The Hennequin adventure wasn't even the beginning of TMPD. After an aborted hammock night a couple of nights ago, I spent the night in the hammock the night before we began TMPD. I went to sleep with the stars, what you can see in city ground clutter, and every time I woke up, I could see them. I watched Orion's belt move from east to west directly over my head, and the clouds move the same direction. I saw the sky begin to change color in the morning, and heard the birds begin to wake up. And, sleeping in the hammock was very comfy!
After we left San Eduardo hennequin plant, we continued north, to the coast. Telchac Puebla seems to be a pretty comfortable small village, we began to see coconut trees and coconut vendors here. Telchap Puerto, on the other hand, didn't seem to be quite so prosperous. One north/south street is paved, and one east/west street is paved. The zocalo, one block from the sand, was nice, and there were several restaurants around the zocalo. We walked on the beach, no one in sight except for the police hanging around the lighthouse building. Another piece of perfect: i found a turtle skull! The lower jaw bone was gone, but the skull was in good shape, and mostly picked clean by the birds/fish/sun. Of course, the only day I DON'T have plastic bag in my pack. But, another gift of the day, I found a Bimbo bag on the beach.
The lighthouse photo was taken at Telchac Puerto. The beach at Telchac Purerto is littered with the debris of houses destroyed in the last hurricane. The structures that are still standing on the front row, are mostly empty shells. Back one or two dirt streets from the beach, almost all the houses are occupied. The living here is from the ocean, and you can buy a fish at almost every house.
As we headed west out of the village, to Progresso, the houses got a little bit 'nicer', with more space between the houses. The 35 kilometers between Telchac Purerto and Progresso follows along the beach, with a lagoon on the south side of the road. This is the world-famous bird flyover area, and it must be glorious during the migration! Now, however, being winter and the dry season, there are few birds, and the water level is low.
We marveled at the fancy-pants houses, with increasingly fancy roofs and long, private driveways as we got closer to Progresso. Summer houses for la temporado, for locals to escape the heat in the summer. I read that many of these houses are vacant most of the year. So, if you rent one, you'd have to vacate during la temporado, or get a job to pay the much-increased rent for two months.
Progresso was a vastly different town than the one Stuart and I saw a couple of weeks ago. Then, it was virtually a ghost town, at least on the malecon. Not a soul was on the beach that day, and no one in the restaurants. Today, the beach is filled with locals enjoying the Christmas weekend at the beach. We chose a restaurant, and ate ceviche and shrimp, and enjoyed the famous wind. A short walk on the malecon afterwards, with a marquesita purchase for Stuart, and we headed for Merida.
One of the most important things on Gayle's Merida to-do list was to swim in a cenote. There is a really pretty one at Dzibilichaltun, the ruins close to Merida, and we stopped there. The guys napped in the car, in a shady spot, and Gayle and I had a most memorable swim in the cenote. We were the only gringos, amid the families with kids. The water was clear as a glass, the temperature was perfect in the late afternoon sun, and we loved every minute. There were little fishes swimming with us, and in the middle of the cenote, at a shallow spot, a large garden of water lilies. The end we swam in has been estimated to be about 140 feet deep, and archeologists have discovered several hundred Mayan artifacts in the bottom. Those artifacts are on display in Mexico City now. We stayed in the water until the closing time, savoring every minute.
Because we had a car, we decided to stop at walmart to buy things we can't buy at the Isstey or the mercado, which includes heavy things like beer, and choice tequilas. The store is at a round-about interesection, but more complicated, and we made about 6 trips through the dang thing before we got positioned to get into the parking garage. Even then, we made a forbidden turn, which caused a symphony of car horns behind us! Getting out of the parking garage brought an equal amount of laughter, but we eventually made it home with our heavy packages.
Gayle cooked chicken, breaded in oatmeal and cacahuate skins, and we had some leftover vegetables, along with much tequila for dinner in the downstairs garden. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.
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