Our Arrival in Mérida....Now What?

We drove straight from Palenque to Progreso on a Saturday. We wanted to take the dogs to a beach for some much needed exercise and for all of us to breathe some salty air after such a long journey on what seemed like endless pavement. Besides, there were guests in our Mérida home for the last night of their vacation and we couldn't exactly crash there. In the three years of being home owners in the Yucatán, we had never ventured to the Gulf shores, spending all of our precious few days in the Centro exploring our soon-to-be forever home. As we neared the shore, we veered to the East and headed toward San Benito and San Crisanto where we had browsed a few lovely beach homes on various real estate sites. There is a natural pull to the ocean or gulf waters for both of us. I grew up an easy hour's drive to the beautiful Gulf of Mexico beaches of the Florida Panhandle, and Alan a stone's throw from Long Island Sound. We lived a block from the beach in Florida for six years and then for 25 years in Virginia, a 20 minute drive to the Atlantic Ocean. We enjoy the vibrancy of urban living, but it is comforting at times to be near an ocean. I could never live in the heartland of the United States, where water is something you drink or bathe in and where you can drive all day to find a lake or stream.

The beaches were all but deserted as we headed down the narrow paved beach road. The little sandy lanes that lead to the water's edge seemed too narrow for our monstrous van. I was afraid of getting buried to the axle in beach sand so we kept driving. Approaching the small gulf village of Telchac Puerto, we followed the signs that took us into the heart of this quaint little town. After receiving a few stares at this oddity of a vehicle, we parked on a sandy lane right on the beach in front of vacant beach houses waiting for the onslaught of next summer's inhabitants. This seemed like a quiet place, sufficiently out of the way of people who might be annoyed by the sound of a running generator. The dogs were ecstatic over an open beach on which to run and explore the smells that were somehow different from those of the Chesapeake Bay.

We walked on the beach, enjoyed the sunset and spent the night right where we parked. The next morning we explored a bit more, found a couple of the homes we had seen for sale, then headed to the Centro where Remixto had our home clean and stocked with fresh flowers, fruit, Charritos (our favorite), and sparkling water. It was so very nice to finally be home.

This blog has been all about getting here -to all the colores de Mérida and the mysterious draw of this sometimes puzzling yet comfortable city in the Yucatán, whose intractable heat either wins you over or defeats you. Maybe I'll write about our daily struggles and triumphs, or perhaps the blog will become another photographic endeavor (if I can overcome my frustration with not being able to capture the perfect image). And then, it could be time to put this away and just live...

A Pleasant Night in Orizaba, Veracruz...

We were unable to capture images while in Orizaba, but this photo is borrowed from Wikipedia, and attributed to David Tuggy.

We decided that driving past Puebla and into Veracruz would save us time and put us even closer to Palenque, which we planned to visit before the final leg of our journey to Mérida. The autopista past Puebla stretched on and on, but the mountain views in the distance were incredible. As we got closer to Veracruz, suddenly we were in the mountains and quite impressive ones at that. We had decided on one of two cities to spend the night - Orizaba or Cordoba. If the first did not appear suitable, we would head for the next. It was the middle of the afternoon when we began getting closer to Orizaba and the mountains were simply spectacular. We climbed and climbed as large 18-wheel trucks zoomed past us, oblivious to the steep inclines and even more fearless on the declines. There were emergency lanes to enter in the event of failing brakes! All of a sudden we appeared to be in light fog. As we looked out at the openings between the mountains, we realized that we were not in fog but driving through clouds. We soon saw a large sign over the highway announcing that we were in the "Zona Nebula" (cloud zone). It is safe to say that this was the most harrowing drive of my life. I've driven in dense fog before, and there is usually a place to pull off the road to steel the nerves. On these mountain passages there is absolutely nowhere to stop and the large trucks that frequent this route have no issue with impatiently passing more cautious drivers. I got behind one of the trucks and vowed to stay behind it no matter what. The cloud mist was so thick that I could barely see his tail lights. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally descended enough to emerge from the cloud. As we entered the exit road to take us into Orizaba, the view took our breath away. We were in a lush valley surrounded by green mountains. Entering the town (city) we were not overly impressed, but it was late afternoon and traveling after dark on these roads was out of the question. We kept driving deeper into the city and were pleasantly surprised to see a lovely historical center. We spied yet another brand new Holiday Inn Express (seems as though they are popping up all over Mexico) and pulled into the small and narrow parking area. The young desk clerk, Enrique, was friendly and helpful and he spoke perfect English. It appears that this hotel chain is making sure that at least one employee speaks English, which is most helpful for those of us still learning Spanish.

After helping us park the monstrosity of a van, Enrique recommended the hotel dining room for dinner. The meal was mediocre but the room was nice, with modern decor and wood floors. I awoke before daylight and went out to the van to walk the dogs. When I brought them back to the van I heard a cat meowing. It came from outside the van and I knew that Mr. Jules had escaped once again. The parking attendant also heard him and was trying to coax him out from under a truck. I sat on the curb and waited, and after half an hour he cautiously walked over to me and I grabbed the little devil. His nine lives are still intact. My one - a little shaky...

Orizaba, Veracruz is a place to visit a second time.

San Luis Potosí...

On the drive to San Luis Potosí

The drive from Saltillo to San Luis Potosí had us arriving early in the afternoon. What we saw of the city was mostly traffic. Traveling with animals makes it very difficult to sight-see and after all this time on the road, even with the various stops along the way, we were ready to keep going. While it would have been nice to see the Centro Historico of SLP, getting closer to Mérida proved to be more appealing. We made the decision to drive as far as we could before sunset and as close to Puebla as possible. San Luis lies on the Mexican Plateau and the view while driving consists mostly of wooded hills of the Sierra Madre in the distance which seemed to be encased in a blue mist.

 The dogs were napping between us and Mr. Jules was burrowed under a quilt in the back, his favorite spot for the bouncy ride. I have not mentioned that when we were traveling through Alabama we had stopped for gas and to let the dogs out and when we got back in the van to leave, Alan took a head count and the cat was missing. He looked throughout the van and Jules was not to be found. We searched the entire area around the gas station for over 30 minutes, calling for him to come to us. We even got the dogs out and asked them to find Mr. Jules. The look on their faces was one of complete puzzlement. Cats are known to disappear and reappear days later but we did not have days to wait. Alan decided to take one last look in the tightly packed back compartment between the bed and the back doors of the van. Stuffed between two sleeping bags and other gear he saw a tiny pink nose. Jules stayed there, tucked away safe and secure, for the next several hours before climbing out and resuming his place in the rear of the van.

We got turned around a bit on the outskirts of San Luis, but our trusty GPS soon had us on the way to Puebla, bypassing Mexico City. We've heard horror stories about driving through D.F., so that particular spot will be seen when we can fly in for a few days.

A nice view, somewhere in México 😊...