One of Mexico’s most important archaeological sites lies just outside Oaxaca. Ancient Monte Albán was the center of Zapotec culture, which flourished from A.D. 300 to 800. From its Great Plaza, you can see the remains of ball courts, plazas, and more than 170 tombs, including Tomb 7, where approximately 500 pieces of gold and precious gems were found (the most prized artifacts are in the Museo Regional).
The 16th-century Convent of Santa Caterina de Siena is now the Camino Real, Oaxaca’s most elegant hotel. Guests enjoy ancient frescoes, jasmine-scented patios, and Los Lavaderos—a water fountain surrounded by 12 stone laundry basins. Another top choice: chic and minimalist Casa Oaxaca, a seven-room inn with local art adorning its white walls. The owner, chef Alejandro Ruiz, ingeniously updates Oaxacan cuisine, served in a candlelit courtyard at the inn and as well as at a restaurant with a romantic rooftop terrace two blocks away.
Fresh vegetables are a market staple.
WHERE: 340 miles/547 km south of Mexico City. MUSEO REGIONAL: Tel 52/951-516-2991. CASA DE LOS SABORES: Tel 52/951-516-5704; in the U.S., 201-255-6105; www.casadelossabores.com. Cost: $65 for 1-day cooking class. CAMINO REAL: Tel 52/951-516-0611; in the U.S., 800-722-6466; www.camino-real-oaxaca.com. Cost: from $240. CASA OAXACA: Tel 52/951-514-4173; www.casaoaxaca.com.mx. Cost: from $170. CASA OAXACA EL RESTAURANTE: Tel 52/951-516-8531; www.casaoaxacaelrestaurante.com. Cost: dinner $40. BEST TIMES: Easter week; late Jul for Guelaguetza Dance Festival; Nov 1–2 for Day of the Dead; Dec 23 for Night of the Radishes.
The Maya’s Only Seaside City
TULUM AND THE RIVIERA MAYA
Quintana Roo, Mexico
At the southern end of Mexico’s Riviera Maya, the string of fishing-villages-turned-sophisticated-resort-towns that dot the Caribbean coastline south of Cancún, stands the only ancient Maya city on the coast. What Tulum lacks in archaeological significance it compensates for in beauty, evident in its spectacular fine-white-sand beaches and its temple dramatically poised on a coastal bluff. The walled complex of ruins dates from A.D. 1000, the most impressive of which, besides the temple, is El Castillo (the castle), the shrine and watchtower whose carvings of serpents recall of those at Chichén Itzá (see p. 960).
Like the rest of the Yucatán Peninsula, the region is laced with thousands of cenotes. The underground freshwater sinkholes and rivers, such as those at Gran Cenote and Hidden Worlds, are unearthly, located in giant limestone rooms where sunlight streaming through breaches in the ceiling (or artificial light from within) illuminate stalagmites, stalactites, and cool, clear water. Taking a plunge is the perfect antidote to a hot afternoon.
Other cenotes can be found along 62 miles of undeveloped coastline just south of Tulum. This is the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, 1.3 million acres of protected tropical forests, mangroves, coral reefs, and an array of wildlife that includes 100 species of mammals—notably, jaguars, pumas, and spider and howler monkeys—and over 300 bird species.
Once the province of wandering backpackers, Tulum now hosts an influx of well-heeled but still environmentally minded travelers. The boom in “eco-chic” hotels can be traced to secluded Ana y José, run by the Soto family. The 23 suites and cottages have simple, contemporary décor, including bright artwork splashed against whitewashed walls. Yesteryear’s budget offerings live on at the simple Posada Dos Ceibas, where yellow, blue, and pink cottages with solar-generated electricity and ceiling fans are set amid dense jungle.
Of the coastline’s ultraluxurious accommodations, Maroma knows few rivals. Set in a 600-acre ecological preserve on a crescent-shaped beach and backed by mangroves and coconut palms, it has thatch-roofed terraces and sea views that stop the most world-weary travelers in their tracks.
Tulum is most known for its unique coastal location.
WHERE: Tulum is 80 miles/130 km south of Cancún. ANA Y JOSÉ: Tel 52/998-880-6022; www.anayjose.com. Cost: from $248. POSADA DOS CEIBAS: Tel 52/984-877-6024; www.dosceibas.com. Cost: from $65. MAROMA: Tel 52/987-28200; in the U.S., 866-454-9351 or 843-937-9066; www.maromahotel.com. Cost: from $450 (off-peak), from $765 (peak). BEST TIME: Dec–Apr for best weather and bird-watching at Sian Ka’an.
Into the Yucatán’s Maya Heartland
CHICHÉN ITZÁ AND MÉRIDA
Yucatán, Mexico
The magnificent metropolis of Chichén Itzá, the most spectacular, and consequently most visited, of Mexico’s ancient sites, was the principal ceremonial center of the Yucatán, the heartland of the Maya. The complex of grand pyramids, temples, and ornate palaces was inhabited for about 800 years, beginning in roughly A.D. 432 during the Classic Period, when the Maya empire reached into present-day Belize and Guatemala.
If you are lucky enough to be here on the spring or autumnal equinox, you will marvel at the mastermind who positioned the temple of El Castillo de Kukulcán: The late-afternoon light and shadow creates a moving serpent representing the leader Kukulkán that, over the course of 34 minutes, slithers down the steps to the base of the pyramid’s principal façade before disappearing. Although it’s an easy day trip from Mérida, you can have the place to yourself by staying overnight in the thatch-roofed bungalows at the Lodge at Chichén Itzá, set on 100 private acres at the edge of the ruins that are shared with its more touristy sister hotel, Mayaland.
Mérida, the bustling capital of the Yucatán, is full of history, culture, and music. Free concerts and cultural events take place every night in the leafy main plaza and around the rest of the town. You might catch the traditional and achingly romantic trova music or 1940s Cuban big-band music.
A few steps from the plaza stands San Ildefonso, North America’s oldest cathedral. Construction started in 1561 and incorporated ancient stones from the ruins of Tiho, the Maya city that was razed by the Spaniards to build their own. Of the beautifully restored haciendas just outside town built during Mérida’s heyday as the source of the world’s sisal, many have been converted into guest houses. Xcanatún (sh-kana-TOON) is the most elegant, with 18 rooms done up in exquisite colonial-Caribbean décor. The hacienda’s Casa de Piedra restaurant is a local favorite for its sumptuous Caribbean-Yucatecan-French fusion meals.
Don’t leave Mérida before visiting Uxmal, (oosh-MAHL), one of the best-preserved Maya ceremonial centers. The vast complex of ruins, 50 miles south of the city, dates from the period between the 7th and 10th centuries. Its highlights are the Pirámide de Adivino (Pyramid of the Magician) with its steep, 115-foot sides and crowning temple, and the Palace of the Governor, renowned for its sculptures of serpents and Chac, the god of rain.
This four-sided pyramid is named for Kukulcán, the ancient leader-turned-diety, represented by a snake.
WHERE: Chichén Itzá is 74 miles/120 km east of Mérida. LODGE AT CHICHÉN ITZÁ: Tel 52/998-887-2495; in the U.S., 800-235-4079; www.mayaland.com. Cost: from $250. XCANATÚN: Tel 52/999-930-2140; in the U.S., 888-883-3633; www.xcanatun.com. Cost: from $230; dinner $35. BEST TIMES: Nov–Feb for nice weather; Mar or Sep equinox at Chichén Itzá for Kukulkán phenomenon.
Superb Diving Among a Necklace of Cays
BELIZE’S BARRIER REEF
Ambergris Caye, Belize
Belize is part of the longest barrier reef system in the Western Hemisphere. The coral mountains and canyons of the Great Mesoamerican Reef stretch unbroken for 750 miles, from Isla Contoy, on the tip of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, to the Bay Islands of Honduras (see p. 972). Only Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (see p. 653) is longer. Connoisseurs consider the 185-mile Belize Barrier Reef, with more than 450 offshore islets and cays and 500 species of fish, one of the world’s ultimate dive sites.
Almost 25 miles long and only 1 mile wide, Ambergris Caye is by far the largest and most popular of the cays. Its laid-back town of San Pedro is the reef’s most important starting point for more than 40 snorkeling and dive sites. Stylish Victoria House, a 42-room plantation-style inn, has a sandy beachside location, infinity pool, and quarters that range from modest rooms to luxury villas. Don’t miss Elvi’s Kitchen, a f
ormer hole-in-the-wall that still serves its famous burgers for lunch but now also draws crowds with fine dinner fare, such as roasted garlic chipotle lobster.
Off the southern tip of Ambergris, the Hol Chan Marine Reserve offers one of the best diving and snorkeling sites for its sheer variety of marine life—here you’ll find 40 kinds of grouper, a forest of coral, and sponge as dense and varied as the mainland’s jungle mantle. Nearby, the sandy-bottomed, 8-foot-deep Shark Ray Alley is home to a thriving population of gentle nurse sharks and stingrays that you can visit up close. Take a day trip to smaller, less developed Caye Caulker and dine on banana leaf–steamed snapper with papaya sauce at Habanero’s or nurse a rum punch all day at the Lazy Lizard, a scruffy, open-air bar and grill by the Split, a channel formed in the 1960s by Hurricane Hattie.
Head to Belize’s three (of the Caribbean’s four) ring-shaped coral atolls. Lighthouse Reef is the most accessible, owing to a small airstrip, and is nearest to two of the reef’s most stellar dives: the fabled Blue Hole (called “one of the four must-dive locations on this blue planet” by Jacques Cousteau in 1970) and Half Moon Caye National Park.
Turneffe Island Atoll is famous for its wall dives, and the Elbow is the ultimate, with hawksbill turtles, hammerhead sharks, and the largest sea fans imaginable. It’s also a good place for snorkeling in shallow lagoons, and the saltwater fly-fishing is world-class. With palm-shaded cottages on its own private island, Turneffe Island Resort—35 miles offshore and reachable by air—is the ideal base.
Endangered hawksbill turtles swim freely in the protected areas of the barrier reef.
VISITOR INFO: www.travelbelize.org. VICTORIA HOUSE: Tel 501/226-2067; in the U.S., 800-247-5159; www.victoria-house.com. Cost: from $185. ELVI’S KITCHEN: Tel 501/226-2176; www.elviskitchen.com. Cost: dinner $30. HABANERO’S: Tel 501/226-0486. Cost: lunch $20. TURNEFFE ISLAND RESORT: Tel 501/220-4142; in the U.S., 713-236-7739; www.turnefferesort.com. Cost: from $900 per person for 3 nights, inclusive (diving extra). BEST TIMES: Dec–Mar for nicest weather; Feb–Jul for fishing; mid-Jun for Lobsterfest in San Pedro.
A Sojourn into the Lost World of the Maya
CAYO DISTRICT
Belize
The tropical broadleaf forest of western Belize’s mountainous Cayo District was the heart of the ancient Maya world. Of the 600 ruins buried in the jungle near the Guatemalan border—reachable by horseback or jeep—none compare to Caracol. Though not as well excavated as Tikal in Guatemala (see p. 970), it was one of the great Maya city-states, occupied from the 1st to the 11th centuries and known for its 140-foot-high “sky palace.” In its heyday there were thousands of buildings across a 30-square-mile area that supported a population of more than 150,000. Set off with a guide to explore Caracol and other nearby treasures, such as underground river cave systems and natural pools and waterfalls that are perfect for a swim. Or spend the day zip-lining, trekking, kayaking, exploring butterfly gardens, or spotting the birdlife for which the country is famous.
The riverside Lodge at Chaa Creek features thatch-roofed cottages, an excellent hilltop spa, horses for jungle treks, and a large, airy restaurant. It is set on a private 365-acre riverside nature preserve, where guests can enjoy a butterfly farm, visit a Maya medicine center, and hike miles of trails. Guides point out exotic jungle residents, such as quarrelsome howler monkeys and some of the 300 species of tropical and migratory birds.
A few miles away at the more rustic Mountain Equestrian Trails (MET), horseback riding is the specialty. A guide will lead you along 60 miles of narrow, winding trails into the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, pointing out wildlife and recounting jungle lore. Back at the lodge, repair to a kerosene-lamp-lit cabana, and in the morning feast on banana pancakes.
Set by a scenic creek and a series of gentle falls, the nearby Blancaneaux Lodge, owned by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, is the most stylish in the district, with 20 detail-rich accommodations ranging from modest cabanas to a sprawling villa. Amenities include a riverside spa and a restaurant with the jungle chorus in the background.
Worth the detour north of Cayo to Orange Walk, the jungle-enveloped Chan Chich Lodge lets you feel as if you’ve stepped into the ancient world. Built on a Maya plaza dating to the Classic Period (A.D.300–900), Chan Chich’s elegant thatch-roofed bungalows are surrounded by 130,000 acres of vine-tangled wilderness teeming with more jaguars, jaguarundi, pumas, ocelots, and margays than you’ll find in any other part of Belize. Nine miles of trails wend around temples concealed under grass-covered mounds, and local guides are as well versed in the region’s flora and fauna as they are in the history of its ancient peoples.
LODGE AT CHAA CREEK: 70 miles/113 km southwest of Belize City. Tel 501/824-2037; in the U.S., 877-709-8708; www.chaacreek.com. Cost: from $300. MOUNTAIN EQUESTRIAN TRAILS: Tel 501/669-1124; in the U.S., 800-838-3918; www.metbelize.com. Cost: from $75. BLANCANEAUX LODGE: Tel 501/824-4912; in the U.S., 800-746-3743; www.coppolaresorts.com/blancaneaux. Cost: from $230 (off-peak), from $330 (peak). CHAN CHICH LODGE: Tel 501/223-4419; in the U.S., 800-343-8009; www.chanchich.com. Cost: from $205 (off-peak), from $250 (peak). BEST TIMES: Nov–Jun for dry season; Jan–Apr for coolest months.
Whale Sharks, Jaguars, and Other Natural Wonders
PLACENCIA
Belize
With long, sleepy stretches of white sand shoreline and turquoise water, the 11-mile-long skinny peninsula of Placencia parallels the coast of southern Belize near the Guatemala border. These are the country’s best beaches, without the bustle of Ambergris Caye (see p. 961) to the north, but with equally fine diving and snorkeling. Head 27 miles out to sea to Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve, on the southernmost of Belize’s three atolls; inside its 20-by-8-mile lagoon, splendid coral gardens invite endless snorkeling.
Huge whale sharks, which can measure up to 50 feet in length, are one of the most prized sightings in the Gladden Spit Marine Reserve, 45 minutes out by boat. There’s nothing to fear about diving or snorkeling with these gentle giants, which converge here in late spring.
At the peninsula’s southernmost tip, Placencia Village provides easy access to dive outfitters and tours of wildlife habitats. Spot manatees in the mangroves of Placencia Lagoon, or ride a boat up Monkey River, a bird-watchers’ paradise that’s also a good place to glimpse crocodiles and howler monkeys. Make an inland excursion to Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, home to one of the world’s densest concentrations of jaguars.
Set on 22 acres near Placencia Village, the Inn at Robert’s Grove has 52 rooms and suites, a reputable dive shop, and a fun beachside bar that is always abuzz. Or ask to be dropped off at either of its two private islands, complete with cook, so you don’t have to lift a finger while playing castaway.
Turtle Inn is nearby, one of Francis Ford Coppola’s three Central American eco-resorts (see previous page and p. 970). Inspired by a Balinese village, its thatched cottages and villas have private gardens, outdoor showers, and large screened porches. Guests can amble over to De Tatch, known for its friendly staff, beautiful beachfront location, and mouthwatering seafood that pairs perfectly with a few cold Belikins, the local beer.
WHERE: Placencia Village is 144 miles/184 km south of Belize City. HOW: Seahorse Diving leads a variety of dives and snorkel trips. Tel 501/523-3166; www.belizescuba.com. Cost: $80 for snorkeling at Glover’s Reef; $160 for whale shark dives. INN AT ROBERT’S GROVE: Tel 800-565-9757 or 501/523-3565; www.robertsgrove.com. Cost: from $175; private island rates from $930, all-inclusive. TURTLE INN: Tel 501/824-4912; in the U.S., 800-746-3743; www.coppolaresorts.com/turtleinn. Cost: from $285 (off-peak), from $375 (peak). DE TATCH: Tel 501/503-3385; www.seasprayhotel.com. Cost: dinner $25. BEST TIMES: Nov–Jun for dry season; late Mar–Jun for whale sharks.
Costa Rica’s Fiery Streak
ARENAL VOLCANO
La Fortuna, San Carlos, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Costa Rica, famous for its rain forests and beaches, also has a serious hot streak: It is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire,
an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from the coast of the Americas to just off the coast of Asia. In fact, Costa Rica is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes. The magnificent Arenal, a 5,366-foot behemoth that erupted suddenly and violently in 1968, is the youngest of the country’s nine active volcanoes. It is so dangerous it must be viewed from a distance—in contrast to neighboring Poás Volcano, where you can drive to the top and peer in during an easy day trip from the capital city, San José. By day you can see smoke and hear rumbles, but Arenal is most dramatic at night, when red-hot rocks shoot hundreds of feet into the sky and incandescent lava cascades down its north side.
Tabacón Grand Spa Thermal Resort is located near a river heated by the volcano. Set within dense vegetation are mineral pools, falls, and lagoons of varying temperatures: The farther upstream you go, the hotter the water gets. At the Grand Spa’s outdoor treatment rooms, you can be massaged and slathered in detoxifying volcanic mud to the blissful sounds of wildlife, rushing water, and occasional volcanic rumblings.
The best place from which to view Arenal’s dramatic activity is Arenal Observatory Lodge, a mile from the volcano’s restless northern side. A former research station, the rustic lodge is less glamorous than Tabacón but offers more drama, especially if you book one of the volcano-facing rooms, which have enormous picture windows and terraces.
Farther east and within easy driving range of Arenal, Chachagua Rainforest Hotel & Hacienda consists of simple but spacious bungalows nestled by a clear mountain stream in the Monteverde range, one of the most biologically diverse areas in this verdant country. Half of Chachagua’s 247-acre spread abuts forest reserves, and the potential for bird and wildlife viewing here is tremendous; a resident naturalist is on hand to serve as your guide. The other half is a working cattle ranch with horses available to guests. The area also provides abundant opportunity for spelunking, whitewater rafting, and rappelling.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 151
