Population Explosion

I came across some interesting statistics about the island the other day. The current and past population figures.

These are only for the island proper and do not include the area called Isla Mujeres on the mainland, which is our "suburb". So, the figures are......

1900................651

1980................4700

1990................10,666

2000...............11,313

2005...............13,315

2010...............12,642


I think the decline in the actual island population can be explained by so many families moving over to cheap land on the mainland. Either way, interested figures.

Looking Good

One of the things I love to do, is to get off the pavement and discover the dirt roads. While not a perfect car for doing this (I miss my Jeep Wrangler!), the Lupo does an admiral job.

Here we are in the bioreserve up the road from Sisal. I had no trouble getting through the sand to find a parking space on the side of the road.



I think I need to get a sunshade for the windshield though. After I got done with beachcombing, it was hotter than Hades inside!

The Old Walls

I took a quick trip over to a Gulf of Mexico town last week, Sisal. Always cooled by the gulf stream breezes, it is a nice place to visit for lunch and to get out of the big city.

I am always impressed, no matter where I am in Mexico, by the patina old paint creates on buildings.









I mentioned that I had lunch. At this place. While not bad, it isn't really someplace I would highly recommend for lunch. Better to pay a little more and eat at palapa on the beach.

Street Repair

Coming from Minnesota, I am no stranger to road work. In fact, a common saying there says that we have two seasons.....winter and road repair. At times, I believed it too!

And here on Isla, it seems like the streets are constantly being torn up and repaired some how. Some of them over and over and over and over again.

So it was no surprise to me to see that Merida was going through the same thing. Most of the downtown streets are being torn up and redone. Since the streets downtown are one ways, it has caused some major rerouting problems. But the ones that have been completed and have reopened are really nice. They have made the sidewalks wider, which also makes them safer.

I stopped one day and watched them working for awhile. (glad it was not me in that hot sun!)

After the street has been torn up and the forms set, they start with a big, noisy cement mixer. One crew pours and levels.



The next crew follows behind finishing the surface.





This guy then throws what looks to be lime on the fresh(ish) cement and trowels it in.






Then comes the guy with the fun job. He gets to use the forms that stamp the image into the cement.






And finally, more noise. This guy uses this jack hammer device as a finishing touch. I would have thought that it would mess up the pattern, but it doesn't.

It was an interesting, well organized and run operation to watch. It would be good for some of the road engineers here on the island to go take a look at how things could and should be done.

New Wheels

Merida is a city of over 1 million people and, it seems, just as many cars, buses, trucks and scooters. And, still, it is a place for walkers. I love to walk around the city and admire the architecture and window shop.

But there are other things I want to do also. And for those, I need my own transportation.





I recently purchased myself a used car for driving to and from Merida and, more importantly, driving myself around the Yucatan to places I still want to explore.





It's a low mileage, 2006 VW Lupo Crossfox. So far, I'm loving it.

Better Look Up

I just got back from spending another week in my second home in Merida. As always, I had a great time there. I love that city.

Merida is full of little neighborhood parks and plazas. One thing I have learned the hard way is to always look where you sit and to look up before you sit.




Let me tell you, it is not fun to arise from a park bench only to discover that somebody's discarded wad of gum is now firmly stuck to your butt. Or that you have sat in a fresh pile of bird shit. So that's the look down part.

If you are going to sit in the shade, which is usually provided by the many trees, it is also wise to look up. The trees are quite often full of pigeons or those awful black gackels. Even if there are none present when you sit down, it pays to glance up once in awhile to make sure none have taken up residence just above your head. Within firing range.

More than once I have failed to heed my own advice and I have the ruined shirts to prove it. I seldom have a kleenex, towel or rag with me. Cleaning up fresh birdshit as it runs down your face or the back of your neck is totally disgusting and humiliating if you have to do it with your bare hand.

So, like I said, better look up!

Ending The Week

Let's end this week with what I think is a pretty picture.

I took this last fall in Michigan. I was able to get within about 10 feet of this Monarch and then zoomed in on it. I am very happy with the result.

Just A Simple Look

We all want to enjoy the island and have a safe time here, right? After all, as the sign says, there are over 16,203 persons living here in a 7km stretch of rock and sand.



I can not begin to count the number of times I have come around a corner and almost smacked into a tourist on a golf cart, driving the wrong way. Happily oblivious to the fact that they are not on a ride at Disneyland, but rather a dangerouse vehicle which is capable of getting them killed. Quite easily too.


It's not like the streets aren't marked as to their direction.

Sometime they even seem to be overmarked.

And still the wayward tourist, usually with drink in hand, will merrily ignore these signs and put my life, their lives and the lives of children in the street, in mortal danger. Shame on them.

I think that this should be the only transportation tourists are allowed to rent.

Street Wear?

I've posted pics like this before.  Always to mixed reviews.   These people were casually walking down the main street on the island, doing some souvenir shopping.

My question to you:  Is this appropriate street wear or not?  And why?  These people are at least 5 blocks from the beach and in the middle of the downtown section.

Flowers For Sale

These are just some of the flowers that were being offered for sale the day we visited the Izamal market.  I love all the fresh flowers in the Mexican markets.



A Visit From Charley

My Mexican "nephew", Charley, is 14 months old now and walking fairly well.  That means that when he comes to visit now, the house has to be kid proofed!  Too many things right at his eye level, or should I say grabby little hands level! 

This is his favorite position when he visits.  Propped up on a sofa cushion on the floor in front of the TV.  Cartoons of course!

He is starting to say a few



words.  Nothing that is comprehensible to his American uncles though!  Mama understands him quite well.  But isn't that true of toddlers worldwide?

We had made a cake for dessert the night they came over.  Here he is being taught the Mexican custom of "mordita".  Which means "little bite". 

But the trick is, as soon as you go to take that little bite, somebody smashes your face into the cake.  Waste of good frosting, if you ask me.

On another topic, this is my first post using the new Blogger format. So far I am hating it and don't quite understand it.  I have no idea what this is going to look like when posted.  Bear with me as I try to learn this new system.  Why can't they just leave a good thing alone?  They must have been talking to the Facebook people who are also always changing things.

On The Road - Heading Home

We were very fortunate in Valledolid that there was some sort of small festival going on. The newly refurbished town square was lovely, people were friendly and in good spirits, children played and chased balloons and they closed off one of the bordering streets that evening.




So we got to see the wonderful sight of people dancing in the street. Couples of all ages felt the rhythm of the Kumbia band and took to the cobblestones. I love the elderly couples that flow together and move as one as only a couple that has been dancing together for years can do. Charming, to say the least.

We enjoyed a few hours of watching the dancers, listening to the music, people watching and eating ice cream. Then it was time for bed.

The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant and loaded up for the trip back to Cancun, where we had to turn in the rental car.

We took the toll free road from Merida to Cancun. Again, I wanted to pass through as many villages and towns as possible and avoid the boring, jungle enclosed freeway. With the improvements that have now been completed on the free road, it is almost as fast as taking the toll road anyway. And a lot more interesting.

Along the way we stopped for a leisurely lunch and my Sister had her first taste of a Yucatecan favorite....Sope de Lima. Lime Soup, which is really chicken vegetable soup with slices of lime for flavor. We also stopped at some of the roadside nurseries that dot this road and bought a few plants for the back patio.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and I am very glad that I had the chance to show my sister one small part of why I love Mexico.

On The Road - 6

Although I had tried my best to describe to my sister what a cenote is, I don't think she really had a good understanding of them. I had already told her that when the meteorite hit the Yucatan some 65 million years ago, that it had thrown the land up and over all existing waterways, effectively burying all water sources underground. Over the ensuing years, some of these rivers and lakes have been exposed and are now referred to as cenotes.

She gasped and grabbed me for support when we emerged from the cavelike entryway to the downtown cenote in Valledolid. She was not prepared for what met her eyes.








From where one enters, it is 95 feet down to the water.






It is one giant cavern, open to the sky one side but still cavelike on the other.






Walkways and diving (viewing!) platforms have been contructed all the way around it.






Stalagtites still cling to the ceiling, covered with bird and bat droppings.

The view from the edge down to the swimmers.

The view from under the cave roof, showing the opening to the sky.

People, and not just the really young, dive from every place they can get a good foothold. With the bottom some 300+ feet below, there is no danger that they will hit their head.

Exposed tree roots cling to the sides of the cavern.

An altar adorns one niche in the wall.

Over on the left where that outcropping is and where you can just see people standing, is the entrance.

We spent quite a bit of time in there, just soaking it all in and watching the divers. When asked, my sister replied that no, she was not sorry that she had not brought her bathing suit! And I wasn't sorry that I didn't have mine either! Beautiful to look at, but it would give me the creeps to know that the bottom was over 300 feet below me.

On The Road - 5

Sunday in Merida. Always a good time. That is the day that the streets around the town plaza are closed to traffic and downtown becomes a festival. And this happens every week!

The town square and the streets bordering it are also filled with vendors selling goods of every description. I wanted my sister to see this, although the last few times I had been there, I was not impressed. It was mostly tourist junk and nothing original was to be found. My how it has changed! There were all kinds of interesting things to see and buy.





Clothing was a big item. A lot of appeared to be handmade and some of it was absolutely beautiful. Complicated stitchwork was prevalent everywhere one looked.

Every fair, festival, parade and public event in Mexico seems to have these balloon sellers on hand. I love them. They sway and bob and crinkle in the breeze, sending off flashes of light that captivate and charm.

Merida's finest protecting the crowds. I think. Or maybe they are just waiting for a phone call.

Aah, the ever present Yucatecan huipil. They were everywhere. Both on display by the vendors and beind worn by the vendors. Not to mention local shoppers. My sister loved the great variety of them as much as I do.

After several hours of this, we decided it was time to head out to our final destination before returning to the island. Tomorrow: Valledolid.