Day one: got on a plane in Alamosa, 8 seats on the plane. Had a good flight to Denver where we had a 4 hour layover to catch our United flight to Houston. The commuter flight was good. A few bumps here and there but no big. We had a great breakfast at a Parisian Cafe at the Denver airport. Then we decided to have a beer before boarding the flight to Houston.
Flight to Houston was good. A bit over 3 hours and comfy. Then 2 hours in Houston before we headed to Merida.
The Houston to Merida flight was good as well, helped along by the beer we had while waiting for it to board. Then we had to figure out how to get to our Air B&B. Crystal worked out all the particulars and we ended up in a cab to Casa Sandia.
The hosts were really nice and visited a bit. Flor had 4 pages of places to go and things to do. :D. After our orientation we settled in with the tequila and Corona they’d provided and after a short dramatic episode with the bottled water we are heading to bed.
Looks like there are several places to try for food and fun. Might take an Uber ride to most of ‘em.
Tomorrow, Sunday, we’ll meet Jules (71 year old woman selling the boat) and look at the boat we might buy. She’ll pick us up and we’ll find our own way back from Progreso. (Wish us luck).
Right now it’s time for brushing teeth and getting to bed.
Day 2 (really day one):
This morning we were to meet our 71 year old for a tour of the boat we want to look at. Jules.
Took us a while to decide how to structure our morning. The evening before we’d touched base with Jules and agreed on meeting at 11 AM by Fiesta Americana hotel at a gas station nearby. So we found a vegetarian restaurant on Happy Cow that was close to there and caught an Uber ride to the restaurant. The place was called Marmalade. It was fabulous. Lots of veggie choices and everything cooked to order and wonderfully seasoned. I had a “California” bowl with quinoa and spinach and roasted tomatoes with an over easy egg The toast and jam was good too. Crystal had a tofu club which was also great. It was a little place with only 5 tables and a little 3 person counter. We found a seat right away (which is apparently odd) and sat next to a fellow from Michigan who retired from being a pilot and now does charter work for businesses. It was a good time.
Then we met our buddy, Jules, who drove us to Alacranes Marina in Progreso, about a 20 minute ride. We spent a couple hours going over the boat, a 37’ Gulfstar from 1977, which is being offered at a good price and is in a boat yard where it’s inexpensive to keep it.
We shopped in Progreso, buying some liquor (I know you’re surprised) and a little pack of Cuban cigars. Everyone wanted to wheel and deal so we did that a bit. After that we jumped on a bus to go back close to our Air B&B. Not a bad ride, it was air conditioned. Have I mentioned that it is really somewhat sweltering here?
It is.
On the way “home” we stopped by a Costco and got figs, and beer. A nice 24 pack of Coronaitos (small beers), and some nuts for snacking. I schlepped the beers a mile back to our AirB&B on foot. So when we got home we had beer and some passion fruit tequila in the private pool out back while I smoked a cigar and Crystal touched base with Rich. (I sure miss him while we’re on vacation). After that we took a shower and prepped for our evening of pizza and tequla/mescal/local spirit tasting a 7 mile Uber ride away.
Updates as conditions warrant.
Went to our tequila/mescal tasting. Hector and Jesse were our hosts for the evening. It was great. We tried 2 tequilas and 6 or 7 mescals along with a starter cocktail and a finishing corn based aperitif. Uber rides back and forth were easy and it was just a great time.
Day 3 (Monday the 21st)
We were slug a beds for a while in the morning. Crystal found me out by the pool when she woke up. I was looking into boat repair costs, since the one we looked at the day before needs rather a lot of stuff. Part of deciding on it has much to do with choosing between saving about 5K and doing a lot of work, or spending the other 5K and getting something that doesn’t need much work. Also, not so sure about the safety of the boat yard where it’s at. The price is inexpensive, but the seller (Jules) says someone has been fucking with her boat in ways that can be very expensive. Also, since we’ll be part time for at least a year or two while we learn to sail and enjoy living at home, do we even want to own a boat yet? I know we can’t afford to buy one and keep it in Florida at the monthly storage fees there. We’ll probably look at some on the Sea of Cortez, that’s a 14 hour drive and the storage fees are not too bad there. More than in Progreso here by Mérida, but perhaps a bit more safe.
But I digress........
We got moving, found a place downtown (20 minute Uber) to go for food and had a great experience at Organico, a vegan/veggie place. We ended up both having lunch and each got a great meal. Then we wandered around down town in the heat of the day (like the dumb asses we are. Dude, the white people melt down here in the sun! The locals are smart and don’t go out then). We went into a shop or two, and walked through a giant chapel that somehow didn’t explode, got hit up to buy lots of junk (which we didn’t) then stopped for a couple beers at a place called the Impala Cafe. It’s easy to find, there’s an old Chevy Impala on the roof of the joint. Then we wandered over to a spot Crystal wants to visit that does work with chocolate. They were still closed and no hours are posted either on the place or online.
It was an Uber home after that. In blessed air conditioning. The driver was so kind, he asked if we needed it turned up. BTW, Uber rides are cheap in the mornings, super expensive in the heat of the day, and reasonable in the evenings. On our way through town we passed a restaurant named the Angry Angus which made us think of the little dog we live with now. Angus. As has quickly become a habit, we jumped into the pool to cool off and topped that off with some passion fruit tequila and a beer.
At around 5 PM we met with our dive master for SCUBA that happens on Wednesday. We chatted for a good while and checked equipment fitment for our Cenote dive. Sounds like we’ll start with an awesome deep wall dive below a layer of “yellow” water, due to chemicals suspended in the first 15’ of water. Should be pretty cool.
Then it was an 11 minute walk to dinner at a veggie place called Distrito Vegano. It was cool, we were the only folks in the joint. Their kitchen is a food truck pulled into the building and they make their own drink called Tepache, which is sorta like kombucha but without tea in it. Basically it’s fermented pineapple “beer” and Crystal will try making it at home. Very very low on alcohol but it was a fermented drink I actually liked. The food was great! In a delightful turn of events the chef came over to chat while we were looking at the menu and asked if we had any questions. I replied that I thought I’d just get the “chef’s favorite” from the menu since even with my crappy Spanish I could make that out. He replied that was the old chefs favorite, so I asked him what his was, so he pointed out 2 things. One had sauerkraut which automatically makes it a Crystal meal, and I got a “buffalo” burger. We both had fries. The food was simply fantastic. After which we walked home, watched a little TV and got some sleep.
Tuesday the 22nd
Today we bummed around and slept in. Had a few beers and some nuts from Costco. In the late afternoon we went to an AirB&B experience. A nice lady here who is a 3rd generation vegetarian had us visit her in her home and made us a Yucatán vegetarian dinner. It was wonderful. I’ll try to post some pictures. After that we just Ubered home and watched a bit of TV. Taking t say today so we’re all rested up for SCUBA tomorrow.
Wednesday the 23rd:
Today we went scuba diving with Luis. He picked us up and was driving us to the first Cenote when I thought to ask if the regs we had would match up with the BCD’s he had. Turns out not. So we got to see where Luis lives. It’s nice, he’s building an AirB&B there and he has a cute little dog.
Then we headed to the first Cenote. Cenote Subak Ha in Sacalum, Yucatán Mexico.
Luis loves to take advanced divers here. It’s measured depth is 123 meters with no currently known maximum depth. We went to 120’ down and spent a half hour in it exploring. The ride out there was great. Luis is working on a doctorate in Aqua Culture and does the scuba thing to keep his head in a good space. He’s from Venezuela and, as usual, is a cute little package of muscled handsomeness.
After the dive we has a banana and a doughnut and set up for the next Cenote.
This one is called Cenote San Marcos and it’s not too far from the first one. We got lucky and Luis decided it would be great to take the two advanced open water divers to his two favorite Cenotes. The second one was down a long steep wood and concrete stair. Whew! And we thought 1,000 steps in Bonaire was a hike! On the second one we swam all around looking at bones and formations. Apparently folks used to get buried in the Cenotes, or sacrificed.... I suppose there’s a difference.....
After we finished that dive Luis took us to his favorite lunch place at a local Hacienda. The Haciendas are where sisal was made in the 1800’s. Now many of them have been acquired by large businesses that do weddings and events there. This one was really nice and even though they were only wanting to do a buffet that day, Luis talked them into taking care of my vegetarian food choices.
October 24,
Today Crystal slept in a bit. I did my little bit of setting up for tomorrow, checking in with United Airlines and stuff like that. Then we got up and decided what to do with our last real day here.
We decided to head down town and find some food, do a little shopping and drinking and just play.
We grabbed an Uber ride and headed down to the regular drop off point that we’ve picked, Fiesta Americana. It’s a big hotel and a decent land mark. That’s where we met our boat woman, Jules, the first day in town and it’s served us well since then.
I’d picked out a place to eat lunch (since we’re seldom up early enough for breakfast) and it was a decent walk during which we shopped and gawked.
This was where our first diversion of the day occurred. We found the door open to a Cacao Hacienda that we’d been trying to visit all week. They gave us a great intro tour and we bought some cacao goods to bring home.
After that we walked to La Cubanita, it’s a place that has a few vegetarian items on the menu and looked like it was worth a try. And it really was. We had a great lunch, and the place was super affordable as well as homey and nice. There was even a cat for Crystal to make friends with.
Following that we wandered to Hennesey’s Irish Pub where we tried Mexican microbrews and I decided that since we’d been in Mexico for the week and were in an Irish Pub that I should have the only margarita of the week. It was good. Crystal had a beer called Hydroponic Hops which was some kind of honey beer, she liked it a lot. I had a stout, then she has a Rose IPA and I had the margarita. Apparently the Mexican folks don’t dose with hops like Americans do. A good thing in my opinion.
Now we’re “Home” after an Uber ride, drinking by the pool and preparing to pack up for our 4 AM wake up call tomorrow. Should be a good ride home and it’ll be nice to see Rich and sleep in our own bed.
We visited a local quick shop after we got home and got snacks too. Nice having a local place to grab “stuff”
