2021 Visit to the Yucatán

We fell back into our normal pattern of work until the rain starts, then nap, then head out to look around and grab something for dinner.   Except for Tuesday, when it was time for us to go get our Covid re-entry test.  This was about a half hour's walk or so and we knew we'd need to go back two hours after the test to pick up the results, and we also knew that there was an in-town cenote just a couple blocks from the laboratory, so we stacked that all together and went to get our test, then to the Cenote Zací, then to the (very expensive!) restaurant at the Cenote Zací under their giant tiki roof and then back to the laboratory to collect our test results that would permit us to re-enter the USA.  All in all, it was quite a memorable day. Cenote Zací. You can make out the man-made "enhancements". The previous two cenotes we visited were really out in the country.   There was an entry fee to visit them, but I'm not sure what the fee was because it was ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

 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...

Two days of work, rainy afternoons and not much else.  Pretty much just normal life, but in México.  Really not much to talk about because we really didn't do a whole heck of a lot but work, swim a little and head out around sunset for dinner. I am really liking my two books, though which is a bit of an anomaly for me.  I'm re-re-reading Robert Fulghum's "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" with the goal of preparing a study group on it.  I am also reading "Nothing's bad luck : the lives of Warren Zevon" by an author name C.M. Kushins.  This seems to be this author's first book and it is an excellent telling of a wonderfully interesting story.  It would appear he's written another rock and roll biography, this time of John Bonham.   Bonham is not a subject matter that might interest me, but the author's storytelling is so good, I just might give it a look when I get back to the USA. And so end days twenty-four and twenty-...

The weather seems to be falling into a little bit of a pattern these past couple days which means rain in the afternoon.  Rain is putting it mildly - on one or two occasions, it was more of like a temporary monsoon.  This has edited our daily routine in a way because the onset of the rain has been coincident with when Francine and I cut off work, so we've needed to get a little more creative.  As a result, today became a two-mission day (three if you count the daily dinner search). First mission:  laundry.  We haven't had access to laundry facilities since we left Mérida Centro, and we didn't want to spend our time in Progreso at the laundry, so the laundry situation was beginning to become a little urgent.  I did extensive research on both Google and YouTube.  First I looked for self-service laundromats.  I discovered that in this city of nearly one million people, I could only find two on Google Maps;  both a cab ride away which seemed a li...

Today was the day we definitively proved that we are spending too much on food. To make this point, I have to go back to Ecuador for a minute.  Right as we were leaving Ecuador, we found out about "almuerzo".  The Spanish word "almuerzo" simply means "lunch".  We largely ignored signs for restaurants advertising "almuerzo" becuase we figured that any restaurant that was open and serving food at lunchtime had "almuerzo".  Not true.   We found out with just a couple days left in our time in Ecuador that "almuerzo" in Ecuador was not just "lunch", but rather was analogous to "plato del día" (plate of the day) in Spain.  Plate of the day and almuerzo was a way of eating that is not quite normal for Americans.  With this way of eating, everyone who sits down gets the exact same meal.  Normally a soup, followed by a main dish, accompanied by a drink (normally a kool-aid type substance in Ecuador) and a little des...

After the spectacular day that was Saturday (Day Nineteen), its easy to feel a little let down.  We chose to go with Russel on Saturday because we knew the beach would be closed again for the weekend - which it was.  So, there was not a lot to be done, which is pretty much what we did on Sunday. We did find something that we imagine to be like a cantina.  There was a singer/comedian guy who sang karaoke and poked fun at people.  We left when it started to get a little rowdy. Monday was a travel day:  back to Mérida.  The 25 minute bus ride was about $1 each.  Our new hotel is fantastic - elegant even.  The internet says its only three stars, which makes me think that these stars must be really hard to come by.  There is a restaurant, a swimming pool and an outdoor bar (although we have never seen anyone at it).  It even has a family (not sure if that's the right word) of peacocks. Mr. Peacock.  Definitely in charge, and not at all a...

Today was quite a remarkable day - which may seem like its not saying a whole lot based on just how unremarkable our time has been spent so far here in Progreso. Today, we took a private tour of the area with a self-described mestizo tour guide.  Our guide's name is Russell. (999-918-9925).  He lives in Chelem, which is just east of Progreso on the same barrier island.  He works for a tour company and he moonlights when the tour company is slow.  We were introduced to him by Richard, who runs Bolom Balam, which is part leather store, part artesanía store, and part charity.  Our obvious USA-ness caused the clerk (Erik) to ask where we're from, when we said "Florida", he ran across the street to get and introduce us to Richard, who was also from Florida, but he'd been in Progreso for quite some time. Bolom Balam near the malecón in Progreso. Anyway, there were a couple three hour tours offered by street vendors, but we listened to Richard and went with the signifi...

This will be an ongoing list of observations regarding the differences between our experience in the United States and in Yucatán, México. Things we observe in Yucatán which we don't observe in the United States: Diversity of imported cars.  Cars from the normal suspects:  United States, Germany, Japan, and Korea, but also France, Spain, China and Italy.  Interestingly, according to my research, most of them made here in México.  I would say that about half the cars seem to be Nissans.  And from within those countries different manufacturers and products.  I don't recognize most of the Chevrolet's and the Volkswagens are all different, too; Men socializing.  Just two guys, out for ice cream or out for a stroll at 9pm; Millions of tiny buses.  This is new, they didn't have that in Ecuador.  Many, the size of slightly larger than normal mini-vans; Full service gasoline stations (seemingly mandatory full service); Little step into the bathroom....

Well, times have been slow.  We've gone through a hotel change, a smidge of food sickness, my birthday, walking on the beach, swimming on the beach and sitting on the beach. All of which is to say that things have been pretty alright.  The hotel we were in when we first got here was right on the main street, which ran along the malecón and the beach.  We were alright with the street noise until one day, the food cart under our balcony played the same one-minute long message, repeated every minute for nine hours.  The hotel said there was nothing they could do about it, so we left.  Of course, this was coincident with Francine spending the day laid up for what might have been Montezuma's Revenge.  So, we changed hotels, to one four blocks from the beach but nicer and super quiet - in the process saving about $120 even after paying the one night penalty fee. Sunset, Progreso Beach On Monday, the beach reopened.  Due to all of the above, it wasn't until W...

Well, we got a little waylayed today by a visit from the grave by the great Aztec king Montezuma II.  Yup.  Yuck.  So, it was a pretty laid back day.  Got some work done.  Virtually did nothing other than run to the store a couple times, and once out for dinner. While waiting for dinner, I talked with the server about the beach in general.  It was still slow, as I was out for dinner at an odd hour.  Turns out, this time of year is normally people from Mérida and the rest of México.  People come from far and wide, Nuevo Leon, México City, Guadalajara, etc.  We also discussed the composition of the crowd.  I observed that it was rather conservative for a beach town, not a lot of scantilly clad youth, acting out.  Instead, lots of families and the occasional couple.  Very different in a lot of regards.  He agreed that generally speaking, this place is very laid back and although people do party, its not anything that gets out...

Were you to read the reviews of Progreso beach, you probably would not come here.  And those are pre-Corona reviews.  We did not read those reviews, and I am glad we did not.  Looking at them now, what they seem to me to be is an unspoken comparison to Cancún and the rest of the Riviera Maya.  I can see where you would be disappointed if you had come all the way out here expecting Playa del Carmen - because it is not Playa del Carmen*.   Progreso is small.  Its compact.  And at the moment, the beach and the malecón are both Coronoa-closed, making it kind of quite.  Ok, its very quiet.  We were the only people at a very highly rated restaurant last night for dinner.  Everyone we've talked to has said "mañana, quizás" (hopefully tomorrow).  I'm assuming this place is a weekend sort of place, so even if it does reopen tomorrow, it should still be pretty quiet, but we'll be able to go onto the beach.  In the event that mañana ...

Today was a rather light day.  We did a little work, but then we had to pack up as it was our last night in this location.  We also had to separate our luggage because some of it was coming to the beach at Progreso with us, some was not. I had been working on various things and Francine got her work wrapped up for vacation.  We went for a Yucatecan lunch at a rather upscale place and then back home to pack and do all the laundry.  We finished packing and went out for dinner.  On Fridays, the church I serve has a food-related activity that is popular.  The organizer of the activity throws a food out there and everyone "plays along" by integrating that food or ingredient into their meal plans on Fridays.  I rarely get to play for two reasons:  First, a lot of times, I don't realize its Friday again until Saturday; and  second, even when I do remember, I'm very busy on the weekends, so by the time I post, the moment has passed.  This time, ...

Today was a travel day.  We were done packing up our apartment early and went for a little breakfast.  Then, we came back to meet the host and his father.  The father was there, but the host was not.  We were under the impression that we were to wait for the host, but that turned out not to be true...I think.  We waited anyway. Our host's father graciously offered to give us a ride to our hotel for the third leg of our trip, which was across town.  There, we were going to leave our large suitcase so that we would not have to schlep it to the a beach.  We intended to take a cab to the bus station to catch the half hour drive to Progreso, but on the way, we decided to ask the driver if he'd be willing to take us to Progreso and for how much.  His cost ($400MX/$20USD) seemed pretty reasonable as we were probably going to need at taxi in Progreso, too.  Plus, his taxi was air conditioned (a rarity) and he drove very nicely.  So, we decided t...

Another work day, again sort of capped by nothing opening much before 7pm and most things rolling up around 10pm - leaving a very narrow window for us to do much. So, this morning, we jumbled things up a bit.  The rain from last night meant that the weather had turned pleasantly cool (83F), we went for a walk to the post office.  (Again, not sure if its meteorologically possible to be in excess of 100% humidity, but I think its working on it!).  This was our third walk to a post office to try to mail my mother's birthday card, which we bought about a week ago.  We even carried it to Campeche with us.  First post office was closed, despite the website saying it was open.  Second trip turned out not to be a post office.  Third time's a charm, right?  Wrong.  This office (despite being in a strip mall) only handled mail - did not sell stamps.  You would not be alone in asking why one might want to have a post office that doesn't sell stamps...