SFinUS23

    We are woken in the night with thunder and big storm. Everything very wet next day and small pools remain throughout the day. Breast here is 7:30-10:30 and we only make it there at 9:30. Getting lazier by the day. Simple but good start to our day: orange, coffee (I brought my decaf with me), toast, jam, eggs and ham. Sadly, no fruit plate here. We have been loving the ripe fruits every morning in Merida.     Koodo sends me a message in the night, buzzing away, to tell me that even though my cell is off I have been double charged for March. I will have to do battler with them when I get home. I put a Mexican SIM card in my spare IPhone and have been using that: $15 for 4G for a month. And Koodo wants to charge me $220 for being out of town for the month! Roaming with them is $16 a day! And I had it on one day for arrival in FortMyers to connect with Margaret there.     The rain drizzles away all morning but we take off and drive around town to get our be...

It’s a larger hotel than in Merida and the elevator they boasted on Bookings.com is dead. But always someone to help us with our bags. Grey hairs help! We have a nice big King bed room away from the busy resto area but two blocks to walk there and to the main plaza, or to the beach. As a Genius3 member of Bookings I get a 20% discount and free breakfast and parking. Works out to about C$70 a night, not fancy but adequate.       The malecon (coastal walkway) is about 3 miles long so you could get fit quick here.      On arrival Ted has done his usual thing, out walking to find the cheapest beer, ice and where to eat tonight, as I settle into our home for the next week. It’s cooler so we don’t need AC to sleep any more.      The first night we trot off to the resto Ted found earlier for a nice simple dinner with other local Mexican families. I have the garlic prawns. Ted is in heaven, he has found Pollo con Mole, the chocolate/chili sauce he lo...

We visited Campeche 46 years ago on our odyssey so we are looking forward to going back. It is the giant shrimp capital of Mexico. In our VW days, we once went to buy fro the wholesaler and could only buy minimum 2 kilos which totally filled our little icebox fridge. So for several days we ate shrimp, avocados and tomatoes!       We said sad goodbyes to all the lovely staff at our hotel in Merida, which hugs all round and baby bears from the Rockies gone to live with some new friends. They alll want to know, when are you coming back??     Having done half the drive before, it was an easy exit from the city. En route half way, good for Ted to walk, we stopped at the Becal craft stores and bought a couple of small items before they closed up shop. We were the only tourists there. I am sure they are early missing them since Covid put the kibosh on all this travel. We do see some tours coming through now a lot of French and Germans. And individual Mexicans touring. ...

Our two weeks has flown by and we are feeling very rested and happy with our choice of two weeks in this interring capital. Whether we would return is questionable but there are other places we would certainly return to south of here, like Palenque and Tikal in Guatemala in the jungle.       It’s St.Paddys Day but there is no sign of green anywhere near here, seems only the US ones wild for us, and now perhaps Canada to some degree. We had the best oen a few years back in Savannah, Georgia. My Celtic blood rising I guess.     We found the Citibank’s on the Main Plaza was happy to give us cash with Ted’s credit card so we are set for the ret of our trip. We strolled the streets checking out a new resto which looked promising, a possibility for our last night here, also found some special souvenirs. Stopped off for beers and nibbles at Chaya Maya2 and had a typical lunch in our room, bananas, mangos and cookies. Sometimes peanuts and chocolate too.     I...

Well goodbye from sunny Merida where we have passed a very pleasant two weeks, albeit stinking hot.Only one torrential tropical storm one day and we were home by then to watch it gusting through our palms here. Cleared by evening and everyone out walking the streets as usual.    I have been a slow blogger as we have filled our days with lots to do. Having the car we took side trips to the south, north and west of here all nice days out good roads for the most part. I write my log every evening so I shall play catchup on the blog eventually      Merida is still a lovely place to visit. But Mexico is third world still. Pollution, garbage, etc. Out of control. My eyes get sore half an hour after you go out every day. Using its of eye drops (not the ones just recalled in the US!!     Seems like here are conclaves of Canadians at Progreso north of here, a lovely long beach but totally lined by concrete you could fry and egg on. Had a nice seafood lunch at a...

When we were here 46 years ago, we visited a small town famed for its hat and basket weaving artisans. The local kids crowded round our old VW (which we lived in for 6 months down there in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador. Fortunately we had loads of galletas (cookies) and sweets so they were al happy.     This time we found the town very sleepy when we arrived at noon and various guys on bikes wanted to take us to the weaving home with a cave! We found it on our own.      I bought a beautiful jipi (panama like plant) made by Alfredo whose wife then fitted it for me and decorated it with a beautiful multi-color ribbon which she made into a rosette with the spare ends. 450 pesos, that’s C$35. Half what my Tilley hat cost. And Ted got them to make him an elasticated hatband for the one he bought in Merida. There was very little sign that it is a basket weaving town. WE found later when we drove that way again there is a huge market on the highway with sev...

    We are happily passing the time here and on jaunts out of town and it is slightly less hot this week. But a huge tropical storm Tuesday took out power some places, not here. No mosquitoes!       Everyone here is friendly and helpful. There is the usual street selling and people hanging it the doors of shops but nothing pushy or objectionable at all. You could shop a lot here. I bought a linen dress, really a long Maya blouse, and it is super cool when it is is really hot. Just short with short sleeves very comfortable and quite smart looking. Still cost me 600pesos, (gringo price...) about $40. Still never found a nice short pool coverup. But I did get a cotton long shirt that I used at the pool in FM for $14 at Beals! Our pool is small and cold! Out of action a few days this week but nice shady area down there to lounge in afternoon.      The hotel is quite quiet which suits us perfectly. People tend to come here for a couple of days.  ...

    Today we drove north to the coast to Progreso. Used to be a commercial port. Now well developed cruise port with very developed malecon (beach walk) with gorgeous sandy beach. But yesterday you could have fried eggs on all that concrete and sand!     I think a lot of Germans come here for winter. Certainly Ushi knows some people who do. They must just sit at the beach all the time. They look like turtles! Margit came here once for 2 weeks but was too far out of town to enjoy it. It’s a small town really.        Found a lovely beachfront resto overlooking the beach for a heavenly mixed seafood cocktail (enough for lunch) and shrimp tacos for Ted. Cocktail of huge shrimp, Robalo (bass), and octopus    - all just off (or maybe even) raw, with a lovely dipping sauce of tamarind and just a touch of spice. Washed down with beer. Keep the margaritas for evening as two of them knock me out! Lots of police patrolling the whole time but didn’t...

  Merida has a plethora of museums and today we took in the Folk Art museum in Centro. there we meet an interesting American woman who has made a collection of fashions based on Maya traditional dress from the 1960s and 70. Photographs and videos record the influence this had on fashion (boho,flower power era). Some in the gift shop were for sale with proceeds going to the local music school. Gorgeous as they were I wasn’t prepared to drop C$1000 for a new dress.     Later we visit the City Museum (wit avant- garden art displays) and later the CASA Montejo, a lovely old house on the Main Plaza with softly modern art upstairs. After buying cold juice, we collapse in our AC room for a few hours. Fortunately for us we are home by 2pm and have bought a $4 umbrella as insurance. At 3:30 a huge tropical storm hits, bending trees and bushes in our hotel patios. By 5:30pm it is over and we are able to walk downtown the 3 blocks or so to the local Chaya Maya resto for margaritas a...

    We take off south and west to the coast to visit Celestun in the coastal biosphere zone. It’s a pleasant hour long drive, getting out of town an easy drive, in fact driving around Merida has been very easy, hardly any traffic jams. The pollution is dreadful. The heaps of machinery called cars they keep on the road here is unbelievable. And we worry about cutting emissions in Canada!       It’s a two lane highway with no yahoo truck driver today. One nearly polished off a tourist bus on our last out of town trip. Scary to watch. Thee was a small brush fire on the roadside on our way back - and you can imagine the havoc if it took out the road, nowhere to go to escape it.     Boiled as having a great beach area, you can’t get anywhere near the beach, a little crowded Mexican town cars parked both sides, no parking. We didn’t hang around there.      But the main attraction is taking a boat down the World Heritage Site waterways. You pay...

We are finding Mexico much more expensive for gringos now. Entrance to museums, etc. and often not a lot to see. Their idea of historic houses when you come from seeing some in UK, well 100 years doesn’t really count!     Tried to find an ecological park today, but drove around and pretty dismal, very stressed trees here with the heat/drought so gave it a miss. But walked to a local park with small fruit veg market - gorgeous produce - lots of taco stands, and a big toy market, for kids and adults, little cars, all those video/game figures!! Unbelievable!   Sunday night, I booked into a swanky place up on the roof of the government building overlooking the cathedral, supposed to be good sunset. We have not really seen sunsets. Not sure if it’s the pollution. It is terrible here. Your eyes smart after only an hour or so strolling around narrow streets crowded with traffic.       We were not sure if daylight time would change here but seems not. e a...

Pelota is the death ball game played by the Mayans in earnest. Very competitive, it requires players to only hit the ball with their hips. Amazing athletes. And modern teas play in a league with equal enthusiasm. Well, maybe not quite, because the losers don’t lose their heads. Every Mayan set of ruins has a ball park and the stone ring is very high up, so very challenging for the players.       The modern version packs the plaza every Saturday. There is much fanfare before the game, incense, supplications to the gods, displaying all the brawn of athletic young men in top physical shape. After the game proper, they then play a similar game but using a ball which is set on fire and using only their hands. You can bet they get rid of that sucker as fast as their fingers touch it. Like Pelota, once the ball touches the ground it is game over.      The players dress in full Mayan regalia, war paint, etc. and with the chanting and shouting, it’s an impressive di...

Next to the Cathedral, Merida has opened a new art gallery in January. It is a stunning building, especially lit up at night. But we were not blown away with the works inside. It seems Mexican art is rooted in sorrow, broken minds and bodies, extreme sexist themes. I am ready to go back and sit at the pool under the palm tree after that.     Cooled off, we then take off up Paseo de Montejo (the historic here (big cheese) of this city. We visit a private home owned by Henequen hacienda royalty, built in 1918 so not really historic to us.      Ted has tried two bank machines and they have refused his cards both times. We are getting a bit anxious. But in the tonier section of town we find a bank that happily takes my card and later another HSBC that takes Ted’s. Relief.     We also stop in at Walmart and stock up on all sorts of goodies. 

Ted has acquired a lovely new panama-type hat (a speciality of this region) from a guy on the street, probably still paid too much, so his nose is not getting quite so much sun now. I have found all the clothes I brought are still not cool enough for this stinking hot weather so I have bargained for a cream linen shirt/dress with a bit of cream embroidery down both sides. Now we are locals! It’s really comfortable and cooler even than cotton - but I hope I don’t have to wash it as it’s fiddly and creases like crazy.     Going out and about, you are invited into all the stores to buy, buy, buy. We haven’t found much we need to acquire!

A small exhibition of a Matisse drawings and paintings is on display at one of the downtown buildings so we enjoy an hour getting some culture.     Friday evening is also Video Mapping night at the cathedral. Sadly the Women’s Day March left a lot of ugly graffiti on Centro buildings and the cathedral took a hit (naturally). But the 8pm weekly light show is impressive after dark and we sit beside two ladies who tell us they are from Richmond UK, quite close to where Ted’s mum lived and my sister now lives in Chiswick! It’s a sort of historic look back on their history, including those dastardly English pirates who roved the sad here raping and pillaging!     At 7pm they close the nearby streets and all the free agents - musicians, dancers, etc. come out to make a few shekels. Fun! WE have a fav ice cream shop on one of the plazas and make it our last stop of the evening several times.      Ted has found a Reposado Centenario (fine tequila)) to keep by ...

Yup, there is an interesting little museum attached to a great outdoor/indoor restaurant downtown. It’s interesting to see and read about the staples of Mayan food. Basically peasant fare with lots of meat, hardly any fish or seafood even this close to the seafront, beans, corn and squash.       Some of the restaurants have ladies sitting hand rolling all the tacos for all the diners. They arrive characteristically wrapped in a napkin in a gourd.      We went several times to the restaurant and it was busy all the time.     We have not spent as much time afternoons at the pool, so hot when we get back, we shower and pass out in our room for a few hours, catching up with news, mail and washing clothes. We have not needed to get laundry done, most stuff washed by hand has dried next day.      It’s a competition to see whose Sopa de Limon (lime chicken/turkey soup) is best. They area l good and go down well in this hot climate

This evening there is free music once again, this time on the Plaza Santa Lucia. We head off for dinner at a nearby resto and by 8pm the seating is full and it’s an hour. Enforce the performance begins! Other free agents mil around picking up a few pesos for their songs and music. Mexicans have music everywhere, mostly far too loud for us.Beautiful Mayan ladies in their white huipils (dresses) embroidered richly with multicolored flowers are accompanied by handsome back suited young men. All rather reminiscent of Spanish flamenco in their tall, proud positions and feet that move so fast you can’t track them. They weave in and out to the live brass band’s music in a mesmerizing formation. 

Sun and cloud and again about 35 but we head south to a set of ruins at Mayapan through small villages that have retained much of their Mayan heritage with thatched roofs and open air simple home areas. They mostly sleep in hammocks, the coolest way to get through the night and they are for sale everywhere around here. We follow the convent/church route and encounter huge new bridge construction, and wonder where the road will go to and from out here in the boonies. A lot of manual laborers and road holdups probably adds half an hour to the GMaps estimate. We stop off at an unpronounceable     named town for ice cream bars and photos of the impressive but now very run down church there. The Catholic Church still has a large footprint in this country and Saturday night and Sunday are busy with the devout.       There are a few bus groups at the ruins but they are one of the las you can actually climb up the citadel and see for miles around. A big white iguana sta...

    On our drive here we saw a lot of armed troops coming to Merida. It is the capital after all.       We wander down to a a nice restaurant this evening and have a pleasant quiet dinner of giant prawns and beef tacos, and plenty of cold beer.      On our usual wander around the main plaza, we see armed riot police in full gear in front of the Government building which is fenced off. All roads to the plaza now seem to be fenced off in fact. Traffic is piling up and using their horns to express their displeasure.      There is a huge police presence here today. We gather it is the annual WOMENS March. A huge shouting is coming toward the square.      We have been trapped once in Caracas before an election. At first it seemed friendly. Then guys started picking on us and we decided to get the hell out of there fast. You never know what pre-election crowds will turn into in south and Central America. I guess North Ameri...

  March 8 WE wake to a power cut, only a couple of hours, so just a bit later for our hearty breakfast. We are going to tackle driving in the city today. WE set off at 11:30 and have light traffic north for a bout half an hour to the huge modern Gran Museo of Del Mundo Maya, the Mayan world. With 6 floors, only the first is the museum so you can be sure all this money was spent on it to justify some government departments occupying the other 4 floors!     It’s a spectacular collection of history and interactive and AV exhibits which takes almost 2 hours to enjoy. We stop en route at an Oxxo to pick up ice and more beer. The roads are now absolutely blocked as it seem the kids finish school at 2pm and all the mummies are picking them up. GMaps is a godsend for us back to our parking lot. 

  Ted returns frustrated yesterday afternoon, trying two different cards at two different banks and he can’t get local cash! Sheesh. We are in trouble.       First he thinks it may be because he was wearing his hat. We could not get money out of the wall in Cambodia because they could not see his face. We went into a bank later and it worked. It was also because our daily limit was low and with the time difference you could not take out more money on the same day.      Then he thinks it may be because of the    amount he is trying to withdraw. He keeps lowering it and starts to worry after several attempts it will keep his card!!     Out on a long walk up the Paseo de Montejo, the big main Avenue, we find two banks - first one that will accept my MC caredit card and finally an HSBC that will accept Teds. We only ask for 3000 pesos ($250) and that seems to work!!     The are nice classy shops along this avenue too, so I try...

    It wouldn’t be a vacation if I didn’t break a tooth. In fact two. One cap next to my brand new implant has broken off. A small sliver has broken off a front tooth that already had been fixed...     We walk miles for almost an hour (thought it was closer) to a dentist my hotel has found. It’s a rinkydinky room with ancient equipment, a guy who sounds quite good and a weird assistant who looks like a charity case. In no time, doc tells me my cap tooth is shot, probably root coming out. He will take the tooth out and cap my front tooth within a week. I think not...He did wear rubber gloves but...tell us he trained in Oklahoma...nuff said. 500 pesos later ($350) we are out of there and I’m glad I am not in pain or need anything down before April. Later I pick up a flyer for Dentalist, “the best dentists in Merida” so I know help is probably there if I need it.Experts in smile design and more...     It’s stinking hot and getting hotter so we head back via th...

   AFter a lazy start we down our usual breakfast of a big plate of fresh fruits (watermelon, melon, banana, papaya) eggs whichever, bacon, beans/cheese, salad and all their coffee you can take. I am on manzanilla (camomile) tea from now on. Well, after my instant TimHortons Decaf runs out...     Back to find they have a choice of room and we opt for the 2nd floor and two guys schlep our bags down there. We overlook nice patio with a pool and lots of shade, my afternoon destination in future! After the weekend, the hotel does not seem too busy at all.     Spent the morning finally getting stuff out of our suitcases. A nice big airy room with AC and fan will keep us comfortable. Til the power cut on Wednesday - but not for long...     This heat is debilitating, you can’t do much walking after about 1pm. Feels like southern Spain in May as I recall. The people here at the the hotel are wonderful, friendly, not much English but really obliging and he...

We were awoken by a video game beeping next door at 6m so being ready to leave was not an issue. A leisurely breakfast set us up for the shuttle back to the airport and just crossing the road from the drop-off to our car rental at 11am. It took an hour to complete the paperwork because, of course, the car rental of C$800 a month required Mexican insurance at US$1600 a month. No amount of ensuring them (as we had in UK, France and Spain) that we had coverage, did not count.       WE also observe a 25% tax on all hotels here plus other misc things they think up. $95 a night is US$120. Nuff said. Fortunately booking as Genius3 on Booking.com gives me some discounts and usually breakfast thrown in.      We were advised to fill with gas and pick up the Telcel 200peso C$15 Amigo SIM with 3G there. Good thing as we didn’t find another gas station for another 3 hours! I now have unlimited calling to US and Canada too and a Mexican telephone number. We drove the tol...

  After a hearty breakfast, we had the pleasure of being picked up by a neighbor and driven the 1.5 hour trip along Alligator Alley (no stops) to Miami Airport. Easy checkin with American, and through security with an hour and a half to spare. These 3 hour checking are ridiculous now.       AA did us well with a row of 3 seats between us. The flight flew out over the east tip of Floria, the keys and quickly down over jungle to the Yucatán Peninsula. A total heat haze over the coast game us an    inkling of what was to come.     Into Cancun on time, we experienced our first Mexican rip-off.    In the right area for the airport hotel shuttles, we were told we had to call (which as correct.) However a helpful young lady with an official looking airport customer relations badge made the call only to inform us the next shuttle for our hotel would be 2 hours! Person on phone said, take a cab and we will refund when you check out tomorrow....

  We sadly packed and left FM as Margaret drove us South to Naples for a night with Dorothy. John, wintering here on the most southern part of Florida in a gorgeous golf resort on a (man-made) lake.       That afternoon John drove us around the lovely city of Naples, stopping off at the pier harbor area and along the busy shopping 8th? Avenue with all the right named stores. There is obvious damage to many gardens, but still gorgeous estate homes abound.      Still very hot and humid, we enjoyed sitting on their deck listening to the birds and quaffing a bottle of bubbly and nice nibbles. Later John demonstrated his superior BBQ skills on lamb chops along with a groaning table of food.      A soak in a bath, probably the last one I’ll see before we get home in April, set me up for A good night’s sleep.  

One last lazy day in FortMyers, Ted finishing off odd jobs with help from electrician’s mate - me! Kitchen dimmer light now works well. Last pool time under the palms. then a return to the notable Famous Dave’s BBQ. The ribs are probably the best you can get here and the funny “piggy” paper hats made for a cute photo. (Wish I could figure out how to get them on this blog...) Ted and I could only tackle a half set and Margaret brought half of hers home for next day. Along with all the usual fixings, dessert is again out of the question.    

Today we had to head to the local outlet mall and find Columbia. Not a lot of interest but Ted found another wash-and-wear shirt and I found a fleece vest for C$12! Ted was looking for shoes and pants but no luck. Usually good buys here in the US, especially his hard to fit feet!     Ted is happy to be back near a Trader Joe’s for wine and our usual favorite things. Margaret does not drink so we can’t buy much.      Ted has made himself useful here by fixing a few things around the apartment, which Margaret only moved into in March before she went home last year. But traffic to get to local stores is often absolutely jammed.     A trip to Sanibel and Captiva Island to see the devastation wrought by the hurricane took us twice as long as e expect. Nowhere to stop for drinks, etc. any more and 1.5 hours in line trying to get on to the main road off the island!      We were there in 1973 when we also learned to dive on the Keys.  As Te...

  This is a really nice city to spend winter in. Not many Canadians at our 300 unit development but lots of Mid and Eastern US citizens. We not in a gated community and feel perfectly safe with everything we do here.       Margaret has a busy network of friends and some of Brent’s relatives too so we visited with several of them and learned more about spending winters here.      There are plenty of good seafood (and other) restaurants and all busy. WE don’t wait more than half an hour for a table anywhere. The fresh fish and seafood is great, that’s about all we eat. Evenings we stay in we are inclined to buy a BBQ chicken and have it with salad - too hot too cook. Also pastas (lobster ravioli) fast and easy. We have good breakfasts and really only need one other meal a day. Happy hours beckon and some people live on those.     It is regularly 90 and sunny every day, having a hotter spell right now. The humidity is really high and saps our en...