Mehling.org: Heading West

March 25, 2008

Heading West

3/25 (Tuesday)

We woke up early in hopes of catching the sunrise -- the island is so tiny that you can easily walk from the east side to the west side in 15 minutes or less. Strangely (or perhaps not), the owner was sleeping on a couch by the door. We'd have had to wake him to get outside... We decided to skip it. We went back to bed for a few hours and then got up and headed over to Playa Norte for a few hours. It was early for the beach crowd and Hol picked a practically deserted spot right on the water. It was still a little cool, with some light wind but the sun was out and quickly warmed everything up. Hol did some yoga and I read my book. Since we were leaving today, I wanted one last dip in the "caribe". The beach here is so shallow that I could walk out at least 150 meters before the water was at my waist... No rocks or reef for hundreds of meters, just the white sand.

After cleaning up and saying adios to the posada owner, we walked up the street to the coffee shop/bookstore we had visited the day before. While Hol ordered a fruit shake (the only thing that sounded good on her tummy), I walked down to the post office to mail the postcards. Cerrado. Weird, it was open earlier when we walked to the playa. Back at the cafe, I ordered a bagel "especial" (bagel with cream cheese, tomatoes, avocados, salt and pepper), iced cafe and a lluevo duro (hard boiled egg) for Hol. The nice owner (i think from Argentina), said the post office was probably just taking a siesta -- completely normal he said. They'd be back... when they were done.

Unfortunately, we couldn't wait and headed to the ferry pier. Our travel day had begun. A short 20 minute ride to Puerto Juarez, a short (and too expensive) taxi ride to the Ado station, and two 306 peso boletos to Merida on an ADO GL bus linea. The bus to Merida was considered a step above Primera class, and was called Luxury class. Seats were comfortable, and they showed movies (oddly a dubbed version of "Bratz", then "7 years in Tibet"). Overall it was pretty nice for the 5-6 hour trip west.

On our very first bus ride down to Tulum, we had witnessed the bus driver stop the bus on the side of the road. A woman had stepped on, kissed him and got off. We continued on. We surmised the bus was a long haul and he was kissing his wife goodnight. On the bus to Merida, the same thing happened -- we stopped maybe 10 minutes from the terminal, a women got on with a cola and a coffee, gave the driver a kiss and was gone. Very cute. Hard to imagine that sort of thing happening in the US.

We arrived in Merida after dinner time. Hol suggested that since the bus terminal was so far from the Central Plaza, we take a hotel two blocks away from the terminal -- made sense to me. We checked into the Hotel D' Champs -- picture an airport Motel 6 (in Mexico). Yuck.

We checked the hotel restaurant -- deserted except for three employees. Rather than sit in our depressing hotel room, we decided to walk the 10 or so blocks into the center of town around the Plaza Grande. We passed the Merida LDS temple on the way. We walked around the Plaza Grande and looked at a few restaurants. We settled on the Pane e Vino, an Italian restaurant that makes their own pasta fresh. We ended up sitting next to a couple visiting the Yucatan from Holland (before heading to Guatemala to visit their son). Ria and Hank were very nice and we enjoyed talking with them over dinner. They had (for obvious reasons) done quite a bit of traveling in Europe. Their favorite cities were London, Rome and Paris (not Amsterdam?). After dinner we walked back to the hotel -- I was definitely a little nervous. The streets were empty once we got away from the square and we didn't know the neighborhood at all. We later learned we were walking through the flower district. :-)

Photo Album:
http://mehling.org/gallery/v/travels/2008_mexico/Day+12/

Posted by ben at March 25, 2008 10:00 PM


« Isla Mujeres \| Main \| Uxmal » March 25, 2008 Heading West 3/25 (Tuesday) We woke up early in hopes of catching the sunrise -- the island is so tiny that you can easily walk from the east side to the west side in 15 minutes or less. Strangely (or perhaps not), the owner was sleeping on a couch by the door. We'd have had to wake him to get outside... We decided to skip it. We went back to bed for a few hours and then got up and headed over to Playa Norte for a few hours. It was early for the beach crowd and Hol picked a practically deserted spot right on the water. It was still a little cool, with some light wind but the sun was out and quickly warmed everything up. Hol did some yoga and I read my book. Since we were leaving today, I wanted one last dip in the "caribe". The beach here is so shallow that I could walk out at least 150 meters before the water was at my waist... No rocks or reef for hundreds of meters, just the white sand. After cleaning up and saying adios to the posada owner, we walked up the street to the coffee shop/bookstore we had visited the day before. While Hol ordered a fruit shake (the only thing that sounded good on her tummy), I walked down to the post office to mail the postcards. Cerrado. Weird, it was open earlier when we walked to the playa. Back at the cafe, I ordered a bagel "especial" (bagel with cream cheese, tomatoes, avocados, salt and pepper), iced cafe and a lluevo duro (hard boiled egg) for Hol. The nice owner (i think from Argentina), said the post office was probably just taking a siesta -- completely normal he said. They'd be back... when they were done. Unfortunately, we couldn't wait and headed to the ferry pier. Our travel day had begun. A short 20 minute ride to Puerto Juarez, a short (and too expensive) taxi ride to the Ado station, and two 306 peso boletos to Merida on an ADO GL bus linea. The bus to Merida was considered a step above Primera class, and was called Luxury class. Seats were comfortable, and they showed movies (oddly a dubbed version of "Bratz", then "7 years in Tibet"). Overall it was pretty nice for the 5-6 hour trip west. On our very first bus ride down to Tulum, we had witnessed the bus driver stop the bus on the side of the road. A woman had stepped on, kissed him and got off. We continued on. We surmised the bus was a long haul and he was kissing his wife goodnight. On the bus to Merida, the same thing happened -- we stopped maybe 10 minutes from the terminal, a women got on with a cola and a coffee, gave the driver a kiss and was gone. Very cute. Hard to imagine that sort of thing happening in the US. We arrived in Merida after dinner time. Hol suggested that since the bus terminal was so far from the Central Plaza, we take a hotel two blocks away from the terminal -- made sense to me. We checked into the Hotel D' Champs -- picture an airport Motel 6 (in Mexico). Yuck. We checked the hotel restaurant -- deserted except for three employees. Rather than sit in our depressing hotel room, we decided to walk the 10 or so blocks into the center of town around the Plaza Grande. We passed the Merida LDS temple on the way. We walked around the Plaza Grande and looked at a few restaurants. We settled on the Pane e Vino, an Italian restaurant that makes their own pasta fresh. We ended up sitting next to a couple visiting the Yucatan from Holland (before heading to Guatemala to visit their son). Ria and Hank were very nice and we enjoyed talking with them over dinner. They had (for obvious reasons) done quite a bit of traveling in Europe. Their favorite cities were London, Rome and Paris (not Amsterdam?). After dinner we walked back to the hotel -- I was definitely a little nervous. The streets were empty once we got away from the square and we didn't know the neighborhood at all. We later learned we were walking through the flower district. :-) Photo Album: http://mehling.org/gallery/v/travels/2008_mexico/Day+12/ Posted by ben at March 25, 2008 10:00 PM		Bookmarks Ben's Resume Ben's Lists Mehling Photo Album Flickr Photo Album Recently Archived Cozumal and Playa Palancar Akumal Desperately Seeking Lodging See you in nine days Sian Ka'an Coba Ruins Tulum Ruins Finally! Background Micro Credit Archives August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 Etc. Search: