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July 4, 2021: Day Thirteen

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 turns out to be beachless, we have learned that the beach and town one stop west on the island (Chelem) are both open.  Its a thirty minute bike ride from here.  Its a solid Plan B.

For some reason, I decided to bring binoculars, which have come in quite handy.  So, far I have learned that men wear speedo-style bathing suits here - or quite possibly they swim in underwear (they aren't super high quality binoculars, so its a little hard to make out all the details sometimes).  Good to know, but it won't affect my style choices.  Also, we saw a boat with about eight people aboard, stop maybe 150 feet from the beach.  Two guys jumped out, waded up to the beach, crossed it and went into the Oxxo, returning with two bags of pillaged loot.  Modern day storm troopers looking for beer and potato chips, I assume.  They were welcomed back to the boat with a hero's welcome.

The beach is lined with little tiki huts and based on pictures we've seen, there are services that put umbrellas and chairs out.  The water is very Key West-ish in that you can walk out 100 feet or so and still only be waist deep. At the moment, the water is very flat.  I don't know if that's normal or not because I haven't managed to find a tide chart website yet.

A view of the verboten beach from our balcony.

I am intrigued by the reviews of this as a boring place.  Maybe I'm old.  Maybe the Mexicans wanted to keep a place for themselves, so they talked badly of it to keep away the people who read such reviews.  I like it.  We like it, but we are looking forward to the beach opening tomorrow.  So far.  Eight more days to go.  

And so ends, day thirteen.

Steps:  8,289



* In full disclosure, I don't know what Playa del Carmen - or, for that matter, any place on the Riviera Maya because I've only been in Cancún long enough to catch the bus out of there.  Based on the descriptions, reviews and websites I read, the whole Riviera Maya seemed to me to be Myrtle Beach without the pancake restaurants and campgrounds.  If this or that god were to ever tell me that I had reached my lifetime quota of Myrtle Beach, I would not be upset.  In Myrtle Beach's defense, however, let me say that it is quite wonderful actually in the shoulder season.  Plus, you can actually move around then.  And its very cheap for hotels - food, on the other hand is very cheap for awful food and very expensive for something better.  Riviera Maya is not cheap. 

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Location: Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico

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