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Blogs from Yucatán, Mexico, North America
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June 18th 2013
Another year has passed and it's now only 5 days till Mexico! So much to do there - visiting the Incan sites, bit of snorkelling, some beach bumming and a few beers on the way. And a business class flight to look forward to on the return, nice. So, expectations...a nice resort, good food, damn hot and a chilled out 12 days. Chocks away !!... read more
Fascinating Tour along Mexico - Merida
Published: March 19th 2013North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Merida
March 19th 2013
Mérida as it was for me in February of 2011 Our way from Mayan Ruinas Uxmal to Ruinas Chichén-Itzá was laid through Merida - the capital of the Mexican State of Yucatán and largest city of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about 80 km from Uxmal, about 120 km from Chichén-Itzá and about 35 km from the Gulf of Mexico coast. It is the largest of the four cities of the world that share the name Mérida, the other three being in Spain, Venezuela and the Philippines. We spent there half a day, then a night before continue our ride along Yucatan. Cathedral de San Ildefonso The severe Cathedral de San Ildefonso is located on the plaza Grande’s east side on the site of a former Maya temple. ... read more
Last few days Chichen Itza and Valladolid
Published: February 19th 2013North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Chichén Itzá
February 19th 2013
Friday 15thFebruary: The good ship SS Norwegian Star docked at Cozumel early in the morning but we didn’t leave the ship until 12.30 pm…….. another excuse to load up on the excellent onboard food. When we did disembark we only had to walk 200 yards to our ferry to the mainland which then took 40 minutes to get to Playa del Carmen, the town close to our hotel. The Virgin Holidays organisation was super efficient for the entire transfer from ship to hotel and when we got back to the Occidental Grand Flamenco we found that our request for a room with a sea view had been fulfilled and our new room a big improvement on the previous one. Then it was back to our familiar routine of strolling down to the beach for a lounge ... read more
February 14th 2013
Monday 11thFebruary: at sea en route from New Orleans to Costa Maya, Mexico Heading due south in quite rough sea and strong winds. Nothing to do except eat, drink, read, eat, sunbathe, eat etc……although I did mange an hour in the gym in the morning. Tuesday 12 February Costa Maya Mexico As the blister that I’d acquired in the hotel on the second day was still very sore I decided to visit the on-board doctor prior to going ashore at Cost Maya. When I got to the medical centre I saw a sign outside saying that a consultation with the physician involved a minimum charge of $145. Suddenly the pain was gone. Hallelujah! The message had provided the miracle cure and I returned to our cabin with a spring in my step: or at least not ... read more
February 6th 2013
Wednesday 6th February: without wishing to appear overly biased on account of Caroline working for Virgin Atlantic our Virgin Holidays vacation to Cancun has got off to a terrific start. With our VA flight from Gatwick leaving at 12.30 pm on Tuesday 5th February we secured an excellent deal at the Ramada Hotel near Gatwick for the Monday night which included two weeks' free parking. When we arrived at Gatwick Airport our holiday package included access to VA's Vroom lounge which was better than any business class or first class lounge that I've ever used before. Then when we boarded the flight we were upgraded to Premium Economy. Eleven hours later we landed in Cancun and were met by a Virgin rep at the airport and were effortlessly transferred to our hotel in Xcaret (pronounced with ... read more
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Chichen Itza - one of the 7 New Wonders of the World
Published: January 26th 2013North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Chichén Itzá
January 17th 2013
It was time to get up early (still normal time for us) and head for Chichen Itza, one of the 7 new wonders of the world. We were both very excited about the day. We skipped having a real breakfast to be able to take full advantage of the all you can eat buffet for lunch, this meant I was bloody hungry on the way to the cenote but didn’t notice because I was looking forward to having a dip in what was essentially an underground cavern with a lake in it. We were placed in a small minibus full to the brim with fellow sightseers. It was hot on there, then too hot, then really cold because of the air con, but nothing you wouldn’t expect in terms of comfort from going on an excursion. ... read more
Coaches, collectivos and cock-ups
Published: December 14th 2012North America » Mexico » Yucatán » MeridaDecember 14th 2012
We are now in Merida. San Cristobal was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. The people are beautiful and the city is too. We could have taken the most amazing pictures but the Mayans believe that if you photograph them you steal their soul so we have none. The region does not really see tourists to our pigeon Spanish had to be accompanied by many mimes in order to get by - the most amusing being the mosquito dance in order to get insect repellent. Canon Sumidero was breathtaking - we were 4 foot from live crocodiles. One jumped in the water suddenly. Staiz jumped 3 foot of the floor. Yesterday morning we got a very early bus to Palenque - a largely unexcavated Mayan city that covers 25km square. Only thing ... read more
San Cristóbal, Palenque and Mérida
Published: December 17th 2012North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Merida
December 14th 2012
Hi all, After my week in Oaxaca, I headed to the state of Chiapas to a little city called San Cristóbal de las Casas. I had debated whether to go or not for a while, but eventually, after several different people I met at the hostel in Oaxaca urged me to go, I decided that I would. The reason for my original uncertainty is that I had heard from a lot of people that it is extremely cold there. Indeed, at an altitude of 2,100 meters (almost 7000 ft) the place does get pretty damn chilly. It was for this reason alone that I only stayed 3 days, because aside from the cold nights and mornings (during the day it was lovely and sunny), the city is absolutely wonderful. I filled my days with strolls through ... read more
Boda Mexicana and lots of dancing in Merida..
Published: November 4th 2012North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Merida
October 22nd 2012
Our first impressions of Merida were not the best, not only because we spent about an hour over our supposed to be 20 mins trip into town, but also because most of the streets we drove through seemed very run down. As soon as we got to the center of Merida, and saw all the beautiful colonial style buildings, we decided we did like Merida after all - quite a lot, actually! Apparently Merida has the 3rd largest ´centro historico´of the Americas, only surpasses by Mexico City and Havana. Our hotel was located just off the Paseo de Montejo. This is a boulevard modeled after the Champs Elysees, as wealthy plantation owners in Mexico felt the city needed a more grandesque street for them to live on. The street is full with beautiful mansions, many of ... read more
1st October - 21st October (Entry 11)
Published: October 22nd 2012North America » Mexico » Yucatán » Merida
October 21st 2012
Road miles to date: 17,796 We were all set to leave Durango, short of one motorcycle battery which was delivered by Jorge that evening. Our delight at receiving the missing link was cut slightly short when we rememberered it would need up to twenty hours of charging before use. So it was that we booked one more night in the hotel where we now knew the names of all the staff, as well as the guys in the shop next door and the girls in the shop across the road. Twenty hours and a hotel a bit worse off for electricity later due to our Walmart purchase battery charger (later returned on a chanced, lucky refund), we waved goodbye to all our friends in Durango and thanked whoever is watching out for us as we set ... read more
