Off to Telchac

The last morning involved packing up cleaning up and having breakfast. When we took our bags downstairs and opened the door, Marc, Christel, and Gorety (driver) were standing right there. Next stop: Telchac Puerto. Marc had some errands to run, so we toured around looking for some parts he needed for his garage door. Then we headed to a goat restaurant that only serves goat meat. There were five of us, so we ordered a Platter for four with an extra bowl of soup. The soup contained enough goat meat that it could have been a full meal. We were then left with a huge tray full of five or six dishes. We gave it a valiant effort, but we had to leave some food on the platter. Then it was still about an hour’s drive until we arrived at Telchac.

Final Day in Mérida

 On our final day we prowled around. Deb found some clothes that she liked near Plaza Grande. We ate where we were and we took taxis to make life easier.

These bikes are working machines, for lugging almost everything. They are everywhere, but none of them look so shiny and new.

Virtually all of the bees have wide tires. They seem to all have only one single gear, which might be reasonable since Yucutan is very flat.

Vera is ready to go and waiting patiently.

Farewell to the puppets in Magical BnB

Marc and Christel arrived at our place just as we were stepping out the door. Marc had some errands to run in Mérida so we did some running around before lunch.

We then stopped at a goat restaurant. Every meat dish was goat meat. To make life easy we ordered a platter for four with four bowls of soup. Since there were five of us we had to order an extra bowl. The soup bowl was large and it was filled with goat meat. It was delicious, and it could have been a meal by itself. The platter was also huge and it contained five or six other items. We dug in and made a good try, but we couldn't quite finish.

Micaela Mar y Leña

 

Well, I'm sort of tricking you with this picture, but I absolutely love octopus. 

The other restaurant which came highly recommended was Micaela Mar y Leña (Sea and Firewood). I checked it out, found this picture, and the decision was made.

The appetizer was wonderful. The coffee was wonderful. The drinks were wonderful. The octopus was awful. It was curled up in a tight ball. It was charred and overcooked. It was tough. We had been anticipating something spectacular and it landed with a thud. Oops.

El Apapacho

Just a quick note: Dave, from the unit next door, recommended two restaurants very highly. The first was El Apapacho.

The restaurant was fairly expensive and it was a taxi ride away, but we decided to give it a try. We were amazed. We ordered one appetizer and one entree and were entirely satisfied. It was shrimp night.

The appetizer was shrimp in a seranno pepper sauce. The sauce was a little spicy but the heat was cut by cucumbers and onions. The shrimp was soft as if it was not cooked, but was marinated in the sauce (like a ceviche). The result was amazing.

The main course was shrimp in a mole sauce and drizzled with crema. The shrimp were wonderful and crunchy and the mole mole sauce was the best I believe I have ever had anyway. If I lived in Mérida I would visit this restaurant every week until I had tried everything on their menu.

After dinner, we went to Parque de la Paz to see a performance which was part of Mérida Fest. The group performing was an acrobatic troupe called Barbu from Montreal. The show had good moments and bad moments but it was not amazing. Deb became frightened in the crowd and we decided to go home early. Good Night.

Majikal BnB

 Ok, so it's not really a bed and breakfast, but I thought I would walk around and take a mass of pictures just to show how quirky it is.

Time theme on the terrace

Pictures in front of you as you come down the stairs

The entrance to our room.

Just a little shelf in the hallway

Welcome

The stairs do look a little dangerous

This garden is inside

Facing the indoor garden from the kitchen

Out on the terrace

Budha in the pond

Just a little pool

The terrace

Another little patio

Our Room

 For some reason they decided to call our room the Budha Room.

Of course it didn't look so tidy for long.

Mérida Day 3: Plaza Grande

 Okay, so we meant to get up earlier today, but we didn't. When I did get up, I went out and brought back 3 cups of coffee. Because I had three cups, the owner of the restaurant (the same one where we had the sea bass) wanted to send one of his waiters to help me carry them home. I turned down his offer, so he found us a plastic tray to carry them in. We were slowpokes, our breakfast didn't happen until after lunchtime. Oh well.

Eventually, we headed back to the Plaza Grande, but this was Sunday and the market was in full swing. There were masses of people and lots of noise. Before too long, Deb was frightened, so we took a taxi back to our quiet room.

Vera does a great job guiding Deb along the narrow sidewalks.

In the market, I had to wait for a quiet moment when I could get some shots without masses of people.

Back in our unit, Vera was exhausted.

At 7 pm there was a free performance in Parque de la Paz (about a 20-minute walk away). It was part of Mérida Fest (an annual 3-week event). The group performing was an acrobatic troupe from Canada called Barbu. Parts of their act were rather hokey, but other parts were quite good. There were some great balancing and pyramid-building activities and some of the better juggling routines that I have seen. One crazy lady hung and spun all over the stage. She was attached by her hair.

There were food stalls but only sweet food which was not appropriate for Deb. The crowds and the noise frightened Vera and we had to leave before the show ended. It was probably a good idea to exit before the crowds all stood up at the same time.

Exploring Mérida by Foot (The Debby and Vera Show)

Obviously, our second day started late, but we did eventually get moving. Around a corner and up the street we headed for Plaza Grande. This is the central square in the middle of Centro. The map told us we should be walking for about 15 minutes, but it took us at least a half hour.

Deb and Vera posed outside our front door.

We stopped at one shop which was full of life-sized and larger Day of the Dead figures.

Deb and Vera found a new friend in one of the coolest shops.

At Plaza Grande we had to have a picture of the Mérida side. It seems that most towns have a similar sign.

Deb and Vera had to have another picture, but who is that guy in the frame? We pushed him out of the way for another shot

As I said, it was getting hot, so we headed out for an early dinner. We found a wonderful restaurant with a very eclectic menu. The breakfast menu was Mexican. They served pizza, and the dinner menu was mostly pasta. The special of the day was sea bass with asparagus and zucchini. Everything was wonderful.

Vera didn't get any of the bass, but she seemed quite comfortable.

 

Yucatan Trip Day 1

This was one of the worst travel days in the history of mankind. We had to get up at 3 am so we could be early enough to register our dog for the flight. At first, all went smoothly. We grabbed a bite to eat, then checked in. The agent was wonderful, happily accepting our VIP. He referred to VIP as Very Important Passenger, but the acronym can also mean Very Important Person, or Visually Impaired Person. We were the first people to board the plane and were all settled in before the cabin began to fill up. The flight was on time. They served lunch. Everything seemed great, and this was at the Toronto Airport.

Arriving in Mexico City, however, didn't go so smoothly. We were last off of the plane as expected, but we did not find someone to meet us and to help with our next connection (to Mérida). We had asked for help because we knew we had to find a place for Vera to relieve herself. We had to clear customs. We had to have Vera inspected and approved for entry into Mexico. We only had two hours to make our connecting Flight (oops).

Finding the lady to register our dog was easy, but she was not very helpful. She was just too busy and we were a nuisance. She got it done though. We were waved through customs, but the lady at the door told us we had to go to a second inspection station with our dog. The lineup was huge and didn't seem to be moving, so we grabbed a bite to eat and came back. This time there was very little lineup. A man in the line helped translate for us, so we found out that we didn't need to be in this line at all. We just needed to get to our gate. Deb took Vera outside on the departures level and Vera had a pee on the pavement. Deb was accosted by the police and she thought she was going to be arrested (Oops).

When we eventually got to the gates we were concerned that we would be too late, but we were informed that we were actually much too early. Our intended flight (a Boeing with doors that fall off) had been cancelled and we were on another flight six hours later. They could not find an earlier flight for us, so a supervisor offered us a food voucher by way of apology. We settled down to wait.

Finally, we sat in a restaurant and had a small (and not very good) dinner. Of course, the restaurant we chose did not accept our voucher, so we headed for our gate with about an hour to spare. Here we were told that we needed a stamp on our boarding pass before Vera could be allowed aboard. Of course we had to stand in a different line where we found a very helpful attendant who checked our papers and stamped Deb's boarding pass.

Finally, we got to our gate and were allowed in. We had to go through security again, but we were not allowed early seating so we had to board with the crowd, and this plane was late.

Eventually, we did get to Mérida, but it was after midnight and the terminal was almost completely closed. The fellow at the "approved taxi" booth told us that it would cost 400 pesos and would involve a two-hour wait. We decided to go outside and flag someone down, but out here the taxi drivers said that we needed a ticket. Back inside, the taxi stall was closed and the only other option was a bus. The last bus had just left, but the lady at the bus stall was able to arrange a van ride.

At one-ish in the morning we arrived at our accommodation. The door was locked and nobody was answering our knock. The van driver hung around with us and was eventually able to contact the property manager. He gave us the code to the door and we were in. The driver of the van got a good tip.

We ended up travelling for almost 23 hours. Neither of us woke up the next day until after eleven.

CD Means Ciudad (City)

CDMX Mean Ciudad de Mexico