One last beach day

(In the home stretch...gotta get these last posts done while the memories are still fresh.  We've been back home for a few weeks already!)

Tuesday August 10th was really our final opportunity to squeeze in some last minute fun; the specter of our last day was looming closer, which of course would mean packing up for the return home.  I had been sick the night before, but awoke feeling mostly better, so we decided to head to Progreso for one more day of surf and sand.

We found a comfortable spot much further to the west and nearer the pier, seemingly where the locals choose to relax as well.  There were considerably fewer vendors trolling the beach here; only the occasional pastry tray paraded by from time to time.  The kids settled into their usual routine of digging in the sand at the water's edge, searching for shells and buried treasures.

Jennifer lamented that it was our last beach day and she had never gotten the opportunity for a beachside massage, which she had enjoyed during last year's trip.  Within moments, two women approached, passing out business cards for... you guessed it, massage services at the nearby hotel!  Jenn seized the chance, and got a quick 30 minute back massage for about $8 US.  What is that, about a quarter of what you would pay back home?

She returned to the blanket relaxed, and so we spent another couple of hours enjoying the beach before hunger set in.  Eladio's was just nearby, so we packed up our things to go enjoy a nice meal on the beach.  As we lifted our blanket off the sand, we realized that just underneath had been a shriveled up fish head.  I had been laying on a FISH HEAD the whole time, relaxing on the beach, oblivious.  At least there had been no smell, which means it must have been there a long, LONG time.  You'd think you would notice if you were spreading your beach blanket down on a dead fish, but no, not us!


Lunch at Eladio's was nice...
free botanas (appetizers), good food, and excellent, friendly service.  Our waiter chatted with us about the cruise ship that had been in port just the day before.  We were glad to have missed it, since the beaches and restaurants would likely have been very crowded compared to today.


After finishing their lunches, Emma and Lukas swam with some other children in the restaurant's kiddy pool, right on the beachfront.  While they swam, Jenn bought some handmade bracelets from a little girl selling jewelry.  She had such a no-nonsense demeanor that was very amusing, so we just couldn't resist.  We wound up buying four from her.  A very shrewd little business woman.

With lunch behind us, we headed back to Mérida, where the kids enjoyed some more late afternoon pool time.  Later in the evening, we got dressed and rounded out the day with a return visit to Pane e Vino. Italian food is never a bad idea.  The only strange thing about it was that all of the other patrons in the restaurant this evening were French.

There must have been some sort of French tour in town, and they had all chosen Italian food for dinner.  However, they didn't seem to be on their best behavior, because we saw one woman help herself to an extra glass of wine from the waiter's cart when he was out of the room.  And afterwards, it appeared that a young couple tried to skip out on their check; they gathered all their things and made a beeline for the door before they were intercepted by the waiter.  They pulled out their guidebook and hastily started asking him for directions as he led them back to their table.  Hmmm.  It all made for some very interesting dinner entertainment!

Friday at the Beach

No earth shattering events to report today... by Friday, we were more than ready to chill out and relax. We headed out to Progreso and settled on a spot a little farther down the beach this time. Only occasionally would a peddler venture out to where we were, looking to sell mangos or pastries and treats.

Once again, the kids spent most of their time in the water, swimming like fish. The water was a bit cloudier than the last time, perhaps stirred up by recent weather out at sea.

The water color seems to be the big difference between the northern gulf beaches and the Caribbean shores of the Riviera Maya. Here the water has a greener hue, while the Caribbean side has bluer water.

We passed a few hours enjoying the sea and the sand, then packed up in search of lunch. A nice breezy table in the window at Los Arcos was the perfect remedy for the midday heat.

The kids sipped limonadas and enjoyed the beachfront view, while waiting for their quesadillas to be served. Our meals were tasty and the wait staff was friendly and attentive.

The remainder of the afternoon and evening was spent at home, resting and enjoying steaks for dinner. We watched 'Saludos Amigos' with the kids before bed, a Disney movie appropriately themed for our trip south of the border.

A beach day in Chelem

A blogger's work is never done. I'm already posting two days late! Trying to get caught up today with some down time at home.

We were blessed with some sunshine on Friday so we headed out to explore the beaches at Chelem, a sleepy little fishing village just west of Progresso. This is certainly a more remote area, and one can imagine how easy it would be to drop out of society by settling here. The roads turn to sand as you drive closer to the shore, so we found one where we could pull up and make camp in relative isolation.

The beaches in this section of Chelem are not particularly wide, so we chose the concrete patio of a vacant hotel to drop our belongings and have lunch. The kids spent much of the time playing in the sand and combing the beach for seashells. The plan is to string them together to make necklaces. Occasionally, giant pelicans flew by overhead, usually when the camera was put away in the beach bag. Lukas calls them pterodactyls.

Later, we explored the shoreline and encountered several buildings that clearly suffered extensive damage due to previous hurricanes. Beach erosion has claimed a good amount of sand from this stretch of Chelem, but other areas seemed to fare much better. Jenn chose the wrong spot to cool off in the water, because she cut her foot on a boulder sized rock on her way out. Much different from the beaches we encountered in Progreso, where the bottom was silky smooth sand.

No afternoon showers on this day, so we got a good deal of sun before heading back to the casa. That night we enjoyed some Yucatecan cuisine in the open air courtyard of Amaro, under a clear and star-filled sky. We enjoyed some margaritas and I tried my first chaya shake, which was pretty tasty. Chaya is a leafy green herb that is native to the Yucatan and has more nutrients that spinach (so it's sometimes called Tree Spinach). Although the raw leaves are toxic, the cyanide they contain cooks out and becomes a traditional drink. That's me, living on the edge! Of course, Jenn doesn't tell me these things ahead of time, so maybe she's just looking for an insurance payout so she can settle down here full time.

Some live latin music drew lots of other patrons to the restaurant, so we spent most of an hour trying to get our check once it was time to go. When in Mexico, you're on Mexico time!

Finally, we hit the beach!

Today we made our way to the beach in Progresso for the first time. Crystal clear water and powdery sand combined with lots of sun made for a great day. The kids were certainly having a great time playing in the sand and splashing in the calm surf.

Progresso has the longest pier in the world at an amazing four miles long. Trucks and buses shuttle back and forth, since it's used for shipping and the occasional cruise ship. Few gringos around today and plenty of room on the beaches, so it seems there are no cruise ships docked currently.

We had lunch right on the beach under a palapa at the Shark Restaurante, then bought Lukas a conch shell from a passing vendor.

He learned right away how to use it as a horn, so spent the rest of the time being the beach lifeguard. He felt very important as he blew his conch shell from the edge of the water, waving each of us left or right, or out of the surf from time to time!

Oh yes, and Emma wore another one of her signature floppy hats to the beach: both stylish and functional. So not to worry, Aunt Robin...we're protecting those little blonde heads!