Ticul

After picking up our pulled pork from the little tienda across the way, we headed off to Ticul with C and F, new friends who own a condo in the complex. Ticul is about a 90 minute drive from Progreso and is known for its pottery and shoes.

After passing through Uman, where we had to ask a police officer for directions, and Manu, we arrived at the absolutely charming town of Ticul. The streets aren't very wide and we saw a large number of those tricycles with the passenger seating in front. The lack of garbage lying around was one of the first things we noticed. Perhaps the more residential areas are littered, but the main road into town, and the downtown area, were neat as a pin.

We decided to stop for lunch before we went shopping. Carmelita's Restaurant and Cocteleria was the first place we found so in we went. It's located right on the corner by the main square. There's a huge, old church that we could see across the square from the restaurant.

The food was fabulous, probably the best we've had anywhere here. F had a plate of ceviche, C had a fish dish, Senor B had garlic fish and I had garlic chicken. The botanas were plentiful and we could barely eat all our lunch. While the guys finished their beers, F and I decided to go check out the market that we had spied on our way into town but we got there only to find them closing up for the day. We got an awful lot of looks from the locals, as if we were an oddity in their town. I've read about trips to Ticul on other blogs so I was a bit surprised by the stares.

Back to the restaurant to fetch the guys and then we were off to the pottery stores. Oh my. Such a selection. Vases of all shapes, sizes and colours. Suns, moons, frogs (lots and lots of frogs), butterflies, crosses and other things to hang on the wall. Bowls, trays and coffee table decorations. Every store was just a bit different. Same, or similar, items but in different colours or shapes.

There was a beautiful metalwork wall hanging that held small pottery vases that I would have liked to have bought but the vases didn't come in a colour that worked with my decor. I also found a lovely flamingo that I wanted, since we live on the Flamingo Coast. However, it only came in a set of three and I only wanted one. I just don't have enough space for all three of them. The pretty bird that would have looked great on the top of the kitchen cupboards had to be left behind because it was too heavy. I was worried that it would pull the cupboard off the wall. So all I ended up buying were a few small decorative bowls.

Ticul is a really cool place and I hope to get back there again.