Yucatan: the land of the Maya is a welcome relief for anyone tired of chilies. Many Yucateco sauces are fruit-based, chief among them a sauce made from brick-red annatto seeds (achiote) and flavored with Seville oranges, pepper, garlic and cumin. This sauce is spread over chicken (pollo pibil) or pork (cochinita pibil), the meats are then baked in a banana leaf, and the result is delightfully good. Pack a picnic and trek to the ruins at Chichen Itza for a meal in an unbeatable setting.

Yucatecan cooking is the most distinct of the many kinds of regional cooking, probably because the Maya and Caribbean cultural traditions influenced it. Yucatecans are great fans of achiote (or annatto, a red seed pod from a tree that grows in the Caribbean area), which is the basic ingredient for perhaps its most famous dish, cochinita pibil (pork wrapped in banana leaves and baked in a pit with a pibil sauce of achiote, sour orange, and spices)

Also just for clarification: Tortas are not equal to sandwich in Mexico. If you ask for sandwich you get two square slices of white box bread and something inside: mayonnaise, mustard, onion, lettuce, tomatoes. Normally the options are: ham, cheese, tuna, ham and egg.