SUMMER 2019, PART 1-H: IZAMAL

Thirty minutes east of Merida Izamal, the "yellow city" is found. It has three great attractions:

1. All the houses in Izamal are painted yellow, hence the "yellow city."

The image above is a combination of two shots take from my car.

2. Izamá has a monastery with the 2nd larges patio (second only to the Vatican). More about it later.

It's a eyesore to see such building. It is just immense. The monastery is now out of commission, it simply houses a chapel, a museum, and a small arts & crafts store.

3. The biggest pyramid (by square footage) is found is this town and it is known as Kinich Kak Moo, dedicated to the one of the most important deities of the area: Kinich Kakmo, which means the fire macaw with the sun face."

This pyramid is hidden underground and also seen overground. It is so vast that it is bigger than any other pyramid in Mexico (when it comes to square footage).

The image above is the beginning of the pyramid steps (face 1). It is a long way up.

Once you reach the "top" you find a large field, which you still need to cross in order to reach the beginning of the top of the pyramid.

Above, you can see Miguel climbing the pyramid. I am climbing the pyramid too but I am taking my time because I'm me.

Despite the fact that the pyramid was destroyed to build other houses and churches, this pyramid can be seen from all around the town.

Here's a video taken from the top of the pyramid:

Now for my #selfdecolonizing moment:

The reason why the monastery has a very long patio is because when the colonizers (yes, that is what they are) arrived in Izamal they decided to destroy the pyramids, which were temples to the Maya Gods. So, as part of their colonization, they build Christian churches on top of the pyramids.

In the case of monastery, they have to cover the entire square footage of the pyramid and use part of the pyramid to build the church as you will see in the image below.

The front of the monastery looks pretty, and the back shows the stones from the pyramid that were repurpose to build such monastery. If you look at the combined image of the monastery (posted earlier), you will see that the floor and the steps leading to the main entrance are all made of stone, stone that came from the pyramids. So, seeing this makes me angry and sad. It happened and now we just have to accept it.... but I can still be angry about it.

NEXT: MAYAPAN & KANKIRIXCHE!