What a Difference a Day Makes

It's Tuesday morning and I am sitting on the front patio since the free parque internet is better out here. I think I hear Henri/water delivery coming down the street. I always like to watch him bring in the water - two 20 liter bottles at a time. He is quite the muscular guy.

The day the Norte blew in....not one soul on the playa!

Sunday we had decided no matter what, we were going to the beach on Monday. We got up yesterday to one of the most beautiful days ever.....very dry and not a cloud in the sky. As the day wore on the temperatures rose and it was one fine, glorious day. It was the first time we had trekked to the beach since we had gone to Progreso and met up with Ian several weeks ago. That day a norte blew in on our bus trip over, the cruise ship wasn't in port as we expected, and there was absolutely not one soul on the beach. Yesterday was a holiday. There are a lot of holidays in Mexico between holy days (Sunday was Candle Mass Day...El Dia de Candelaria) and recognized federal holidays. Yesterday was Anivirsario de Constitucion. We have a Mexican calendar with each holiday marked in red, and there are a lot of red dates throughout the year. Many businesses, including the city offices on our street, were closed yesterday. So, between it being Galveston cruise ship day and a holiday, Progreso was filled with an equal amount of cruise shippers and Mexican families enjoying their Monday off from work and school. Quite a change from our last trip to the beach.

What a difference a day makes!

We did our normal thing and walked down the beach away from the downtown area until the crowd thinned out somewhat. That always puts us on the edge of all the action without us being in the middle of it. Pretty much how we seem to always position ourselves, I would say. On our way back to the bus, we ended up stopping off at Los Henequenes for a couple of beers and botanas....it was around 3pm. It was an interesting observation because almost on queue we watched as the cruisers started leaving the restaurant while simultaneously Mexican families appeared and sat to enjoy their traditional afternoon cold drinks and botanas. The timing of it all seemed to work out perfectly for the cruisers and the Mexican families on holiday. And, I'm sure Los Henequenes was happy as well!

Yesterday morning prior to leaving for Progreso, an older Volkswagen van parked right in front of the house. We could hear the family of five that was inside get out. So being both curious and nosy I came to the front part of the house to see what was going on. It was obvious they were trying to decide how they were going to get the cargo out of the back of the van...I could see that it filled up the entire back of the van. I expected to see a large piece of furniture. Well, it was the many-tiered long, red skirt to the red and gold bodice their tall, willowy, perfectly-coiffed teen-aged daughter was wearing. It took Dad, Mom, younger brother, and little sister to carefully help her get into her dress. Many families come to La Ermita park to take pictures of their daughters having quinceaneras...or maybe this one was for Carnaval 2013 which starts tomorrow here in Merida. Whichever, she was a beautiful girl to photograph.

Looking out the front window....