Life's a Beach | Expat Life in Playa del Carmen : 2010, Yucatan

Travels in the Yucatan - Merida Day 1

Rob Kinnon — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:03:00 GMT

We have been to Merida several times in the six years that we have lived in Mexico. One of Cole's annual Tae Kwon Do tournaments is hosted here and we are looking forward Birdie's first qualifying horse show that will take place at the Hipico del Sureste at the end of March. It's a great city and I am enjoying it now more than ever. We are here on a recon mission, looking for investment properties for ourselves and for buyers looking to expand their portfolios, so it's not as much of vacation as I might like. Still, the kids are coming with us so we will be looking for opportunities for fun when we are not picking our way through old colonial ruins.

As always, we are taking the route south through Tulum and then up to Valladolid before heading west to Merida. The road is now smooth and fast and the connection with the Merida cuota is well marked. We particularly enjoy seeing all the new shops and restaurants that have sprung up between Tulum and Coba. It sure has changed in the past six years!

Future bloggers?

PEMEX cracking down on scamming attendants!

Current cuota fares from Valladolid to Merida

While we usually stay at Luz en Yucatan, our very favorite small hotel in Merida, we decided to treat ourselves this time and rent a house and give ourselves some room to spread out a bit. We are spending nearly a week in the city so personal space will be important. Rob selected Casa Esplendida, a sprawling four bedroom colonial located just across the street from the Merida English Language Library, in a super neighborhood that seems to be a haven for Merida expats. The house was fully refurbished about a year ago and is a perfect place to call home base as we explore the city. Perfectly situated within a ten minute walk of both the Gran Plaza and the south end of Paseo Montejo, we couldn't be in a better spot.

Day 1 was a travel day and we did little more than arrive, check in, get settled and wander into the main square for a stroll and some dinner. Touristy but always good, we chose Pancho's for our first meal. Rob had never been before but the kids and I gave Pancho's two (or rather three) thumbs up when we were last here at the end of October. Pancho's did not disappoint despite being jam packed with (primarily gringo) tourists, like ourselves. The kids both enjoyed the arrachera quesadillas while the grown ups devoured a salad of octopus, avocado and arugula and the pate rustico followed by a beautiful piece of sea bass served with wilted spinach and rice in a mild chile sauce and, for Rob, the cowboy steak with a serrano chile sauce and mashed sweet potatoes. Delicious. I would be remiss if I did not mention that the service at Pancho's is perhaps the best I have received anywhere in Mexico. I am looking forward to trying either Trotters or La Tratto, the other two venues in the renowned restaurant group headed by Paul Trotter.

Birdie enjoying the steak quesadilla

Mayan Coffee - Always a crowd pleaser!

After dinner, we took a stroll to the Gran Plaza to check out what festivities might be going on. On the south west corner a stage had been erected and several thousand people were seated and waiting for some sort of convert to commence. I would love to say we decided to move on because the kids were tired but, in reality, it was the grown ups who couldn't hang. ;)

In the north east corner by the cathedral another stage held a dozen or so Municipal VIPs backed by a large screen. The city's accomplishments of the year were being announced and celebrated followed by a brief fireworks display. Good timing on our part! The kids grabbed some marquesitas for dessert and Rob and I sat in the park and enjoyed an after dinner coffee, a quiet end to our first day in the city. Tomorrow is jam packed full of buildings to tour. Curious about what we will find....

Must finish the night with Marquesitas....

and coffee at Peon Conteras.

Goodnight Merida.

Go to: Day 2 - Exploring Colonial Ruins

The Third Annual Latin American Bloggers’ Conference Cometh

Rob Kinnon — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Mark your calendars! The Third Annual Latin American Bloggers’ Conference will be held in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico from Friday Nov. 12 – Sunday Nov. 14, 2010.

The event is open to all Bloggers but in order for us to get ready, it will be necessary for you to pre-register. Stay tuned… in the next few weeks, we’ll create a form and post it. This year our venue will be a downtown college campus (http://www.tttac.com) that comes with wireless Internet, garden space, and lecture hall. The activities will start on Friday evening, November 12th with a Cocktail-Social to Meet & Greet your fellow Bloggers. On Saturday, November 13th we will have a full day of conferences/talks/workshops… lunch, more topics, and more opportunities to eat.

Some of the ideas we have are:

• Identifying and keeping your blog’s Focus • Adding Photos – Uploading, effectiveness and continuity

• Using you Blog to market your product / service / whatever

• A Beginner’s blogging class

• Advanced HTML techniques

Do these topics interest you? Do you have other suggestions? Would you like to do a presentation for your fellow bloggers? Do let us know because we want this conference to be as good as it can be.

Saturday will also provide an evening opportunity to see some of Merida’s clubs and bistros… There are a number to choose from. We'll say goodbye with a Sunday morning breakfast, unless you decide to stay and enjoy Merida for a few extra days. Please email and let us know if you want to come and join us.

Please invite other bloggers you know and by all means, post this information on your blog. We hope to have as many Latin American Bloggers attend the conference as possible. The more the merrier!

In a few weeks, we will be compiling a short list of hotels, restaurants and other places of interest located close to the conference site.

For further info contact…

Theresa at: http:// www.theresainmerida.blogspot.com

Joanna at: http://joannavandergrachtderosado.wordpress.com

Debi at: http://www.debiinmerida.blogspot.com

Road Trip 2010 - Day 1 - Playa del Carmen to Calakmul

Rob Kinnon — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:14:00 GMT

Welcome to the Kinnon Family Road Trip 2010! Day 1 of our itinerary brought us from Playa del Carmen to Calakmul, a ruin site of great cultural significance in the Classic Period, located in the state of Campeche. We made great time moving south on 307, the same road that carried us to Belize in 2008 and then Guatemala in 2009. As expected, as every year, we noted more and more construction, particularly in Tulum and Bacalar. The turnoff toward Escarcega took us into new territory but through a countryside that remained familiar. The well kept, wide two lane highway stretched out long and straight, through acres and acres of small farms and sugarcane plantations. While this kind of ride bores my husband to tears, I enjoy trying to make out what crops are being cultivated by the campesinos and what also seems to grow wild in the fields along the road.

No video games. No DVDs. Just books and a lot of imagination.

The ruins at Rio Bec

This is an area far more dependent on agriculture then the Riviera Maya. One can finds numerous breeds of cattle, horses, sheep, goats and all manner of poultry being raised next to wide tracts of corn and sugar cane. Fruit bearing trees are plentiful and prolific, the ground often littered with rotting citrus fruit, a pleasant snack for wandering livestock. The wide, flat farmlands slowly gave way to gently rolling hills and soon we arrived at our destination, the eco-resort, Puerta Calakmul.

Our cabana at Puerta Calakmul

The kids love those mosquito nets.

Orchids everywhere!

We checked in quickly to our accommodations, a rustic screened in cabana in the jungle with two matrimonial sized beds draped with elegant mosquito netting. Dropping off our belongings and changing into appropriate shoes, we immediately headed out on our first excursion. Located about 5 minutes drive back east toward the pueblo of Xpujil, is an enormous cave system that is home to millions of bats. Every evening at the same time, the bats pour out of these caverns in search of food.

On the edge of the cavern

We arrived in time to witness this amazing spectacle along with some fellow guests and a handful of students armed with video camera and tripod. Everyone was mesmerized as the bats flooded out of the cave like a thick black ribbon of smoke. The bats spiraled, en mass, around and around, slowly rising up and out of the gulley and into the night sky. We stayed for over 20 minutes and still the bats kept coming. It was a real Animal Planet moment and one we are not likely to forget.

It was very hard to capture the bats on film but we will post a video when we get back.

We returned to our hotel after dark and enjoyed a nice dinner of chicken fajitas. Pretty pedestrian fare by our standards but tasty and good enough to fill our bellies before heading off to bed. An early night for us all as we plan to tour the ruins of Calakmul in the morning.

We found no internet in this remote location, nor would we until San Cristobal.

More to come......