Day Five 1/30/26 (Friday) Kiuic Excursion

We slept well in our sparse casita in spite of the noisy peacock and dogs. Al brought us coffee from the kitchen at 7:30am and we went for a walk to explore the neighborhood. Then breakfast at 8 am, another walk in the opposite direction, and meeting in the lab at 9. Tomas showed us how they document items found in the field, clean and catalog them and store them.

Then we drove to the town of Mani to visit the town, its old church and the site of the auto-da-fe, which happened in July of 1562 ordered by a Spanish Franciscan monk Diego de Landa in which many Mayan cultural objects, including 27 codices were destroyed and 69 Mayans were killed (https://theyucatantimes.com/2025/01/the-auto-de-fe-of-mani-yucatan-1562-a-dark-chapter-of-colonial-history/ )

 

Mani is a lovely town designated as Pueblo Magico. We walled around visiting embroidery shops and one female dog kept following us all the time. We had no food to give her so we bought something at a grocery store for her. I (Bo) wanted to adopt her. We had local specialty Poc chuc for lunch. Poc chuc is a traditional dish from the Yucatán Peninsula, featuring thinly sliced pork marinated in sour orange juice and grilled over charcoal, giving it a smoky, tangy flavor. There was so much meat that we put all the leftovers in a container hoping the dog was waiting for us. Unfortunately, she had left so we gave it to another scawny-looking dog who probably had the best day of his life.

 

Last stop was a visit to a melipona apiary. Melipona is a genus of stingless bees that ancient Mayas domesticated to produce honey. They live in hollowed tree trunks and their honey is considered medicinal and very expensive. They guy who runs the apiary, a former priest, gave us a tour and explained everything and then we tasted the honey. I bought a small jar to use as eye drops.

 

Then Arjel drove us to our hotel in Merida (The Diplomat) and took Chenda and Phil home. Later that evening there was a demonstration of the Mayan ball game called Pok Ta Pok in the main plaza in front of the Cathedral. We went there early to get a seat because this event is very popular with tourists. Phil joined us a bit later. The game started with a Mayan blessings and incense. There were two teams and two slightly different games, each about 25-20 minutes long. The first one was played with a solid rubber ball and the second with a flaming ball. It was fun.

 

We then walked along Calle 60, which was completely filled with people, to Parque Santa Ana and had dinner at a Mexican food stand and then took Uber to the hotel.