Well, yes. We didn't sit on our butts around a pool or on the beach ordering margaritas in an all-exclusive. We didn't even visit museums or tourist attractions. We didn't ride buses to where tour guides wanted us to go.
Years ago, we'd been told that it was dangerous to get out on our own in the Yucatan. Hogwash. We rented a car and took off through villages and to beaches we'd always wanted to see. We drove down country roads. We ate in tiny Mexican cafes. We roamed the streets of Merida. We met the people who live there and we saw a little bit of Mexico. And we are in love.
One of our missions was to visit all the places we've read about. The city of Merida in the center of it all and I will talk about this fantastic colonial city in another post. The rest of the places that interest us are beach towns.
Progeso is the largest beach town. It's where the cruise ships dock. It has the longest pier in the world, I think. It's two miles long because of the shelf off the Yucatan. They had to go out that far to get deep enough for the ships to dock. It's about 30 miles from Progreso. That's where we stayed for four nights while we explored east and west.
West of Progreso are the small fishing villages of Chelem and Churburna. Many expats live there. Then much farther out is Sisal. Ah, Sisal....
East of Progreso is the fishing village of Chexalub, then much farther out is Telchac.
So that was our range, this trip. We visited all of those places. We don't think Progreso or the "3 C's" are for us. They were a bit shabby and dirty, but beach towns everywhere are. The ocean and the elements take a toll on the buildings. But they just didn't feel right to us. Unfortunately, they probably have the best internet and the best medical facilities. We need the internet to work and we aren't getting any younger. Progreso also has good grocery stores and some decent restaurants. The Malecon is pretty cool.
The towns we liked best were the ones way out to the east and the west: Telchac and Sisal. But they have very few if any medical facilities and we are extremely uncertain about the quality and reliability of the internet connectivity. We get mixed reports.
Telchac:
Telchac is a clean, cute little town and the beaches are much better than the villages nearer the pier. It has a lot of beach houses. That is one of its biggest advantages. It seems to have more houses than Sisal, and may be a little less expensive. Also, it has pretty good roads to Merida. But the trip between both Sisal and Telchac and Merida is a little over an hour.
And then there is Sisal. We love Sisal. It was the prettiest place we visited in our whole trip. Its as cute as a bug and the beach just takes your breath away. The day we were there, the wind was high and I would NOT have gone out into that ocean, but I'm sure it's very nice on less windy days. The palm trees are very tall and beautiful, indicating that it doesn't get many hurricanes.
We also loved Merida, and were privileged to visit several home there. It has very modern stores and malls, but also totally charming colonial squares and cathedrals and homes and barios. We were charmed. We stayed in some very nice hotels there. We won't discuss where we stayed in Progreso in this post. But we will in another. Not so great.
So, what we learned from this trip is that we might end up in Telchac or Sisal, but we are going to start out in Merida. We plan to move down next spring, and rent for about six months and explore further while we are there. At this point, we'll get serious about making decisions.
In the meantime, we need to get our house in Tulsa ready to sell. We have lots and lots to do. We hope to make another trip later this year, and we need to really work on our Spanish!
So our Mexican Adventure continues.
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So....I have a lot to do!
