Our sandwiches and juice really were a good choice for our final breakfast in Valladolid and our memory of the little man pulling us into his taqueria while his grandson stacked chairs will be a memory that we will cherish.
The story doesn't really end there though....the whole time we were in the shop eating our torta the tiny man couldn't stop talking to Lynda. I'd say he was smitten with her...every minute or two he would come back from his station at the counter were he was putting the tacos and tortas together to tell Lynda yet again that this was the only place to get this food. Restaurants don't have it, you can't get it anywhere else...it is purely Yucatecan cuisine and his is the best! And it was very good and it was so cool to see how proud he was of it. The funniest part though is that whenever he would come to give Lynda his spiel he would come right up to her and talk right in her ear. (Remember she is sitting on a double chair and he is standing and hardly has to bend at all to get his mouth to her ear!) she could be in the middle of a bite or drinking from her bottle...he didn't care...he would just come right in for another quick bit of info.
As I resume typing into this blogpost a lot has changed! We caught our bus out of Valladolid at 10:00 and discovered that although we were on a direct bus, our bus route wasn't direct. It took us all the way down to Tulum and then turned north toward Playa del Carmen. We arrived in Playa at about 12:45 and once there we were faced with the dramatic change that our adventure will take us on now that we are in the more popular tourist destinations.
We stopped in at a couple of car rental agencies and once we had prices from them took a cab to the ferry with a mind to heading over to Cozumel for a day or two. En route to the ferry our taxi driver told us that as of the 27th everywhere here will be unbelievably busy as that is the first day of a two week vacation that most of (and perhaps all) Mexico celebrates.
As soon as we heard that our feet started to feel a little frosty (ie: we got cold feet) and found ourselves in the unfamiliar position of having to make a decision about what to do next with time lines attached to that decision. In the end...we just stood there at the ferry dock and decided to flip a coin and let fate decide our fate. The coin decided that we would taxi back to the car rental office and get out of town as quick as we could.
So....by 4:00 pm we were back at the same place we'd been at 11:30 that morning. In Tulum having a very late lunch. As we still had a couple of hours of daylight we decided to continue as far as Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
The trip south was on a great highway and the signage is fantastic. At one point we had to pass through a police check and as we approached the zone, Lynda whispered...."don't look them in the eyes". I had to hold myself in check from not bursting into laughter and causing them to think something was going on. I managed to do it and whispered back to her, "but where should I look?" She whispered back, "anywhere but at them" and so I just looked straight ahead at the road in front of me as I saw them wave us through with my peripheral vision. Once past the checkpoint we both burst into laughter as we heaved a sigh of relief. I'm sure nothing would come of it if we were stopped but regardless of whether you're in Canada or Mexico, it is just so much easier when you're not.
Once in Felipe we weren't so sure that was a good idea but....we were here by then and so had to make the best of it. We won't drive after dark and so there is no way that we could make it all the way to Chetumal in daylight so....finding a hotel was the next order of business. We drove around for a bit and located the best looking one. Lynda checked it out and the price was right (450 pesos) so we settled in.
When I say settled in I should tell you that includes opening a jar of instant coffee in an attempt to perfume the air with something other than mildew. It also entails checking beds (which appear to be fine) and then settling in with the first english TV we've seen in months!
Once we'd resigned ourselves to our new accommodation we set out in search of some extra water, a bite for dinner, and a little bit of hope that we might stumble upon another part of town that actually had something of interest to offer during our short stay.
We can tell you that Felipe played a major role in the Revolution but that is about it. We did find a wonderful little tacqueria where they had pastor on the menu so that was our dinner stop. It was obvious that it is the most popular spot in town as the place was packed. I guess I should add that Lynda and I are the only caucasians in the city so we really stand out in the crowd. Add to that the fact that we are giants in this land of tiny people and we REALLY stand out! Needless to say we drew plenty of stares as we walked along the streets but interestingly when you make eye contact many of the locals are quite shy. The ones that we spoke to were very friendly though and so the one good thing I can say about Felipe is that they have great pastor and nice people.
It's almost 9 pm and my book is calling me so I'll sign off for now.
till next time,
L & L
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