July 6 - 9, 2021: Days 15

July 6 - 9, 2021: Days 15 - 18

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 Wednesday when we were able to experience it, which we did. The water was nearly always flat and usually about 80℉ and we took advantage of it. Two days we walked and swam. One day, we rented chairs and walked and swam. It was fantastically, gloriously boring.

And so ended, without any sort of glorious bang, days fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen.

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June 28, 2021: Day Seven

Francine had a half day of work today so we worked in the morning and then headed out on a small trek. We walked down to the beautiful malecón. Malecones are a pretty uniquely Latin American thing from my perspective. The only American word we have - and the one often used - is "boardwalk", but that's not accurate. A malecón is a pier or a sidwalk on a sea wall that runs along a seashore. This one had pedestrian paths and bike paths. I've never seen that before. It was Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa, with all the glitz stripped away. Unlike the one in Guayaquíl, this one did not have a retail presence. Malecón, Campeche From the malecón we walked to the market, which turned out to be closed. Then, we got a salad lunch back in town. Later in the day it was off for a trolley tour of the city. It is quite a nice city in almost all respects. Its certainly nicer than the historic center of Mérida. Its about 1/8 the population of ...

June 22, 2021: Day One

Early morning flight from Tampa to Cancún. Thanks to Mom for the early morning ride. Thanks also to Mom for watching our little doggie, Kirby. This is our first post-Corona flight. Honestly, it was quite normal, mostly. Everyone was wearing masks. This is Florida, so a good many of them were wearing them correctly. Check-in was a little more colorful, with one guy being ejected for being an ass. Security was an uneventful joy. Plane went up and came back down on time and in the right place, so we’ll call it a success. Next step was to get to the bus station, which was a half hour away in downtown Cancún. Also uneventful. We both had trouble connecting to the wifi, and my phone is not working, so we had to turn on Francine’s data. We had a four hour or so wait for our bus to Mérida. We each got a sandwich, fries and a drink (not quite $8) and then because we had booked a first class bus, we got to wait in the a...

June 27, 2021: Day Six

Today was my last normal work day. The rest of my time until August 1 will be either straight-up, do nothing vacation or study. This may sound dorky, but I am looking forward to the study time. Francine has about ten days off between now and August 1, so she'll be working most days. We went to the mercado San Sebastian near the apartment for some sopa de lima (Lime soup) which is touted as a thing to eat here, but was pretty much a better, home-made version of what's called Tortilla Soup in your average USA Mexican Restaurant. It was quite good and remarkably filling with all those tortillas floating around. We also went for coffee and flan afterwards, but we won't mention that. New total map, adding in Campeche Today, when work ended around 4, we hit the road. At the suggestion of our AirBNB host, we took the bus to Campeche, about 2 1/2 hours away from Mérida. We arrived here just around dinner time and our hotel desk person suggested a place ...

2021 Visit to the Yucatán

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