Uaymitun 2024-Blog Post #12 “Final Days!”

Welcome to this blog post that captures highlights from our 2024 Winter in Uaymitun!

One of our goals for our final few days at the beach house was to pack up our totes for storage much earlier than other years! Well we did it!

Miguel helped us store our ‘stuff’ away until next winter!

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That gave us a sense of calm to allow us go for one last dinner at our fav, Elio al Mare that evening!

With every visit, we promise ourselves to branch out to other menu items… but as usual, we enjoyed our favs… Chicken Parmesan and Fettuccini “Modo Mio”!

It has come very quickly, but our final day at the beach house has arrived! A day of some relaxation and final packing of our suitcases to head into Mérida!

One last gorgeous sunset on our Uaymitun beach!

Once again, we’re very thankful for Miguel and Maria who take care of our beach house each year! It’s hard to believe they’ve been here for the last 9 years! We always take a goodbye picture when we leave, but as the boys, Jesus and Mauricio, would be at school tomorrow, we grabbed them that evening!

Moving day! Well, as in moving from the Beach House to our hotel, Luz en Yucatán in Mérida!

We enjoyed our final morning coffees on the patio!

After dropping off the car at the Yucatan Vacations office in the Fiesta Americana hotel, Luis drove us to our hotel in Centro!

After checking in and getting settled in our favourite room, El Tulipan, we ventured out into the heat and walked over to Santa Lucia Parque. We had decided to have a light lunch of a Margarita Pizza at La Tratto, and it didn’t disappoint!

We had seen the construction work being done on Calle 60 earlier, when we came into Centro with Betty and Joanne. That work has now made its way to the intersection of Calle 60 and Calle 55… our street!

That evening, we went for dinner at La Chaya Maya… just a block away!

After dinner we went for a stroll through “our” park, Santa Lucia Parque!

After picking up a couple of Cappuccinos at the Bengala Cafe on Calle 60, we relaxed back at the Luz en Yucatán!

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A welcome addition to the services available at the Luz en Yucatán is their included breakfast! It was nice to be able to just walk down from our room for brekkie!

We managed to cross an item that has long been on our bucket list of things to do while in Mérida… to tour La Quinta Montes Molina house on the Paseo de Montejo! From their website…

“With eclectic architecture with a neoclassical tendency, La Quinta Montes Molina is a representative construction of the Porfiriato era and the great henequen boom in Yucatán. As it has always been a living house, it preserves furniture from the different periods through which it has passed, and in it we can find many details that help us better understand the customs of the houses of the families of ancestry from Mérida at the beginning of the century XX.”

We grabbed an Uber which dropped us off in front of the house…

Just like Downton Abbey… that was the “Upstairs”… the following is the “Downstairs”!

Upon leaving through the requisite Gift Shop, we took a few pics of the grounds!

Upon leaving La Quinta Montes Molina, we went for a stroll down the Paseo de Montejo!

By lunch the heat was really rising, so we Uber’d back to the Luz and enjoyed some time in the pool!

As the evening was promising to be temperate, we decided to take the opportunity to dine at Amaro one last time this season!

After a wonderful dinner, we went for walkabout through the Gran Plaza!

Sunday and Monday were very, very hot! Some places registered temperatures in the low 40’s C… including Mérida! Sunday morning was cool enough that we went for a quick walk down Calle 60 towards the Gran Plaza.

We paused at the side of the Teatro José Peón Contreras to see if we could see any progress in the restoration after last year’s fire! Nothing to really see, however, in the pictures below (while a little hard to tell from these pics) the ceiling in the left picture is untouched, while on the right the smoke and fire damage is evident!

We’ve frequently walked by Iglesia de Jesus the doors were never open… until today!

I was getting too hot to be outside at all, even in the Pool! We pulled a “Bob & Pat” and Uber’d up to Altabrisa Mall for a Lupper at another favourite place!

Monday was our last full day in Mérida at the Luz en Yucatan! After another great breakfast, our morning was spent repacking for our trip home.

We had such a great time with Julie and Curtis this season, we were very happy they were able to come into Mérida from Chelem to have dinner with us!

We decided to go to La Tratto in Santa Lucia Parque as it was close and there’s air conditioning… and great food!

On the way back to the Luz, we needed to navigate through the construction and wet concrete at the intersection of Calle 60 and 55!

Tuesday morning arrived early as I awoke shortly after 6AM… I sauntered down the hall to grab a couple of early morning coffee. I came back to our small patio overlooking the pool to relax with my coffee! I glanced at my Inbox… only to see a lovely message from WestJet!

We talked with the hotel concierge to reschedule our ride to the airport and then stressfully had to wait all morning for further updates… like cancellation!

Finally, my App showed the plane had left the gate in Toronto, so we quickly rearranged our ride to the Mérida airport! As usual, a cab ride from Centro to the airport certainly got the blood flowing!!!

Fortunately, the Inbound place departed earlier than the delayed time and arrived earlier than expected by a few minutes… and then it arrived!!!

We think the flight crew were under the gun to get us back to Toronto before Midnight as we flew at 40,000′ to shorten the time home! We arrived around midnight, cleared Customs & Immigration quickly, grabbed our luggage and caught the shuttle back to our airport hotel.

The next morning, Don & Sharon picked us up from the hotel and took us back to Kitchener.

After lunch, we visited with Elaine’s Mom at the lodge and then out to Kerry & Bryan’s in Wellesley.

After a short visit, we headed to Sarnia… arriving back home around 5:30.

Kristy and Andy were waiting for us in our apartment! Lots of hugs and then a great supper next door at the Grind!

Then it was time to unpack a little and enjoy being home!

Well, now I’ll close out this Winter’s 12th and final blog! We hope you’ve enjoyed our posts this season! Winter in Uaymitun 2025 is 9 months away!

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine