Yucatán

We flew into Mérida via Mexico City, and brought The Ambassador™ to eat in Mexico City airport (CDMX), so as to avoid the apparently horrible food options there. This meant I got an early outing for my experimental Spanish, explaining to the people that tenemos un poco de comida, y no sabemos si esta permitido or something. Anyway we had a bad-tempered Ambo there, but got to Mérida by 8pm, and had a fun taxi ride with a chatty driver. Arrived at Luz en Yucatán, slurped life-giving pot noodles in the hotel room, and went to bed.

Saturday permalink

Next day was for light exploring. Hotel breakfast was incluido, so we ate that, then wandered in the general direction of the Paseo de Montejo, where our mission was to try to buy a t-shirt from Tejon Rojo. Lots of tourist tat shops on the way, plus some shops selling traditional Yucatecan clothes, guayaberas for the men and embroidered hipils for women.

We met the local, and very very noisy, Great-Tailed Grackles, and explored the Parque Santa Lucia:

Tejon Rojo was full of lovely stuff and an equally lovely man working there who was happy to chat. I bought a t-shirt featuring a Turquoise-browed Motmot, and he told us a strange story about trying to rescue a lot of baby spiders of a deadly variety, without getting bitten. Turquoise-browed Motmots are spectacular birds that are somewhat iconic in Yucatán: although they're not very rare, we weren't going to spend much time in areas where they are commonly seen, so I didn't think we would have much chance to see one.

By that time it was HOT so we went to look for some lunch at Ramiro Cochina, which was nice, but not child-friendly food. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and wallowed in the pool.

The pool was covered with little square blue tiles which were starting to come off, and the children were diving to collect them. E promised that they were not in fact "encouraging" the tiles to come off. Then a huge thunderstorm started, so we sheltered in the hotel room for a couple of hours, and the children watched videos on the iPad.

Once the rain eased off we went out for pizza, where my pizza took ages to come, then as soon as it did, the AC dumped a load of water all over it. The waiter was extremely apologetic and called me caballero. Afterwards we went to the Noche Mexicana, for some dancing and singing (that is, watching other people dancing and singing).

Sunday permalink

Sunday morning is the Mérida BiciRuta, so we rented bikes and rode up and down the Paseo de Montejo. G and I had a dreadful tandem, A and E had some contraption like two bikes side-by-side, welded together, with a roof. And we clanked up and down. Good times. We learned sombra, a very useful word in Mérida.

By the time we were done, we were, again, HOT, and this time decided to try baked goods for lunch, rather than a restaurant. The Nuup Panadería had lovely people and lovely pastries, including chocolatines the size of your head and conchas. We bought some but still needed something savoury for lunch, and after wandering around melting for a bit found Sempere libros y café, which is a very peaceful combined bookstore and cafe hidden away upstairs, with kind people who understood the concept of a sandwich with jamón and cheddar and literally nothing else, and also sold us a load of bagels. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for ice cream at Pola Gelato, then it was time for more afternoon pool-wallowing.

In the evening we strolled down to the Plaza Grande, watched the parrots swirling around and shrieking, saw the music and stalls, failed to find las letras (they had been apparently removed for maintenance). On the way back, someone was giving a no-holds-barred karaoke performance of A-Ha's "Take On Me", from inside his shop but with the speaker out on the street, where a small but enthusiastic crowd had formed. Unfortunately by the time we got to the shop he had collapsed, either from emotion or sheer physical effort, and was slumped on the floor in a pool of sweat.

Then a long walk to Alma Piedra for a very chill supper, and a brief stop at Parque de Santa Lucia for some fantastic music before bed.

Monday permalink

Celestún day and paddling through the mangroves. We were late getting there because Easy Way Car Rental does not in fact open at 7am as advertised, more like 9.30. Steven at Easy Way told that we had unlimited mileage, "but don't go to Colombia". His car felt... loose, as if parts of it might come unattached, given enough vibration.

Still, the Guardianes de los Manglares de Dzinintún didn't mind us being late, they were just hanging out. We peed in these extremely rustic toilets in very dilapidated palapas that were infested with giant iguanas, this will be important later on.

Gliding through the mangroves was very peaceful.

We saw an American Redstart, a Tricolored Heron, several pufferfish. Most excitingly, a female crocodile guarding her babies. She was just lurking in the water looking menacing. Our guide told us that a few weeks ago someone was here with their dog in the canoe, and the dog jumped in to attack the baby crocs, and the daddy croc ate the dog. Scenes.

Then out of the mangroves into the lagoon, where a frigatebird kept us company for a while. And a little walk to see the flamingos, along with pelicans, egrets, and wood storks.

After the tour we ate pastries from Nuup while some hopeful perros hung around.

Then E went for a pee and while she was peeing a giant iguana crashed through the roof of the palapa.

Because we made a late start, we decided to head straight back to Mérida, for a big shop at the Soriana, in preparation for phase 2 of the vacation: Xpujil, in Campeche state. Everyone we talked to about where we were going next thought we meant Campeche City, and in the end I gave up and pretended that was actually where we were going. Anyway, we bought a ton of food at Soriana. There was a confusing system for buying pastries where you had to fish them out of the cabinets and put them on a tray, having first chosen the least grungy tray, then take the tray to an employee who puts them into paper bags according to some obscure criteria. We also bought enough pasta for 2 nights. This will be important later on.

Back at the hotel, the children had a final wallow, then we had goblin mode supper, a delightful mélange of pot noodles, instant mac and cheese, and bagels. Then back out for choco frappés from Ki'Xocolatl, and said goodbye to the Plaza Grande before bed.

Tuesday permalink

We had a long drive to Xpujil: there were two possible routes, the more direct one via Hopelchen, on tiny roads, and a longer one via Bacalar, that keeps to the bigger roads. On the advice of Anabel at Visit Calakmul, we took the longer route, although the other route did look interesting.

Anyway: driving out of Mérida was nerve-shredding, and we got lost for a while, but once things settled down it was reasonably fun. Good, straight, roads, polite drivers, beautiful countryside, interesting small towns. One of A's jobs was to watch for topes, and despite what people say, at least on this route the topes were really well marked and you'd have to be paying no attention in order to miss them. Still, it is helpful to have a tope canary: a car in front that you can watch to get an additional warning. Also of interest are tope higglers, who hang around at the roadside and take advantage of you slowing down to try to sell you coconuts or pineapples or... traffic cones?

The drive was further enlivened by short but very intense rain showers, during which we could see almost nothing.

We stopped in José María Morelos for pees, and in Bacalar for Soriana pastries, and got to Casa Ka'an at about 5.30.

The cabin was clean, spacious, and comfortable. Pasta for supper: we couldn't find any salt, and E complained righteously. We had an early night...

Wednesday permalink

...because we had to get up at 4am(!), to meet up at 5am with our guide Claudio López and our driver Miguel for our big day in Calakmul.

Miguel drove us in the dark along the highway for about 45 minutes before turning off towards Calakmul. This is still a 60km drive to the archaelogical site. There's quite a bit of new development, with the Tren Maya station and an associated big hotel along the road. It still feels very remote though.

Claudio was an incredible birding guide. He'd notice something from the car, we'd all get out, and he'd locate these amazing birds. There were lots of Ocellated Turkeys:

There were some Keel-billed Toucans!

There was even a Tejon Rojo (aka Coati) in the trees.

At km 27 we stopped for a walk through the jungle and saw howler monkeys and spider monkeys, and more birds, including a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Claudio showed us where the chicleros used to harvest chewing gum from the trees. Massive strangler figs and bromeliads.

At almost 11 we got to the ruins, which occupy a huge site. At one point Claudio took me and G off the trail deep into the jungle in search of a Great Curassow.

At the main plaza E, G, and I climbed the smallest pyramid, which was the one the "rediscoverer" of the site first climbed, from which he saw the two big pyramids from which its modern name derives (Calakmul means something like "City of the Two Adjacent Pyramids").

As we came down and were snacking a crazy roaring started and Claudio said "it's the jaguar!" We did actually jump but it was two groups of howler monkeys starting up a shouting contest right over our heads. It was incredibly loud and went on for ages — so long, in fact, that eventually people stopped being amazed and started being a bit annoyed. At one point a spider monkey swung across between them, impossibly agile.

G and I climbed the two massive pyramids and said hello to Guatemala and El Mirador, lurking somewhere in the jungle about 40km away.

Another group of tourists were waiting a long time at the foot of the pyramid for some of their party to come down, Claudio told them "they've probably been sacrificed", he thought this was very funny.

I had wondered how busy the site would be, as it's quite famous. There were definitely people around in the main areas, but it never felt at all crowded, and we kept seeing the same few groups again and again.

Claudio is Mayan, he learned Spanish as a second language, and his mum never learned Spanish at all. It was surprising to me how strong Mayan culture is here, and it's definitely part of the reason that Yucatán has such a rich and interesting culture of its own.

Eventually we got back to the car and it was ¡vamonos chicas!. We got back to the cabin at about 5pm. Thanks Claudio you were amazing.

I'd been dreaming of pasta and sauce for some hours at this point. We had even found the salt by this time. Boiled the water, poured in the pasta and... it was infested with bugs. Curse you, Soriana! Luckily we had tortillas and queso for the children, and A and I had buns with pasta sauce soup, which is made by adding water to pasta sauce, and which was better than it sounds.

Thursday permalink

We had a more relaxing start to things today, breakfast at Casa Ka'an with a couple of very slow-moving but hopeful perros, Blackie and Clucha.

Then to Becán, where we experienced the rare reverse tope canary on the way in. At Becán there was one group leaving just as we arrived, and another we met right at the end, but the rest of the time we had the site to ourselves. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl sat on a branch by the first pyramid.

G and I scrambled around a pyramid while E and A encountered a gray fox. E, G, and I climbed another pyramid, and there were three Turquoise-browed Motmots in the trees, which we watched for a while. Magic. In Yucatán these are called pájaro reloj, or "clock bird", and in Costa Rica they are called pájaro bobo, or "stupid bird", which is a bit mean.

We found some leaf cutter ants and watched one cutting out its piece of leaf. It was sitting on the part it was cutting, like someone sawing off the branch they are sitting on. E discovered a new type of leaf cutter ant, the "shirker ant", that just hangs around pretending it's about to start cutting some leaves.

Because of the buggy pasta (curse you, Soriana!) we had to eat the tortillas the day before, so now we had no lunch. We visited the abarrotes in Xpujil for more tortillas and frijoles, ate it in the cabin, and lay around until supper time.

We went to Xtabay for supper, which had an interesting conception of "inside" (not inside at all), where we were a bit paranoid about mosquitos, and where the food options were not as extensive as we had expected. Still, it was food, and mostly cooked.

Friday permalink

Today was for transferring to Bacalar for the third and final leg, but we wanted to visit Chicanná first. Breakfast at Casa Ka'an again. Blackie demonstrated his jamón dance in an effort to break down our resistance, and he succeeded! We also got to deploy more experimental Spanish with ¿podríamos dar nuestro jamón al perro?

And yes, Clucha got jamón as well.

There were no visitors at Chicanná at all, except for a Bat Falcon sitting next to the first building.

Very peaceful, apart from the leaf blower guys. Chicanná is much smaller than Calakmul and Becán, but has much more elaborate decoration.

It's most famous for the giant snake mouth entrance to one of the buildings.

Then we drove to Bacalar, found the hotel, ate rustic sandwiches in their lobby, which was patrolled by 2 cats, Sombra and Meserito. E, G, and I went to get a new memory card for E's camera, and by the time we came back, the room was ready. The children voted for pool-wallowing in the afternoon, so that's what happened, while A and I lounged.

For supper we tried El Valiente, which was great, run by a very sweet man. I had a pambazo with potato and nopales, A had a gordita, E had a quesadilla, and G had tacos:

Back at the hotel we went up on the roof to see the stars, and the children found a frog:

Saturday permalink

We made a slow start, breakfast at the Emporio Cafe which looks like a real tourist place but was great, fantastic coffee, un desayuno muy sabroso, really nice mesero. Then back to the hotel and saddling up for the laguna, which was as lovely as advertised.

Much wallowing ensued.

I had a delightful nap on the hotel roof, then we were out again for supper, and this time we tried La oaxaqueña, which was OK, although the mesera was the only properly surly person we encountered the whole time we were there.

Sunday permalink

Last whole day. E and I got up horribly early to look at birds with Jacqueline from Active Nature Bacalar. We met Jacqueline and a few fellow birding tragics. Watched some parakeets tearing the beautiful flowers off a tree and throwing them on the ground.

Such jerks. Also, among lots of other birds, saw the swifts that roost in their well, a Barred Forest Falcon, and a Red-Lored Parrot.

Back to the hotel to collect G and A, then back to the Emporio Cafe which was occupied by a huge group of very loud Americans. So it took ages for our food to come. Even so, we rescued their baby from the Hole of Death. Eventually we got our chilaquiles and pancakes, with extra coffee for the wait.

The children voted for pool over laguna. We found a lovely katydid at the pool area.

We tried to go back to El Valiente but it was closed, so we went back to La oaxaqueña, and this time we had a different mesero who was very nice. I had the mole, A had the tlayuda again, and the children had tacos.

On the way back through the square we bought a sombrero fridge magnet at G's recommendation.

Monday permalink

Heading home. We had breakfast at the hotel, which was a definite step down from the Emporio Cafe. The children found a frog in the garden, and we shepherded (frogherded?) it into the undergrowth while strategically getting ourselves in between it and Sombra. We were on the road by 9.30 ish, rolling through Quintana Roo, stopping for pees in Jose María Morelos again.

Nerves were shredded in the Mérida traffic, but we made it back to Steven by 1.30pm (we gained an hour crossing back into Yucatán state). Luz kindly looked after our bags while we went back to Sempere libros y café for lunch. We bought "Un Perro Libre" in the bookstore. We said goodbye (again) to the Plaza Grande, and the children bought some t-shirts.

Then we went back to Luz to get our bags, and took a taxi to the airport. Carlos the lovely Aeroméxico check-in agent, who was wearing some very enviable axolotl pins, told us our Spanish names. A's is the same, only said in a more fancy way. In a horrifying aside, Guy Fieri made an appearance at the airport.

CDMX was full of people drilling and hammering things, but we got on our flight back to YVR at 1.25 am, and emerged into the darkness, pouring rain, and bone-chilling cold at about 6.30 on Tuesday morning.

Although I've been to Mexico before a couple of times, I fell in love with it a bit on this trip. G said, it's so colourful, so full of life, and the people are so warm and kind.