Welcome to our blog post that captures highlights from our long-awaited return to Uaymitun!
To paraphrase the title of the opening chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring, this is “A Long-awaited Return” to Uaymitun!
As our lofty hopes of a quick passing of the Pandemic melted away in 2020 and on into 2021, last summer we regained some optimism that life would soon return to a new normal. We started to think and hope we would be able to return to our winter home in Uaymitun in 2022. So we confirmed our beach house and rental car. We purchased tickets for a Jan 4th flight on WestJet from Toronto to Merida.
And then, in November, we started hearing rumblings of a new variant, Omicron, that had been identified first in South Africa! Before we knew it, suddenly all was again put into jeopardy!
Case counts began to rise… restrictions reappeared. Our Christmas plans only partially worked out and then only with Rapid Tests for all! And then it was the countdown to departure! Would the flight be one of those cancelled? Would somehow we be exposed to Omicron and be denied from flying? It was a stressful time!
Then, suddenly, Jan 4th dawned… we shuttled from our overnight hotel to the airport… checked in… and wonderfully our plane took us to paradise!
As we prepared for our trip, we said our farewells to family and friends! But this wasn’t easy as we were very concerned about inadvertently becoming exposed to COVID as the days were counted down.
On the Sunday before our flight, we locked up the house for the winter and drove up to Wellesley to visit with Kerry, Bryan and the boys! We were finally able to exchange Christmas gifts from us and from the Sarnia clan!
On the Monday, Kerry & Bryan drove us to the Sandman Signature Toronto Airport hotel where we could spend the night and take the shuttle over on Tuesday morning.
Interesting sidenote… back in the summer as we made our plans, I had reserved a room at our usual airport hotel. It’s an International Chain who’s name rhymes with Milton! Literally two weeks before our stay, something made Elaine wonder about our choice of hotel. So I called and told them we had a reservation for Jan 3rd and wanted to ensure that they were NOT a COVID Quarantine Hotel! A long pause… “Are you sure you have a reservation?”… yes… “that’s strange as we’re CLOSED (read that as YES We are a QH)”!!! So we quickly made a reservation at the aforementioned Sandman hotel!
In any case we had a nice room overlooking the airport down the road and were able to get a nice dinner from the on-premises Moxies restaurant!
After a very early “wake-up” call and shuttle, we arrived at Terminal 3 and went to the baggage drop kiosks! We printed and tagged our bags and went to the self-service baggage machines… validated with our boarding pass QR code and loaded our 1st bag onto the conveyor. It went out of sight, so at the prompt, we loaded our 2nd bag… in/out… in/out… in/out… halt — error! Bending over, we could see our 1st bag stuck at the back of the machine as the main conveyor belt wasn’t working! Shortly a harried technician arrived and went into the back and after a few minutes it started working and the bag left! Looking back at the validation terminal, it merrily said “Please validate your Boarding Pass QR code”! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! However, an attendant said not to worry… happens all the time! And when we validated again, it said 1 / 4 bags already sent! HOOOOOORAH! While this will pale in light other’s horrific luggage stories it was very stressful at the moment!
While we did have a couple of hours to wait before boarding, it was really good to start to relax and actually believe we would soon be on our flight!
Boarding went smoothly and as the pilot surveyed the mostly full plane, he went on the microphone and announced that Doug & Elaine Loten were on the plane and would be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary on Jan 8th… the whole plane cheered and clapped!
We arrived on time in Merida and were very fortunate to pass through Immigration, pick up our bags, get a Green light at Customs and proceeded out to meet Diego and get our car! All in all, we were through in less than 20 minutes! Amazing!
And then it was back on familiar trails… out of the airport, onto Benito Juarez to the Periferico… then North and East to the turn North to Progreso! It felt so good! We’d been dreaming of that trip for a long time!
A quick stop at the Bodega Aurrera and Soriana to pick up a few essentials and out the Costera to Uaymitun and our winter home!
First morning!
One of my manly chores at the beach house is raking the beach! This was a habit I got into from our very first year here, in hopes that family and friends could visit and enjoy the beach! This year, so far, the daily washup of seaweed is fairly small.
Then it was time to start provisioning the house for the winter… so off to Bodega Aurrera and Soriana in Progreso!
After groceries were packed, we headed downtown Progreso and parked at the square.
After a quick visit to the HSBC bank and a stop in El Paso for a few other hard to find items… it was back to the beach house!
Well, I think I’ll close out this blog for now! The next one will highlight the arrival of Val & George as well a very, very special day!
One final note… while Omicron rages almost everywhere, the case counts in Yucatan are still relatively low. It is very rare to see anyone in public here without a mask. To enter a grocery store you need to be masked, sanitize your hands and have your temperature taken. We will be keeping our circle small and do the things we’re familiar with doing over the almost 2 past years to stay safe!
We recognize it’s only a matter of time before Omicron becomes widely spread here. However, the majority of our time is spent outdoors and we’ll only dine at restaurants with outdoor patios. So we’re feeling safe here… and it’s a lot warmer! 🙂
Cheers!
Love to all,
-Doug and Elaine
Loved reading your blog, Doug… We are there thru your eyes… thanks…
Thanks, Pat! We wish you were here too!
There is no doubt that Omicron is already blasting through Yucatan. But it is not different from Ontario. Your approach is rational – as long as you maintain the same precautions wherever you are, your risk is the same. And we were impressed by the diligence of the Yucatan people in doing masking. In the worst possible case, hospitals in Merida are available and of good quality.
Eventually the PCR test to return to Canada rule might cause some glitches, but I would bet when the time comes to return the whole thing will have largely blown over. In the meantime, it’s warm winds for you!
Loved reading your blog and looking at the photos! Enjoy! ❤️❤️