Hard to believe we only left ZIH 3 days ago! Hmmmm.....might have to slow down the spending a little. LOL....not to worry folks...we're old and we have plastic. LOL :) In truth it is hard to believe its just been 3 days as we've seen and done so much already but the bit about needing to start using plastic is just a joke. We're doing really well on the spending front and starting now we're moving out of the more expensive cities and into some where we'll be able to find better prices for everything. For example, where we are right now (Champotan) is a flat 25 pesos for a taxi anywhere in the city. The last place (Cd Del Carmen) was 35 so even though it's only 10 pesos...those all add up in no time and when you compound it across everything you spend on in a day...it really adds up quickly.
Leaving Cd del Carmen this afternoon was again easy to arrange. A quick cab to the ADO (bus) station, purchase two tix for Champotan (about 2 hours away), wait for about 20 mins for our departure time and voila...we were on our way. We laughed as we passed Playa Norte (where we had come the day before) as on the bus it took us MUCH longer than it had with the cabbie who drove like a crazy person yesterday. All kidding aside...he truly was a madman! During this trip it was interesting to watch the scenery change as we got further and further from Carmen. Where the water had been a dirty brown and the beaches hard packed and dirty the view began to look a little more like we'd imagined the gulf would look. Travelling by bus in MX is the way to go. They are very comfortable, run often, are very safe (they are locked from travelling over 100 KMH) and are reasonably priced. The trip from Carmen to Champotan cost us each $180 pesos (less than $18 CAD)
We travelled along the shoreline for most of our journey and at times the waters were azure and the shores white and sandy. For the most part though...the Gulf is not quite what I had thought it might be. Maybe tomorrow we will get to see a different perspective.
We're travelling just an hour or two per day and following the shoreline all the way to Merida where our intention is to spend a week or so. But...that will totally depend on what we find there. Gotta stay true to the plan and just roll with it. :)
Once we arrived at Champotan we climbed off the bus, retrieved our bags from underneath and began the next leg of today's adventure. (btw...they're VERY careful about making sure your bags are safe - we could not get our bags back until we could show the ticket stubs that matched the ones they had put on our bags at the time of stowing them. They take their job VERY seriously!!) We dragged our bags through the mid afternoon heat and humidity about two blocks till we located a nice little hotel where we secured a twin room for one night for $600 pesos. Our hotel is also just around the corner from the Centro part of town and as a bonus...it has a pool!
We spent the afternoon wandering around this chica pueblo (cute little city) and discovered that it is clean and seemingly quite prosperous. Fishing is obviously a main industry and we are both 100% certain that we are likely the only blue eyes they've seen in a very long time here! In fact, we're willing to bet that they've never seen two grandmas travelling through here like this. LOL! :)
You never know quite what you might stumble across when you're out wandering and that is so much of the fun of it. Well, today was no exception and the surprise gift today was when we came across Santa, his sleigh, and his reindeer in the park at the centre of town! Santa was laying on his side and the sleigh and reindeer looked as though they were ready to be hauled away but...there they were...larger than life! In fact, they were quite a bit larger than life. I'd say Santa was at least 20 feet tall! We laughed when we came across Santa as at about the same time the clock tower in the centre of town struck 6:00 pm and both of us had 3:45 on our clocks so our first thought was that we'd just experienced some kind of time warp and we'd gone Back To The Future or something equally as exciting. Whatever it turns out to be...we're still gonna just roll with it as that seems to be the theme of this day.
After we'd explored about all we could explore and given the fact that it was mid afternoon so most everything was closed for siesta time we decided to head back to the hotel so I could facetime with my grandson Kingston as today is his birthday. Happy Birthday Kingston!!! 6 years old aready!!!
Decided to spurge tonight and go all out on dinner. Since we're in a fishing village and since shrinp is what they're famous for that was the plan for the menu. The desk clerk at our hotel was sooo helpful and wonderfully sweet and he referred us to the best place in town which meant another taxi but it was worth the trip. We were seated on a balcony overhanging the Gulf with the sun setting over the water and a waiter assigned to our table alone so service was outstanding! The sun sets here in seconds and it burns a huge bright red ball until it disappears on the horizon. Once the sun was down and the wind picked up Lynda realized she was freezing. I, and all the other locals there, were fine with the temperature but Lynda was frantically digging in her bag for something to put on. It reminded me of another time in Mexico when she ended up wearing the tablecloth! tonight though she located a long sleeve shirt and her sweater so the tablecloths were safe. The funny part is that when she realized she was eating this lovely dinner wearing the same thing she's slept in for the past several nights...it was cause for more hysterics. Yes...we do laugh often! :) If you're wondering why she was sleeping in her clothes...it's because I maybe sometimes perhaps leave the aircon on a little long in the night. But heh...it's hot here right? You understand don't you?! :)
So as we finished our shrimp dinner and looked out over the pink and green picket fence that would look tacky anywhere but here we heaved another sigh of gratitude for all that we have and all that we are getting to enjoy on this great adventure.
Hasta luego amigos,
L & L
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