A pink prick of bougainvilla

I found this poetic piece from Working Gringos of Yucatan Living. Mérida Moments was written in 2007 and elicits wonderful thoughts of the city.  A second article attempts to show the "dark side" of Mérida, but in the end seems to conclude that many of the downsides can also be found in most any city in the US. As I write this, we are battling an army of ants (the second such battle) that have invaded our kitchen, and it is impossible to spend more than a few minutes in our backyard from June to October without being attacked by a swarm of fierce mosquitoes. In the summer we periodically have tropic-like torrential downpours that cause such severe flooding in many of the streets of our neighborhood that unwitting drivers find themselves in a river of water that stalls and permanently ruins the vehicle.  Our cars have been broken into several times - kids looking for loose change. A couple of years ago three of our neighbors had their cars stolen in a single night, a couple of which were later found but trashed. There have been 20 homicides in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metro area year to date. The number of robberies, burglaries, and other serious crimes are in the hundreds.  A major trauma center three blocks from our home has a constant stream of ambulances - sirens screeching, horns blaring - bringing in the next  MVA (motor vehicle accident) or stabbing.

And, after a winter with a 14-inch snowfall, I can imagine that the 100+ degree heat will require some getting used to, but I'm game.

Speaking of pink, I really love this building.
(from our trip in January)

And this house with the pink prick of bougainvilla...

pink corner

Driving from Cancún

Getting to Mérida by air, land, or sea is not an easy task. Especially if you live in the mid-Atlantic coastal region, which despite having the largest naval base in the world and a population approaching two million, is practically backwoods when it comes to air travel. We CAN get to MID from Norfolk, but it takes all day and is quite expensive. On the other hand, we can get to CUN (airport lingo for Cancún) for about half the price and in just over 5 hours from takeoff to landing. Only problem is that we then have to make the four hour trip by land via the toll road to our destination in El Centro. We've tried the ADO shuttle vans, which can make the trip in about 3 1/2 hours but can feel somewhat cramped when taking the full load of 12 passengers.  The ADO Platino (luxury bus) is amazingly comfortable and comes with your personal mini DVD screen, but I got a little queasy watching the movie, so I turned it off. Plus, it can be somewhat confusing getting to the correct ADO bus when exiting the airport because everyone points you in a different direction. Then you have to worry about getting back to CUN with sufficient time to catch the flight home. Last trip I had to take the bus to Cancún the night before my flight home. Oy!

So..., this trip we have rented a car and will drive ourselves from CUN to Calle 47.  The car rental is not much more than the cost of 2 round trip bus tickets and we can make our own schedule. I think I am comfortable with the toll road; it's a straight shot and has light traffic. Once I get to Mérida I'm not so sure. I've already google-mapped the route from MX-180 and it seems fairly easy, but I'm hoping that late afternoon traffic on a Saturday will be light. We've got to learn to drive there sooner or later.

If anyone out there has some advice on how best to get to El Centro from the toll road, please feel free to comment.

The solution is just to hurry up and move to Mérida!
 (image from free clip-art)

Nature's devastating fury

This unattributed photo of a EF3 tornado that struck Ringgold, GA was forwarded to me by my sister. Over three hundred people have been killed throughout the South in the deadliest storm since 1925. Thousands have lost their homes, left with no more than the clothes they were wearing when the tornadoes struck. Tens of thousands are without electricity. One of our cousins was in the path of another tornado and escaped injury, although their home was completely destroyed.

My nephew's reaction to this photo... "this thing looks alive, the most evil looking thing I have ever seen."

Mexican Days - latest good read

I recently finished reading beautifully written Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico by travel author Tony Cohan. More like a novel than a travel book, Mexican Days chronicles Cohan's travel assignment just months after 9/11.


"I wrote about the high mountain idyll of the Sierra Gorda- its lazy rivers and tropical valleys, Franciscan missions and surreal jungle gardens; Mexico City's intensity and cultural turmoil; efflorescent Oaxaca and the guiding figure of Francisco Toledo; Guanajuato's twisting, tunneled dreamscapes, its phantoms and ghosts. I wrote of Veracruz State: Xalapa, with its coffee and orchids and mists; sweet Tlacotalpan's wide river and pastel buildings and son jarocho pulse. I wrote of the Mayan regions I'd visited: languid Mérida, the jungle retreat of Katanchel, Palenque's singing ruins, the weaving women of Chiapas."


... The more I looked, the more Mexico appeared fathomless. Yet as Francisco Toledo was showing us in Oaxaca, it was impossible, maybe meaningless, to separate Mexico today from Mexico yesterday: it was upon the stones of Monte Albán, not the shopping mall and the parking structure, that a meaningful Mexican present would be found, a future built."


Most enjoyable and available through Amazon.com - hard copy or Kindle.