farther north, through some crazy lightening storms, and stayed in santa fe. when we woke up, we were greeted by beautiful blue skies and peach colored adobe as far as the eye could see. 

we didn't have a lot of time to explore downtown santa fe, but we did walk around a bit and we were amazed at how old santa fe is. not only is the palace of the governor, located in santa fe's plaza, the oldest public building in the united states but both the oldest church and the oldest house in the usa are located in santa fe as well!

(oldest being a relative term, of course. in this case it refers to oldest colonial buildings and not the oldest buildings constructed by native peoples.)

 

 

 

walking around santa fe, i can see why so many people come to visit every year: the weather was beautiful, the buildings were gorgeous, and it had an old world feel. plus, the art scene is supposed to be amazing. but what i loved the most was our breakfast at tecolote cafe -- try their huevos yucatecos; they're spectacular.



what do you love about santa fe?

the oldest church in latin america

last august some friends approached us about going on a vacation together. they had found a bloomspot deal for a 4 day, 3 night catamaran trip along the mayan riviera. obviously we were interested, but we were nervous. first, it was a lot of money and we had to pay the money up front for a vacation that wouldn't happen for another six months. so we did a lot of research and read a lot reviews so we could determine if it was a good idea. but there was a second thing i was personally nervous about --  i've never been on a couple's vacation. nor had i ever even met the couple we would be vacationing with.* (stress.) despite our reservations, we decided to give it a go. and i'm so glad that we did. 

* i did make sure that i met the couple before our trip though, and they're lovely. so much less stress.

 

before we went on our catamaran trip, we spent a couple of days in tulum seeing the ruins and the gran cenote, and a couple of days in puerto morelos, a small city near cancun. all the while wondering what our trip on a boat for four days would be like. we had an idea of the things we would see -- isla mujeres, deep sea fishing, and snorkeling -- but we really weren't sure of the specifics. but as we took our taxi to the cancun marina we were excited for the adventure.

at the dock we were introduced to dianne, our 45 foot catamaran, and the two men who would be manning it, a chef and a captain. and then we found out our itinerary for the next four days -- isla mujeres, isla blanca, the oldest church in latin america, and some snorkeling. awesome. 

wait, what? back up. 

oldest church in latin america? explain further.

according to legend, spanish pirates found a secluded lagoon on isla holbox and founded a catholic church in the same location as an old mayan swimming pool. the spanish built a large church using the old stones from mayan buildings that had already  been abandoned. 

 

on the third day of our catamaran trip we got up early and took a little dingy through the lagoon to la iglesia. we rode for approximately 30 minutes through less than 2 feet deep fresh water and mangroves sighting horseshoe crabs, eagle rays, and barracuda as we drove. the water was crystal clear, and the mangroves were close on either side of us as we rode. 

 

 

when we got off the dingy, we walked a short ways to a 300 year old house that backs up onto a old mayan graveyard. the ceilings were covered with soot from long forgotten fires and the floors were covered with hundreds of years of bat guano. 

we walked a little further and the jungle opened up to this view: 

the oldest church in latin america.

crazy amazing.

 

at one time, the church was built in the traditional fashion of a cross. but after years of neglect, the only remaining structure was the altar and chapels on either side. these buildings too were overrun with bats and their feces, but it was just so spectacular to see an abandoned, four hundred year structure that was still somewhat intact. and to know that we were standing in the same spot as worshipers from hundreds of years ago. 

 

the thing that was strangest for us was the fact that there is this amazing structure and the accompanying history and no one knows about it. i checked our guide book and there was no mention of this lagoon or the church, and it had clearly been abandoned for years. but why? why wasn't mexico attempting to preserve this historical site? a lot of local fisherman (and fish) go into the lagoon during hurricanes to escape some of the wind and crazy waves. and there was a path to the church, so people had been there recently, and our captain knew about it, so it's obviously not a secret. so why wasn't there some organization taking better care of the building? it's definitely an out of the way site -- you can only reach it by dingy -- but it's a piece of mexican history, one would think they would at least want to preserve it and learn from it, if not take that further and turn into a tourist destination and make money off of it. 

not all sinkholes are bad: the gran cenote

how many times have you started to plan a vacation or booked your plane ticket only to see your intended vacation spot every time you turned around? as soon as we knew we were vacationing near cancun it seemed like everywhere we looked there were articles about all of the cool things to see and do in the area. a couple of weeks after we booked our catamaran trip, we stumbled across an article about the spectacular cenotes of the yucatan peninsula, and we decided then and there that we had to go see at least one while we were on our vacation.

a cenote is a sinkhole that can be filled with fresh water or salt water. and the yucatan peninsula has tons of them. one of the larger ones, the gran cenote, was a short drive from tulum so we decided to check it out one afternoon.

 

the gran cenote is located ~3.5 km away from tulum proper or ~6 km away from the beach, so since we already had bikes (100 pesos a day), we biked to the gran cenote after we had seen the ruins in tulum. it's a bit more expensive than we would have liked (120 pesos each, or approximately $10) but it was definitely worth it. especially if you make a whole afternoon out of it.  

 

 

the gran cenote is a large, partially cave-like fresh water lake that was formed over the course of thousands of years by limestone eventually giving way and creating a sink hole.   some of the cenote is covered by a large, bat inhabited cavern with stalactites, while other parts are open to the sun. some parts are shallow enough to walk through, while other parts are rocky and deep. the most amazing part? how crazy clear the water is. it had this magical turquoise blue color to it and you could see everything; it was almost like looking through a glass bottom boat that's how awesome it was. 

we went to a couple of other cenotes when we were in puerto morelos as well. one was all underground -- you could reach it by jumping 15 feet or via stairs. and the other was open; again, you could either jump 30 feet down into it or walk down the stairs. both were 60+ feet deep. (we went to both of these cenotes as part of a packaged tour with kin-ha jungle tour. on this half-day tour you drive an atv to the cenotes, go on a zipline through the jungle, get a light snack, and swim in the cenotes for ~400 pesos each. not a bad deal.)

the ruins by the sea: tulum

the first time i went to Mexico i was in high school. i went with my parents to playa del carmen; we stayed in a condo, on the beach, just outside of town. (this was back in the day when playa del carmen was chill and not the touristy disaster it is now.) this trip was kind of a disaster; it took me 12 hours to get sun poisoning and a heat rash. but it was still on these beautiful white sand beaches and turquoise waters.

 

we decided that since we were in the land of the mayans it would only be appropriate to check out the  nearby ruins at tulum. we were not prepared --it was the middle of july and crazy hot. and truth be told i remember very little from the trip. what i do recall is that the sun was intense, there was no shade, we had no water, and the "ruins" looked like pile of rocks under grass. just another disaster.

two weeks ago, i was back in the land of the mayans; back in august we had planned a couples vacation with one of rcg's friends. right after landing in cancun, we went to tulum for two days -- and we decided to go back to the ruins. i was definitely worried, but it seemed silly not to go when we were staying 3 miles away. so we rented bikes (100 pesos a day) and rode to the ruins. and they were incredible. i think it helped that we had water, it was march and not july, and i was a little older and more appreciative of the history and awesomeness of the ruins. 

 

 

the ruins at tulum are super interesting because tulum is the only mayan city on the sea. the ruins are built right on the cliff overlooking crystal clear turquoise waters. 

"los mayans afirman que el camino de tulum, en el mar, se abrirá en algún momento y el mundo cambiará."

 

there are tons of iguanas that call the tulum ruins home. we even saw two fighting!

 

 

maybe the best part of the ruins at tulum: the white sand beach that sits below the castillo. there are stairs down to the beach so that you can swim where the mayans did (and so you can cool off from the intense sun).

 

it cost 57 pesos to enter. and worth every penny.