| A Dispiriting Hunt |
The capital city of Mexico’s Yucatan state, Mérida, is many things to many people. Large—nearly 800 thousand. Commercial—busy, busy, busy, the region’s business hub. Cultural—the best museums and other forms of cultural vitality on the peninsula. Historic—graced in its centro with many fine plazas and impressive Mexican colonial homes.
One thing bustling, vibrant Mérida is not, especially for such a major city—green.
Merida market: masa seller
Sadly, we were unable to unearth either great green lodging or dining here. But Mérida’s still an exciting place to visit, and we hope our next stopover will find that Méridanos have caught up to the many reasons why green travel is the way to go.
When in Merida …
That said, we did manage to sleuth out a modest recommendation.
If you are a lover of chocolate, do not—repeat, do not—miss ki’Xocolatl. It’s on a lovely block of Calle 55, very near Parque Santa Lucia (a sweet little park where you’ll often find live music), a few minute’s walk north from the Plaza Grande. ki’Xocolatl means “delectable chocolate” in the Mayan and Nahuatl languages. Its name is richly deserved, as far as it goes, but we’re guessing these ancient tongues don’t even have a word for “organic.” That’s right—every bit of the cacao in ki’Xocolatl’s creations is sourced from organic criollo cacao beans grown in Chiapas and Tabasco states (organic vanilla comes from Veracruz as well). In fact, Mathieu Brees and Stephanie Verbrugge, the Belgian chocolate-makers who own this shop, have been working directly with small family cacao growers for years, helping them convert to organic production and thereby earn exponentially more for their coveted harvests.
ki'Xocolatl: delectable organic chocolate
ki’Xocolatl is both retail outlet and chocolate cafe, with tables that look out onto a pleasant interior courtyard. It’s a wonderfully serene spot to take a break from the bustle of Mérida and its intense heat, for the cafe must stay cool—or else all that chocolate would become a gooey mess! What better place to sample a frothy cup of Mexican-style hot chocolate? Or perhaps a moist and decadent chocolate brownie with a cup of fruity organic coffee? Delectable, si. Green, si, si!
