Conveniently located 80km south of
Mérida on Hwy-184,
TICUL is an
excellent base for exploring the Puuc
region. You can head straight back to
Mérida from here or else take the
slightly longer route via the Maya sites
of
Mani and
Mayapan . The
town is an important centre of Maya
shamanism as well as a pottery-producing
centre and it's full of shops selling
reproduction Maya antiquities, mostly
too big to carry home. Visitors are
welcome to watch the manufacturing
process at the
fabricas . The
place is also renowned for its shoes and
the streets are lined with shoe-shops.
Despite all this, Ticul lives life at a
slow pace, with more bicycles (and
passenger-carrying
triciclos )
than cars.
On the main road between Mérida and
Felipe Carrillo Puerto in Quintana Roo,
Ticul is an important transport centre,
well served by buses to and from
Mérida and with services to Cancún. If
you're arriving by bus from Mérida,
you'll be dropped in C 24 on the corner
with C 25, behind the church. Buses
from Campeche don't go through Ticul
so you'll have to get off at Santa Elena
to catch one of the colectivos that
leave from the main square between about
6am and 7pm; the trip takes about thirty
minutes. Trucks for Oxkutzcab and
surrounding villages set off when
they're full from the side of the plaza
next to the church; combis for
Mérida leave from further down the same
street.
Even-numbered roads run north to
south, odd numbers east to west. Calle
23 is the main street, with the plaza at
its eastern end at C 26. Half a block
from the plaza, the Sierra Sosa ,
C 26 no. 199-A (tel 9/972-0008;
US$10-15), has basic rooms , with
shower and fan (upstairs is better), and
a few new a/c rooms with TV. The
English-speaking manager is a good
source of information, and you can make
international calls from reception.
Alternatives include the Hotel Plaza
, C 23 no. 202 (tel 9/972-0484, fax
972-0026, www.hotelplazayucatan ;
US$25-40), the most comfortable and
centrally located of the lot with TV,
telephone and a/c in all rooms, and the
Hotel San Miguel (no phone;
US$5-10), which has plain but very clean
rooms at bargain rates.
The best of the restaurants is
the original Los Almendros , C 23
no. 207, which serves superb local
dishes in pleasant surroundings. The
Loncheria Carmelita , two doors up
from Hotel Sierra Sosa on C 26,
does an inexpensive comida and Los
Delfines
