Evening Post: October 22 My Birthday!

I was looking at Facebook late this afternoon and was surprised to see all those birthday wishes! Wishes from people I have not had the chance to talk with in a very long time. Much thanks, it is certainly nice to be remembered.

Okay, on with the day. I went down to the market about noon time, lunch was in full swing and many buying for tomorrow lunch and dinner as the market is closed on Sunday.

There are several Loncherias outside as you can see where you can get their special of the day. Very good food at a very low price.

Inside is clean and brightly illuminated. You can get take home things you finish preparing or fully prepared. You can't consume these on the premise. This lady's special of the day was fruits and fruit juices. She had a couple of additional items not familiar to me and my Spanish has not come back enough to ask about them.

Over in the vegetables and meats section there were things galore I have never seen. I found a merchant who spoke some english and asked about a fruit that I had never seen before. I will show you in a minute. I was really looking for what the catch of the day was, and found out no seafood on Saturday.  So I stepped back to the meat section and found flank steak. I asked for a half kilo, diced coarsely. The butcher smiled and did it exactly as I asked. The price for that half kilo of flank steak was 40 pesos, about two USD. I then went into the veggie section and purchased two potatoes, bananas grown locally and my mystery fruit!

Locally grown bananas are shorter and fatter than the ones we see at home. And these are ripened on the plant before harvesting. The flavor is wonderful!

OH! Also bought an onion! Really nice produce! And was so good for dinner with the flank steak! The price for all the produce I bought was 66 pesos, about three dollars USD. The mystery fruit I am about to unveil was a little expensive compared to everything else which is why the cost was where it was. So here is the mystery fruit.....

Any one know what it is??

It is about the size of your doubled fists. It is unique to this area of Mexico. In English, it is called "Dragon Fruit"! It comes from a local cactus. The lady at the veggie stand cut it open to show me  how to eat it. Even thought it was not all the way ripe, it had an interesting texture and flavor. It has white, smooth flesh with small seeds in it, about the size of sesame seeds. I will show the flesh when this one gets ripe in a couple more days.

So, there you have the days events. Of course there was the obligatory siesta during the late afternoon! Take care, more to come.

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Dave: From Merida!

I was going to post yesterday afternoon, but got side tracked with some issues regarding the rental car. Seems there has been a substantial change in the exchange rate since the booking. So the rental car folks are cancelling reservations made more than 10 days ago or when you get there they want MORE money! So, we took a taxi back "home" and truly are living like a local for a few days as the credit card company tries to sort things out! Anyway, that is just one small thing and it is not going to ruin our trip, we had planned on living without a car later on, so we will just adjust and do it for a while now! Besides, the local market four blocks away is well stocked with produce, fish and meats and the prices are very nice. We have also found another "economical kitchen" only a couple blocks away so we can have home cooked food almost any time. Last night we had fresh tamales from the new kitchen, the cost was only about $1.75 USD for four huge tamales and man were they good!

As for the post for yesterday, I was up about 615am and the sunrise was spectacular! There was a cool breeze and sitting on the patio drinking my first cup of coffee decided to do some photos.

Looking to the east as the sun comes over the trees where the birds are singing, welcoming the new day!

Looking toward the coast, about 15 miles away!

This is one of the older sections of Merida. There has been a settlement here since the Mayan days so there are many homes that are very old. And they are build side by side as you can see. But each has a back yard, some a little larger than others but never the less, a place to sit in the cool of the evening or cook when the weather is very hot (February, March and part of April!)

This is a picture of the entrance to our second floor studio apartment. We have our own entrance through the small garden out to the street. I like this as we don't bother our host or they us. A nice arrangement.

As I said, each house has a back area and many grow fruits and veggies. Our neighbor has an orange tree and as you can see here, it has many oranges in various stages of ripening.

A shot here of the next street over. It is very much like our street, but it is a major roadway into the center area (Centro) of town. Many buses and Combis (small bus) run this route into the central area. It is very easy to catch a ride for about 50 cents and you can ride the end of the line for that price.

This is a picture of the wonderful trees that give us shade up until about noon and provides such a nice area on the patio for breakfast.

Okay, enough for now! Since we are going to be living like locals, we need to get showered and dressed then off to the market (mercado) to get some supplies. One MAJOR item we need is COFFEE! Our host provided enough for a couple days, but given the way we drink it, we are in need!

More pictures to come from the mercado later today or early tomorrow!

Gene: From Cancun to Merida

Before I start with the trip in, I want to share a couple of photos that I took with my phone from the plane as we were nearing Cancun. The sunset and the clouds were delightful.

 This massive anvil shaped cloud really caught my attention. I love the starkness of the black against the sunset.

Here is the anvil cloud again, but  with Venus showing in the early night sky above. 

After a great night at the AirBnb with Jorge and Josephina, we were ready to head to Merida.

But first we had to have coffee and prepare for the day. While we were having our morning coffee, I wanted to enjoy our surroundings and started to look around a bit. Dave showed some pictures of some plants in the courtyard and street views with the glorious early morning skies.   But I was looking at the art and decorations inside also.  This one piece made me grab my phone to translate it:

It basically says "Where there is music, nothing bad exists"   I suspect that this is my music is so important to so many people.  While it doesn't truly stop the "bad" it does provide a place of respite and comforts us on a deep level. 

Okay, back to the trip:  

Our host, Josephina, drove us to the satellite bus terminal and graciously translated for us with the ticket sales person. She said that we really needed to take the GL version of the ADO bus so we could be comfortable. I am sure it made for  better trip. 

As the bus was loading, we were given a plastic "bolsa" (bag) that contained a bottle of water and a set of headphones to use with the entertainment system on the bus. (I never did find the sound channel that corresponded with the video that was showing.) 

On board the bus, we had assigned seats that we got to pick when purchasing the tickets.  The seats were much like airline seats in that they reclined and were the same comfort quality.  We had ample leg room.  Dave commented that he had enough room to cross his legs comfortably. 

The trip was on the toll road  that we have driven in the past and there isn't much scenery.  So no pictures from there.  Dave calls it the "green tunnel" because it goes through mostly undeveloped "woodsy" areas. (Dave says "jungle")

We arrived at our destination about 3 pm.  Our rental host had offered to pick us up at the bus stop - for which we were thankful. But - he wasn't there!  We decided that maybe it was due to traffic.  But that wasn't it.  While we were waiting patiently, we saw him come around the corner. (We have stayed with him before so we knew him)  He explained that he was parked at the bus station and they sometimes stop at the hotel instead of the station so he had decided to see if we were there.  

An uneventful trip around town got us to our lodgings unscathed but exhausted. After getting our belongings stowed, we walked down to the Dunosusa Tienda (store) to get some food for breakfast.  Of course being tired we forgot the eggs. So I will make an early trip to the Market to see if there is a vendor with eggs (huevos) for sale- so Dave can have his morning breakfast as desired. (I don't eat eggs except as an ingredient in something.) 

For now, I need to attend my coffee and walk out on the balcone (balcony - but you knew that didn't you?) 

Dave has taken pictures of the morning views and will post later today. 

Dave: First Day-Cancun

Thursday October 20, 2016 7am

Good morning from Cancun! We had good weather and good flights all the way. Surprisingly, both flights landed early which gave us a little extra time especially in Atlanta. About halfway on the drive to the airport in Birmingham, I discovered I had left my cell phone in the truck back in Anniston. Darn! (...although much worse than that was said!) I was helping put luggage into the car when I got a text and took the phone from my pocket, then could not readily get it back into my pocket. So I laid it down on the seat in the truck. Having delivered my armload of luggage I went back, shut and locked the truck thinking no further about a cell phone... I was going traveling! So, with some extra time in Atlanta International Terminal I went shopping for a cell phone and plan. Unfortunately, even with a very decent deal being offered, it would have cost people calling from the US to me in Mexico, but not me to the US. So, I left it. I will research further when we get to Merida tomorrow.

We arrived in Cancun about 20 minutes early. We got off the plane and walk down to immigration, passports and paperwork for visas in hand. Normally when we had arrived before, it was mid-morning and the lines were LONG! Tonight, we walked right up to the agent and in less than five minutes, our visas were approved and we were through on our way to get our baggage and then through customs. We got to the luggage area, and our luggage had not arrived from the plane, that is how quickly we were through the first part. So after about five minutes, the belt started and our bags arrived a couple minutes later. Making sure my paperwork was in order, I walked on to the inspection station, they interviewed me, asking primarily if I had any tobacco products or illegal items. I said no, she told me to push the button in front of me and I was given the green light! In Mexico... legally! We had gotten through so quickly our friends picking us up were caught off guard and we waited about 20 minutes for them at the airport. No problem, beautiful evening and nice people. Also, time to stand and move around unkinking all those muscles.

Up at about 530am this morning, still have traveling to do, so excitement prevented further blissful sleep! First round of coffee was a little weak, so the second round was much more to my liking! As the sun is coming up, I make a couple of pictures out in the garden and of the beautiful sunrise. Projected temperature today- near 85 with 40% chance of rain. Typical for this time of year! Since our bus leaves at 10am, I need to get on with a shower and some breakfast. So for now, I leave you with the pictures.

Dave

I think these are dates!