Holbox Explorations: Blat Ha Organic Garden, Luum Ayni, and Nature Hike

Funky Plant Mural on the Beach

Welcome to the Yum Balam Reserve

After two busy weeks, a day off!

Checking out the garden from the roof of Blat Ha

After a short break from our nature and gardening adventures, Danny and I began our morning at Casa Blat Ha.  Blat Ha is an Eco-Bed and Breakfast and organic orchard, which is home to a wide array of medicinal and edible plants.  For the next eight days, we'll be spending some time at Blat Ha and learning from the owner Daniel Trigo, who has an extensive knowledge of plants, horticulture, and history.  He's offered to share his expertise as well as his impressive collection of books with us.

Our first morning at Blat Ha, we meet Cesar and Lisa, who run a sustainable ecology project called Luum Ayni, in Chichimila, Yucatan near Valladolid.  I'll travel back to the area next week to visit this project because I don't think I should miss it!  Cesar adds to my knowledge of local bees: telling me about three species - zacxic, kanzac, and muul.  The muul, Trigona fuluventris, pollinates tiny flowers in the jungle.  While the yield of honey produced by the muul is less than than traditional Mellipona, it is considered an elixir known for its anti-bacterial properties, taken orally as a medicine and put on scars and cuts.  Bees are so important to this region:  the states of Yucatan, Campeche, and Quintana Roo produce over 20,000 tons of honey each year; 15,000 tons of this honey is exported to Europe and the rest of N. America.

Flowering Basil

Busy Bees on the Basil

After reading a bit about native species and Maya agriculture, Danny and I head out to the garden with Daniel to dead head a large patch of basil and harvest a bit, which we package in homemade leaf bags.

Harvesting the Basil

Lovely bags of basil

It has been great walking around the island with Danny, as he is fearless with his camera.  I joke with him that I may need to call his mom with news of an osprey or iguana attack.  In the meantime, I enjoy his quality photos, as I'm sure you will too!  

Hanging out by the sea

Pelican Encounters

Lovely Sea Hawk (Osprey)

Posing for Danny's Photos?

Stay tuned for our day of swimming with the whale sharks, including Danny's underwater videos, and many more adventures.

Adventures in Izamal -Day 1

On the flight from Chicago to Cancun, I passed over Isla Holbox, where I'll return in a few weeks.  It´s place so close to, but so different from Cancun.

 I wanted to snap a picture of the Island's distinctive bat wing shape, but these will have to do.

After a 5 hr bus ride from Cancun's bus terminal, I arrived to Izamal feeling tired and very hungry.  Was it no coincidence that I would place my dinner order at the restaurant, which I was told would be ready in exactly one hour, as I began reading Carlo Petrini´s Terra Madre, a book about the Slow Food movement?   Slow Food = Good Food, especially after a long day of travel.  I enjoyed a greek salad and chiles rellenos at Macanche´s restaurant, where I plan to take a cooking class or two later this week. 

Tomorrow, I'll begin my adventures in Izamal, the city of 3 cultures.  I'm looking to discover a bit about each culture, and how the story of plants connects each of them.
Hopefully, seven nights won't prove to be too long to spend in a town with exactly 4 attractions listed in the "Things to Do" section of Tripadvisor.   According to my research, there is far more to do in one of Mexico's famed Pueblo Magicos.