Yucatan & Cozumel - 1974

Dear All,

Well this years trip began with the general concept that it looked like sometime in late October would be the only possible time for me to get away on a vacation in the foreseeable future and that it appeared we could give the kids to the Burrows family (neighbors across the street) since we had had their kids two different times in the last couple months, and finally that we would likely go with the Portkas and would either go to Mexico or Hawaii. We rapidly decided on Mexico since we have been to Hawaii several times and reckoned it would be possible to get sunshine in Mexico while also doing some new sightseeing. Considered concepts as varied as train trips through the northern part of the Mexico mountains to a standard Mexico city, Acapulco, and then narrowed it down to either a Mexico City-Puerto Vallarta-Mazatalan with a rental car drive and one night stop over at a sleepy village halfway between the last two mentioned spots or a trip that would give us half time looking at the old Mayan ruins in Yucatan and half time basking on an Island just off the Yucatan in the Caribbean. When Portkas became unable to go we decided on the more elaborate and different choice; i.e. the latter. Then with about 5 weeks until the reasonable time to go left we talked to people at one Travel Agency and at Mexicana Airlines and finally found a package deal that suited our needs. By package deal what I really mean is that by committing oneself to specific plane flights and hotels before hand plus some ground touring, one saves a heck of a lot of money. There were a couple possibilities but only one that had hotels listed in AAA and also fit our time schedule so we sighed up and got in just in the nick of time. As such we had all the plane reservation, hotel reservations (which included meals at the Caribbean Island, Cozumel by definition) plus transfers to and from the airport at our first city (Merida) plus a city tour of Merida and a one day tour to the ruins at Uxmal (including lunch) and a one day tour to the ruins at Chichen Itza (including lunch) as a prefixed deal. This left basically meals in Merida, lunches on Cozumel, a day or two In Mexico City on the return and any additional sightseeing/ shopping/entertaining for us to do in real-time. We were with no specific other people nor any tour director, or etc.

SO

Thursday, October 24: Had an 11:00 AM flight from SFO to LA on United. Sent Ante off to school and Betty Burrows drove us to the airport (MIT Sahara). Got there so early (partially because thought we might do some custom related stuff.... but didn't) that decided at the last minute to try the 10:00 plane and just made it. So arrived LA about 11:00 A.M. Checked in at Mexican and filled out Tourist Card form plus a listing of various things we didn't want to have trouble bringing back into the U.S.(My binoculars and lots of Dawn’s gold and jade stuff). Then got on the 1:25 PM flight heading to Merida with a stop in Mexico City. Plane was not too full and service and meal was quite decent and also besides complimentary champagne the beer and wine was also complimentary so it made a relaxing flight to Mexico City. Also was clear and could see the Bay of California; Bag; etc. which was neat. Arrived Mexico City 5:50 PM (one hour time change in there) and figured we'd get and walk around (not realizing you had too get off to clear customs); cleared some customs with our card and being a worrier decided to see if our bags were there even tho the people at United had guaranteed me they'd be checked through to Merida and even my baggage claim said Merida. Sure enough they were there so we picked them up and figured out how to get back to the place to recheck in and get back on the plane. Then flew onward to Merida and arrived about 8:10 PM. Oh, yes. In L.A. they had called our name to go to the check in stand and explained that there weren't enough people on packages to allow the GIT cut rate fare so they had made out regular tickets which they traded to me...but at no new cost to us so we didn’t care even tho we also didn't understand what was going on. Stepped off plane at Merida and a fellow was there to take us (and no one else) to our Hotel. This immediate appearing of a person to do his service was a consistent and nice feature of the whole arrangement. Checked In. Hotel was quite atmospheric and also quite decent. Air conditioner worked; room was big and also clean and the beds were comfortable. Only objections were a low supply of hot water for shaving in the morning and very noisy from street noise (but this last comment didn't bother us for we slept very well every night). Walked about a bit; band was playing In the near by park. Went to bed.

Friday: Breakfast in the hotel (quite decent). Checked in with the travel agent on the building (who was our representative In Merida) and found out we were schedule for the City Tour today and the ruins for the next t3o days. Sure enough at 9:00 a fellow showed up looking for us and we took our city tour. In his private car and just the two of us.

Not too much of a city to tour but did spend some time in a pretty fair museum of old Mayan stuff and saw the general layout of the town including the best residential area, etc. Basically an old city tho; not really dirty but just old and non moneyed. Dawna was disappointed for no tiled walls, buildings, etc. like in Lisbon. So a dreary city really in terms of looking at the buildings, etc. Spent the afternoon at the market place. Many stalls of many things (mostly looked at "jewelry... gold.. .pretty good prices and fairly unique); twas not a real bargaining/bug you to buy atmosphere like regular Mexico and for this I was glad. Much more "'dignified" and enjoyable shopping environment in terms of being left along to look for the most part. Lots of people couldn't speak English but there was always some one they could call upon who could. Had siesta. Then walked a couple blocks to a place that had ceramic bathroom stuff seeable through the window. Turned out to be a factory/wholesaler/retailer I guess. Many people who couldn't speak much English trying to help us and one fellow who could speak English pretty well. We were trying for some ceramic knobs for our bathroom drawers. Finally selected one by going into the back where their stockpile and factory was, etc. But then they only had 2 units and it would take 8 days to special make some so selected a different one and ended up with 8 knobs, 1 wall hook, and 1 electrical switch face plate. Motif is an ear of corn which is quite symbolic of the Mayan culture and their reliance on corn as a foodstuff, etc. and that plus the fun we had buying it male that set of stuff a, "good buy" for the trip. Then to dinner. Selection was a dinner-show combination deal at the Hotel across the street where the food was truly Yucatanian (for tourists) and the show was a set of old Mayan dances and then a set of more modern dances (actually a 'modern' Yuoatanian wedding ceremony)...whole set up was definitely for the Tourists but also was done quite nicely both with respect to the dances and the meal, service, etc. So a good time was had. Food was Lime Soup (which is a beef stock, with lime juice and limes in it, and turkey in it, and pieces of tortillas in it); then chicken (or maybe it was turkey) wrapped, and cooked in banana leaves (sorta like a Hawaiian Lau Lau except banana leaves instead of Ti leaves.

Saturday: Breakfast at hotel and Dawna ate Mexican style eggs and also was loving the retried black beans they give you at breakfast (much better than any she gets at home)...and even I admitted they were eatable. Then off to the ruins at Uxmal. Different guide and again a private car and this time one other tourist was with us. Drive was 50 miles or so. Country side Interesting... especially the villages where the 'houses' are really like a picture book - mud or stick walled with thatched roofs.....never saw anything so much like what one imagines in either Hawaii or even Samoa....and hadn't expected them in Yucatan but there they were. Turns out they are about like the Mayans made 2,000 years ago. The ruins are quite impressive. Each building is very large with pyramids built atop pyramids atop pyramids, etc. and the overall complex of building is quite extensive and you can stand in the middle of those that have been restored and see a ways into the jungle where many, many more hills sit there yet to be restored, which sorta boggles the mind. Also some of the buildings are partially restored and partially left as they were found and this gives a dramatic feeling for the work it takes to do a restoration and that also is totally mind boggling. We had read several books on the Mayans so felt mildly educated about the way things were and why and this helped our enjoyment also. Then had lunch at the fancy hotel next door to the ruins ....smorgasbord and a quite good selection, comfortable dinning room, etc. Loafed around the hotel a bit... a beautiful hotel, swimming pool, open air areas, tropical gardens, etc. Then back to town. Real complaint would be that we were on a strict schedule in returning to town, etc. so really didn't ever get to sit among the ruins and read our books, stare across the country side, etc. but rather sorta walked through them with our guide at a predetermined (by him...or the tour company really) rate. Oh, yes, saw plenty of sisal plants from which they make hemp, ropes, etc. Basically a century plant cactus. Back to Hotel, rest a bit, go to dinner. Several possibilities but decided on a localish place (named by one of the bell boys) and got there, looked in and appeared common enough to be authentic but clean enough we'd eat there. 15 tables, 8 occupied, one other table had tourists, and rest were locals. Waiter (owner I bet) could speak a little English and translated the menu for us and made suggestions. I went with his choice which was pork prepared in a Yucatan manner which meant onions and some red sauce (not too much sauce) and Dawna had a poultry (turkey I believe) deal that was kinda soupy but decent to eat. Again had Lime soup.....sorta at the insistence of the waiter. Also a bottle of wine. Food was cheap and wine cost almost as much as the food. The waiter fellow was quite nice and even brought Dawna some uncooked black beans after she told him bow much we liked them and how she wanted to buy some in a store. We offered to share some wine with him but he declined because his stomach was upset from a wedding yesterday. So all in all the meal gets recorded as a highlight for twas friendly people and real food. Bed.

Sunday: Breakfast with Dawna having eggs that were even more Mexican in preparation and I had some different but good French Toast (done with Cinnamon and Sugar). On to the ruins at Chichen

Itza (this time a different driver, again a private car, now with a German couple.....he was a doctor who had been to a meeting in Mexico City......and they were decent company but not so good that we went to dinner that night with them or anything. Ruins were more grandiose than the day before. Climbed a pyramid both from the out side (like yesterday) and from a passage way on the inside this time. Much more quantity and variety of buildings than the day before and again very interesting and amazing. Lunch at a hotel again that was next door. Quite nice but not super plush like yesterdays. Ate with our German friends. Had same beef prepared in a sauce and some local type chicken again. Even more than the previous day the only bad part was the clockwork tour we were given. Finally on the way home it dawned on me that we should have just let the guide go back after lunch each day and take a bus back late in the afternoon after relaxing around there ourselves. But still It was a very good tour as given...just too regimitized. Just before we got home a real tropical downpour hit and we drove through walls of rain getting to the hotel. Rest. Rain ended but plenty of streets flooded at Intersections, etc. Headed out walking to find a supermarket that showed on my tourist map. Kinda far but fun because the walk got us out into the residential area and we could peek into yards, windows, etc. as we walked by. Did find the supermarket and bought 5 kilo of black beams (plus some soda). Lots of people staring at us but managed to get through the checkout stand properly (thank goodness numbers are readable in all languages - at least most) and walked back to hotel. Had a drink and headed off to dinner. Went to one place and it turned out to be ritzy (at least trying to be) with no people and high prices and little selection on the menu. Said good by...i.e. walked out and went to another place that was quite crowed, huge menu with place being run by Armenians so Armenian dishes prominent plus also local dishes. Turns out the fanciest nightclub near the hotel is an Armenian Private Club so they must be some of the richer white merchants of Yucatan). Had excellent shrimp cocktails, middle east type pocket bread and asked for and received locally produced honey (excellent says my Utah Honey expert); Dawna had Fried Bananas (very good she says) and some kinds of cold Eggplant deal (no good she says). I had red snapper ...Yucatan style, which meant a spec of red sauce and broiled. Had been guaranteed the fish and shrimp were fresh (gulf of course) and boy were they both excellent. Pitcher of Sangria was good too although we really didn't need a full picture for the two of us. A fine meal all in all.

Monday: Breakfast followed by shopping both in stores on the main street and in the market. Got Dawna’s main gift....a gold snake ring.... plus lots of other things like shirts for Ante, Me, and Dawna. Back to hotel around noon to rest a bit, finish packing and check out (leaving bags at the hotel); spent the afternoon basically sitting in a couple parks and doing a little walking, etc. Actually a nice forced relaxation and even talked to an old man in the park, fed a squirrel, bought balloons from some kids (for our kids), etc. To airport about 5:30 p.m. or so

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF THIS PORTION OF THE VACATION: MERIDA+YUCATAN

Well twas definite that we were in Yucatan not Mexico and that was nice because it made it more 'foreign'. People were more Indian looking and acting with seemingly a lot of dignity. Also quite handsome and almost never the least bit fat. Also short and Dawna felt like a tall, blond goddess. Weather was warm but acceptable and definitely tropical.....note we were south of the Tropic of Cancer and straight south of Alabama/Mississippi. Spending 4 days there to get two days of sightseeing done was just right for it made time for loafing, relaxing and feeling the area. So, WE LIKED IT.

Monday evening and onward to Cozumel Island. Plane was to leave at 8:00 p.m. and we arrived at the airport very early and plane eventually left more than an hour late. Meanwhile we all sat out near the gate and wondered what was up since there was very little activity of any type this time of night and the plane had to come from Mexico City to Merida before going on to Cozumel. There was a group of Travel Agents from around Mexico who were on a tour (to learn the ropes I guess) and were on they’re way to Merida and they held a 2 hour songfest with guitar out in the waiting area so that really made time go better. Finally arrived Cozumel about 10:00 p.m. and one worry was that the dinning room at the hotel would be closed since its closing time was 9:50. Pouring rain, taxi to hotel (with two fellows we met in the airport lobby who were going to the same hotel). Checked in and they had deliberately held the dinning room open so we went right to the dinning room. Very neat.....half indoors, half outdoors with thatched roof over the whole thing and the outdoor part right on a rocky ledge above the water with lights shinning down into to crystal clear water and lots of fish swimming around for people threw bread to them. Very nice, very relaxing. Had good soup and I had venison while Dawna had sole. Both O.K. but the sole was the winner and great (I had Venison for it had been on all menus and is a prime food for the Yucatan area....but really tasted like a pot roast of beef and I prefer gamier venison and broiled. Then to bed.

Tuesday: Big day of loafing around the general area. Breakfast was extensive and on our beautiful 'deck'; very good papaya (every morning) and I had a regular omelet and Dawna had a Spanish omelet (they are big on eggs and they cook them well). Also excellent bacon (every morning again). Walked the beach. Our hotel was on the northeast side and a few miles further north both the road and beach sorta ended. Picked up lots of shells. Did some swimming, sunning, walking the other direction, etc. General layout of the hotel was like a two story hotel (as opposed to some of the adjacent high rise motels)....beautiful vegetation...large room and clean enough....bed and air conditioner poorer than Merida but acceptable. Beach is clean and beautiful and not crowed. Water is fantastically clear. ... never did swim out far enough that I couldn't see the bottom even tho I swam out mighty far.....fish were plentiful although not as spectacular as one spot we had swum in in Hawaii and rocks/coral were not really great....but decent. Oh, yes. Water was the perfect temperature and clean. So a fun and relaxing day.

Wednesday: Rented a pair of bikes for us and the two fellow we had become friendly with also rented a pair of bikes so we took off heading south towards town and beyond to a sorta state park type place were the fish and coral are protected and plentiful. OPPS, as I put this piece of paper In I'm sure you all wonder what we had for dinner that night.....Good soup and fantastically good shrimp.

Pedaled to town (mile or two) and the fellows got their airplane tickets straightened out while we looked at a couple stores and Dawna got one piece of locally obtained black coral .... for a friend. Then onward to the swimming spot a few more miles down the road. Nice riding, beautiful day, gave us a chance to pedal slowly by the other half dozen or so hotels and decided we liked out about the best. So at the end of this 7-mile trip or so we reached "paradise reef" and did lots of snorkeling around. Fish wise it really was superb and coral wise it was good but some place I still expect to see great. Water again was perfectly clear, etc. So swam a lot and sunned a bit and had a beer and coke, etc. We had brought salami all the way from SFO to Paradise Beach, Cozumel but Dawna had spied a couple nice looking places at the edge of town on the way down so we pedaled back to one of them that specialized in Lobster and whose restaurant sat on the water, etc. and had a 2:00 PM full fledged lunch. Dawna had lobster and really didn't think it was great but also she really isn't a lobster lover and now agrees. I asked the man what was fresh today and he named two things and I asked him which was best and he gave me one and it was really, really great. Sorta a pan fish like fellow small enough they put the whole thing on our plate and you cut off the head, etc. All In all a very relaxing meal after having worked up an appetite on the bikes (the fellows had shrimp which were again great). Got back to town about 5:00 PM and Dawna, one of the fellows (Mike) and I decided to head out into the interior a bit to see what It was like so made a right turn and headed due east. Rode maybe a half-hour seeing some farming and lots of low but dense jungle and then saw a road, which headed straight through the jungle northward so we went exploring. Twas dirt and a bit bumpy but decent enough. Rode about 45 minutes and were convincing ourselves we might come out just a bit above our hotel when the rode just simply stopped - facing jungle; so had to retreat. All along the way every so often we'd go by small farms so got to see the people's huts and also a lot of little children got to see the crazy tourists on bikes for they sure came running out to inspect us. Were tired of riding by the time we got home. Rested up and caught the late dinner (like about 9:00). Beautiful out again and ate Conch (probably miss spelled) but he's the fellow who lives in the shells we had been picking up. Sorta an ocean snail I later heard it described as. Sorta like a tough abalone which somewhat forgot to beat .... i.e. no good although the garlic sauce was decent. Soup still good tho and at least we have now tried it.

Thursday: Dawna and I on bikes alone and considering going around the Island. This meant a mile or two back to town, go east across the Island for about 7 miles; then down to the bottom about 15 more, across the narrower bottom (4 or so) and back up the east side to eventually be about a 55-45 mile trip. The bikes were one speeds but in good shape and of English style but with the seats too low for good leverage. So off we went. The cut across the island was slow for bucking a wind and in general the same scenery we had seen in our jaunt of the day before .... i.e. low dense jungle. NO HILLS tho for no place on the island is over 50 feet high..... Got to the other side and the ocean was crashing and beautiful (since it is much more open that the side that faces the Yucatan mainland. Debated about continuing since that had been fairly hard and pretty slow and we didn't want to just make a hard going challenge out of the day ..... but continued and immediately it was super easy without that wind in our faces. Scenery was different with palm trees and basically no farms and water crashing a lot more .... sometimes against rocks and sometimes against nice beaches (the palm trees were only near the water and the inland side was as before). Also saw a lot Iguanas running about and sunning themselves and that was fun. Stopped a few miles down and Dawna rested while I swam, shared a coke and continued. Lots of fun, various stops for a few photos, etc. Got to bottom of Island and the road sorta cuts across the bottom a couple miles inland from the ocean. More of the short, dense , jungle except fairly swampy and a lot of crane like birds in the swamps plus other bird and plant life; by the time we got across the Island we were getting tired, and hot and very thirsty. We had left at 9:00 AM and it was now 12:50 when we reached "San Francisco Beach" which had a food stand, thatched roof type umbrellas on a beautiful beach, clear water, etc. So beer, soda ppp, and a couple hour rest time (laying in the shade for we had had enough sun that day....) and 1 did some swimming. Then on the road again and rode home. Rest a bit, get clean, go to dinner. By now not only had we eaten several meals with the two fellows but they had stroke up an acquaintance with a German fellow who is now a travel agent working out of England who had just accompanied a group of European doctors to a meeting in Mexico City and was now resting himself in Cozumel while they attend their meeting. He was enjoyable and the 5 of us had dinner. Spent 2 1/2 hours sitting outside on our deck, had a drink, nice dinner; good soup like always and ordered a locally prepared pork dish and shrimp natural and split them between the two of us; then sat around drinking coffee, feeding the fish and talking. THEN SLEPT VERY WELL.

Friday: Order of the day was a 2:30 p.m. plane to Mexico City so spent the morning packing a bit, swimming, sunning, loafing around the motel. Dawna was feeling a cold coming on and spent most of the morning in the room resting. Then to the airport and onward to Mexico City and from plane to Hotel Reforma which was in the middle of town in the tourist area and on the main drag street. Before moving into Mexico my general comments on Cozumel are: Beautiful little island and the real atmosphere is that of a Caribbean Island (which It is) rather than a part of Mexico, etc. Turns out to the the place some of the wealthier Mexicans go for their vacation and also was loaded with Germans. Explanation is that the only plane which goes to Cozumel other than Mexicanni is a routine charter directly from Germany. In response to "why come here when the Mediterranean is so close" we were told that the Mediterranean is dirty, polluted, has very little sea food and everyone who can afford it considers the Caribbean (and Cozumel is a favorite) as THE place to go for sun, beach, etc. when you live in Europe ... quite a surprise to us. We enjoyed staying at the resorty hotel with breakfast and dinner included and at relatively definite times and no automobile for running to town (to look at souvenirs, etc.) because it forced a whole lot of relaxing onto as and also we met a few fun people, etc. since you'd see them at meals each day, etc. Also ours was about the nicest (in terms of atmosphere) hotel. The town, however, was cute and 'swinging' in terms of restaurants, curios, and a person could have fun staying in town also but since we had just been in the middle of it in Merida it was nice to be isolated on 'our island'. Oh, yes, town is a couple thousand people I imagine so a mighty small town (like 6 blocks by 3 blocks) which is mainly there for the tourists. Oh, yes, tourist season starts in November so we were a couple weeks early, which meant not nearly so many people but still into the good weather. Weather was warm but never hot (too near the ocean) , sticky tho. And a little rain most of the days but only a small shower type deal. We were in general very good about not exposing ourselves to too much sun (which of course is grossly different for the two of us) so got a bit burnt but not bad enough to be troublesome. I got mighty tanned on the face and arms but the face part did peal off after I got home.So COZUMEL was a real success.

Oh, yes, the two fellows we did some things with were real characters and our impressions, etc, varied from day to day but did have some good times with them. Mike is a barber (well just finished Barber school) while Gary is assistant manager of the Wells Fargo Bank and their personalities, talkativeness, conservatism, etc. sorta go with the jobs. They are from San Francisco by the way so we must go see them some time.

Friday evening and Dawna's cold is getting worse so her energy level is down; the hotel is expensive and dumpy )basically like most big city old hotels in both respects) so we decide to come home Saturday afternoon and have a day with the kids rather than Sunday. Initially we planned no Mexico City but the planes are such that we had to stay over Friday night so I said lets stay two nights, so this later decision sorta put us back to the initial plans. Our main desires were to get a flavor of the City and also to see the Anthropological Museum (and maybe the pyramids). So cut out the trip to the pyramids from our plans. Rested a bit, then headed out to walk the main street a bit and also have dinner. The street is quite impressive and finally found the area we were looking for which is a big circle inside of a traffic circle which has a dozen or so restaurants and bars, some green parks in the middle, etc. When I say restaurants I should say side walk cafes with about half the people in and half out and every one had live and loud Mexican entertainment on the inside and lot of people drinking beer and listening and some even eating and everybody watching everybody else. Mostly local folks out for a Saturday evening and a few tourists. Went in one place; menu was in Spanish and so loud we couldn't hear and no quick response of an English speaking, helper so went next door. Loud also but two languaged menu and also a English speaking head waiter so sat down nearly in the lap of the trumpet player and had a fun time. Ordered lots of Mexican food and Dawna, of course, did much better than I did (since I'm only to the state of liking American type Mexican food and this stuff was all quite different) but the evening was fun. Home and to bed.Saturday: Up and walked down the main drag to a Denny's for an American type breakfast; made changes in tickets; went on down the main drag to the museum. By now we had been impressed with the huge, wide, nice stores of the main drag (Reforma Blvd) and had looked into the wlndows (they were closed) of an awfully lot of nice (very nice) stores on the off streets; this plus the nice weather, plus the fun previous evening has assured us we are interested in returning for some more time on a different vacation. MUSEUM was fantastic and we spent the morning there quitting only when Dawna was beat and we really needed to be heading towards the airport. Saw so many artifacts and that really put the cream on our cake having seen the ruins just a week ago, etc. plus the whole museum is a work of architectural greatness itself, etc. JUST A FINE TIME. Headed back to hotel about mid day and tried for one of the cabs that cruises up and down the main drag picking up people until he's full and dropping them as he goes and everyone pays a peso (8 cents); got one but confused on the workings and ended up way beyond our hotel (some others in the cab spoke English (the driver didn't) and they helped us out a bit and then we messed around trying to catch one of the modern buses that also goes up and down the main road and finally figured this out. Back to the Hotel, check out, go to the Airport; fly home. Home meaning go to L.A. and then cleared customs and then flew to SFO. Had called Betty to say we'd be a day early so she and our kids meant us at the airport. NICE. Spent Sunday like a normal Sunday and the kids were in fine shape, seemed like they didn't even remember we had been gone, rode bikes to McDonalds for lunch; etc. So we are home. Oh, yes, part of liking to be home was because I then headed to L.A. on Tuesday morning early for a couple days so really did like to have that one day with the kids. Haven't gone anywhere this week but next week it will be back to Washington for three days (this week could have been Boulder Colo and the week after Washington could have been Paris.....but enough is enough)....and to think I'm the least active of the three major wheels on our project.. Oh, me, glad I'm number three in that category I'm afraid. Fingers are tired and I quit.