Nelson

Kathie, some more grist if you haven't had enough. Some great information here.

In the Osa in 1997 my wife and I saw a jaguar in the wild. It was astonishing! It required being on the beach at 4:00 AM, but we were amazingly lucky. Also saw tapirs, howlers, spider monkeys, incredible birds and don't forget snakes including a terciopelo. We also saw a boa devour an iguana, a National Geographic moment. All these latter ones at reasonable times of the day.

Anyway, because of all that the Osa went down as a top wildlife destination for us.

Photo of the jaguar here. I also have some photos of the turtle he was eating, but they are not uploaded.
http://nelsonchenkin.zenfolio.com/p9...1921#h1f2c1921

Look into Wilson Botanical Gardens, you can stay there as a tourist, though it is also a tropical research site. We went there twice in the '90's.
http://costa-rica-guide.com/nature/r...son-botanical/

We were in the Yucatan for a wedding in January, 2013 and spent hours totally alone at the Mayan sites of Muyil (mentioned by crosscheck) and Chacchoben. At the latter there were hoards of tour buses from cruise ships at Mahahual in the morning, but after the lunch they were gone and nobody was there but the two of us, toucans, parrots, trogons, etc. Monkeys in the far distance. Mixing ruins and wildlife, but it was pretty darn neat. We went back for a second visit.

We had a wonderful lunch at Rancho Encantado in Bacalar and it looked like that might be a cool place to stay.
http://www.encantado.com/

It's been 1984 since we were in Merida, but surprisingly our hotel is still there:
http://www.doloresalba.com/indexmain.php

We loved Merida, Izamal and Uxmal but that was a while ago. Have fun planning!

Kathie

I can always use more grist, Nelson! Wow - the jaguar siting! We've been devouring guidebooks and getting more excited about the wildlife.

I'd be interested in recommendations for lodges in Costa Rica that will put us in prime areas for wildlife viewing.

RAC

If you're looking for a wildlife lodge, you 're not going to do better than Bosque del Cabo in the Osa. We saw a puma while hiking one of the trails there, as well as some peccaries, three species of monkey, etc.

Wildlife location overall the best is Corcovado, but I wouldn't plan a visit there during November.

cybor

Perhaps I missed it but which museum in Merida is the one being discussed? We have many here.
Also, I believe that you mentioned staying in Merida for one night. If that's the case, I'd book it early as most of the places to stay do not allow one night stays.

Nelson

I uploaded a couple photos of the poor turtle the jaguar had killed, if anyone is interested.

RAC has a good point about November. I think we were there both times in February, when the dry season had kicked in. The later in November the better your odds for dry weather.

This is early stages for planning your trip, but we very highly recommend reading this book before visiting.
http://www.amazon.com/Tropical-Natur.../dp/0684187108

Then you'll consider insects wildlife and your sightings will increase dramatically! It's fascinating to watch leaf cutter ants, for example.

Kathie

Thanks for the book recommendation.

I notice that the lodges begin to consider it high season after Nov 15. So perhaps an end of November time might work for us.

Where did you stay in the Osa, Nelson? Any place you would recommend?

Nelson

Kathie, the two lodges we stayed at on our two trips are now gone. One was called Rainbow Adventures and was on the Golfito side of the Golfo Dulce, accessible only by boat. The other was up near Drake Bay. There are other lodges in those areas but I can't personally recommend any. But both were great places with lots of small wildlife and incredible birding.

We also stayed a few nights camping in the National Park ranger stations of Los Patos and Sirena. It was a few miles north of Sirena where we saw the jaguar, and right at the station where the tapir walked by in broad daylight on the airport runway.

If we were to go back (and we might) I think the area around Bosque del Cabo, mentioned by RAC, and on up to Carate would be the place to look. I've had a couple lodges bookmarked from a Google search, and have now added Bosque del Cabo (thanks RAC!).

That was kind of a non-answer I guess, but good luck in your search.

kja

@ cyber -- the museum in Merida to which I was referring is the archeology museum. I hope that's the one Kathie meant, too!

Kathie

Sorry, cybor, I missed reading your post. Yes, I was referring to the archaeology museum. The idea was to stay 2 or three nights at the beginning of the trip and one night at the end before flying home.

Thanks, Nelson. I have several lodges bookmarked as well.

cybor

Thanks, Kathy. I'm not familiar with the archaeology museum.
I do know that there's a fairly new anthropology museum north of the city that's very note worthy. It's very close to Costco and a mall with an ice skating rink.lol
Here's an interesting local magazine that talks about a few museum sand has many other useful and entertaining articles about restaurants, etc.

http://www.yucatantoday.com/en/topics/museums-merida

Another one that has a fairly decent event calender.
http://www.yucatanliving.com/events/...ents-this-week

If possible try to come when there's something going on that interests you. There are times when the flamingos, whale sharks and other species migrate here. There's also things like Blanca Noche which we celebrated ( a bit too much, I must say) last night. the whole city opens up to all sorts of free entertainment and food.
The weekends are the best time to come. Streets are closed off for outside dining and entertainment. Sunday is the day that the streets are closed for bike riding.
That said, the parks (we have many) rotate music and entertainment every week.
Enjoy!

Kathie

Thanks, cyber, It sounds like the new anthropology museum would be worthwhile as well.

Willytaps

Thanks to everyone who's posted in this thread. I didn't ask the original question, but I have a trip planned next year as well and this is right up my alley! Cheers.

julies

Very late to the game on this one, and take my comments in the light that my ideas of an interesting trip may be much different than yours. IMO with your exclusive focus on ruins and wildlife you are missing the essence of the area you are planning to be in--the people and their culture. Merida is an in interesting destination in its own right, not only as a place to visit museums and base oneself for day trips. If you like to walk, there are lots of interesting places to walk and some really good hole-in-the-wall type authentic places to eat. Merida has one mile-long street that is lined with all of the town houses (mansions) built by the wealthy planters who came in from their haciendas.

On one Merida trip we did a great day trip to Sotuta de Peon, a hacienda we really enjoyed and a place that gave us insight into the 19th century history of the area. We got a package deal through the hacienda, and they provided round trip transportation. A great excursion north of Merida is for a meal (or a stay) at Hacienda Xcanatun.

The ambience of the ruins at Coba is excellent with their forest-like setting. We rented bikes and rode between the different areas.

For a totally different type of place to stay you may want to check out Genesis Eco-Resort in Ek Balaam. I can tell you though that it does not meet your standards of luxe, but it has other interesting attributes since it is set in the heart of a real Mayan village.

You can go over to Celestun to see flamingos and visit an authentic small Mexican town. Campeche, a couple hours south over on that coast, is an interesting historic fortified town set on the sea.

As I said, just my thoughts that perhaps you should expand the scope of your visit to include some additional opportunities. I know we are all very different, but to me a steady diet of nothing but ruins could prove to be deadly.

Kathie

Julies, while we want to include wildlife and Mayan ruins in this trip, by no means will we ignore the culture and the people in these amazing places!

And thanks for the Genesis Eco-Resort suggestion. I looked briefly at their website and will do more research.

kja

And Campeche also has two very small archeological museums, both of which are outstanding.

Kathie

Thanks, kja.

We are having a hard time planning this trip as there are so many places we want to visit and so much to do.

Nelson

Kathie,

Don't know if this will make it harder or easier, but I had fun playing with this map before our 2013 trip:
http://www.mundomaya.travel/info/mapa-desktop

You can zoom around and then use the menu on the upper right to hide or show various sites. For example, click on Mayan Archaeology, then you'll see check box options like "Top 10". Click on that and they'll show you their opinion of what are the top 10 sites. Or you can just look at states like Quintana Roo.

Although there is a ton of stuff on the map, it's not complete. For example the cool site of Muyil seems to be missing. Should be in Quintana Roo just south of Tulum.

Hope it helps and good luck with your planning!

Kathie

Thanks, Nelson, that's an interesting interactive map.

kja

"We are having a hard time planning this trip as there are so many places we want to visit and so much to do."

I know that feeling!

kja

Hi again, Kathie --

I was just rereading your return to Java trip report, and couldn't help but note your love of older, classic, elegant hotels. I couldn't resist coming back to this thread to again encourage you to look at staying in Valladolid rather than right by Chichen Itza -- I think El Hotel Mesón del Marqués may be very much to your liking, and it's restaurant is well worth enjoying, too. Just a thought!