2021 Visit to the Yucatán

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July 24-25, 2026: Days 33-34

Its the weekend. And its hot. It's very, very hot. And we are lazy. So, despite it being our only weekend in Valladolid, our activity level is not particularly high. The plan had originally been to take our trip to Chichen Itzá on Saturday, but the combination of our trip through Mayapan and fairly universal warnings about how crowded and touristy Chichen Itzá has become changed our minds. Instead of Chichen Itzá, we did some walking around town on Saturday into a few different neighborhoods, mostly we had to walk to get our re-entry COVID-19 test scheduled and that place is about a half hours walk from the house. There was all road construction, so we had to make a couple detours. We went to the market on the way. Unfortunately by the time we got to the market, it was mostly closed. Some of the artesania at the market seems to be inferior quality and in the ballkpark price wise when compared to some of the swankier shops...

July 23, 2021: Day Thirty-two

Well, let's talk for a minute about this house we're in. AirBNB Exterior Valladolid Calzado de los Frailes The construction is remarkably similar to the house in Mérida. Actualy, all the construction here is remarkably similar to Mérida. The electricity was obviously added considerably after the original construction, with all the wires and switches running on the outside of the walls. There is only one bedroom with air conditioning. I think they could add air conditioning to one of the other bedrooms, but not to the third one. (I suspect that anyone living here would use the third bedroom as a living space, rather than a bedroom due to the lack of a door. Speaking of the doors, they're huge, maybe 14 feet high with ceilings that start in the street (front) of the house at maybe 28 feet and dip slightly as they head back. The ceiling in the kitchen (furthest from the street) is probably 20 feet. There is a walled (10' high or so) patio, whi...

July 22, 2021: Day Thirty-One

Today was a travel day as we said goodbye to Mérida and headed to our last stop: Valladolid. We worked until our normal time with one notable difference. When we extended our hotel stay, we did so standing in front of the lobby desk, talking with people we knew (from having stayed there for a week or so). Their price for each of the two days was MX$1,160 (UD$58.33 at our exchange rate, including all the taxes and breakfast each day). Orbitz wanted $1,300 without breakfast! I'm glad I checked with them rather than just booking online. So, yesterday and today, we had breakfast thrown in. That was nice. As I mentioned before, the hotel is quite nice. We hopped a cab to the bus stop and then hopped on the bus to Valladolid. I finished reading one of my books and listened to music. When we got to Valladolid, we walked the few blocks to the AirBNB home we had arranged. We met the host, checked in, made sure the inte...

July 19-21, 2021: Days 28-30

For the most part, days twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty were all pretty much just working during the day and walking around looking for dinner after 7pm or so. We stop working around 4pm, but honestly, its just unpleasantly hot outside, so we tend to watch a little TV or read or swim in the pool until the rain looks like its passed and then out we go. Francine has pretty much at her limit with regard to Mexican food. This place is FULL of Mexican restaurants!! (Who would have ever seen that coming!) I can see her point a little. Its very good, but its very redundant. To me, its sort of like Italian food that way, but I am prohibited from saying that in pubic. Joking aside, I can understand that if you don't like corn tortillas, or bread made of corn, this place could get a little tedious because just about everything comes with or is made of some kind of corn. I like it and even I'm heading toward overload with it. Our expenses perked...

July 18, 2021: Day Twenty-Seven

Today is Sunday. On Sundays in non-corona times, they shut down the more glamorous part of the Pasejo Montejo and allow for bike-riding. In corona times, they shut down the north-bound lane of the more glamorous part of the Pasejo Montejo to allow for bike-riding and allow the traffic to flow south like normal. We decided that this would be as good a time as any to take a walk on the Pasejo Montejo. Actually, we've been walking up and down this street ever since we came back to Mérida from Progreso. They call the road the "Champs Elysée of Mérida". I have also heard Mérida referred to as the Paris of México. Let me start by saying that I can see the resemblance, but any references to Paris are a bit of a stretch, if you've been to Paris. If you haven't been to Paris, I think maybe the resemblance might be enough. There are a lot of Haussmann-esque homes here, but unlike in Paris, they are isolated, they don't run for blocks and ...

July 17, 2021: Day Twenty-Six

Today, we took a walking tour of Mérida Centro. Our guide was a guy named Eduardo (no relation😉). The buildings were all closed for corona - including the cathedral (the oldest in the "New" World), which was a little disappointing. We still haven't been inside a church, which is rather unusual for us in a trip. Before the Spanish got here, the area now known as Mérida was a town called T'Hó (also known through time as either Ichcanzihó or Ichcaansihó) which had been in the Mayan jurisdiction called Chakán, one of the 16 provinces of the Mayab, as the Maya called the Yucatan. T'Hó was one of the many Maya towns that had been abandoned, in this case well before the Spanish arrived in 1542. The Maya system of government seemed to be fragile in a way that led to frequent abandonment of cities through centuries. There is an interestingly stoic way of looking at the terrible historical relationship between the Maya and imperial Spanish. The family wh...