#865 Cancun, Mexico

It may be famous for American spring break visitors, and have more flights to the states and Canada than some places on the main continent should have, but these visitors do not come without reason. The beach is absolutely spectacular. It goes on and on, is wide and flat, with beautiful white sand and rolling waves with a delicious turquoise ocean with just the right sized waves -- the perfect temperature in Spring. Mega hotels may have sprung up in their hundreds, the nightclubs offering free drinks all night long may lead to offensive behavior, and there may be just a few too many tourist stalls, but where there are tourists there are jobs, money, better standards of living and other benefits to share. 

The 15 km strip likes on a the outer banks of a lagoon that separates the main city (where the majority of Mexicans live and the backpackers stay) from the high flying golf courses and five star palaces. The Yucatan peninsula where it sits is porous limestone offering fabulous day trips to cenotes (sinkholes), and of course the magic Mayan ruins such as Chichen Itza (#875). Off the coast lies the more laid-back Isla Mujeres and even whale sharks (#915).

#875 Chichen Itza, Mexico

In the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula likes Mexico's crowning historical glory of Mayan traditions: Chichen Itza. With one of the largest, most beautiful pyramids (El Castillo or the Temple of Kukulkan) that at equinoxes reflects a twisting serpent in its shadows, it is rare to see it without a swarm of tourists from nearby Cancun. Typical of most Mayan buildings it was a structure built over top of an older building, with that built on top of something else.


Near to the main square is the great ball court, one of thirteen such structures on the site, but an impressive structure in its own right, flanked by the Temple of the Jaguar and the Temple of the Bearded Man. You can see the "goals" in the walls, at a very high level above the ground making you wonder as to the complex rules of such a sport.

The skull carvings on the Skull Platform (Tzompantli) are an appropriate reminder of the frequent human sacrifices that took place during the Mayan era, evidence of which can be found at the bottom of the 60m wide Cenote Sagrada, where along with gems, pottery, wood and cloth were the skeletons of men and children.

Beautifully decorated buildings, the impressive complex known as the Group of a Thousand Columns, and the El Caracol Observatory all provide testament to the Mayans engineering, learning, arts and culture. I think I love the connection to the jaguar the most!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_itza

#915 Whale sharks off Cancun, Mexico

During the summer months, if you travel about an hour's speedboat ride off the coast of Cancun and Isla Mujeres in Mexico, you will come to a place where there are often hundreds of whale sharks swimming. The krill and plankton sits on the surface, and therefore, so do the whale sharks. In an industry highly regulated by the Mexican government, you are permitted to swim with them. Wow! What an amazing experience! They are so large and peaceful, with their wide mouths and swishing tails. They say if you can take a picture of their finger-print side, this unique genetic code can be posted online to tell you where else in the world they have been to.

Isla Mujeres for lunch!

Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Queretaro Mexico

The five Sierra Gorda missions bear witness to the cultural encounter of the European missions with the nomadic populations of central Mexico, remaining a significant testimony to this second phase of evangelization in North America. The most thorough evangelizing work carried out by the Franciscan Order in America is reflected in the architectural and artistic achievement in these missions. They exhibit an important interchange of values in the process of evangelization of central and northern Mexico and the western United States, and demonstrate the cultural coexistence between two different groups with their environment.

Continent: North America

Country: Mexico

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (II)(III)

Date of Inscription: 2003

Five Franciscan Missions

The property consists of five Franciscan missions dating from the 1750s and 1760s. They are located in the mountainous Sierra Gorda region in central Mexico, where evangelization took place much later than elsewhere. Of the five missions, Santiago de Jalpan (the earliest, built 1751-58) and Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol are located in the municipality of Jalpan de Sierra, Santa Maria del Agua de Landa and San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco are in the municipality of Landa de Matamoros, and the mission of San Miguel Conca is in the municipality of Arroyo Seco.

The Franciscan missions were complex organizational units run by friars aiming at evangelizing, congregating and teaching indigenous people. Each mission had to erect the church, find the natives, subdue them, and then group them in huts around the church. The missionaries had to learn the native language, supply the population with food, teach them how to behave, and only then evangelize them.

Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Queretaro

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All five missions share similar elements in relation to their environment, the town and the religious buildings. The environment offers splendid mountain views; the strategic locations of the missions determined the layout and development of the native settlement around. Today, these are traditional rural settlements. The architecture of the missions is designed following a general pattern, although there are individual differences. Their features are reminiscent of 16th-century convents, and generally include an atrium, a sacramental doorway, an open chapel, processional chapels and a cloister. Some features are also taken from Mexican Baroque art of the 17th and 18th centuries, evidenced in the cross-shaped ground plan of the church, the carved and stuccoed facade, and the use of lime plaster in the interior.

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These features are most characteristic of Jalpan, Landa and Tancoyol, while Tilaco and Concá have more individual designs - for example there are no chapels. The buildings are made from local stone, and have plaster rendering. The orientation of the complex differs in each case; the main facade is oriented to the west only in Tilaco, while Jalpan faces east, Tancoyol south, and Concá and Landa south-east. Considering that the congregation generally gathered outside, the main elevation of the church is opulently decorated with winding plants and flowers, fantastic architectural elements, angels, figures of Virg\in and saints, including St Francis. While the general layout of the complex reflects the Franciscan model, the spirit and forms of decoration refer to local traditions and local products as gifts to God. Artistically the whole has a particular air of innocence and naivety.

Strategically, the images were 'ideographic', enforcing the didactic scope of the mission. The facade has usually three horizontal and three vertical sections, forming framed fields; in Tancoyol, there are five horizontal sections. The dominating colour is ochre. In contrast, the interior is now much less pretentious; it has simple plaster rendering, and the altarpiece has straightforward architectural forms. A cupola crowns the transept crossing. Seen from the front, a tall bell tower is attached on the left side of the church. The lower part of the tower is plain on a square plan; the upper part is richly ornate with architectural elements. The residential part, on the right side of the church, has an arched entrance and in some cases there is a cloister passage around the court. Otherwise it is relatively simple without decoration.

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