The Taste of Mexico

We are pleased to offer you the unique experience of immersion in Mexican culture: through the flavors, colors and flavors of Mexican cuisine, which is included in the list of UNESCO’s Cultural Crown. It’s not just culinary master classes, is the mixture of history and culture of this country. Yucatan colors of its market, the Mayan pyramids, the smell of freshly baked bread, swimming in the underground lakes, the taste of chocolate sauce, cooked by you – this program will allow you to understand and love this country forever. Through your own taste and visual experience you will understand this unique symbiosis of traditions and colonial culture.

Day 1. Cancun – Master Class Mexican cuisine – Museum of Tequila – Valladolid.

Breakfast. Departure from the hotel (Cancun or Riviera Maya).

Today you will go to a real Mexican house where the mistress, the famous chef of Mexico, will tell you the history of Mexican cuisine from the northern regions of the Yucatan Peninsula. Your course will begin with a traditional cup of real coffee, prepared according to the ancient Mexican recipes. Then you learn how to make tortillas – corn tortillas and various sauces and, of course, tamales, empanadas and more. In your “working day” master of the house will offer tasting of several varieties of tequila. At the end of the course – lunch. The tour lasts 4 to 5 hours. Visiting The Museo of Tequila for degustation. You can visit the famous Tequileria, where you will be acquainted with the most traditional Mexican drink, to learn its history and method of preparation.

Tasting includes drinks premium class: (Herradura blanco, Reposado, Añejo and Selección Suprema). Continue to Valladolid, a colonial, picturesque town from the past – the main stay of Indian resistance to the Spaniards. Included: breakfast and lunch.

Day 2. Valladolid – Chichen Itza – Ik Kil – Hacienda – Merida.

Breakfast at the hotel. Valladolid – Main attractions: Zocalo, the main square, and the local market. There you will have the opportunity to get acquainted with seasonal vegetables and fruits (papaya, passion fruit, camote, and many others), see the infinite number of seafood such as crabs, squid, mussels, to communicate with local people, etc.

Departure to Merida. On the way, you will visit a Yucatan Mayan village; you will have the unique opportunity to cook tacos in a typical Mexican bakery. Excursion to Chichen Itza, the ancient Mayan city, one of the most famous religion and administrative centers of ancient civilization. After the tour you will have the opportunity to swim in the most beautiful and largest sink hole – cenote Ik Kil.

Arrival to a colonial hacienda, known for its culinary delights. The hacienda was built in the 17th century, but since 1995 it has reborned, opening the door of his famous restaurant. From this point on famous people such as Queen Sofia of Spain, Hillary Clinton, the Prince of Luxembourg, became regular guests. The most popular and prestigious culinary events and contests have been held here. You will enjoy the original hacienda atmosphere, restaurant, lunch, tasting, delicious dishes, such as Yucatan barbeque “pok chuk,” fried pork in banana leaves, “sopa de lima” – spicy chicken soup with fresh lemon juice, “nerds” or “garnachas” – grilled meat with avocado, “CHEESE FILLING” – cheese, stuffed with meat and spices, cream soup with cilantro. Arriving at the hotel in Merida.

Included: breakfast, lunch

Day 3. Merida – Celestun – Yucatan production of liqueurs – Merida.

Breakfast. Visit the Celestun Biosphere Reserve, where about 10,000 animals and birds live, including a large colony of pink flamingos. A boat ride on the Gulf of Mexico will last about 2 hours. The route passes first along the coast, where you can see a small white heron, cormorant, white pelican, wagtails and other birds. Then the boat enters the mouth of the river and swims past the petrified forest with tall trees. Here you will see an amazing picture – hundreds of pink flamingos. They spend the winter here, feeding by brine shrimp, which is the basis of their feeding and, thanks to this, the feathers of flamingos become pale pink color. The reserve is also a home to a large colony of crocodiles, rare species of turtles – only 554 species, of which 15 species – endemic. For example, here you can find a monkey, a spider, ant, and several unique species of owls.

After Celestun, a visit to the oldest wine cellars of the colonial possessions. As part of this tour we offer not only try the best traditional – national cuisine of Yucatan, but also to visit ancient cellars, where you will see the process of making home-Mexican liqueurs and become familiar with the process of cooking the famous local drink Xtabentun made from honey (for which the pollen was collected by bees with the vines that grow only on the Yucatan Peninsula). (Weekends – Saturday and Sunday). Return to the hotel in Merida. Included: breakfast, lunch.

Day 4 Merida sightseeing tour – Master Class gourmet Mexican cuisine in Playa del Carmen – Cancun (Riviera Maya).

Breakfast tasting on the market of Merida is an opportunity to immerse themselves in real life city, try the tacos with cochinita pibil, quesadillas and much more. You will plunge into a real life in the bustling Mexican marketplace. Walking Tour in the market. Departure for sightseeing tour of Merida, one of the most beautiful and picturesque cities of Mexico, Yucatan capital.

Moving to Cancun for Temezcal. You will have a unique possibility to participate in Temazcal ritual – ancient purification ritual of Mesoamerican peoples. After the ritual all the guests can relax in the hammocks and experience facials and body masks.

The most interesting part of the tour is open air dinner by the fire. You will enjoy a special menu that will help you to reach back into 500 years ago. You will also get to know more about pre-Hispanic life and gastronomy. You will see the cookware that is still popular in some Mexican houses: a molcajete – a stone tool, an anafre – a small baker used for strong traditional drinks and famous tortillas preparation, a metate – a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican culture, metates were typically used by women who would grind calcified maize and other organic materials during food preparation.

Fogon – «a kitchen altar» – is a household keeper of Maya. Using it you will be able to cook tortillas and fill them with grasshoppers and Oaxaca cheese, also «Poc Chuc» – yucatecan grilled pork, «cochinita pibil» – a traditional Mexican slow-roasted pork dish wrapped in banana leaf, «sopa de lima» – spicy chicken soup with fresh lemon juice, «botana» or «garnachas» – roasted meat with avocado, «queso relleno» – cheese filled with meat and spices, cream soup with cilantro, «salbutes» or «panuchos» – different flour tortillas filled with beans, cheese, pork pieces and onion. Included: breakfast, dinner.