Certified as one of Mexico’s 33
Magical Towns, Izamal is geographically located in the middle of
the peninsula of Yucatan. With the entire Historical Center painted
yellow, this town looks like a stage setting with it Mayan pyramids
right in town, the huge Franciscan convent, theold colonial homes,
the cobbled stone streets, the colonial street lamps and the many
horse and buggies that are still used as transportation by the locals.
You will ride take a horse and buggy ride around the Mayan pyramids
and between the colonial mansions.
a)Day Trip to Izamal
Included:
Departure from your hotel at 9 am.
Transportation with A/C in either a bus or van.
Certified guide.
Horse and buggy tour of Izamal.
Drop-off at your hotel at approximately 5:00 pm.
Note: This tour requires a minimum of 4 passengers.
No Included:
Lunch.
Beverages at the restaurant.
Prices:
Price per person: $400 pesos.
Children under 4 do not pay.
Children 5 – 10 years $350 pesos.
Children 11 years on pay full fare
b)Izamal Tour with Light & Sound
Izamal is known as the City of the Hills in reference to the Mayan
pyramids right in town and the City of Three Cultures with its Mayan
and Spanish roots and its present day residents. See and enjoy the
Light & Sound show in the evening in the courtyard atrium of
the convent – the same place Pope Juan Paul held Mass in 1993
for the indigenous people from Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.
Included:
Departure from your hotel at 1 pm.
Transportation with A/C in either a bus or van.
Certified guide.
Horse and buggy tour of Izamal.
Drop-off at your hotel at approximately 10 pm.
Note: This tour requires a minimum of 4 passengers.
No Included:
Food.
Beverages.
Entrance into the Light & Sound show.
Prices:
Price per person: $400 pesos.
Children under 4 do not pay.
Children 5 – 10 years $350 pesos.
Children 11 years on pay full fare.
IZAMAL
A magical Mexican City geographically right in the center of the
Yucatan Peninsula. Its history, from this site was once an enormous
Mayan cultural center. Founded by a family of Mayas, the Itzaes,
its name comes from a mythical character of exceptional wisdom,
looked upon as instructor, teacher and priest, and whom the Maya
called Itzamna or Zamna, meaning “dew descended from heaven.”
Izamal is sometimes know as the City of Hills referring to the
covered pyramids found by the Spanish past, on their arrival; and
also as the City of the Three Cultures, for the pre-Hispanic, Colonial
traces of its past, as well as contemporary influences.
Izamal was one of the most important city-states of the pre-Hispanic
Maya between 850 and 1,000 AD. For centuries the Maya would pilgrimage
here along the sacbés or white stone paths that joined the
principal metropolises of the Mayan world. It´s and Uxmal:
The first settlements here date back to the III century AD.
During the post-Classic period, Izamal experienced a popularity
boom as a Mayan Toltec city, but like other major cities of this
era, it was later abandoned. When the Spanish arrived, the place
was all but deserted and belonged to an indigenous group called
the Cocoms.
An important ceremonial center in Izamal, seven pyramids had been
erected on the site; and although the Spaniards respected some of
the temples, many of the stones were used to give life to new constructions.
This was the case with the majestic convent of San Antonio de Padua.
The convent was founded in Izamal by the priest Fray Diego de Landa
y Franciscan missionaries in 1549. The courtyard of Izamal is the
second after St. Peter´s in the Vatican in size, and was chosen
by his Holiness Pope John Paul the Second for his reunion with a
host of ethnic groups on one of his visits to México.
In Izamal horse-drawn carriages take the visitors for a charming
ride down neat cobble-stone streets, around the parks, squares and
historical suburbs where Fray Diego de Landa himself seems to speak
to us of the quality of the people, so alive and proud of their
past. At night the view from Izamal is extraordinary. The pyramids,
temples and colonial mansions are silhouetted against the starry
heavens: shadows that seem to awaken from a centuries-old dream.
The second most significant structure in Izamal is the pyramid of
Izamatul, dedicated to the founder of the city and standing 22 meters
high.
Around 80 pre-Hispanic structures have been found on the site
during innumerable excavations and restorations in Izamal. One of
these is known as Kinich Kakmoo, a name meaning “Sun Face”
and where homage was paid to the sun as the source of life.
This imposing pyramid still stands before us, irrefutable evidence
of the “City of Hills” and of how the “Dew which
Descended from Heaven” still entices the visitors into the
unique magic of this wonderful corner of pre-Hispanic Mexico, Colonial
yet modern, in an encounter with time itself
IZAMAL“THE LIGHT OF THE MAYA”
Izamal, the first magical town of Mexico, captivates its guests
with its beautiful architecture, picturesque streets and alleys,
the majestic of it Mayan pyramids and its people´s hospitality.
Now Izamal has a new attraction, perfect to enjoy after: “The
Light of the Maya”. This stunning light-and-sound show lasts
about 30 minutes and mixes architectural lighting effects, audio
and still image projections in the sublime setting of the atrium
of the San Antonio de Padua ex-Franciscan convent.
Beginning with the low, deep notes of a Classical choral piece,
the spectator is immersed in a mystical atmosphere in which the
sense fill with purple tones, the silhouettes of monks walking slowly
and the smell of incense. It is a invitation to take a rest from
life´s harried pace and adopt the slower, more relaxed rhythm
of Izamal, City of the Three Cultures. As the first six minutes
of meditation and contemplation close a beautiful mixed Maya conch
horn resounds, and silence and darkness descend. To the sound of
a sustained chord two brilliant white Mayan calendar wheels appear
in the four symmetrical, contiguous arches of the Third Order:”The
time has come to know, the end of the cycle has arrived, the final
house, the return to heaven…”
The immense atrium vibrates with the prophetic voice of the narrator
as he announces the descent of Zamná Mayan god of knowledge,
avatar of the time when Izamal was the Jerusalem of the Maya. A
woman´s voice is then heard telling the history of the Maya.
With a conciliatory view of the conquistadors: “The eyes of
the forest have dried the tears… there´s no more reason
to cry, the pain and injustice have been left on the bark of the
balché, (the codices) have burned in (Friar Diego de) Landa´s
fire…”.
Four virtual windows open from the monastery walls onto the Mayan
“non time”, filling with intensely colorful murals and
fixed and moving images on two planes (foreground and background).
Slowly we are immersed in the telling that comes neither from history
books nor the poetry of the Popol Vuh, but rather from the center
of the spirit talking to the “the four batabs” for those
who see and hear: “This is how our brothers the Franciscans
taught us to read and write and worship the Divine one of the Cross”.
The cadence and rhythm of the sequences carry us along for few minutes,
allowing us to contemplate Mayan art and its makers, letting the
imagination fill in the lines of the virtual frescos illustrating
Classic Mayan life. Camera movements in the video clips give us
the sensation of walking narrator´s faces is revealed: “This
is us, the Maya”, and the essential message, “…and
this is our light”.
It culminate with spectacular lighting of the atrium and church
that slowly dims, leaving the time-traveling spectator in a peaceful
haven lulled by the final notes on the luz eterna.
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Contact: Mayan Ecotours
Calle 80 No. 561 X 13-1, Col. Residencial Pensiones 6a. Etapa
C.P. 97217 Mérida, Yucatán, México
Tel./fax (999)987 37 10, cel. (044 999) 243 14 89
E_mail: info@mayanecotours.com
Chat: mayanecotours@hotmail.com
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