Author: doug

Welcome to this blog post that captures some more highlights from our 2023 Winter in Uaymitun!

I’ll start out this blog by explaining its title. I’ve never been known to be a lover of “going to the mall”! In fact, I refer to it as “aimlessly wandering” which sounds even better in Spanish… “vagando sin rumbo“!

I’m bringing this up as we’ve talked about visiting one of the newer malls for a couple of years, but have yet to do so… until last week! It’s known as “La Isla Mérida Mall in Cabo Norte”, which is quite a mouthful, so it’s commonly referred to as La Isla mall.

Enough said… on with our visit to La Isla mall!

This mall is just part of major developments in this part of Mérida! In addition to several gated communities and other commercial areas, there’s also a brand spanking new hotel!

The mall itself is quite large and is anchored by two department stores, Liverpool and Coppel!

I found it interesting that even here away from the coast, commercial interests are buying into the “Dinosaur” message of the Chicxulub Impact Crater! For further info on this, check our my earlier blog at Uaymitun 2016-Blog Post 4!

Here’s a few pics from our amble through the mall and outside beside the lake!

It was getting very hot, so we popped into one of the restaurants overlooking the lake, Sicomoro. It was a Monday, so most weren’t open, however we enjoyed the cooler air and the yummy Margherita Pizza!

Now, ignoring the pizza above, back to our regularly scheduled programming… food!

After 3 years of hoping, we met up with Bob & Pat for a delicious dinner at PF Chang’s in the Altabrisa Mall!

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We’ve found a great little bakery just off the square in Progreso!

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Maria, Miguel’s wife, made Panuchos for us the other day! Yumm!

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We went to the Crocodiles Farmers & Artesian Market in Progreso one Wednesday morning. Lots of folks… picked up some more Bangers and Italian Sausages from the Sausage Lady.

On another note, one of the pleasures of spending the winter here is the opportunity to spend time with my sister Val and her husband George!

The other day we had the opportunity to visit on our patio and then head into our favourite pub, Hermana República, for a late lunch – early supper, or Lupper!

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Another spur of the moment time, they were waiting for a delivery in town and we were dropping off laundry and we met at Vistamar by the Chicxulub Pier!

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In homage to multiple pics of Bill & Selena… our encounter with a T-Rex on the Chicxulub Pier!

So… as I’ve been quite tardy in my blog posting, I’ll catch up a bit with a potpourri of interest!

As mentioned in an earlier blog, we sold our house last fall. Our closing date was Dec 15th and our occupancy date for our new apartment was Feb 4th. So off our belongings went to storage until our occupancy date arrived!

As we were still in Uaymitun, Kerry, Kristy and Trish moved us in and unpacked most of our belongings! We are eternally grateful for their efforts in setting up a home for us upon our return at the end of March! We’re both looking forward to ‘nesting’ in our new place… a new chapter of our lives begins!

That evening, we went out to Humo Bistro in Progreso for a celebratory dinner!

There was a beautiful full moon that night!

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The very next day, Bob and Pat came out from Mérida with Pat’s brother Terry and wife Muriel! It was a great visit but the weather wasn’t accommodating as it was cool and windy!

They came bearing gifts… a bag of Capulines and a bag of Guanábana gummies! You have to taste them to believe it!

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The next night, we joined Pam and Raymond at Tso’ Ki in Chicxulub to bid a fond farewell to Kennedy (aka Kenny) who was heading back to home to Canada the next day!

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One last sunset to round things out for now!

Well, I think I’ll close out this blog for now! The next one will highlight a very special guest!

Cheers!

Love to all,

Doug & Elaine

Welcome to this blog post that captures some more highlights from our 2023 Winter in Uaymitun!

I must say, we’ve had a very temperate January so far… much warmer and fewer El Nortés than previous years!

We’ve been here about 3 weeks, so it was time for haircuts! Off we went to Gaby’s in Chicxulub. Again, she said she couldn’t take some off the sides and put it on top!

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George’s daughter, Monica and granddaughter, Carolin, have been down for a visit for a couple of weeks. The other day they were joined by George’s son Mike.

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As I mentioned in our previous post, Pat & Bob are back in Mérida this winter and we went in to visit them in their new house on Calle 39 x 62A y 64. It was great to catch up and spend a wonderful afternoon with them.

Casa Lilli

We visited another of our favs this week, Elio al Mare!

While Elio, himself, has moved on to other ventures, the name and most of the menu lives on! I’ve looked through all my posts over the years and never did take a pic of the old building before it was razed, so the best I can find was via Google Maps Street View from 2009.

For fun, I’ve included Street View pics from then and now to show the changes to the street! Back then, the pavement ended a few streets from Elio’s and the sand and stone street was prone to dangerous pointy bits everywhere. Rumour had it was that the owners of the houses refused to allow it to be paved to ensure the traffic was slow!

We reserved a table on the patio overlooking the Gulf and we weren’t disappointed! We ordered our favourite dishes, Chicken Parmesan and Fettuccini “Modo Mio”! We loved the old plaster board menu, in Italian, and knew exactly what to order. Now, they’ve been replaced and we were given one in English and it took quite awhile to find what they now call our dishes!

When we placed our dinner orders, we had asked about whether they still had their Chocolate Lava Cake! By the time we’d finished our mains, we thought we’d just have Cappuccino Mayas (with Xtabentún) instead, but our waiter proudly brought the Lava Cake shortly after delivering our Cappuccinos! Oh, well! We took one for the team! Yumm!

Last year in my blog, I mentioned the amount of new development and construction taking place down here.

Just in our local stretch of the Costera, there are many such projects underway. Courtesy of Google “Street View” which allows one to view the same stretch of road from previous years, I’ve included before and after pics!

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At Km 16.2, there was an older house called Mena that has been torn down and a massive new house is still under construction.

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Just four houses to our East, what was once an empty field, is now a 8 bedroom house with an elevator and underground parking!

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And, of course, there was the development at the next door house, with the addition of a new house for her son and a casita for the valedor!

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Which brings us to our house, now called Mack’s. Due to the construction of the two buildings on the property next door, the owners of our house created a private entrance to the beach house and had a decorative wall put in place between the two properties. The final touch is the new sign!

Hmmm… remember my comment about the weather at the beginning of this post? Well, I guess it’s payback time… 3 days of clouds and 45Km/h winds with gusts to 60Km/h!

After 3 days of strong winds, it was a certainty that the beach would suffer! I had some work to do!

Well, I think I’ll close out this blog for now! The next one will highlight some stuff we haven’t done yet and places we haven’t seen yet!

Cheers!

Love to all,

Doug & Elaine

Welcome to this blog post that captures some more highlights from our 2023 Winter in Uaymitun!

As I mentioned in my last blog, we are slowly revisiting our ‘fav’ places this winter! So, here’s three more…

Altabrisa Mall

For several reasons, we planned a trip into town to the Altabrisa Mall. Our Telcel Mexico SIM cards were quite old, so I dropped into the Telcel “Centro de Atención a Clientes” in the Mall. An interesting mode of business:

1. You queue up to talk to an agent to tell them why you’re there. You’re given a ticket and you sit down until your number comes up on the big board.
2. You go to the appropriate counter and tell them what you want. In my case, I wanted 2 new SIM cards with the same telephone numbers. The agent ticky tacks on their computer for a while and then gives you another ticket that you take to pay.
3. You queue up for the next teller, pay for your item and they give you a receipt.
4. You go back you your previous agent and give them the receipt. Then they go in the back room and return with your items.

A bit time consuming, but it all worked!

Meanwhile, Elaine had gone browsing in the Suburbia department store, so after my Telcel purchase was complete, we returned and she was able to pick up a couple of pretty tops!

Then, the payoff! Off we went upstairs to PF Chang’s for lunch! Spring Rolls, Mongolia Beef and Crispy Honey Chicken! Yumm!

After a fabulous lunch, we went back downstairs and picked up some grocery items! A great outing!

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Liverpool Mall

A few days later, on another shopping trip to Chedraui and Costco, we dropped in for a walk through Liverpool Mall. There’s a few stores changed over the past few years of the Pandemic, but most are still there! Including T-Bar which as great “Pay de Limon” aka Lemon Tarts. But we will save getting them until another trip.

And the skating rink is still there!

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Hermana Republica

The 3rd fav was a return to our favourite pub, Hermana Republica on the highway between Merida and Progreso. We did drop in once last year and they were under construction in their outdoor patio area. Well, it’s all complete this year with a covered outdoor dining area and a new extension to their micro-brewery. The food was as good as always!

CROQUETAS DE COCHINITA PIBIL(5 PIEZAS)
Stuffed potato with pulled pork side of traditional purple onion

CERDO BRASEADO EN CERVEZA PORTER
Marinated pork in our house Vanilla Porter with mushrooms and carrots

CHILE XCATIK RELLENO DE TERNERA
Chile xcatik stuffed with veal

I had also mentioned in our last blog about “special visitors from afar”!

I first met Steve & Dodie Miller, from Victoria, BC, on the road near us in Uaymitun 5 years ago. They were in the midst of another biking trek, this time in the Yucatan. Since their retirement, they’ve biked many places in North America and Europe.

The timing worked out perfectly, as they were able to stop by for a short visit and chat before they headed on to Progreso!

You can follow their latest trip at https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/try/

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A few other visitors from afar! Visiting this week with Val & George are daughter Monica and granddaughter Carolin from Abbotsford, BC

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Kennedy (aka Kenny), who is down from Pickering, ON visiting our good friends and her grandparents Raymond and Pam and came to our casa to visit, but we neglected to take any pics! So they graciously provided a great pic to include in my blog!

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And this blog wouldn’t be complete without a shout out to good friends Pat & Bob from Courtney, BC who have come back to Merida after an absence of 3-4 years! Great to have them back!

In no particular order, here’s some other stuff from our past week…

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One quiet evening, when the winds had died down…

It’s certainly time to include some more sunset pics!

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Somewhat belatedly, I’ve started to do the occasional morning road walk to get some much needed exercise! Unfortunately, the south side of the road, which is the wetlands side, hasn’t been trimmed back for awhile, so the curb is pretty narrow at times. Also, the amount of traffic over the years has greatly increased which makes walking on the road a bit worrisome. In any case here some pics of local beach houses from recent walks!

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A couple more from my last walk…

Well, I think I’ll close out this blog for now! The next one will highlight broadening our horizons to Progreso Malecon (this time for sure)!

Cheers!

Love to all,

Doug & Elaine

Welcome to this blog post that captures highlights from the first week of our 2023 Winter in Uaymitun!

There’s nothing like waking up in paradise, grabbing a morning coffee and enjoying the view!

As usual, Miguel had filled the pool on the day we arrived so it was great to be able to take advantage of it in January!

After a pretty quiet day, we headed to the beach for our first sunset!

Today was also the day of arrival for Val & George, who were settling in down the beach in their beach home, Paraiso! They strolled down the beach to enjoy the sunset with us!

The following morning, I started my daily chore of raking the beach! We’re very fortunate here in Uaymitun, that there’s minimal seaweed, so it didn’t take very long. The weather was so great, I couldn’t resist testing out the Gulf waters… very warm!

For those of you who may have been worrying, “MeowMeow NoName” (aka Mixo), is quite fine and still has an very loud meow!

We’ve be fortunate to celebrate our Anniversary dinner with Val & George most winters! This winter, for our 51st Anniversary, we returned to Casa de Piedra at Hacienda Xcanatun.

There’s no disputing that the surroundings and ambiance at Xcanatun are second to none!

As the ownership had changed during the Pandemic, we were aware that changes were inevitable. While the menu had changed, each of our meals were very good!

For appetizers:

Tostadas de Plátano con Carnitas de Pato | Banana Toasts with Duck
Crujiente de plátano macho con carnitas de pato | Crispy plantain with duck confit

Rollos Primavera Frescos | Fresh Spring Rolls
Rollo primavera de verdura frescas con salsa de chile dulce y tamarindo | Fresh vegetable spring roll with sweet chili sauce & tamarind sauce

For our mains:

Pollo con Curry Amarillo | Chicken with Yellow Curry
Pierna y muslo de pollo en salsa de curry amarillo con papa, camote y cebolla morada, acompañado de arroz jazmín | Chicken leg and thigh in yellow curry sauce with potato, sweet potato and red onion, accompanied by jasmin rice

Risotto Tikinxic | Tikinxic Risotto
Con camarones a parrilla y perfume de naranja agria | Grilled shrimps with sour orange

Camarones Al Grill | Grilled Shrimps
Con risotto de lima, ensalada fresca y parmesano | Lime risotto, fresh salad and parmesan

Salmon Chileno | Chilean Salmon
Con puré de papa y mantequilla de hierbas, acompañado con ensalada fresca | With mashed potatoes and herb butter, served with fresh salad

While we found that each dish was very well prepared, the service has greatly suffered. Also the wine list was quite limited with typically only one choice per type of wine offered.

However, it was great to be able to celebrate our anniversary here again!

While it’s certain that the Pandemic isn’t over, the overall mood here is that life goes on, but in a new way. Restrictions on masking have largely been lifted, but still many folks continue to use them. We are broadening our plans on what we feel we can do with an appropriate level of protection.

On the Monday morning, we made the jaunt to the Natural Thangs Market between Chelem and Chuburna. Our goal, successful I might add, was to grab some Bangers, Mild Italian Sausages and Breakfast Links from The Sausage Lady!

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One of the favourite pastimes we did resume last week was attending the Wednesday afternoon Jam Session at FACES. We shared a table with Matt and Terri and found that the overall numbers were less so we felt less crowded. It was great fun to enjoy the music and renewing acquaintances.

Afterward, we visited their winter home just down the street from FACES. It was great to catch up with them!

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Elaine and I have an ongoing challenge to be the first to sight a horse in a place you wouldn’t expect! I win!!

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Last year, there were more flamingos in our area than we ever remember. This year, there are even more!

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We also started to visit places that we hadn’t frequented often last year. With a need to pick up some items not yet found, we went to Walmart in the City Center Plaza.

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Before we arrived, we had arranged to meet Pam & Raymond at our favourite, Loncheria Carolina in the square in Chicxulub! However, we had to postpone due to fatigue upon our arrival. So, it was great to be able, on the spur of the moment, to arrange to meet them last week after their hair cuts at Gaby’s.

We met them at Gaby’s… gave her hugs… and then walked over through the square!

We sat down and commented that they were open earlier that we thought! Oh, the lady who came to take our order must be new! Oh, we can just order as many salbutes as we want rather than an order of 2! Oh, no bottles of water but we can get jamaica! Oh, wait… we’re not at Loncheria Carolina, we’re at Loncheria Tso’ Ki next door! Oh, well… our orders were already in… and when they came, they were delicious!

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It wouldn’t be complete without a January El Norte… so we had one… pretty mild as Norte’s go, but interesting nonetheless!

Well, I think I’ll close out this blog for now! The next one will highlight broadening our horizons to the Progreso Malecon and other locales and include some special visitors from afar!

Cheers!

Love to all,

Doug & Elaine

Welcome to this blog post that captures highlights from our 2023 Winter in Uaymitun, with an update from 2022!

Please allow me a deviation from my normal 1st blog post of the winter!

To describe the previous year, 2022, after returning from our Winter in Uaymitun, could be best summarized as the old saying goes, “May you live in interesting times”!

This is an English expression that is claimed to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. While seemingly a blessing, the expression is normally used ironically; life is better in “uninteresting times” of peace and tranquility than in “interesting” ones, which are usually times of trouble.

While it wasn’t really a time of “trouble”, it certainly was a time of change! It was full of UPs and DOWNs… full of JOY and STRESS!

The first few months after our return were filled with anticipation of two weddings! Our granddaughter Kirsten and husband Zack Thompson in June and our youngest daughter Kristy and husband Andy Powell in July! It was an especially busy time assisting Kris and Andy in their preparations!

Both weddings were marvelous and were in very unique locales!

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Then in early August, a sudden torrential downpour one night caused flooded basements in several hundred houses in a very localized area in Sarnia. This included our house which had several inches of rain water flood the lower level. It came and went while we were sleeping but the damage was done. Almost 2 months passed during the time of waiting for remediation and insurance coverage to allow us the repair the damages.

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In the middle of all that, we were fortunate enough to go through the process of selecting an apartment in the newly developed project, “The Bayfront”, in downtown Sarnia overlooking the St Clair River and Sarnia Bay. We had been watching the development for several years and it had been delayed due to COVID.

So, now we had to put our family home for almost 34 years house up for sale! But our plans were delayed for almost 2 months by the renovations of the basement. In any case, our home sold conditionally in a matter of days once it was listed. It was a waiting game as their was a string of conditional sales, but the dominoes finally fell and it closed in early December!

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On the lighter side of things… in what seems like a lifetime ago, we had booked two weeks in our favourite condo in Litchfield, SC for late August 2020! The COVID pandemic out the kibosh to that in 2020 and 2021, so it was with great relief we were able to go this past August. Kerry, Bryan and the boys joined us for a week of that time!

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In November, we flew out to Kelowna and Vernon to surprise my sister Val on her 80th birthday! It was a great surprise and a great time with family and friends!

Unfortunately, we returned home from BC with an unwanted guest that we had been able to avoid for over 2-1/2 years! It took 8-9 days to recover enough to finally test -ve! Thankfully we were fully boosted!

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While we had prided ourselves on the house purging we had already done, it was another whole level of work to plan on moving from a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 4-level back-split home to a 2 bedroom apartment!

As our apartment won’t be ready for occupancy until Feb 3rd, all our belongings have now gone into storage! So our family will actually be managing our move from storage to apartment while we’re still here in Uaymitun!

While the house was in the last days before closing and a few days afterwards, we rented a cottage in Brights Grove, near Kristy, Andy and the girls, just to have somewhere to rest.

Then we spent the rest of the our time, before heading south, in Wellesley with Kerry, Bryan and the boys! Given the massive storm that hit Ontario over Christmas, it was a belated but wonderful Christmas the week afterwards.

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Sorry to drone on, but that just covers some of the highlights and lowlights of a very “interesting time” for us this past year! For that reason, we’re counting on finding the next 3 months very “uninteresting” and a time to recuperate!

Now back to our Winter in Uaymitun!

Kerry & Bryan drove us to our airport hotel in Toronto on the afternoon before our WestJet flight to Mérida! Elaine had been chatting with Kari before hand, so we were able to have dinner with Kari & Paul Richer in Moxies that evening. It was great to catch up with them!

It was a mad house in Pearson Terminal 3, but we were able to check in and get through Security pretty quickly. It was nice to be able to relax in the Lounge until our flight was called. While waiting at the Gate we ran into Ross & Joan from down the beach and our neighbours Dave & Jeanette!

Our flight left basically on time and was uneventful. As it approached the Yucatan, we flew jut to the east of Progreso and I was able to get a pic of the Progreso Pier!

We arrived on time in Merida with a somewhat “interesting” landing as the left wing caught a wind gust at the last moment! Sudden intake of breath throughout the plane and then cheers when our pilot righted the ship and brought us down safely!

We 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 quickly! All in all, we were through in less than 20 minutes! Amazing!

A quick stop at Soriana to pick up a few essentials and out the Costera to Uaymitun and our winter home!

Last year, I posted a number of pictures of the construction next door and for our new gateway! Well, all that work is now done and here’s a few pics of the new entrance, both during the day and at night when it’s all lit up!

Our new house sign!

The new entrance and driveway…

… and at night!

Well, I think I’ll close out this very long blog for now! The next one will highlight the arrival of Val & George as well a very, very special day!

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine

Welcome to our blog post that highlights the final days of our Uaymitun Winter of 2022!

We are back home now, so I’m writing our final blog post of the season from my office back home! My apologies as this will be quite a long one!

It’s hard to believe that our 3 months in Uaymitun have come to an end already!

It’s been a very different experience as we were still maintaining our COVID protocols and kept our circle very small! We are all hoping that next year will be more like winters of the past!

Pamela and Raymond flew home a week before us… Val & George a few days later. There are other friends and acquaintances who are on our flight or will be leaving shortly as Semana Santa and all the Easter festivities at the beach are about to start!

To start this, our final blog of the Winter in Uaymitun 2022 season, there is…

In a well deserved 3-2 Championship Playdown, Paméla and Doug trounced the competitors of Raymondo and Elaine!

Note to self, never let the 2nd place team take the Victory photos!

Watch here for the latest in the “Sendero Jurásico” now unfolding before our very eyes… that is if you’re tall and can look over the bushes! Unfortunately, they have it roped off and we can only get glimpses of the latest additions to their herd of dinos!

However, there is one major addition that you can’t miss!

In the last week or so, before our departure, some very large additions to the Sendero Jurasico site!

Word on the street is that it should be open for visitors for the Easter season!

While we had ventured into parts of Mérida for groceries, we had not driven into Centro yet this year… until a few days ago! We drove downtown with Val & George, parked in the parking lot behind Santa Lucia Park and walked down 60 almost to the Plaza Grande.

Our destination was Amaro… one of our Mérida favs!

One of our favourite parts of dining at Amaro is the Café Maya after dinner! It’s is made from coffee, Kahlua and Xtabentún. The making of this wonderful drink starts with an elaborate process requiring great skill. Victor, our bartender, heated the liqueurs in a number of receptacles, pouring them into each other. The ignited liquid burns with a blue colored flame as it is poured from receptacle to receptacle in a stepwise fashion it looks like a mini beautiful waterfall of flaming liquid! Delivered into a glass of superb coffee finished with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Delectable!

Victor shows his chops with the making of Café Maya

After a delightful dinner, we had a great amble back up Calle 60!

Apart from going into Progeso to the bank and grocery stores, we had consciously avoided going downtown. But a few days later we made our first visit to the Progreso Malecón to have dinner with Val & George at Almadia!

After a great dinner, we strolled down the Malecón to see all the changes!

This was our last “outing” with Val & George of the season, as they left the day after!

As recounted in an earlier post, we had decided against going to Hacienda Xcanatun to celebrate our anniversary and went to Humo Bistro instead! We really enjoyed our dinners, but agreed we needed to return to try other items on their menu.

So we booked one last dinner at the beach so we could revisit Humo Bistro!

We shared our appetizer, Montaditos de Lomo, and then followed up with the Filet Mignon with Black Pepper Sauce! Yumm!

On the last Friday of our stay, we ventured into downtown Progreso to settle our car rental bill with Yucatan Vacations. We took the opportunity to drop by Anita’s in the market to pick up some vanilla. We also hoped to go to the store where we have purchased Progreso beach jackets, but it was closed due to the construction on the Malecón. It was an absolutely blistering hot day, so on the spur of the moment, we continued to Crabster for a brunch in air conditioning!

Earlier in the winter, there was a wedding celebration at what we call the ”Party House” just East of us down the beach! Loud music, fireworks and a incredibly heavy downpour marked their evening.

Well, on our last evening at the beach house, there was another wedding on the beach… just 4 houses down the beach West of us! Better weather and no fireworks but it sure wasn’t our idea of a last evening!

To close out our time at the beach, I have to include a few great sunsets and a sunrise!

This was our final sunrise at the beach. Our totes had been packed and stored away the day before, so we just had our final items to put in our suitcases.

… and farewell Miguel, Maria, Jesus and Mauricio until next year!

After our farewells, we gassed up our car for the last time at the Pemex and headed into Mérida. We met up with Miguel of Yucatán Vacations at their office at the Fiesta Americana Hotel to drop off the car and then he took us to the Luz en Yucatán.

We had heard from Val & George that there had been quite a few changes at the Luz, but we were pleasantly surprised to seem them all!

There is work underway to create a breakfast room/bar in previously unused rooms near the front of the building!

Beautiful light fixtures and a stairway to nowhere!

A few more pics of our favourite retreat in Mérida!

We were very happy to see that our little “buddy” is still at the poolside rooms!

It goes without saying, there are many, many great restaurants in Mérida!

Our first evening in Mérida, we walked down Calle 55 from the Luz to have dinner at another one of our favourite places, Chaya Maya!

After dinner at Chaya Maya, we walked down to the Gran Plaza and stopped for Cappuccinos con Xtabentún at the Cafe Peon Contreras beside the theatre.

As with many of the restaurants in Centro, the outside may be non-descript, but the food inside is marvelous!

One of those places is SOCO, a short walk from the Luz, where we went for a breakfast!

Morning cappuccinos, a different take on French Toast and a great door across the street!

And our final dinner of the season, we returned to Amaro for another fabulous meal; Pollo X’catic and Cafe Mayas! It was a great way to finish our Winter season!

Continuing the tradition at Amaro!

Our final morning in Mérida… we had our usual “hot cakes y tocino” at Pita across the street from the Luz en Yucatan.

We had arranged for a taxi to take us out to the airport and we were very glad we arrived early as the line was already growing at check-in!

After Check-in and Bag Drop, we went upstairs to clear Security only to wait 20 minutes for Immigration Agents to show up to check us through. We went downstairs to Gate A3 as directed, although our original boarding passes said A1 (upstairs).

At the last minute, an announcement fills the air… “WestJet 2793 is now departing from A1”! Now all 200 of us file back up the ramp and gather around our original gate!

Our flight was delayed close to an hour in departing but it did make up some time on the way to Toronto!

Kerry & Bryan were waiting for us on the Arrivals level and off we went to their house in Wellesley… next morning we headed back to Sarnia!

That’s it for this blog post and our Winter in Uaymitun 2022! I hope you’ve enjoyed our posts! Próximo Año!

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine

Welcome to our penultimate blog post of 2022 that highlights the construction and renovations going on all around us!

As I mentioned in an early blog, there is lots and lots of renovations and new construction happening here and along the beach up to Telchac Puerto and beyond! I guess they’re following the mantra of the movie “Field of Dreams”… if you build it they will come!

There’s a massive 10-12 bedroom house being built beside Jack & Michelle’s rental just 3 doors east of us.

There’s two new casitas being built next door at Mayo’s house. The latter has led to Gaby building a new private entrance at the road for our house, Uaymarima! We suspect there will also be a new sign out front next winter, but we don’t know what will be on it!

During our visit with Gaby early in January, she told us the reasoning behind needing her own private entrance into the beach house and that it would be starting soon! Miguel also told us of the impending changes… but nothing much happened for more than 2 weeks! Then people with hats and clipboards showed up and work began!

Week 4: they started trenching with hand shovels, rebar and fishing line markers

Week 5: more trenching and a pile of limestone rocks appeared

Week 6: gateway foundations being built from the limestone rocks

Week 9: the old wall comes down… by hand sledges

Week 10: the ‘rampita’ is poured at the road

Week 12: We’re using the entrance now… can’t wait to see the finished product!

We’ve been told that the pieces of white plastic pipe, which fit over the rebar posts, will be filled with concrete and then painted brown to match the house!

Also, there will be a new sign to replace the old Uaymarima sign that’s now at Mayo’s entrance… but we don’t know what the sign will say. We expect there will be new lighting along the wall between Gaby’s and Victor’s house as well as new landscaping along the lot line between Gaby’s and Mayo’s lots.

So we’re excited to see what the project looks like when it’s all done!

So here’s a few pics of the new casitas behind Mayo’s house…

Week 9: the 2nd level floor being poured

Week 12: here’s our last pics before we head home!

That’s it for this blog post! Until next time…

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine

Welcome to our blog post that highlights a long hoped for return to Uaymitun by Kerry, Bryan, Jack and Ben!

For two months, there was a possibility that Kerry and family would be able to swing a trip back to Uaymitun! The stars finally aligned and they flew down on the WestJet Tuesday flight from Toronto to Mérida!

But, before moving on to the Tolson’s visit, sorry but some more sunset pics! We finally had a few days of less wind and great sunsets on the beach!

We also had another Él Norté pass through on the weekend before their arrival!

The day has arrived… WestJet made their Tuesday run between Toronto and Mérida!

About an hour wait for deplaning, immigration and customs and we were on our way to the beach house!

It wasn’t too long before a game of “ring toss” began!

I must interject here that there was some monetary incentive to try to drop the ring over the pop bottle without knocking it over! The number of attempts, by both boys, was enormous!

The following day, Miguel brought the two kayaks down to the beach for our enjoyment! While I did take a turn, Bryan, Kerry and the boys used them most days!

Their plan for the visit was to primarily relax and enjoy the sun, the heat and the beach… so we didn’t go on any adventures to cenotes, mayan ruins or even a visit to Centro Mérida!

However, we did venture into Chicxulub one evening to introduce them to Loncheria Carolina’s!

Everyone enjoyed lots of empanadas, salbutes and panuchos! We kept our waiter, Daniel, very busy!

Lots of “healthy” snacks were identified by the boys… our pantry was overflowing!

The next day was Kerry’s birthday! To start the festivities, we walked down the beach to Val & George’s beach house!

Back and relaxing on our patio… it was gift time!

We all went out to Elio al Mare’s for dinner! Everyone enjoyed their meals and there was a special treat for Kerry at the end!

After a wonderful dinner, it was back to the beach house and relaxing on the patio!

We had fabulous weather other than one evening downpour, so there was lots of fun pool time!

We even had another visit from MeowMeow NoName… who apparently is misnamed… he is Jesus’ cat and his name is Mixo (Misho)!

Bryan and I made a Monday trip up the coast to the Chuburna Market to pick up a few things!

We tried to catch a few beach sunsets and somehow, I took pictures!

Wednesday morning arrived and it was off to the airport for goodbyes!

And lot of hugs and farewells as the headed towards their departure gate!

Off they flew on Aeromexico from Mérida to Mexico City and back to Toronto!

Perhaps my final chapter on interesting food items here in the Yucatán!

That’s it for this blog post! Until next time…

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine

Welcome to our blog post that highlights from “Un Lugar Favorito”, a favourite place!

One of our traditions for each Winter in Uaymitun is to visit one of our all time favourite places, Hacienda Yaxcopoil!

As we did in 2019, we visited Yaxcopoil with Raymond and Pamela, who also love this place!

I’ve included a number of the many, many pictures we always take here!

While the ladies retired to the main house for some shade, us manly men continued to the main attraction… the factory site!

We walked through a slightly opened gate and walked passed the store rooms out to the far stone fence. Never having gone this far we found three small rooms with iron barred doors… probably storage for important items… or… queue spooky music… they could have been the jail (see Raymond below)!

While we were exploring the main engine room of the factory, we met a man who was painting the wooden doors. After talking with him, we realized that this was Senor Alejandro Quintal Solis, whom we had met several times as he was hand painting the various rooms in the main house!

To finish out this blog post… a few odds and ends!

There has been a lot of activity at the soon to be open (maybe) “Jurassic Way”… including this fella or gal… who knows!

It’s not often that we’re in Chicxulub in the evening, but the town usually comes alive!

As I mentioned earlier… at some point we would tell you how our packaged Yucatecan food was… well here’s the 1st! Cochinita Pibil!

We have been known to frequent Doña Mary on Tuesdays for Pechuga Parmesana but on a Monday, we got some Arrollados de Repollo (Cabbage Rolls)!

That’s it for this blog post! Until next time…

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine