Uaymitun 2022-Blog Post #12 “Final Days!”

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