Merida Day 26 - April Fools at the ADO

We were up early and caught a collectivo downtown and walked to the ADO bus station. The last time we tried to go to Chichen Itza by public bus we missed it and ended up going to Campeche instead. Today we already had our tickets and got there half an hour early. At the bus station there is a guy who guards the door to where the buses are and if your  bus is not ready to board he doesn't let you through, he checks tickets when it is time to board and he checks that you have a ticket so you can go through and use the bathroom.
At 5 mins before the time for the bus to go, I showed him my ticket and understood him to say it was running late. Checked with him every 10 minutes after that and each time he waved me off. When I finally found an English speaking person he said "You loose, its gone". Turns out it wasn't a bus but a van. They didn't announce Chichen Itza they announced Vallodolid, which was where the bus route ended which we weren't aware of. So, bottom line, "You loose". With some arguing, waving of hands and the support of the guy guarding the door we got the tickets exchanged for Wednesday. If it doesn't work out on Wednesday I am going to assume we are not meant to return to Chichen Itza.
So we left the bus station to do some shopping. We bought Mum an embroidered belt for her birthday.

Selection of embroidered belts I sorted through to find one the right
size for Mum.

We bought another bottle of tequila to take home. On the way to the liquor distributor went a different route than last time and saw different things.

Beautiful play of light and shadow in this courtyard behind Church San Juan

Facade of the newspaper building

The third of the remaining 3 city arches, I have posted on the other 2 earlier.

Lunch in a park, beer at Restaurante Mary and a return home to tell the sad story to Mum and Dad and go for a swim.

Some more random notes:
Toilets - toilets here have been fine, mostly. We carry toilet paper with us as many in public buildings don't have any, or seats for that matter. However restaurants and the newer museums have both. Some stores have signs outside "servicios publico" and some quote the price (usually about 5M$, 50cents) and some don't, but there will be a charge. There is always a garbage can for the used toilet paper, even at the house we don't put the paper down the toilet. George read an ad for a high end house for sale and it said it had" a state of the art septic system" and in brackets indicated this meant you could flush your toilet paper.
Garbage - Garbage is separated into organic and inorganic. We put the organic outside the front gate on Monday and Thursday and the inorganic on Tuesday. We also separate out the cans and bottles but that is just a courtesy for the garbage men because they go through your garbage otherwise to find that stuff. I gather they sell it themselves. On the streets garbage cans list organic or inorganic.

George used the term gringo loco when I took the picture
of the garbage can.

Hotels - We have just popped inside a number of hotels in the downtown area. All have lovely courtyards, some with fountains or swimming pools. The rooms appear to open onto the courtyard. Even 4 and 5 star hotels have signs advertising Promotionales at 500 or 600M$ ($50 or $60) a night

Hotel we walked past today, looked very stark on the street, but lovely inside.