I took a week of vacation to attend a wedding in Mexico. To make best use of my time on the Yucatan peninsula, I visited three cities - Cancun, Merida, and Tulum.
We only stayed in Cancun for one night before heading to Merida. We stayed at a small bed and breakfast near the main hotel corridor. The hotel was not waterfront but the owners compensated with amazing landscaping. On the morning of our second day we went to a popular local beach - Playa Delfines. The water was a beautiful color but very rough.
Our main base of operation for the trip was Merida, which is west of Cancun by about 3 hours on a fast toll road. We stopped in a small town called Valladolid on the way to Merida and visited their beautiful cenote.
Merida had a nice downtown walking corridor with two particularly old churches. We spent the day before the wedding exploring downtown and the nearby Zona Paseo Montejo where we found great food and architecture.
The wedding took place 20-25 minutes outside of Merida in a historic hacienda. Each old plantation building served a different purpose in the venue. Throughout the night we transitioned from one building to another. At sunset, I set up a small tripod on the balcony of the hacienda building to take some photos of activity happening in the surrounding town where a small festival was being set up.
We relaxed the day after the wedding by sleeping in and then driving to another smaller cenote that had been discovered much more recently than the first cenote. Although this one was also extremely beautiful, the water quality was lacking.
Back in Merida, we relaxed for a night before beginning the drive to Tulum.
Tulum has a reputation for amazing, coastal ruins and a hip food and music scene. I wasn't in the greatest of health during my visit, but I did manage to walk around town and eventually made it to the ruins.
Gear: Fuji GF670 and Nikon Nikonos V with Kodak Portra 160 and 400 films.
© 2010 - Andrew Reineberg