Long Point - signs of Spring

Everywhere there are signs of spring - finally. In Long Point some of them are a little different than elsewhere:

Our snow fence and one wall of boards, are down. You can also just
see the arm of one of the Muskoka chairs on the deck.

We had to take the fences down because the walkways have to be bulldozed
before a certain date, so as not to disturb the endangered Fowler Toad.

Udderly Cool's cow is unwrapped. She spends all winter covered  in a tarp.

The Cottonwood Poplars have huge buds and look ready to burst into leaf any second.

As soon as we saw swallows, we put up Bob's martin house. They have not been particularly
interested in this piece of real estate. That's why the other one is still lying on our deck. Don't
want to flood the market.

The pile of tires that George has taken off the beach this winter is smaller than usual.
 That's a function of the fact that the ATV wouldn't start regularly rather than the possibility
 that there are fewer tires floating around in the lake. The County will come and
pick them up from us soon.

Daffodils growing in the sand. These bulbs were planted last fall. Sometimes
I get a second year our of bulbs but the sand gives them no nutrients, so
it's unusual.

I just planted pansies today. Two pots on the porch posts and
a pot on the deck.

And now for the final sign of spring, though its not unique to Long Point:

George taking down the Christmas Lights!

More reflection on the Merida trip - transportation

Merida, and probably Mexico in general, is a study in contrasts. Transportation systems are a case in point. To get around Merida and getting to and from Merida there were a variety of options. Some, like the buses to and from Cancun (that Mum and Dad took) and that we took to Campeche, Chichen Itza and Progreso, are modern and with all the "mod cons".

Bus to Progreso from the AutoProgreso bus station

That having been said, almost all of them have cracked windshields.
In town it was easy to get a taxi (except of course on our last day!) even on our street. The cheapest for short trips are the ones that are metered and say "Metro" on the roof. However even the non metered ones, that hang out at the taxi stands at the bus station or in the squares are not expensive.
The urban buses are also frequent and regular. Our street was on a bus route.

Our bus, that would take us from the house to downtown or to Walmart. 49 Petronilia was the route.
George and Dad accidentally got on one that was 69 (otherwise looked the same) and ended up in
some part of Merida they had never seen and had to take a taxi home.

Every 10 minutes, or so, a bus would come by that we could flag down. In between there would also be collectivos, mini vans that did the same route and could take about 12 passengers. Buses and collectivos were the same price 6M$.

When you get on the bus, and pay, the driver gives you the thinnest paper ticket you can imagine. If an inspector gets on the bus you have to be able to show that you paid.

Each of the buses had a variation of this coin holder. This one is actually quite smart looking. Some of them were made of wood, some lined with bits of fabric, some divided by cardboard. Each driver seemed to have his own system for preparing change ready to give out. They would sort these coin organisers while driving, with one hand on the wheel and glancing between the road and the coins. A little off putting when the traffic was heavy.
There were plenty of cars on the roads, all makes and models. Plenty of new and lots of old. The sun is very hard on paint jobs so I think the cars there look old before their time if they are not protected from the sun. The original VW bug was by far the most frequently seen.

In the suburbs and the villages and towns outside of Merida some of the transportation was a little more primitive though only once did we see a donkey cart. Bicycle taxis and bicycle food carts were very common.

These bicycle food carts would pedal along the roads ringing a little bicycle bell constantly
(remember the ice cream vans). They would sell fruit, juices, candies, ice cream and some
would sell services - knife sharpening, water delivery.

A bicycle taxi would look like this food cart but the front would, instead, be a bench seat with a shade cover. The slightly more sophisticated ones were propelled by a scooter or motorcycle.

Some reflection on our Merida trip - food

George was a little nervous about going to Mexico, primarily as he had picked up a parasite from something he ate in Oaxaca, when we were there 20 years ago.  We were relatively conservative about what we ate because of this. We bought most of our food from either WalMart or the SuperAki grocery store. Some meat we bought at the MaxxCarne which is a chain of butchers shops. We usually bought fruit and vegetables at the market. One of the souvenirs we have bought home is a new found love for mangos, the yellow kind. They are everywhere and from the market or street vendors they are absolutely ripe and ready to eat. At home we ate bananas, melon, avocados and mangos, pork, chicken and fish, onions, carrots and chaya regularly. Things like broccoli and green beans were a little more expensive and eaten occasionally.
We did eat out however. There are lots of North American fast food chain options:

Aside from an ice cream cone from McDonalds, we did not partake. There are lots of Mexican fast food options - small  store fronts that sell tortillas wrapped around meat or vegetables, lots of food carts selling everything from hot dogs to churros and people who just set up a tray on the sidewalk and cut mangos and pineapples up and sell them in a plastic cone.

George was tempted by this food cart. Deep fried potato chips, french fries and  sliced banana.
you could get a combination plate with all three.

Overall we found the Yucatan food sold at "non tourist" restaurants emphasised very thinly sliced meats (poc chuk), refried beans, rice and cabbage salads. They tended to also drink juices with the meal. There was a huge emphasis on Coca Cola (and it wasn't cheap). Tomatoes and avocados were also quite prevalent. Although we were often given the option of very spicy condiments we were always warned first. The food itself was not overly spicy and was quite flavourful. Lime and coriander were usually detectable but I'm not sure what else was used.
Sopa de Lima was always a safe choice and a bowl could fill you up as it was served either on crispy taco chips or with them on the side. The best I had was from the loncharia at the Santiago market and was only about 26M$ ($2.50).
Merida had lots of restaurant possibilities but, aside from the night we went out for Mum's birthday, we tended to eat at a few favourites - Restaurante Mary, Olimpo Cafe and Flor de Santiago.
George had no ill effects from the food in Merida. We did take Activated Charcoal about every other day but I'm not sure we needed to do that.

Merida Day 32 - set the dogs barking at 5:30am

We had a bit of a panicky start to our return home. We hadn't realised that the time had changed overnight (duh!). When we got up and checked for e-mails George noticed that it was an hour later than we thought. So we had missed our taxi that was ordered for 4:30.
It had been ordered through Hannah, a friend of Ana (the lady who cleans the house) had a taxi and he had picked up Mum and Dad when they left. So I phoned Ana. Well she doesn't speak English and I don't speak enough Spanish to explain. It ended up boiled down to me saying "Taxi, Si or No" and Ana saying "Taxi, Si". So we waited a bit and no taxi. So we started down the street towards the major road that goes to the airport hoping to flag down a taxi there. Rolling 3 suitcases down the middle of the street set off every dog we passed. George thought it sweet revenge for all the times the dogs had woken him up.
Then, out of the dark, running down the centre of the road, came Ana. She had called a taxi, got dressed (at 5 in the morning) and come to make sure we got it. So I hugged her and we walked back to the house and the taxi showed. Phew. Many "muchos gracias's". The we drove "rapido" to the airport.
After that everything went well. Except they confiscated Sharon's vanilla at security in Merida. We got upgraded  to seats with great leg room Merida to Houston.
At Chris' now and heading home tomorrow. Will probably do a wrap up post sometime in the next couple of days.

Merida Day 31 - the Zoo

I looked in the Rough Guide this morning and found the only thing left to do, for free, in Merida, was to go to the zoo. So we did. We had Patty and Stan (people we met at the English Library, from Calgary) over to dinner last night and polished off half a bottle of tequila. So it was a relatively slow start. We walked the 11, or so, blocks, to the Parque Centario . Because it is still Easter holidays and Saturday it was full of children but its a large enough space and managed the numbers well.
The guide book had only mentioned a good aviary so I wasn't expecting much. We were pleasantly surprised. The aviary is a good size but not a wide selection of birds.

Mum and Dad will recognise these Whistling Ducks. We saw them in Texas
perching on hydro lines.
 

More impressive were the monkeys and the big cats. It was about 11am but a cooler day then most and all the animals were pretty active.

This little guy was very interested when George unzipped his backpack
so we could have a cookie, even though he was eating his own breakfast at the time.

Mother and two young hippos were rolling around and chewing each others
ears.

We could get quite close to the animals

This tiger was very interested in a young boy who was being carried by his Mum. The
tiger followed him right around the cage and jumped at him at one point. George did wonder
if it was the zebra print top the woman was wearing (maybe shouldn't wear that
to the zoo).

Like many older zoos the enclosures are quite small but there is lots of foliage and artificial shade as well. All the animals have plenty of water and most have a pool to swim in. There a lots of logs, ropes, rocks and other items in the cages to simulate natural surroundings. All the animals looked very healthy and were quite active. There were a number of young in evidence, the cutest being a small zebra colt.
We spent a couple of hours at the zoo then walked home. Finished packing, swam, hammocked and tried to finish off the bits and pieces of food and booze. Taxi is supposed to come at 4:30am tomorrow - Oh Joy!
Short post so I thought I would end with some pictures of our kitchen. It is a brilliant piece of design, to make the kitchen a separate room entirely from the rest of the house.

Kitchen door from the small courtyard where the hammock hangs.

The two side doors to the large courtyard. We have never had them open, preferring
to keep bugs, cats and geckos out of the kitchen. However the top halves are screened and
 we have them open all the time. There is also a third double glass door at the back.

Same doors from inside looking out.

The kitchen has lots of counter space and a table that comfortably seats 6.

It has a good size frig and freezer and a 6 burner gas stove.
The centre 2 burners are covered by a griddle.
 

 I will do my last Mexican post tomorrow. I know there is no free wifi in Houston but there might be at the Merida airport.

Merida Day 30 - just hanging

We had no real agenda for today. Pool guys and Ana came to clean, we left them to it and headed out. Our only purpose was to buy avocados and mangos and Kahlua. It was a perfect day for walking. Forecast was 28 and there was a good breeze. It was sunny with occasional clouds. Absolutely perfect, the kind of weather we had thought we would be getting down here.
We walked to Santiago Square and bought our produce in the market and continued walking til we were down at the main square. We sat in front of the municipal building while I tried to sketch the facade. Quite a challenge.

The crest is an eagle killing a serpent, which is also on the Mexican flag.

We revisited the Casa Montejo, on the square. Again, getting a sense of how the rich lived and amazed at the furniture, stencilled walls and rooms opening onto courtyard for the shade, greenery and air flow.

One of Casa Montejo's courtyards

We popped into MACAY for George to use the washroom and realised that the gallery that wasn't available yesterday was now open. Weird plastic sculptures of body parts.

We continued up Calle 60 and went into Teatro Peon, just to see the photography exhibit in the foyer but the security guard let us walk around upstairs.

The upstairs balcony, looked like there was a bar out there for intermission.

Beautiful old theatre, multiple balconies all with plaster carvings around them.


And of course a tile at the next corner.

Back to Sandiago Square for the Kahlua and then walked home. This was the kind of walking we were doing in our first week here, before we learnt how to use the buses.
To finish this post, a bicycle built for two:

Merida Day 29 - MACAY and thunderstorms

Well after walking our feet off yesterday we slept in (10am) and then did some laundry. I had looked up the artist who did the murals (not really, they are painted on canvas) at the Governors Palace and found there were some more examples of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Yucatan  Art (MACAY) so that's were we headed today. The entrance is in a lane beside the cathedral that is full of metal sculptures. I think I have posted pictures of them before.

The gallery rooms are actually in the top floor of this building beside the square

The Gallery is free and has a very pretty, jungle like courtyard.

The sculpture in the centre is an interesting contrast to the Cathedral next door.

We went through all the galleries. Many were temporary showings of contemporary artists. Too many abstract artists for my liking but some that I still enjoyed. One artist worked entirely in hand made paper and we found a very impressive woven abstract piece hanging in a stairwell, that engaged both George and I.

This was a sculpture gallery that we weren't able to get into but could see from above.
But I was there to see Pacheco's work and we found the room that held it. There were just 4 pieces. One was large, like the murals, and with the same violent theme.

The image on the right shows a man being killed by the plant that produces henequen (rope)

But the others had a different, more spiritual, peaceful feel.

We left the gallery and realised it had been raining and was still drizzling. Hugging the overhangs we walked the block to Restaurante Mary and had lunch, 2 cervesas with botanas, George had fried shrimp on salad and a side order of fries (good job I hadn't pointed out that section of the menu to him before) and I had fried fish, salad, rice and refried beans. It started to pour and thunder and lightning.

Watching the rain from our table

We had to order another 2 cervesas, so sad. One entrepreneurial man started selling sheets of plastic to use as rain coats.
The storm passed, rain stopped and we paid la cuenta and did some final souvenir buying in a very wet city.

Fabulous clouds following the storm

We had had a great deal of rain in a very short time and the gutters and drains were still dealing with it as we walked around and got a bus home. We came home to a flooded courtyard, as the drain was clogged with leaves, and a line of very wet laundry. We opted to leave it there, hoping it would dry eventually and as we don't have a clothes drier, not many other options.

Merida Day 28 -3rd time lucky,Chichen Itza

Mum and Dad must have got off OK because they didn't wake us but we are still awaiting confirmation they got home OK. We woke early and were on the way to the ADO bus station by 8:15. Got there by 8:45 for a 9:15 bus. The guy who mans the door to the buses, who was instrumental in Mondays problems and solution, recognised us and came over, checked our tickets, told us where the bus would be and was very friendly and assuring. We were very grateful to him and George went and thanked the supervisor too.
We caught a 22 seat van to Chichen Itza, met 2 Asian guys who had had 2 days in Merida, were going to have 2 days in Cancun (after Chichen Itza) and then 6 days in Havana, don't know where after that.
We arrived at Chichen Itza about 11am and it wasn't as crowded as we expected, only a little more than when we were last there. We decided to walk around the Chichen Nuevo part first, the part that was covered by our tour. El Callisto  was still impressive as was the huge ball court.

I promised you Iguana and ruins and this guy co-operated right away. He is sitting
on the Tzompantli ( the platform surrounded by carved skulls) and El Castillo is
behind him.

This time we had more time to explore and take pictures as we were not following a group and a guide. There were so many groups and guides around that every now and then we could over hear what was being said ( in English, French, German, Spanish and lots of languages we weren't sure of)

Frieze along the ball court

We found that we weren't hearing anything we hadn't heard on the tours we went on. It was very hot, forecast was for 39 and that's not hard to believe, so we walked quite slowly, drank lots of water, hugged the shade whenever it was available.

Serpent head at the end of the ball court.

Because I had sketched last time, George had explored around and behind the Temple of the Warriors and into the Mercado. So that's where we went next. It was quieter there and shadier.

A Frieze of jaguars and eagles went a long way along the edge of one of the buildings.

I sat and sketched part of the Mercado  behind the Groupo De Los Mil Colmnas and we had some lunch (pastries and an apple we had bought with us). It was lovely there, off the beaten track, random stones to sit on. Amazing that given the popularity of Chichen Itza and the reconstruction work done there, there are still carved column parts and serpents heads just lying about to be sat on.

Part of a column, great seat.

From the Mercado area we walked on and found the East entrance which allows people to access the site directly from the nearest hotels. The hotel closest looked lovely, with rooms in Mayan type houses with thatched roofs and more to the point there was a bathroom we could use.

Ruins through the trees. Because it is winter many of the trees here don't have leaves so it
is limited shade.

There was a very strong wind today which had its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, to get a strong wind, even though it was a hot one, gave some respite from the heat. On the other hand, in the open spaces it picked up the dust and blew it in your eyes.

Pyramid in Chichen Viejo section

We actually sat downwind of a sprinkler system at one point in order to get some cooling spray. People were running right in it and splashing it on their faces and legs. We walked further into the Chichen Viejo (Old Chichen) section. This is the older part of the site and more important to the Mayans.

Ironically, it is also the less crowded part of the site. Tours that have limited time stay in the newer section with the huge pyramid and ball court. This older section amazed us with the variety of buildings and the number of different areas.

The serpent winding his way down the pyramid, I think there is
a rug border in that some day.

This area felt older. Hard to explain but the carvings were very worn and it felt more primitive.

This is called the Observatory as the roof had slits that aligned with the constellations.

It was time for another Iguana shot. This one thought the woods a better place to be.

Building near an area called the Nunnery. Cha'ac, God of Rain, noses sticking out.

Iguana trying to sleep in a crevice of the Nunnery but the stupid tourists keep
taking pictures of him. Last Iguana pic, I promise.

George listening to his I Pod, waiting patiently while I
sketched here too.

After seeing all of the old area we decided the only part we hadn't seen was the cenote that gave the site its name (beside the well of the Itza tribe) so we walked down to it. This is along a raised road that links the Castillo plaza area with the cenote. It is lined by vendors.

I can't post about the site without some mention of the vendors. There is a large area outside of the site that has been set aside for vendors and there are some out there. However the tourists would have to stray from their natural path, into the site, to go to them. So instead there are many, many vendors along the pathways through the site hoping to encourage those impulse buys. "one dollar, come look, one dollar", "beautiful T Shirts, carving, ceramics, come see", "lady, you like, special price, last one" "Hey, you forgot something" and the most honest of all, "I need your money". They are not rude, overly pushy, they are just trying to earn a living, but they do detract from the experience of the site and walking down the paths involves not making eye contact or they engage and pursue and then I feel rude.

On the flip side, some are carving or painting or embroidering and I would like to see their work.

In total we were there from 11am to 5:15. Aside from doing 2 sketches and finishing off one I started when I was there on the tour, we were on our feet and walking for most of that time. The bus cost us 120M$ ($12) each way, each.

First class ADO bus stop at Chichen Itza, at least there is a tree for shade.

When we got back to Merida we walked to Santiago Square, picked up a couple of things at the SuperAki and took the bus home. Hot, dusty, tired - I drank a beer with lime while I was in the pool!