Welcome to "Life's a Beach" Sign in | Help

Browse by Tags

All Tags » Yucatan   (RSS)
You read all the hype about the Mayan calendar, the end of days, the impending apocalypse... right? Well, so did we and watched with much amusement as everyone outside of the Mayan world made their preparations. Some prepared for the end, fearing the worst, stocking their war chests and food pantries. Others traveled to sacred spots to celebrate the end of an era, unsure about what might come. Down here in the heart of the Mundo Maya, those who weren't somehow profiting from this whole phenomenon passed the day quietly, business as usual. Read More...
Have you ever wondered what life is like in a Maya village today? What would it look like? How would the local people really dress, eat, work, pray and go about their daily lives? Are you interested in a cultural experience more meaningful than a quick stop for souvenirs orchestrated by a big bus tours on your way home from the ruins. I'm taking about a full day spent in a remote village talking with the local residents, meeting with village elders, learning about the proud history of the Maya in Quintana Roo. Personally, I am always on the look-out for these kinds of opportunities and this visit to the town of Señor arranged by Ojos Mayas and Xyaat Ecoturismo Comunitario Maya was just what I had been hoping for. Read More...
A small bookstore in a rustic pueblo in Quintana Roo, Mexico, was apparently the right place for author and journalist Jeanine Kitchel to nurture her craving to learn more about the Maya culture. Read More...
Greetings "Life's a Beach" readers! What follows is a message from Tamara Magnusson (tamarainprogreso[at]gmail.com) who is once again seeking information from the US and Canadian ex-pats and snowbirds in Mexico and Central America. Plans to initiate a ferry service from Tampa to Progresso are back on the table at United Caribbean Lines and they are looking for our input to help them move forward with this ambitious investment. To help United Caribbean Lines make an informed plan to bring this ferry service to the Yucatan, please copy and paste the questionnaire below into an e-mail and send to BNIERENBERG@AOL.COM. Don't forget to share this blog post with your expat friends so that they too can weigh in on this exciting development. Read More...
After resting up from our long but fun day in Tizimin, we jumped right back into real estate recon mode on Monday morning. Having considerably narrowed down not only our selected neighborhoods but also the physical characteristics of the properties we wanted to view, the showings were far more productive. Read More...
In addition to visiting the Merida Zoo, we had a special day trip planned for the kids, a road trip to the village of Tizimin to see the Feria de Caballos (horse fair) during the Festival de los Reyes, one of the 5 largest annual festivals in Mexico. Birdie's trainer, Paco, had mentioned the fair to me a few weeks back, thinking it might be fun for all of us to see now that we were reentering the horse world. Tizimin is located north of Valladolid but even though we were traveling back west from Merida, the trip turns out to be about equidistant (time-wise) from Playa del Carmen. Taking the road that runs parallel and to the north of the Cancun-Merida cuota was fast and easy and only took us about 1.5 hours. Once in the town of Tizimin, finding the fairgrounds was not difficult. There was a LONG line of cars all headed (at a snail's pace) in the same direction and hundreds of buses bringing visitors from across the country. It is fair to say the town was filled to capacity! Read More...
Six years ago, the first time we visited the Merida Zoo, the kids were not much more than babies. We were in the city doing some exploring and celebrating Cole's 2nd birthday so a trip to the zoo seemed like the perfect way to spend the afternoon. It turned out to be the perfect time for both little one's to spike a fever and come down with some sort of horrible virus that landed us in our hotel room for a few days. Two words: diarrhea and tights. Not a good combination especially in a public restroom at a playground. Read More...
As this trip was planned to be for work as well as pleasure, we did our best to get the work out of the way first. In all honesty, even the kids have grown accustomed to and now find the fun in poking around old ruins...even the ruins of Colonial Merida! It was interesting to see what we would find behind the grand facades and elegant entries. Considering our price point, we were looking for the most part at buildings that were quite dilapidated and would require both imagination and renovation. Some of the best building we toured were those that had been virtually untouched since they were first built. In other words, no one had gone in and screwed them up yet with awful new tile and drop ceilings. Uugh. Read More...
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. Read More...
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 Read More...
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, Read More...
Yesterday, the kids had a day off from school to celebrate (early) Benito Juarez' birthday, so I packed them and their bikes into the Xterra and we set off on a much needed adventure. Our first stop was Coba , about an hour and a half from Playa del Read More...
There are a lot of things that frustrate me, day to day, in my new home country. The inability of shopkeepers to keep an appropriate amount of change in the cash register. Mind numbing lines at the bank. The impossibility of completing a task without Read More...
Cenote Dzitnup in Valladolid Read More...
Over the past four years, I have seen the concept of recycling evolve from a "silly notion" promoted only by a bunch of "gringos" to a full on Cultural Revolution. Rarely a day goes by that I don't receive an email from someone, Read More...
More Posts Next page »