Welcome to Otoch Ixchel: Meet your hosts

Some places you visit and forget. Others stay with you.

We first arrived in Izamal about ten years ago, almost by accident — we’d spent the day at Chichén Itzá and rolled into town right at golden hour. The yellow walls were glowing, the streets were quiet, the pyramids were right there in the middle of it all. We looked at each other and made a promise to come back.

It took us a while, but we kept that promise.

We’d been visiting Mexico for twenty years by then — various corners of the country — but the Yucatán kept pulling us back. The history, the Mayan culture, the cenotes, the food, the warmth of the people. Mérida, Uxmal, the ruins. Something about this region felt different from anywhere else we’d traveled, and between us we’ve covered a fair amount of ground — 55 countries and still counting.

Three years ago, once our kids were grown and out in the world, we decided to stop visiting and start living here. We sold everything, made the move to Izamal, and haven’t looked back. We still keep an apartment in Orlando and fly back and forth for family and work — I work remotely for an American software company, and Eric runs the hacienda day to day — but Izamal is home now, the kind you didn’t expect to find but immediately recognize.

We’re an unlikely pair for this. I’m originally from Ireland, trained as a designer, and spent years in UX — which is probably why I couldn’t leave a single detail of this place unexamined. Eric is from Ohio, and before this life he ran his own business in Florida working with decorative concrete — patios, driveways, outdoor spaces. Between us we’ve put more thought into how a space makes people feel than most hospitality professionals ever do. We met in Seattle, landed in Orlando, and ended up in a 4-acre hacienda in the Yucatán. Life is a grand adventure.

What we love about living here is harder to summarize. The pace. The history that’s literally underfoot — Izamal was a major Mayan pilgrimage site long before the Spanish arrived, and you feel that weight in a good way when you walk its streets. The cenotes an hour in any direction. The markets. The fact that our neighbors have lived here for generations and are genuinely pleased you came. Otoch Ixchel is our home. We built this place for curious travelers — people who want more than a poolside chair and end up loving this corner of the world the same way we do. We look forward to meeting you. Shelley & Eric