yucatan «

Archive for the yucatan Category

What you say??

Posted in yucatan on March 4, 2009 by markschaumann

She repeated the word again, I knew the word, it was real familiar. But the meaning was not coming to me. I spelled the word in my head. I pictured it spelled out with those big building blocks that a child would play with. I could spell it backwards,…. what does it mean? She had that hopeful look…….. “this dumb gringo will get it eventually“, but all I had to offer was a bewildered, brain dead, expression. Her hopeful look disappeared and she began to repeat the word louder and faster as though that would help. I cried uncle. “no entiendo”. She had a disappointed, exasperated look now. I gave her my best consoling, compassionate, face and said (in English) “you know, if learning a language was easy women could do it”. It was real hard to keep a straight face. Now she had the bewildered look….

Progreso Yucatan State Mexico, this is the longest pier in Mexico 6k

Progreso playa, few people here

A strong Norte arrived and foiled my plans to bike back to Merida via Calkini, so I took a primera clase bus. On Tuesday I took a bus to Progreso, tooled around town a bit then rode back to Merida on the bike with the wind to my back. It was a beautiful day.

2 Comments »

back in the saddle

Posted in campeche, yucatan on February 28, 2009 by markschaumann

I spent most of my first day in Merida assembling my bicycle in my room at a leisurely pace. I have found that if I take my time and adjust everything ¨just so” I dont have to test ride it. The hotel staff always shows surprise when I wheel a bicycle out of my room, the only thing I carried into the room was a big suitcase.

my bike

The Carnaval celebration was huge and loud, there were many, many, people. The parade was 3 hours long, I had to be up early to ride so I didn´t see all of it.

merida carnaval

Sunday morning at daybreak is the best time to leave Merida, the streets are deserted. Everything felt real good. The road turned to dirt at Molas, for 14 kilometers the only people I saw were four guys with bird cages strapped to thier heads. They were somehow trapping exotic birds. I should have stopped and talked to them. dirt road

The last 20 kilometers was difficult, I haven´t rode this far on a bike in almost a year and it is real hot. At the end of rides like this I find it hard to concentrate and function. I checked into best hotel in Ticul and crashed for a couple hours. Ticuls Carnaval was much smaller but just as unrestrained. Again, I had to retire early to be ready for the next days ride.

ticul

Mondays ride to Hopelchen was pleasant. There were a lot of small hills early on that provided a nice change. I passed the minor Mayan ruin ¨Kabah¨ and passed under an arch marking Campeche state border. There were a lot of brilliantly colored birds in the foliage on the way but getting a photo of them is difficult.

Hopelchen is a typical small town, everyone greets me and asks if I need help. I don´t see any other gringos except for a lot of Mennonites, all of them are tall and dressed in the same overalls and straw hat. They dont seem to know what to make of me….

hopelchen

I crashed early again and missed the festivities altogether, except for the dynamite charges they set off at midnite, that got my attention. Mexicanos dont fool around when it comes to fireworks.

I was up early and headed due West to Campeche on the Gulf. It was another beautiful day.

campeche road

I passed a ruin and thru some small towns.

ruina

campeche

I was exhausted and laid down at a bus stop and fell asleep. When I woke up these guys had me surrounded.

campeche

The last 20k was real hard, a big offshore wind developed and the traffic got heavy, but I made it! 240k in three days. I had my doubts weather I could do it.

You see stuff like this all the time

2 Comments »

Merida

Posted in mexico, yucatan with tags merida, mexico, yucatan on March 7, 2008 by markschaumann

Every town has one. The Zocalo is where it all happens. Sometimes its called El Centro, or Plaza de Armas, but its all the same thing. The square in the center of town where everyone comes together. When I enter a town I always find the Zocalo first, then start my search for a hotel. I want to be as close as possible to the center of activity. There is something romantic about a plaza that has seen couples dancing on it for decades, even centuries. Presently I am in Merida, which has a huge Zocalo named “Plaza Grande” with near constant organized activities, usually music and dancing, on top of all the ordinary action. The Latinos elevate music and dancing to level of importance on par with food and water. One of my favorite blogs is by a gringo who lives in a small town in Mexico. He lamented in one post that when the town’s water pump broke and it took eight months for the town to round up the money to fix it; but they had several concerts in the meantime. Money for music, no money for water. It´s all about priorities…..