Here is the long delayed report on the first week in the Yucatan peninsula! We left Bucerias early morning on New Year’s Day. Our taxi was there bright and early at 8am and the drive to the airport was the quietest drive we had while on the west coast! There were hardly any cars on the road other than an ugly scene of a bad crash the night before. The driver told us four American girls were driving a Mercedes, which they had crashed while drunk on New Year’s Eve. Lucky for them they were not hurt but were probably in jail-think I’d rather be in hospital than a Mexican jail.
We stopped in Mexico City for about an hour to change planes- boy oh boy what a huge city! Flying over it seemed to never end. The second half of the flight was very rough and turbulent. We were over the Gulf of Mexico for the majority of the trip and the entire time was cloudy so we couldn’t see anything. We landed in rain, which very quickly turned into a torrential downpour. Barbara, our landlady, met us to take us to the condo in Uaymitun. Just running a few feet to the car soaked us to the skin. We were all like drowned rats. The luggage was DRENCHED! Driving out to the coast-about 40 minutes normally, took well over an hour because it was raining so hard she could hardly see the road. Welcome to the Yucatan! We were told later that just before we landed there was a terrific thunder and lightning storm, so that explained the extreme turbulence!
When we arrived here, the floor just inside the front door had about a ten-foot puddle of water! Poor Barbara was on her hands and knees soaking up the water with rags! That night and for the next two days we had howling winds and rain and it was cold! We met a couple of people on the parking lot in the morning who were Canadian and come here every year. They were very blasé about the weather- “Oh, it’s just a Norte, it will last three or four days.” The cold stormy weather here happens a few times every winter and comes down from Texas. We felt better after we knew what was happening!
Sure enough by Jan 4 the sun was out and it was hot and beautiful. Our condo is directly on the beach and we have a huge place. There are three bedrooms, two bathrooms plus the maid’s quarters with an extra bedroom and full bathroom! We wander around this huge space wishing we were able to share it with some of you stuck up north in the cold!
The day after the Norte we went for our first long walk on the beach. The storm had tossed up a huge amount of seaweed and unfortunately, garbage. It’s sad to see the mess we have made of the ocean. It is not the tourists or residents of this area leaving all this crap on the beach because there are hardly any people here. This beach is very quiet and private. All along the shore are huge HUGE mansions, which mainly belong to the ultra rich Mexican people who vacation here for Easter week and a few weeks in the summer. Most of these fabulous homes have all the windows boarded up to protect them from the hurricanes. The homes that are not boarded up are rented to snowbirds. They all have private swimming pools and are enormous! One about half a kilometer from us was built by the Burger King family and it is large enough to be a resort. Now it belongs to Canadians! Wonder who? We’ve been told that the caretaker will tour us through the home if we see him- so we are constantly on the lookout for him!! The beachcombing after the storm was fantastic!! In addition to the garbage there were also seashells! We have NEVER in our lives seen so many fabulous shells, just lying on the sand. I was like a little kid trying to pick them all up. Because it was our first real walk on the beach we didn’t realize that it was the storm that had brought them in. The next day, the pickings were very slim! We brought home some beauties, which I have to find a way to take home. We have no space in our luggage so I guess I will have to leave something else behind! They are too fabulous to leave here!
We are about 5 km from the nearest little town called Chicxulub. It’s small and has almost no tourists. The only concession to us gringos is that there is an Internet café there and because I am able to take my laptop I’m able to upload the blog. Further along another 5 or 6 kms is a larger town called Progresso. It has a lovely Malacon and lots of little shops and bars and restaurants. The little mini vans called Combi’s act like buses and drive up and down the beach road. We just need to stand in front of the condo and flag them down. It costs 5 pesos and we usually pile in along with the locals to go for groceries or to just tour around. Most of the time though, we end up getting a ride with other gringos who have rented a car- they just see us, stop and offer us a lift. It’s a great way to meet people! Once we were piled into a five seater with four other people- so we were Mexican style- crowded and sitting on laps!
Most of the snowbirds here are Canadian. As a matter of fact, there are 24 units in our complex (everyone just as big or bigger than ours) and as far as we can tell, only four are occupied- all by Canadians. Upstairs are Mike and Nancy from Kelowna, the next building has Wendy by herself, from Edmonton and Pat and Paddy from Winnipeg in the third building. Pat and Paddy are originally from Ireland. They left in the 60’s because they had to- she is Protestant and he is Catholic so they couldn’t get married there. They are fabulous people and we have spent lots of time with them. Sunday we all went into Merida- the capital city of the Yucatan- and toured around. They have been here three or four times and know their way around very well.
So, that is a very condensed version of our first week here. We are really enjoying the Yucatan and the people we have met so far.
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