Mexico 2018: Merida and the Yucatan

Mexico 2018: Merida and the Yucatan

Tuesday, July 10:

        Once we arrived in Merida, we made our way over to the rental car office.  Of course, the price we were quoted online was way less than they first told us.  In fact, they wanted to charge us double the price.  We knew that there are some mandatory Mexican insurance that you have to pay, but we were told that was included in the first price.  Then there was more insurance you have to get (third party insurance).  We tried to explain that our credit card covers some of it, but they insisted it didn't cover it (it was a gray area).  We called around to see if any other car rental places had something cheaper.  A few could give us a bit cheaper price, but didn't have a van to rent right now.  So we had to bite the bullet and rent the van.  We did get them to give us a “discount” and bring the price down a bit.  

Governor's Palace, Merida

        Finally, we made our way to our hotel which was in the center of the old colonial part of town.  In fact, the LDS temple and the mission office were a half a block away from our hotel.  We walked around downtown, not used to the heat and humidity.  After looking around at the governor's palace and the cathedral, we found a place to eat some really good gorditas.  We then went to 7 Eleven and got slurpees and ice cream and sat in the zocalo (plaza) to relax and people watch.  After looking at some more shops, we went back to the hotel for a nice dip in the pool before bed.

Governor's Palace, Merida

Zocalo in Merida

LDS Merida Temple

Unfortunately, no taco de gato here!

Really good Gorditas for dinner

Blistered Christ statue in Merida Cathedral

Merida Cathedral, the oldest in the Americas

Our hotel pool

Wednesday, July 11:

            To avoid the heat and the crowds, we got an early start and headed out to the ruins at Uxmal.  After an hour and a half drive, we arrived and found the place mostly empty.  The temperature was already rising, so we started exploring the ruins.  Uxmal is in good condition and is famous for the details on the facades of the buildings.  There were amazing carvings of the rain god Chac, along with parrots, snakes, and many other creatures and patterns.  We spent several hours weaving in and out of the ruins.  By the time we were done, the crowds were starting to arrive and it was really getting hot. 

Ruins at Uxmal

          

Ball Court

Governor's Palace

Chac masks

Great Pyramid

Celestun, on the Gulf of Mexico

     We then decided to take some backroads and make our way over to the town of Celestun, which is on the Gulf of Mexico.  We definitely took the scenic route, passing though small villages on small one lane roads.  We passed many old hennequin (rope) plantations. After a few wrong turns and backtracking (and an afternoon downpour), we finally arrived in Celestun.  It was quite windy, but the gulf water was very warm.  The kids played in the water a bit to cool off and then we got back into the car for the drive back to Merida. 

            Again we walked down to the center of Merida.  We walked over to the Passeo de Montejo, a wide boulevard that has many of the old mansions that belonged to the hennequin plantation owners.  We did a bit more shopping and again went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool to cool off from a hot day of walking.

Mansions on Passeo de Montejo

Thursday, July 12:

           We packed up and got on the road early for the four hour drive across the Yucatan Peninsula over to Cancun.  We took the more expensive toll road, which is worth it since you can go freeway speeds on very nice roads with little traffic.  We were hurrying to get to the car ferry at Punta Sam, which is just north of Cancun.  Our original plan was to take the rental van on the car ferry out to Isla Mujeres, where our hotel was.  The guide book said that they charge for the car and driver, plus a fee for each passenger. 

Ferry to Isla Mujeres

            Once we arrived at the port, however, we learned that they had recently changed the rule and now only the driver and one passenger were allowed, no one else.  There were a few water taxi boats that said that they could take the other passengers out there for $25 per person!  They said it was for a round trip, but we were certain that wouldn't work out!  It all screamed of a giant money making scam.  We then found out that we could drive a few minutes south and park the van for a couple of days and take the walk on ferry.  We negotiated the price and ended up getting on the ferry for $12 a person round trip, plus free parking.  So, we emptied out everything out of the car (all of our stuff, plus some food that we were taking to the island) and caught the Ultramar ferry over to Isla Mujeres.  The trip only took about 25 minutes.  Fortunately, our hotel was only a five minute walk from the ferry dock. 

            Well, we finally found all of the American Gringos!  As soon as you got off the ferry the main street is covered with overly-sunburned gringos, many of them drunk.  Our hotel was more of a suite that has a small kitchen and sitting area.  There were only four rooms and the other three were vacant, so we had the whole place to ourselves.  The owner, Jose, was very helpful and got us all settled in (he even gave us a bigger room for no extra charge).  We were on the third floor, so we were away from the street noise.  Our balcony looks right over the beach. 

Our hotel on Isla Mujeres

            The kids couldn't wait to get in the water, so we got our snorkel gear and walked over to the beach.  The water was crystal clear and sky blue.  The snorkeling was okay, but there were quite a few people swimming with us.  We swam for awhile, then walked around the small downtown.  There were so many restaurants and shops geared to gringos.  Almost everyone was trying to get your attention in English.  Almost all of the prices were in both Mexican pesos and US dollars, mainly for those that couldn't do the simple math to convert the two.  We instead headed over to a little plaza that was mainly occupied by locals and had several street food vendors.  We opted for some great cochinta pibil tacos and empenadas. 

Cochinita Pibil Tacos

Friday, July 13:

            This morning we walked over to the North Beach and arrived there before most of the crowds.  The water was extremely blue and clear and very calm.  You could walked far out and still be able to touch.  There was even a little spot to snorkel that had some fish.  We ended up talking to a lady from Pleasant Grove, Utah that has been coming here for 27 years with her family.  She said that the island has changed a lot over the years.  After spending a few hours in the water, we decided we should probably get out. 

            In the afternoon we decided to go out to the turtle farm.  Initially, we were going to rent a golf cart to get there and to another beach on the south end of the island.  Almost everyone drives golf carts around here since the island is so small.  There were going to charge us $45 to rent one for the day, but of course they can only hold four, so we would have to rent two (or have two kids wait around the corner and pick them up).  As a family, we decided it wasn't worth it.  Everyone still wanted to go to the turtle farm, so we decided to walk.  It was about three and a half miles from our hotel.  Even though it was completely flat, it was very hot!  Most of the time it was around 90 degrees with 80 percent humidity!  We made it there, sweaty and tired.  We bribed the kids by telling them that if they walked the whole way then we could stay an extra day in California after the trip. 

The 3.5 mile march to the turtle farm

Turtle Farm

            The turtle farm was interesting, but wasn't necessarily worth the death march to get there.  They had several species of sea turtles at different ages.  They even release hatchings into the sea at night, though we couldn't stick around for that.  On the walk home we stopped at a grocery store and bought water and two liters of ice cream.  We sat in the AC and ate most of the ice cream to cool off.  Once we were back to our room, we relaxed, after having walked seven miles in hot weather.  Becky and I then walked around and got some tacos for ourselves and brought some really good street hamburgers back for the kids.  We all went over and ate the burgers on the beach and cooled off in the water until it got dark.

Cheeseburgers in paradise

Saturday, July 14:

            After a quick breakfast, we loaded up our bags and walked over to catch the ferry back over to Cancun.  It's amazing how clear and blue the water is!  Happily our car was still there, tires and all!  Winding our way through traffic and the continuous sprawl called Cancun, we headed south toward Puerto Morelos.  We were hoping to do some snorkeling there, but the beach was completely covered with Sargasm seaweed.  Even several meters out the ocean was covered in it.  In order to actually snorkel there, you would have to rent a boat, something we didn't want to do. 

Ferry ride back to Cancun

            So, we loaded back in the van and continued to head south toward the Gran Cenote (limestone sinkhole), which is a few kilometers west of the town of Tulum.  Even though the cenote was full of people, it was still really amazing to snorkel in.  There were lots of large stalagtites to snorkel around and even a tunnel to another smaller cenote.  The clear freshwater was cool, but very refreshing considering the heat and humidity made it feel like over 105 degrees outside. 

Gran Cenote

Tunnel between cenotes

Snorkeling in Gran Cenote

         

     After a couple of hours swimming around, we drove back over to the ruins at Tulum.  The most impressive part of the ruins at Tulum is their location.  Most of the ruins sit atop a cliff overlooking the Caribbean.  The light gray color of the limestone ruins contrasted with the green of the vegetation and the blue of the water.  Even though it was midafternoon, the ruins were still pretty crowded. It was hot, but a nice breeze blew in off of the water.  There was a small beach area you could access, so we spent a few minutes playing in the sand.  The kids really enjoyed all of the iguanas that were crawling around the ruins.  We were pretty hungry and went over to the deli at the Chedraui supermarket for some sandwiches, fries, and chicken.

Coati

Ruins at Tulum

Beach at Tulum

Tulum

She's still waiting...

Sunday, July 15:

Not our rental van, but would have been cool if it was our van!

            This morning we attended church in Tulum.  After that we drove over to the ruins at Coba.  The ruins are quite spread out, so many people rent bikes.  Since it is all flat and in the trees, we decided to just walk to each area.  There are several tall pyramids in the area.  The tallest, called the grand mound, is the second tallest pyramid in the area.  There are 115 steep steps to the top.  We all climbed up to the top.  From there, you could see all around the very flat jungle of the Yucatan peninsula.  Once down, we looked around at more of the ruins.  There were several stelae (stone tablets) in the area, but most were very worn down. 

Bike paths around the ruins at Coba 

The large mound pyramid

View from the top

View of the jungle from the top of the pyramid

Climbing down

Ruins at Coba

            We then got in the car and drove over through the city of Valladolid.  From there we made our way over to the area around Chichen Itza and found a hotel for the night.  A thunderstorm moved through the area as we ate our dinner outside.

Monday, July 16:

            We woke up to a mist in the jungle.  The weather said it was 100% humidity outside.  We got an early start so we could beat the heat and the crowds at Chichen Itza.  Even though we arrived a half an hour after they opened, the place was already busy.  But once you enter you understand why.  The main pyramid is very impressive.   We walked around the ruins, starting with the ball court, which was the biggest in the Americas. 

Main pyramid at Chichen Itza

Ball Court

Carving at ball court.  Check out the mohawk!

Ball court

Skull platform

Jaguar eating a human heart

Eagle eating a human heart

Warrior holding a decapitated head

            We made our way over to the sacred cenote where some archeologists believe the Mayans used to sacrifice people by throwing them into the cenote (sinkhole).  As we wandered around the rest of the ruins, the temperature started rising and more people started flooding the place.  When we arrived at the Characol (observatory), Becky told the kids about the last time she was here she and her brother Matt were trying to climb up to the top and got kicked off by the guards.  By the time we got back to the exit the line to get in was ridiculously long.  We were all happy that we got an early start. 

Sacred Cenote

Observatory.  Becky and her brother got kicked off of this one back in the 90's.

The gauntlet of vendors between each ruin

The masses arriving at Chichen Itza

            

Descending into cenote X'Keken

After leaving Chichen Itza we headed east over to take a swim in two cenotes that are part of the same park.   The first one is called cenote X'Keken.  To get inside, you had to descend about 40 feet.  Most of the cenote is a cavern with a hole at the top that lets natural light in (they also had some extra lights as well).  The water was a bit chilly, but felt very refreshing since it was so hot outside.  We took our masks and snorkels, since there are some small fish in the water.  But if you got away from the natural light, you couldn't see much in the water.  From the ceiling hung stalagtites and roots growing down from the trees above. 

Cenote X'Keken

            After awhile we got out and walked over the next cenote, cenote Samula.  We had to descend even futher down for this one, being even deeper and larger in diameter.  This cenote had an island in the middle that was created from rocks that fell in from the hole in the ceiling.  For safety, you couldn't swim out to the island.

Cenote Samula

            Once we were all cooled off, we went back to the car.  Outside it was over 100 degrees, and that wasn't including in the humidity!   As a family we decided to head back to Merida.  We were able to get a room again at the same hotel we stayed at when we first arrived in Merida.  For dinner we went back down to the center of the city and looked around at some of the shops.  We ended the day with ice cream and another dip in the pool.

Tuesday, July 17:

             The kids really wanted to go to the zoo this morning, so we walked the mile and a half over there, with a stop for some food at a market that was on the way.  For a free zoo, it was better than we expected.  The cool thing was that many of the animals are native to the Yucatan peninsula and we had never seen them before.  The kids were really impressed with the big cats (puma, jaguar, lions, tigers) and the monkeys.  We grabbed a cheap lunch at the park and then walked back to the hotel to jump in the pool and cool off. 

Small deer native to the Yucatan

This guy was just roaming around the park...the biggest iguana we've seen!

            After a short siesta, we walked back to the center of the city to do some last minute shopping at one of the markets.  We grabbed our last dinner and went back to the hotel to pack up all of our stuff.

Casa de Montejo, Merida

Wednesday, July 18:

            We dropped the rental car off and arrived at the Merida airport plenty early.  After an hour and a half flight to Mexico City we had a two-hour layover.  Then it was a three and a half hour flight to Phoenix, only to wait for four hours.  Customs and immigration was easy, but the TSA officer at security wasn’t very polite and went through all of Jacob’s bag.  He even tore into Becky’s packets of Mexican hot chocolate, saying they were over the allowance.  Becky explained to him that it was a solid, not a liquid.  He then proceeded to swab the hot chocolate.  We finally boarded the plane to Sacramento, landing around 10:30pm.

Thursday, July 19^th:

This morning Becky and I decided to run some errands around Sacramento.  As soon as we got on the freeway, the temperature gauge in our car shot up to ¾.  We cautiously drove on to our first stop.  We noticed a ton of coolant in the engine compartment.  We let the car cool down a bit and then tried to drive it back to Becky’s sister’s house and then to a mechanic.  After a half mile on the freeway the gauge shot up to completely overheating and all the warning lights went off.  We then had to call a tow truck and have the car worked on.  In the end, the kids got their wish to stay in Sacramento one extra day.  Once the car was fixed, we drove back home Saturday morning.