Ticul is a favorite place, the town with the leering church facade. This time I photographed the side entrance to the main nave.
Our goal was the town of Mani (about 90 kilometers south of Merida), which we were told is a pretty town and on the way we stopped at Dzan. The church is always the main feature of a village and this is true in Dzan as well. Sunday services are so well attended that there isn't room for everyone inside. Either that or these people were looking for a breeze they wouldn't find inside. In any case, services aren't as formal as in the States. People wander in and out at any time without feeling that they must be there at the start and stay until the end.
Near Dzan's main square.
This chapel was on the outskirts of Mani.
The interior of the Mani capilla. The cross with the embroidered shawl is typically Yucatecan. It mimics the way the ladies wear their rebozas.
Looking toward the street from the front of the church. No one was in this chapel and I felt freer than usual to photograph the interior.
A detail of the door.
Advertising poster in front of the chapel.
The inexpensive furniture in Mexico is perhaps even uglier than that in the US. It's certainly more uncomfortable. I shouldn't say inexpensive, for it seems to us that it's unreasonably costly. And the dog underneath. Everyone was seeking shade yesterday.
This water damaged wall is at the ayutamiento (city hall) behind where the ladies sell crafts.
A side entrance to the main church at Mani. The churches tend to begin to look alike and so I won't repeat almost identical fronts to the various churches in all the villages we visit. This one's facade was left unplastered and unpainted. I'm not sure which I like the best--the bright yellow or red fronts or the rough stone. The netting on the door is to keep birds from flying into the church when the door is open.
The large, open square in front of Mani's church. This one is bigger than most and without any decoration or vegetation--more like the Zocolos of farther north. There is a magnificent tree in a public area on one side--I think a ceiba, but when I asked the men resting under it, they only knew the Mayan name for the tree, not the Spanish. They told me, but Mayan names don't seem to stick readily in my head.
Mani was a pretty town, perhaps the most attractive village we've been in. It's on a hill and that alone recommends it to us, who are hungry for a hill in this very flat Yucatan. The Puuc Hills are the site of many famous ruins--Uxmal, Sayil, Labna, Kabah. We will visit them when Andy comes, but we've been scouting around the area so that we can be fairly efficient in our touring when he does arrive.
Below are two sections of the nacimiento at the church in Mani--a traditional side.
And one featuring sweet Yucatecan crafts. Maybe too sweet for a gringa's taste.
After leaving Mani, we drove on to Oxkutzcab before heading home. (Xs are pronounced like a sh in Mayan. One wishes that Mayan words were legal in Scrabble.) Below is a shy, Oxkutzcabian dog.
The side of Oxkutzcab's church.
An interior courtyard of Oxkutzcab's church. Note the Mayan stones in the upper left corner. They were also in the stone pathway to the side entrance to the church.
The nacimiento in Oxkutzcab was near the altar inside and it was composed of entirely natural materials. Here is a donkey made of earth. The soil around here is much like the red soil of Sundance--a real oddity for the Yucatan as most of the soil is limestone and very white.
You will perhaps have noticed that I haven't been using accents for the Spanish words. I apologize, but I can't figure out how to include them using the blog program. Mayan words almost always have the accent on the final syllable. Merida has an accent on the e. These two instances are probably the worst of my omissions. I know you will forgive me.
