Merida & Tulum May, 2011 A Cautionary Tale!

[edurban]

Well, the pictures have been rescued from a defective disc, lost passports straightened out, money lifted from my bank account by some light-fingered individual returned by Citibank, and I guess I'm ready to begin! Yes, there are plenty of lessons here in how-not-to-do-things, but most sensible people will never encounter the problems we did. And, might I add, we had a truly fabulous time!

Our trip was divided into two sections: 3 days in the city of Merida and 1 week in Tulum. We flew out of Newark into Cancun on Sat, May 14th on Continental, our previous booking on Mexicana having evaporated when that airline went bust 3 weeks after we booked. (We had booked through Expedia, who immediately refunded our money and helped us rebook on Continental.) We had a tight schedule as our plane landed at 11:10 and we had to make a 1:00pm bus to Merida out of the terminal in central Cancun. Naturally this was the time the red light went off in Customs and we had our stuff searched. The only thing that seemed to interest them was my wife's chocolate-covered coffee beans, go figgur. No possiblilty of making the shuttle to the bus terminal after that, as the drive is 20 minutes and we already had our tix for the 1:00 bus (bought online before we left.) Fortunately, there's a cab dispatcher there and warned about the steep fare ($60) off we raced with Luis, a nice Merida-born driver. Cancun has become quite a metropolis, complete with skyscrapers and 2 casinos. We made it on time, and were very pleased with the ADO bus (not even the Platino version, which has a snack bar), a plush touring coach with great AC, complementary bottled water, music channels, & movies (a good deal at about $30pp). This route is a long one: Merida is the first stop, 4 hours away, but the bus goes all the way across the country, a total trip of several days. Within an hour or so, everyone but me had pushed back their recliners, pulled the heavy curtains, and gone to sleep.

This brings us to Merida, a good-sized colonial city of about a million inhabitants.
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We arrive at the CAME station, a 40 peso cab ride from our hotel, Luz en Yucatan. Like all, or nearly all colonial Mexican buildings, it is unprepossesing from the street:

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Inside, however, the hotel is charming, with a lovely courtyard and small, but welcome pool:

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That's the door to our room on the right.

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David

[beachreader]

Yay, a Merida report, really looking forward to this one. Sorry you had so many problems, glad you still had a good time! :)

Did you look into flying directly in to Merida from EWR? Just curious how that would be, maybe a three-way trip, into Merida, out of CUN?

[edurban]

Did you look into flying directly in to Merida from EWR? Just curious how that would be, maybe a three-way trip, into Merida, out of CUN?

Hi, Beachreader! We looked into flying into Merida, but there were no direct flights from NYC, so we couldn't get there even as 'early' as 5pm (when we did arrive.) It was also more expensive, even factoring in the cost of the bus and 2 taxis. So we decided to bag it and take the bus, having read on a Merida blog that even some expat Merida residents do this. The bus is certainly painless, especially if you like Matt Damon movies in Spanish. But if, as planned, we buy a house in Merida, we'll definitely at least try out the flights into Manuel Crescencio Rejon Int'l Airport!

Best, David

[sparklegem]

What an exciting trip! Possible foreshadowing when your tickets and Mexicana folded? I am so happy that you had a fabulous time in spite of it all! Your photos are fantastic; I can't wait to read about the rest of your adventure!!

[beachreader]

I wonder if the "platino" level bus has better bathrooms, or just the snack bar? I'm OK bringing my own food, but a better bathroom would be worth every penny!

[edurban]

I wonder about the bathrooms, too. The one on our bus was certainly the equivalent of a Grayhound bathroom, but if the trip takes you three days...maybe you need a shower! Or maybe you can take one in the terminal? The Cancun terminal has pay bathrooms, with attendants...maybe there were showers there (I didn't think to look.)

On with the story. We were in Heaven, loved the big bedroom (too big, really, with 2 queen-sized beds) refridgerator with beer, a water dispensor, a coffee maker, with good coffee. Our room had a little terrace in the back. All for $69 a night:

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Cheryl went out there to write a little in her trip diary:

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I was admiring the nifty construction; heavy old doors and sculpted concrete.

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Concrete is the construction material of choice in Merida, where the intense humidity plays havoc with soft woods and plaster. It's used for built-in furniture, countertops...anything really, and the Maya masons are masters with it:

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'Wouldn't it be smart to put our valuables, like the passports, in the hotel safe?' I thought to myself, and I started looking for them. No passports. I had last pulled them out on the line to get on the bus (ironically everyone was asked for ID except us) and then put them in my new shoulder bag, which has so many zippers that Cheryl was constantly asking me if it was closed. I guess it hadn't been...and we had no passports within 6 hours of arriving in Mexico.

The next few minutes were pretty dramatic, but our fantastic, and fantasically level-headed, hotel owner, Tom Williams (yep, American) calmed us down, called the ADO Lost and Found (no answer there for the next 2 days) and assured us that we could go to the US Consulate in Merida (conveniently located 5 minutes away) first thing Monday morning. 'You can have new passports by Tuesday,' he said, and this was good, because we were leaving Merida for Tulum Tuesday. We calmed down, threw back a few shots from the complimentary tequila and xtabentun table in the lobby, and headed off to find something to eat. It was about 6pm now and we hadn't eaten since 7am in Newark Airport.


David

[edurban]

It turned out that a new cafe, Cafe Libertad, had just opened around the corner on the Calle 60, the Broadway of Merida. The owner, Jorge, has a great place, wonderfully decorated with portraits of revolutionaries (he's a Human Rights Activist, probably a high-risk career in Mexico) and his friend Fernanda does the cooking and baking. We were the only customers at the time, Merida being a place where people eat late, and Fernanda whipped up a pair of ham sandwiches on foccacia with chipotle cream cheese. They were delightful people, spoke excellent English, and though neither was born in Merida, they are happy to be part of the thriving cultural scene there.

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Fernanda, Jorge, and the big gringo is yours truly

As we were leaving, Jorge's son was tuning his guitar for a jazz session in the cafe later in the evening.

Cafe Libertad by night:
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We headed back to the hotel, had a swim, and got ready to go out. On Saturday nights Merida has a festival, the Noche Mexicana at the big boulevard called the Paseo de Montejo and Calle 47. The Montejos were a pair of cutthroats, ahem, I mean conquistadores, who conquered the Yucatan in the face of determined Maya resistance. They, and their descendants, ruled the place for the next several hundred years. Latin Yucatecanos raised a big monument to them at the spot where their boulevard begins. For some reason this spot is known as El Remate de Montejo 'The Shot (as in a gunshot, or a shot on goal in futbol) of Montejo':

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The Montejos in the daytime, probably looking for indios to kill.

We walked up to the Noche, which kicked off at 10pm. It was fun, with craft booths, food stalls, and a stage with live music acts. There was a salsa singer with a band and a local comedy act that consisted of women in traditional costume singing apparently funny songs while accompanying themselves on cardboard instruments. (Don't let anyone tell you music is the international language.) Even though this fiesta happens every Saturday year round, the seats were packed with Meridianos dressed to kill, ninos in tow, all having the time of their lives. We drank jamaica and Cheryl ate a panucho (a Yucatan specialty -a split tortilla filled with bean paste, then fried and topped with cochinita pibil and pickled onions, or whatever you like)...We bought a few gifts at the stalls, and then headed home.

It had been a pretty full day.

David

[Shebug]

A Merida trip report! I'm sooo looking forward to this!

On our last Mexican adventure we spent two days in Merida and thought it to be not nearly enough, so next time we are booked for a week. So nice to have a bit of the merida flavour in the meantime.

Hunbille

[minniemex]

Oh, I can just feel your stress! How horrible to have that happen. It just teaches the rest of us to not let our guard down. How wonderful to have such a helpful landlord for your stay in Merida and to waylay your concerns as best he could.

Your report is making me want to visit Merida and I have such an exteme case of sand gravity!

Mas! Mas!

(Oh, and I forgot to say, I think this is going to be a very good report for how things get handled when everything goes wrong.)

[utmck]

Hate to hear about the passport and hopefully it works out....which I guess it did since you are writing this TR!!!

[beachreader]

Well, he could still be writing it from Merida, if no passports materialized. Hey, maybe that's a good way to get to stay there!

[edurban]

We made it home, not to worry.

Two things our wonderful $69 hotel does not include: toiletries, so we popped around the corner to the Oxxo on Calle 60 to buy shampoo (and a few bottles of Negra Modelo for our fridge), and breakfast. After checking to see if anyone had turned in our passports (no one at the bus company even answered the phone) we stepped across the street to the delightful Cafe Club to eat.

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You can eat in the courtyard, but even at 10am it's really too hot. We opted for a table inside with a nice crossbreeze and ordered chilaquiles (green) and the national breakfast of the Yucatan and favorite of Tulum.infoers, huevos Motulenos (eggs in the style of the town of Motul.) Here is one of the very few food pictures we took all vacation. It amused our waitress no end:

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It was pretty cheap, I just don't remember how cheap.

I only had one must do in Merida and that was visit the Museo de Antropologia, since I was still smarting from missing the museum at Tikal. My guidebook said the Museum was closed Mondays and only open Sunday 9-1, so it was pretty obvious that it had to be our first activity Sunday morning. So we walked up to the Paseo de Montejo again, this time pausing to enjoy the great mansions in the French style put up by the Sisal millionaires at the end of the 19th century. No plain facades here:

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Most splendid of all is the Museo, located in a fabulous 2nd Empire/Beaux Arts mansion known as the Palacio Canton (completed 1911), the former home of Gov. Canton, a hero (to Latinos, at least) of the Maya rebellion known as the Caste War. It's quite a pad:

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Many streets in Merida are closed to cars on Sunday. The lane of the Paseo in front of the Museum is part of the Ruta Bicicleta, and the locals take full advantage of it.

It seems the Museum is now open until 5pm, so there was really no hurry. The Maya collection is terrific:
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Here's the original Chac Mool...the one at Chichen Itza is a reproduction:

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Upstairs was an exhibit of rare photographs of Mexican revolutionary movements of the early 20th century. These women were demonstrating for the right to work:

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After a few hours, we felt the need of refreshment. Luckily, across the Paseo de Montejo (have I mentioned that the Paseo is locally referred to as the Champs Elysees of Merida?) is a fine new Irish pub, Hennessey's. I think it opened last December, and is already a favorite with locals and expats:

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There is a handsome wooden bar, but only 2 beers on tap: Chope Clara and Chope Obscura:

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We tried 'em both and they were just what you need when the temperature tops 92. Then we needed a couple of shots of Herradura Anejo. 'Sangre?' asked our waiter. Sure, we said, and 2 shots of sangrita followed. Eventually we got around to some toasts: "Arriba--abajo--adentro!" and the useful 'Dame el hahach (Spanish/Mayan?)' which means 'give me one last one.' Did I mention there were first-rate french fries?

After this we emerged from the AC into the blistering heat of Merida at 3pm. Walking was out of the question, so we taxied back to our hotel (these taxis are very cheap, a few dollars at the most) for a swim. Then we changed and set out in the other direction to explore Merida's historic Centro, where cars are banned Saturday nights and Sundays and there is yet another big outdoor festival, this one called Merida en Domingo.

[beachreader]

'Dame el hahach (Spanish/Mayan?)' which means 'give me one last one.'


That's a new one for me. How do you pronounce it? Are those h's silent and the 'ch' pronounced as in "chocoloate"? So something like "a-atch"?

[edurban]

[QUOTE=beachreader;74861 How do you pronounce it? Are those h's silent and the 'ch' pronounced as in "chocoloate"?[/QUOTE]

It's pronounced "ha-HATCH", if I'm remembering correctly. Our waiter tried to spell it for us with a strange combination of j's and h's, but gave up. I've spelled it as if it were Mayan...h's as in English, no Spanish J's. Ch as in 'chichen'.

Merida has plenty of Mayan built into the local dialect, people say it's because latin Meridianos are raised by Maya nurses and nannies and, especially in the past, learned Mayan along with, and sometimes before, Spanish. The accent is full of 'harsh' sounds from Mayan that can seem strange and unrefined to other Mexicans. We bought a t-shirt for a young friend that reads "Me estoy wixando" (I really have to pee/I'm peeing myself.) Wix is Mayan for 'pee' and has become a word (though not a polite one) that has a Spanish conjugation, ie. wixando/peeing. Another shirt said 'Dame un hach!' /'Give me a hug'.

Or maybe it was purely Spanish, and we were just completely confused...

David

[beachreader]

Very interesting!

Wixando="wi-shan-doe"?

That's a fun one, might need to file that away. :)

[Steve O]

Actually, La Hatch is supposed to mean the next to the last drink. Kinda of like one for the road. Mexicans are superstious and would never say "Give me the last drink." It's always La Hatch - The next to the last.

[edurban]

I see now that there's a bar in Cozumel called La Hatch and that they describe the phrase as Mayan for "one for the road." It makes sense that the waiter couldn't spell it...he was Mexican, but definitely not Maya. The 't' is a mystery to me, the 'ch' sound requires no t. An Americanism, perhaps? As in "Down La Hatch"?

I can't find a Yucatec or K'iche Mayan dictionary online that's comprehensive enough to define "hach". Maybe a corruption of the Spanish "hacha" meaning an ax?! I give up!

David

[edurban]

Well, not much to do while we wait for the hurricane, so here's some more trip report!

Domingo in Merida is a big deal. Streets are closed to traffic, the Plaza Grande is full of food vendors and arts/crafts booths, while the deep arcade of the Palacio Municipal becomes a bandstand, with a large salsa band, local Yucatecan musicians, traditional dance groups, and the local populace out hoofing it in the street. Not something a travelor should miss, and we had scheduled our trip with the idea of experiencing a Merida Sunday.

To get there from our hotel, hang a quick right as you exit, past the 16th Century Santa Lucia church and the small park across Calle 60.

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You can't see the church in this picture, but you get an idea of how lovely and shaded the neighborhood is.

A left onto the Calle 60 will bring you past the venerable Opera House (1908), officially the Teatro Peon Contreras. There are actually operas performed here, though not often. It is also the home of the Yucatan Symphony, and offers visiting dance, theater and folklore troops. The security guard is very houseproud and will invite you in to look at the interior if you show any interest at all. It's very grand, (four levels of balconies IIRC,) although somewhat musty from the humidity. As usual, there's an extensive use of sculptural concrete (dividing the boxes, for example):

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In the distance you can see the towers of the Tres Ordenes, the Jesuit church.

You pass the charming Parque Hidalgo:

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A short walk brings you to the heart of old Merida, the Plaza Grande, aka El Zocalo or La Plaza de la Independencia:

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Around the Plaza are buildings of great historical importance. Most impressively, the massive Cathedral of San Ildefonso (1598):

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Next door to it is the Ateneo Peninsular, which was once the Archbishop's palace:

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The Cathedral on the left, the Ateneo on the right.

Other monumentos include the Casa Montejo (1549), occupied by the ruling family of the Yucatan for hundreds of years, but now a bank. There is a gruesome freize of the conquistadores standing on the bodies of several writhing indios.

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Did I mention that it was as hot as Xibalba? So you need to stop here for wonderful paletas de lima. And so cheap we had to scramble for coins and small bills:

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[edurban]

Merida is the capitol of the state of Yucatan, so state business is carried out at the Palacio de Gobierno, guarded by these gentlemen:

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They look, and probably are, formidable, even without displaying firearms, but they are happy to let you go in to view the enormous historical paintings displayed on the second floor. Just stroll around, it's free and nobody bothers you, even on a weekday.

I mentioned the entertainment at the Palacio Municipal. The outside is quiet on weekdays, a place to sell a few souvenirs or enjoy a quiet gossip:

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It's a whole different scene on Sunday:

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We also visited a store on a side street where we bought a sisal rug (1,300 pesos, our big purchase of the trip.) Officially this place is called Guayeberas 'Tita' (a guayabera is a loose, light shirt much favored by the older men of Merida.) Unofficially, it seems to be known locally as 'Los Banditos.' Not a place to visit if you're allergic to the hard sell, and it helps to have a sense of humor when the guys swear that even their scrawny cat is Maya. Next time we'll try the actual Maya cooperative around the corner, but it was closed when we were there.

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Here's the rug, back at home, being modelled by Kyle, left, and Pacho, right. (More about them in the next installment.)

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As for dinner, we chose La Paranda on Calle 60 across from the Parque Hidalgo. We had some drink vouchers from a really nice 'steerer' named Fernando, so we went there. This is a picture of the restaurant on Tuesday at noon, which doesn't capture any of the fun of Sunday night, when there were tables set up in the street, live music (both at our restaurant and the adjoining Los Trompos, where there was a great traditional trio playing) and the street packed with Meridianos and Mexican tourists, as well as school groups from all over the country in Merida for the National Youth Olympics. BTW, it was a treat to see these kids and their chaperones out having a great time at all hours, when so many of them come from areas where it is unsafe to be out after dark.

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We ordered huge margaritas, sopas de lima, and split a grilled meat platter (parilla) for two. Total 550 pesos and they took USD (very unusual). Our waiter was excited because the Mexican Futbol finals were going on and the bar was packed with fanaticos.

Stuffed to the gills, we strolled back to Luz en Yucatan, had a swim and went to bed. We had to get up early to deal with the passport mess.

David

[beachreader]

I am so enjoying this visit.

[Steve O]

Great photos and report. Merida is a great place to visit. I've been there many times and I don't like big cities. The problem is that once I drive into the city I have a hard time driving out. Even the bypass going around can be confusing. I now enter at my own risk with a map and it's not so bad.

The photos with the cats and blanket...does that air conditioner keep them cool? LOL

[Westybchbum]

Love this report! Merida looks amazing! I have been fascinated by the Mayan culture and Yucatan.... The museo looked really neat!
Dying to hear how passport thing works out..... Thanks for a great trip report so far!

[edurban]

...does that air conditioner keep [the cats] cool? LOL

Ah, if AC was the only thing they were missing...as you shall hear (cue ominous music)...

The big day! I got up early, and Tom (hotel owner) had already printed out the forms we needed...he also called the consulate and gave them our names since we would be arriving without any ID. He also outlined the procedure: stop first at the new Merida Walmart (10 minutes walk, if that, from the consulate) to have new passport pics taken. Make sure they're the larger USA size pics, not the miniscule Mexican size.

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Self and Tom go over the plan

Easy enough, $3US taxi to Walmart, nice man takes the pics (50 pesos), and while they were developing we stepped over to the Walmart lunch counter. Weirdest meal of the trip, I had a hamburger: a beef patty with a slice of ham on a bun. Pretty literal interpretation, if you ask me, but you have to give them points for trying. With a soda, an ice tea and a ham and cheese croissant for Cheryl, the whole thing came to under 48 pesos.

Here's the consulate. Not pretty, but it works:

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At the entrance of the consulate, though, we met one of the only real jerks of the trip, a puffed-up private security guard who insisted we needed ID, didn't understand my Spanish (well, ok, my Spanish is nothing to write home about) and insisted he didn't know a word of English. Would it be too much to have someone bi-lingual working the door of the American consulate? Anywhere else I would understand...

Finally someone else emerged behind him and told him they had our names on a list. Like a miracle, we were in, and from that point on it was a breeze. Everyone was lovely, our brief interview began with "Welcome home!" We paid the cashier $270US for 2 emergency passports (good for three months, then you send them in and you don't have to pay again for the permanent replacements they send you in return.) We were told to come pick up the passports at 4pm and off we went. 45 minutes total.

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A contented woman. Cheryl on the way back from the consulate.

By now the temperature was in the neighborhood of 10,000 degrees, so we taxied home, where a new problem popped up. We had been unable to get in touch with our catsitter since we arrived, and suddenly Cheryl got a rash of emails and texts...he couldn't get into our apartment for 2 days! Forget about food & water...2 of our cats are on medication. It seems our doormen were unable to find the key we left even though it was in an 18 inch manila envelope with the catsitter's name on it in giant block letters, waiting in a nearly empty package room about 9 feet square. Cheryl was in tears, but at the moment when my brother was poised to rush down to our apartment from the Bronx with a locksmith, our dopey building staff produced the 18 inch envelope and the cats were saved.

We were quivering like the proverbial aspen after this little episode, and swore to take a gruesome revenge on our return, but there wasn't much we could do from Mexico. So we went for a swim and then over to Cafe Libertad for quiche and Coke Light ($15US). Back at the Consulate, we only had to wait a few minutes as they feverishly completed our new passports. In all, it was a pleasant and efficient process, and I can't say enough good things about our consular staff. Except that they should consider replacing the two-penny despot at the door...

[beachreader]

Phew! Glad you got your passports done and the cats were saved! Funny about the guard at the front--what is it with some people in uniforms? And I agree that maybe the US could hire someone with at least rudimentary English and pay him accordingly as the first welcomer to the country.

What a relief for you, though, that your hotel owner was such a tremendous help to you in this process. I'm sure he really made you feel better!

[edurban]

Tom is a marvelous man. He saved our vacation. More than once.

On to that evening, our last in Merida...We took a stroll before dinner, and found ourselves at a great bookstore, I think it was the Libreria Dante (Calle 59). Merida is old-fashioned enough to still have bookstores. Plenty of them, both English and Spanish. We picked up a couple of Yucatan cookbooks, a collection of Leyendas de Yucatan, and a Merida Guia Turistica that turned out to be a great help in writing this report.

We had decided to eat dinner at Amaro, a Merida fixture located in a fine old colonial mansion that just happens to be the birthplace of Andreas Quintana Roo (1787-1851). Here's the old gent himself, in case you were wondering what he looked like:

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Amaro has most of its tables in the large courtyard, which is full of grand old trees:

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I wish I had taken this photo, but Tom_Laura did.


The night we went there was a fine singer/guitarist performing. We ordered their signature 'Yucatec margarita' which has a little chopped chile habanero lurking in the bottom and a sprig of cilantro on top. Sounds bizarre, but it was great. Cheryl had Cochinita pibil and I had the Fish Amaro (broiled fish stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, cheese and bechamel sauce.) It was served with mashed potato, and I really enjoyed it. For desert we had crepes with nuts and caramel. Sinful. With tip, $620 pesos.

That was it for Merida, I'm afraid. In the morning we bought a few gifts (that "Me estoy wixando" shirt) and took a last turn around the Zocalo. We didn't hurry to the CAME station to catch our bus to Tulum because when we checked the ADO website in the morning, the bus was mostly empty. Surprise, when we got to the station, the 1pm Tulum bus was sold out and there wasn't another until 6pm. Problem, there, until we ran into a young couple we had met at our hotel, who were heading to PDC by way of Cancun. There was no cure for it...we had to take the Cancun bus, another nice touring coach, if a little less plush than our first one. Their cute 2 year old daughter Aisha attached herself to us and diverted us nicely for the trip. She made friends everywhere, and the Mexicans, who love children, were enchanted with her and fascinated by the hair she inherited from her African father. Here she is making a new friend in the Cancun bus station:

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m576/edurban1/moremexico048.jpg

Oh yes, we discovered as we rolled along that we had left an envelope in the hotel safe with about $350 cash and all our email confirmations for the airline and our excursions in Tulum. Of course we did. At least we had the new passports. There was nothing we could do about it but email Tom when we got to Nueva Vida...

It was a long, but relatively painless, trip. At Cancun we picked up the local Mayab bus, and this was the only time Mexico reminded us of the Stories of Old. After waiting 30 minutes we were told the Mayab bus was delayed by another 45 minutes. We diverted ourselves with Aisha, who enjoyed watching crates of vegetables being unloaded from the cargo bins of another local bus, especially after a spill sent tomatoes rolling all over the platform. After 5 minutes an employee ran in, announcing that the bus had just pulled in and we needed to board immediately! What happened to the 45 minutes, I wonder?

The ride down the Mayan Riviera felt like a trip home, with plenty of (perhaps too much) new building to take in. A few raindrops fell outside Playa del Carmen, but they were the only drops we saw the whole trip. I'll say a word about arrival and dinner in the next installment, but here's a picture of the sight that greeted us from our balcony the next morning to tide you over:

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m576/edurban1/moremexico073.jpg

David

[sparklegem]

David, I am really enjoying your trip report although I get quite worried for you whenever you meet peril. I was quite worried about your cats and I so glad that you have mentioned that the hotel owner was nice and helpful or I would be very worried about your $350 cash and important papers. Can't wait for the next installment!

[beachreader]

The sign of a great rip report, plenty of dramatic tension! :)

[minniemex]

What an adventure! Glad to hear the cats were taken care of! Sometimes you just have to wonder about some people. They can't step two paces out of their way to find something. If it isn't right in front of their face, they can't find it.

Loving your report! Like I said at the beginning ~ great for those of us who might be needing the help you got in the future!

[Westybchbum]

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m576/edurban1/moremexico073.jpg

This picture gave me goosebumps just now. Which seems silly as we have seen this view time and again but perhaps it the way you have woven your tale.... I can just imagine the stress and tension of lost passports, hungry kitties and dinero left behind in a safe all dissapating once youve reached this place.

Thanks again for sharing Merida through your eyes! What a story that the guy greeting you at the US consulate spoke no english. What an oxy-MORON! Good to know replacement passports can be had but I may "forget" this information on my next trip and plan a non-return lol.....

Looking forward to hearing about your time at NVR. :)

[TheWindyCity]

Wow Dave, really liking the trip report. I've never seen Merida and it looks really nice. Can't imagine the heat and no beach for relief, though! I have to admit that you got me with both of my favorite breakfasts. The Huevos Moltulenos looks great! Can't wait to eat, er, read more!
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m576/edurban1/IMG_1528.jpg

[elvo73]

OMG! I can't imagine loosing my passport! I'm glad everything was resolved.
Thank you for sharing, I can't wait to hear more :)

[tbpeaceful]

Oh my, the drama of it all! Merida looks to be a very lovely city. The architecture there is so lovely. I feel a visit in my future.

Thanks Ed, and I am looking forward to the tales of the beach.

[beachreader]

Hope Ed comes back soon! Looking forward to the rest of the story!

[edurban]

Hi folks, thanks for all the nice comments! I'm a little tied up this weekend with house guests (and 13 hour workdays for the next 2 weeks,) but maybe I'll have time tomorrow after the TUGBOAT RACES!

Best, David

[sparklegem]

Tugboat races??!! I hope that you will post some photos of that, too!

[burlygirl]

Loving this Trip Report. Thank you for taking the time to write it and post picutres. We are thinking of Merida. Wish we had a month for Mexico, not 10 days we are attempting to eek out next year.

KIM

[Margoinmexico]

:wave:Super loving this report so far.....you are a born story teller!

I have a serious love affair with Merida...haven't been there for a couple of years, but wow, looking at these photos makes me want to go SOON! A few years ago, I actually was planning on moving to a small coastal town near Merida, just came back to Tulum to get my stuff, and then saw that Caribbean and couldn't do it! I had rented a house and EVERYTHING! Wonder what my life would be like now had I gone through with it???

I love going there in November, starts to cool down a bit and still not full tourist season. And never miss a SATURDAY night on the STREET dancing til the WEE hours of the morning.....:star:.....:sun: and the Sunday festival is also a not miss.

I have been through the Consolate there as well, and yes, it is odd that they don't have more English speaking people there! Go figure! I had a reasonably easy time getting my expired passport replaced, they even sent it by courier to Tulum for a $10usd fee. It was a little weird being in MExico for about 3 months without a valid passport before I got over to Merida....:o

Looking forward to the rest of your report, hello to Cheryl and glad the cats were rescued! :crossfingers::wave:

[roni]

We love Merida and the Luz en Yucatan

We have been there several times!