The Rough Guide to the Yucatan

Neither Terry nor I realized what was in store for us when he gave me a copy of "The Rough Guide to the Yucatan" for Christmas two Christmases ago. We would look through it and take notes of things we wanted to do once we made our first trip to Merida --- go to Progreso, learn our way around the local bus system, check out some of the out-of-the-way coastal areas, see flamingoes in the wild, visit some of the Mayan ruins, and just enjoy the culture and architecture of the City. Now fast-forward. We've gotten a taste of it and those are still the things we want to do in the Yucatan. The Rough Guide has taken us to Celestun, Chichen Itza, T elchac Puerto, Chelem, Chixulub, Progreso many times, Campeche, Sisal, Holbox, Isla Mujeres, and Cozumel, and me to Uxmal. We even left it at home and went to Belize. "The Rough Guide to the Yucatan" still remains in my backpack and has traveled almost as many miles as we have. Maybe you could say that little Christmas present ended up being much larger....it provided another fork in the road.

I ate my last eat-out Yucatecan meal yesterday. It will have to last me awhile....sopa de lima, empanazados cazon (shark meat turnovers), and chaya. Now I can start thinking about the traditional "get off the plane" meal - a Whataburger. Went to the SoHo Gallery and gave hugs and kisses to Yesenia who will be looking after the house and the unfinished work while we are gone. Now Terry and I will concentrate on some sailwork that needs to be done.

One last treat from the elderly gentleman tamale vendor this morning early.....two tamales cooked in banana leaves -

 Spending the last day doing the things on my "close up the house/say hasta pronto" list.
I'm ready to just study Spanish for awhile rather than speak it to survive. Heck, it gets tiring acting out all those words I don't know!
I guess the sounds of vendors' bicycle horns, horse hooves and Volkswagens going down the street will be replaced with the sounds of boat engines and sail rigging. Smells will be different. Faces will be whiter.

OH MY GOODNESS - QUE SUPRESA!!!

It was around 7:30 and I looked up and here's a red truck parking in front of the house...it's Wilber the Hererro with all the protectors/grillwork for the front terrace and front window. He and his helper went to work. It was quite a production as they used an electric cutting tool to cut through the existing iron and then welded the new piece of grillwork to the old. It was painful to watch because of the noise and the sparks flying and let's just say...not a lot of safety goggles, gloves, etc. I really thought I was going to lose it when he took the raw wire end of his welding machine and twisted them together with some of the wires inside our electrical box. Within a short period of time they were finished. One whole week ahead of the day he originally promised---- I think he had read my disappointment when I had told him I was leaving and was sad not to see the finished product. After he was all finished I gave him the traditional cheek to cheek on both sides of the face --- I really could've kissed him!

It really hit me when I bought the hamaca and tied a couple of bowlines making sure I hung it securely - it's time to get my sea legs back.  I want to take Cool Change out to Offat's Bayou and anchor out for a weekend with my favorite Boat Captain....take the dinghy to shore...go fishing...visit friends while hanging out at C-dock. I'm ready to see and visit my beautiful kids and the rest of my family.
I'm way past ready to see my husband!

The last little bit of unfinished business ---- I went to hopefully pick up the CASA KAHANEK sign...and sure enough - it was ready!

I fly out at 6:15 tomorrow morning -----So it's HASTA PRONTO CASA KAHANEK Y MERIDA.....and HOLA HARBORWALK!

In Da Hood

I LOVE street food

I started my day off with some darn good street tamales bought from the elderly genteman that was sitting on the curb across the street from the house. It freaks some people out - buying something that was cooked Lord knows where. But the way we have always looked at it is - these vendors make their money doing this. They feed their families and their neighbors...the people that are closest to them. When you eat at a restaurant you don't know whose cooking and they don't know you....why would they take better care than this sweet little gentleman sitting across the street from my house?

Each afternoon around 5 or so it rains now. Just on cue, starting the first of June, the rainy season began. The rains are very tropical...clouds build up, breezes die down, and a slow, drizzly rain sets in. The rain usually lasts 30 minutes or so and then the skies clear. Some days it happens more than once in the late afternoon and early evening.
Yesterday afternoon I needed to make a run the 8 blocks over to Chedraui, but when I stepped outside the sky was very dark. My first thought was to stay put. But then I thought....life goes on. What is the worse that can happen? I get wet and it cools me off - so what. So I left out of here and stopped by Wilber the blacksmith's shop on the way. I  let him know I was leaving Saturday and was sad that I would not see the finished work before I left. Mi esposo y yo regresamos. My husband and I are coming back. And let him know that Yesenia would be paying him the remainder owed upon completion of the job. He informed me he would be installing part of his work on Lunes (Monday)...ahead of schedule and only 2 days after my departure. Oh, well.....I'm ready to see my esposo! Nothing will keep me here past Saturday...

Trying out the new hamaca

I went hamaca shopping, visiting several shops before I bought a hammock where I knew I would buy one in the first place...a place called El Aguacate. It is located right across the street from the red light district.....one block in Merida Centro in front of the Hotel Eden.  The girls leave nothing to your imagination. I had seen them - red lips, high heels and very short dresses - when I went out galivanting on Monday, but yesterday there were none. It made me wonder if there was a sting or something. They are ALWAYS out there! I also went to the huge Centro Mercado and looked around. It was a good thing to do while Terry wasn't around because he can't really handle the crowds of people there. It's quite unbelievable and every time I go, I see a section of it I hadn't seen before.






One small area within the huge Centro Mercado----


Part of the day was spent walking around the neighborhood - La Ermita.
One of the things Terry and I were looking for was a traditional neighborhood where there were still street vendors and where people congregated at the neighborhood park. We wanted to have close access to public transportation but be somewhat removed from the noise. We wanted panarias, locally-run tiendas, tortillerias. and fruit vendors. We have all that here in La Ermita. People take pride in their houses. Bicycles, cars, horses/buggies, and walkers all share the street in front of the house. The front terrace has served its purpose - I have met Ina, Josef, Fausto and others while sitting on the front porch. I'm convinced with a pocket of pesos I could live on the front terrace...eating goods from the vendors, buying shampoos and brooms, sharpening my knives, and making deals to clean my house. Many of the same faces are seen each day. When I want my privacy it means its time to move to the back terrace.

IN DA HOOD

Yesterday I took some pictures of the things that surround us -

Botanical gardens directly across the street

I can see the mirador from the gardens, but I can only see the tops of trees and lots of birds from the house because of the high wall surrounding the gardens

La Iglesia de La Ermita...adjoins the botanical gardens

Instead of a crucifix and Jesus...there is a large statue of the Virgin Mary at the altar...very common here

Parque La Ermita....to the right about 20 Meters when looking out the front of the house

Iglesia de San Sebastian...3 blocks away between Calles 70 y 72

Calle 64-A from the front terrace

Towards the house 2 blocks away...that's the nearest cantina on the left

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It's Everyday Life in Merida

2-5 PM on any given day

It's around 6 in the morning and I am sitting on the front porch listening to the birds sing as I drink my morning coffee. My mind goes over and over the last 3+ months and one minute I think "wow, what an adventure it has been", then I think, you know, it's all in what we made out of it. It was an adventure all right because that's what we wanted it to be. We found humor in the simplest things because we wanted to. It really is simply everyday life in Merida and around. I guess that's why we like it here.
I asked Terry during one of our chats if he thought Merida would tug at the heartstrings of our family and friends the way it has our hearts if they were to visit. And we both had the same conclusion: "Some it would and some it wouldn't".

I'm finding myself thinking more and more about family and friends, Harborwalk, S/V Cool Change, US current events and news,
going to Whataburger, and eating a juicy ribeye...
and x-rated time with my husband whom I have missed more than anybody will ever know.

I've made lists of last minute things I want to do before leaving. And I've spent the last 3-4 days being a tourist, sight-seeing and taking pictures. Paulino replaced the 3 drains yesterday with the bug-resistant drains. I cleaned house like a banchee...swept, mopped, and washed clothes. I'm down to shopping for a hamaca or two (this is for any potential visitors - lol). And, going to touch base with the blacksmith so I can explain that I'm leaving, but to carry on and he will get paid by Yesenia. And, I will visit with Yesenia and leave some pesos for the last bit of work to be done.

 Last night I was sitting on the front porch when a really young and cute guy pops out of nowhere and took these jars out of his bag. He started rattling in Spanish and I just responded "Si, si". I heard the word for young and collagen in there somewhere. He was so cute and had such a cute smile that I couldn't resist. I bought a jar of something from him. I tried to read it last night and I'm not sure if I wash clothes in it or smear it on my face. So I guess and I will look at it this morning and try it out on something - just not sure what. Yesterday a neighbor lady stopped at the front porch and we talked for probably 30 minutes. I know she lives alone around the esquina and has lived in La Ermita for 30 years. There was a lot she said I didn't quite understand, but that's ok. We conversed and her facial expressions told me the story.

Here's some of the latest pics of Everyday Life in Merida -

Inside one of the mercados

Centro street vendor

Beautiful colonial bldg. on Calle 60

Another Church...on Calle 60

Centro Colonial Bldg.

One of the many centro colonials getting painted as part of the downtown refurbishment major undertaking

Typical busy centro esquina

Inside of a tienda plastica....this is what I envision Baldemore's sisters' tienda looking like in Villahermosa

Mango, papaya y sandia from the La Ermita fruta lady vendor

Looks like a Hyundai Elantra to me, but.....

But it's a Dodge Attitude...guessing it has something to do with import laws

Sunday Bici-Ruta...down Paseo de Montejo

Dancing in Santa Lucia park on Sundays at noon....pero no cerveza

The Living Statue and Me....Ernesto took this picture

Hop on the Bus Gus

It wasn't until after the table was sitting in its space that I realized I had jumped in about a 1959 flatbed Chevy with foam and springs sticking out of the seat that the thought hit me....I just jumped in this truck with two strange men in a large city in a foreign country and they had to open the door from the outside for me to get out of the truck!!! I never would've done this at home.

I had been perusing the antique stores and second-hand stores in Centro looking for a dining table and chairs. I started doing this once I learned the larger dept.-type stores had only very modern dining furniture...not what I wanted at all. It had become somewhat of a game looking for the perfect table at the best price imaginable. (that's what you do when you have time) I had found a couple of possibilities that I had decided to sleep on. Well, in sleeping on the decision I woke up in the night and realized I needed to not just be measuring table tops to see if they would fit the space....I needed to be measuring table heights and configurations of table legs because the front door opening is only 74 centimeters wide. I had found the set I was gonna buy IF if it's cabinet pedestal leg would fit thru the door.

But when I got back to the store - it had been sold!

However, they had another one very similar, I was told. The very young man I had been talking with took me towards the back and we walked thru cobwebs, furniture stacked up to the ceiling - some old and some new. We got back to this dark room and he turned the light on and there it was! A dark wood Mexican rustic table with 6 chairs. I was in love and I knew Terry would like it too. It was very similar to the one I had first wanted to buy. So I got out the measuring tape and measured the width and height.....74 centimters! He said "no problema....no problema". We talked price and then I did the Terry negotiation trick-----after we dickered and he gave me his "final price" I threw out there "but what if I bought the 2 nightstands I had seen too?". Ha! We finally did agree on a price and they told me they could deliver it...hoy...media dia. (today at noon) I didn't have enough dinero on me to buy it. I told them so and said I would be back shortly....diez minutos.

Thought that would be easy because I knew where the Bancomer ATM was just a couple of blocks away. Got over there and every man, woman and child living in Merida was in line for the ATM. I guess it must've been govt. payday as we have learned the Mexicans get paid via an account, but they all rush down and take their money out of the banks ASAP. I walked about 14 blocks to go to the Chedraui and get the cash. It was after 12 before I made it back.

But it all worked out and there we were loading the table, chairs, and 2 nightstands. That's when I "hopped on the bus Gus" and away we came to Calle 64A. When they came through the front door the table wouldn't fit! They had to raise the table into the air and find the widest part of the door to get it in. Not making that up! But, things have a way of working out!

The Ruins of Uzmal (Rhymes with Gooshmall)

In pig latin that would be Oosh-mall...or in Mayan, they are very close.
I got out the rumpled, torn-paged but trusted "Rough Guide to the Yucatan" yesterday when I decided I wanted to "go somewhere" today. I decided to go see some of the ruins. Terry, Kim and I had visited Chichen Itza last year during the equinox and that was unblievable, but there are so many more lessor known sites throughout the State of Yucatan. So I decided I want to visit some more. I went the few blocks over to the second-class bus station to see how travel options were going to fit in with my plans and they told me there was a second-class bus line that left at 8am on Saturday (this morning) and briefly stopped at 5 different sites in the area south of Merida. The last site, and the one of the most significance, was Uxmal.

I didn't buy a ticket (159 pesos), but I tentatively planned on going.
So, this morning I get up at 5, make coffee, pack a lunch, shower, get dressed, throw essentials in my backpack, and head to the bus station at 7. The low-budget tour bus trip had been cancelled. The alternative was to just take a bus to Uzmal and spend the day at the ruins there. The bus left at 9. I  bought a round-trip "open date" ticket of which I didn't even know existed before today and hopped on the bus. In about an hour the terrrain started getting hilly with lots of vegetation...very tropical. Shortly afterward, the bus stops on the side of the road and the driver says "Uxmal". There is no Uzmal bus station. There is no town of Uxmal. It is just a nicely-manicured paved path of about 200 meters that takes you to the entrance to the site. In true Mexican fashion I bought an entrance ticket and headed over to the ticket taker guys and they refused to let me enter. I was told I needed dos taquillas. So in true Mexican fashion I went and bought my second entrance ticket which carried a different cost and the ticket looked different. Paperwork! But, I was able to enter.
The site of Uzmal was unbelievable...and to think it had its hey day back around 900AD. It was the lack of water resources that supposedly caused the demise of the inhabitants of the Uzmal site. Although the site carries great historical and archeological significance, it doesn't get the publicity of Chichen Itza and therefore gets relatively few vistors in comparison. There were a few tour groups that I could dodge and spend several minutes admiring the different structures, taking pictures, reading, and pondering life with nobody else around.
There were iquanas everywhere and species of colorful birds I had never seen before. I had several sightings of the mot-mot bird that is recognizable by its colorful feathers and its tail that is somewhat scissored, but with big puffy feathers on each end of the scissor.

The highlight of the day was being able to actually climb some of the pyramids. On one hand you hate that they allow it, but on the other hand you can't keep from doing it. The steps are quite steep and I was glad I had done all the walking I've done. It paid off. I was really surprised the climbing is allowed at Uxmal....I really didn't think any of the sites allowed this anymore.

I spent about 3 hours within the site, then had my picnic lunch and slowly headed back towards the bus stop. I wasn't sure how long I might have to wait for a return bus, but I knew there were 5 second-class buses that came through each day so I was counting on maybe an hour or so wait. I waited almost three hours! but for whatever reason the bus was running almost an hour behind. By the time the bus arrived, there were a total of 7 of us waiting to get on. Me and three whiney, bratty, young European couples. Anyway, I was back in Merida shortly after 5...sweaty and stinky.
I'll let the following pics tell the story, but if you want to know more about the UNESCO site of Uxmal, the history in detail, and more about the individual structures, here are some links to follow -
http://yucatantoday.com/en/topics/uxmal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uxmal