Category: Uaymitun 2026

Welcome to this blog post that captures highlights from our 2026 Winter in Uaymitun!

This blog post will continue to highlight the goings on after the Family Christmas visit!

After our trip into Mérida with Doug & Janine, we had a restful day at the beach house. The following morning we did a day trip to a favourite site… Hacienda Yaxcopoil!

Interspersed between some relax days, we did a couple of other short day trips.

Taking advantage of the good weather, we headed into Progreso to amble on the Malecón.

The following day, we took a drive east on the coast as far as San Crisanto and then returned to Telchac Puerto for lunch!

We popped into Progreso for banking and were able to have a short visit with a special friend…

On Doug & Janine’s final day, we took a short drive to visit a few of the local villages. Our first foray was into Flamboyanes, which reminded me of why not to go visit there. Not a pretty village, and other than exploring two new multilane streets/roads to nowhere, it was disappointing.

However, next was San Ignacio, which is much more appealing. Pretty central avenue and flowering shrubs… leading to the Hacienda San Ignacio. The church remains, as does the main residence which appears to have been converted into a Boy Scout enclave.

Leaving San Ignacio, we found our way over to the village of Dzidzilché, which I hadn’t visited before. There’s an attractive square and the grounds of another abandoned hacienda.

What we found very interesting is that this Ceiba tree, which is held as sacred by the Maya, appears to have been blown over presumably in a severe storm but was then supported by a hastily constructed stone pillar!

On the way out of town, we noticed a small woodworking shop, Máak-Ché. We stopped and started looking at the wares… the lady of the house called the woodworker over to help! Janine was able to purchase an nice item to take back to family!

Before we knew it, Doug & Janine’s time in Uaymitun drew to a close…

Our niece Julie’s birthday was on February 4th, and we were able to celebrate that with her and husband Curtis at a local Chelem restaurant. We’d never stopped before and were perhaps put off by it’s humble appearance.

Well, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food available… all freshly cooked to order! Yumm!

As I mentioned earlier in the previous post, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans“!

We had received the news that Elaine’s Mom wasn’t well back in December, however, she was going to go back to her senior’s residence after a stay in the hospital. Based upon the situation then, we came down to Uaymitun and the family celebrated Christmas here, as I noted in Blog Post #1 of this season.

However, as time moved on, her situation declined and we made an emergency trip back home on Sunday, February 15th. We arrived late Sunday night and were able to spend some time with her that night and the next morning. She passed early in the morning of February 17th.

Well, with sad hearts, I’ll close out this Winter’s 3rd blog!

Love to all,

Cheers!

-Doug and Elaine

Welcome to this blog post that captures highlights from our 2026 Winter in Uaymitun!

There’s an old adage, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans“. This turned out to be true for our January and February this year. My apologies for the blog gap, but my original plan for publishing has changed due to much more important events.

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This blog post will highlight the goings on after the Family Christmas visit!

I almost titled this post “Winter in Uaymitun”, as the local forecasters have all agreed that the month of January in the Yucatán is going on to the record as the coldest month in 20 years. Now, as my readers are mostly going to cry foul given the weather in many places in Ontario, I will say “cold” is relative!

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As I started out Uaymitun 2025- Blog Post #2 with “Traditions!”, I’m going to do the same this year, but with a twist.

Merriam-Webster says that a tradition is an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior.

Every family has their own traditions that are most apparent during special family times. For us, Christmas includes our traditional Snowman Count, where all the grandkids (and now a great-granddaughter) hunt through our house and now our apartment counting how many Snowmen Nana has placed throughout!

So this year was very different as we celebrated Christmas in Uaymitun! So many of the Traditions were either enjoyed before we came down or will be renewed next year. Nana, Kerry and Kristy did, however, have Stockings stuffed with Christmas gifts for Jack, Ben, Madyn and Daryn.

Over the 17 years since our first trip to the area, we’ve been able to spend quality and quantity of time with my sister Val and husband George here!

So, in the spirit of traditions, I’m going to focus on our Anniversary Dinners with Val & George over the years!

This year we’re missing having Val & George here, but it was fitting that we were able to have our Anniversary dinner with niece Julie and husband Curtis!

As I switch streams of consciousness, I’ll highlight a few things from after the family left…

There’s always our first visit with Gaby in Chicxulub!

And a picture for Kerry, who was bemoaning missing a visit by a few local gatitos!

We spent a very quiet New Year’s Eve… didn’t even stay up to the see the giant Globe drop in NYC Times Square! However, our New Year’s Day morning…

A couple of days later, we went to FACES for the music! The first band was late in coming (car trouble) and really didn’t catch the fancy of the patrons.

They were followed by Las Paradigmas, who were always the stage band for the old Jam Sessions. They were great, but the response from everyone convinced Jim & Elke to cancel the Saturday sessions and add a second Steak Night on Fridays.

The weather hasn’t been too favorable for beach sitting at sunset, but we did manage to catch one nice one!

Several times, over the past few years, we have met up with Canadian cyclists, Steve and Dodie. This year, they are crisscrossing the Yucatán again and making a stopover in Progreso. We met up with them and showed them the sights of “downtown” Chicxulub.

The following day, it was time to head to the airport to pick up Doug & Janine. It’s been an eventful year for them, so they were glad to be coming for 2 weeks of rest and relaxation.

We planned to keep their visit pretty low key and relaxing, but we did manage some outings…

We went to the Wednesday market at Crocodiles…

… and then went to FACES for the afternoon music!

We were quite surprised to find that much of the beach at the eastern end of the Malecón has been washed away during recent storms.

The next day, after dropping off our laundry, we did a walkabout in Chicxulub.

The next day, after a restful morning, we headed into Mérida in the afternoon and parked at Sta Lucia Parque.

Topping off our walkabout we toured the Plaza Grande

Unfortunately, the front of the Cathedral is being renovated, so it wasn’t lit up in the evening.

Well, I think I’ll close out this Winter’s 2nd blog here and pick up where we left off in the 3rd!

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine

Welcome to this blog post that captures highlights from our 2026 Winter in Uaymitun!

Hola from Uaymitun! This is a first for us as we’re spending Christmas here! We have been joined for the week of Christmas by Kerry, Bryan, Jack & Ben and Kristy, Andy, Madyn & Daryn! What a special treat!

Please excuse my tardiness, but I have determined this winter to cut down on the number of blog posts in an effort to reduce duplication of things from previous years and focus on fewer happenings and places! Of course, having said that, this first post is likely to be lengthy due to Christmas!

It was a bit surreal to close up the apartment in mid-December, but we left Sarnia on Dec 14th and spent the night in Wellesley with Kerry, Bryan and the boys. Don and Sharon came over for a dinner with the family.

The next day, Don and Sharon drove us from Wellesley to Toronto Pearson Airport! Many thanks to their help in getting us to the airport hotel … we enjoyed some refreshments in Moxie’s restaurant in the hotel with them before they headed home.

After they left for home, we relaxed and had a great dinner at Moxie’s!

As usual, it was an early morning wakeup call… repack a few things… catch the shuttle and off to the airport.

Getting our luggage checked and getting through security was really good, as we took our bags to the Premier check-in and then used our Nexus!

When we arrived at the gate, our plane wasn’t there, but fortunately they updated us that it was being towed over!

We were delayed about 1/2 hour but then we were off to Mérida!

After a smooth landing and taxi to the gate, we slowly made our way to Immigration. I say slowly, as I currently have some hip/leg issues that are likely due to some osteoarthritis and sciatica. We were quickly through our passport check and then on to wait for our luggage.

As usual, it was slow in coming, but all arrived safely and in one piece. Then on to Customs… we filled out the Customs form from the airplane, but they weren’t interested. The “Nothing to Declare” path was closed and everyone had to take their luggage through the X-Ray scanner. That was a painful ordeal, as there wasn’t any help in lugging the luggage into the machine! All was well and we met up with Miguel from Yucatán Vacation Rentals who helped us with our luggage.

For whatever reason, the traffic around the Departure/Arrival lanes was unbelievable and the whole parking lot was full! Very weird!

After a stop at Soriana in Progreso to pick up a few items for the house, we arrived in our Winter Home!

Once we had done a bit of unpacking and retrieving some items from our totes, we had Gourmet meal of Grilled Cheese and Ham Sandwiches!

By the time we were ready to sit and relax for a bit, we were able to enjoy our patio and listen to the waves!

This is what we’d been waiting for, for a long time! Morning coffee on the patio!

As the Christmas week was coming quickly, I needed to start my beach raking!

Later that day, we made our first trip into Progreso to pick up a few specific items and check out the changes from the previous season!

Last year, one of the biggest changes since last year is the new Chedraui store in Progreso Centro. This year it’s the opening of a new Walmart on the road between Chicxulub and Progreso!

Christmas Week Day 1 – Arrival and Settling in!

Off to the airport we went… always enjoying moments of excitement on the Periferico and the busy highway leading into the airport!

After the normal “too long” a wait, the family poured out of the arrivals door and hugs all around. We loaded all the luggage an people into the 2 vehicles and off we went to the beach house!

The family did some settling in and exploring and then we were off to Chicxulub for a Yucatecan style outdoor meal, when the heavens opened up and a downpour flooded the streets! So, a quick pivot to Plan “B” and we went to the Viejo Bar for supper instead.

Christmas Week Day 2 – Relax in the Sun!

This was a “glad to be out of the cold and in the heat” kind of day.

Kerry and Kristy joined me for a quick trip into Chicxulub.

We were “treated” to some musical renditions of Christmas tunes from a local lady with a drum on a stick for accompaniment. She also had a cute puppy on her bike!

… and we also met a local perro who could have been Kali’s cousin!

Our evening meal was yummy lasagna!

Christmas Week Day 3 – Christmas Day!

Christmas Day in Uaymitun… a long awaited happening! Certainly different to Christmas Day back home but unique and memorable!

We had booked Christmas Dinner at FACES so we didn’t have to cook a turkey like at home.

Christmas Dinner at FACES was fabulous… Roast Turkey and Dressing, Ham, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy and Green Bean Casserole! Everyone took home leftovers!

Christmas Week Day 4 – Boxing Day!

After the festivities of Christmas Day, the next day was a chill day at the beach with a rescheduled dinner at Loncheria La Carolina in Chicxulub!

After mucho, mucho yummy items, it was time for a walkabout the square in Chicxulub!

Christmas Week Day 5 – Mérida here we come!

Most of the day was spent relaxing at the beach…

…but late afternoon we tumbled into both vehicles and headed into Mérida! We parked in the lot at Sta Lucia Parque and started our adventure! We were able to flag down 2 horse-drawn carriages and off they went!

The Powell/Fraser family in one…

The carriages went up C. 60, across and down the Paseo de Montejo past all the stately home!

Then it was a casual walk down C. 60 towards the Grand Plaza and the Cathedral.

One objective of our trip into Mérida was dinner at Amaro, were we were greeted by Victor and the other waiters!

Our dinner was finished off by another display of creativity by Victor with the making of Cafe Mayas! Here he was doing the prepwork… unfortunately, my video of the pour wasn’t captured correctly!

After a wonderful dinner, we strolled down to the square and did some exploring!

Churros were enjoyed by all… then we strolled back up C. 60 to Sta Lucia Parque.

Christmas Week Day 6 – Fishing and Dining

The next day, Bryan had arranged for a fishing excursion for Andy, Jack and Ben on the lagoon south of Yucalpeten and Chelem. After quite an early morning start, they met up with their guide, a retiree from Calgary, at one of the local marinas and off they went!

The afternoon was spent by the guys recovering from their fishing adventure!

Late afternoon, those who felt up to it heading into Progreso for a quick browse on the Malecón and then dinner at one of our favs, Elio al Mare.

Christmas Week Day 7 – Final day

On the last day, a van full of family headed west along to coast… stopping at the Natural Thangs market in Chelem and then venturing into ‘no-mans’ land all the way to Chuburna to visit the beach there!

After an afternoon touring the Malecón, with better shopping luck this time… it was time for a final dinner together!

What better, low key, fun place than Pizza Paradiso in San Bruno!

Christmas Week Day 7+ – Homeward Bound

The week sure has flown by in a hurry! Before we knew it, the Mexican Train dominoes were put away… the luggage was packed… and it was off to Mérida Airport to drop off the 2nd vehicle and to ensure everyone was checked in and safely ready to fly back to Toronto.

Well, I think I’ll close out this Winter’s 1st blog for now! It was a memorable 2 weeks for us!

The next one will highlight reunions with family and friends and another special day for us!

Cheers!

Love to all,

-Doug and Elaine