PHOTO GALLERY TWO (Family Reunion)

PHOTO GALLERY THREE (Mayan Ruins, Museum)

PHOTO GALLERY FOUR (Merida, Anthropology Museum, Dances)

PHOTO GALLERY FIVE (Progreso Malecon)

Day Eight

We got up early today and took a trip over to Dbitzaltun, another group of Mayan ruins between Progreso and Merida. It's a much more developed site than Xcampo, with a museum, stores, and restaurant. Dbitzaltun was a much bigger city, too. It's still in much of the discovery phases, with more ruins being uncovered all the time. Right now there's a central plaza with a temple at on end and a palace and pyramid on the other. There's also a Catholic church built from stone from the Mayan temples, with carving still apparent in much of the stone and debris. The church made a habit of pulling down the native temples and making the indians build their churches. I took a lot of pictures, and the on-site museum was one of my favorite things so far this trip.

It started to rain a bit so we had to cut things short. Rocio and Julie went back to the museum while I shot a few more pictures, then I joined them. We browsed the shops then headed back to the hotel.

We must have been in a pocket of calm. While we were away, Progreso was hit with a major storm, and all the streets were flooded. And I don't mean a little bit. I was afraid the car was going to stall more than once, and the water was over the curbs in many areas. We finally made it back to the hotel, where we took a nap.

Day Nine

We decided to spend a day in Merida, just Rocio, Julie, and I. We were just going to walk around a bit, go to a museum or two, and get in some tourist shopping for gifts. Instead of taking a taxi, we took the bus from Progreso to Merida. It makes stops along the way, and dropped us off right in front of the Museum of Anthropology.

What a cool museum. It's housed in the former residence of a Spanish General, who had been brought in to quell rebellion amongst the Mayan Indians. He was known for slaughtering thousands of them, so it's ironic that his former home is now use as a museum dedicated to the anthropology of those same Mayans. There were some great displays of Mayan sculpture and pottery, and one of the highlights was a traveling exhibition of seals. Folks today think that stenciling is a new craft, but it's been around for thousands of years. Some of the seals were very finely sculpted and the designs were nothing short of amazing. We were fortunate to catch the exhibition while it was visiting the museum It really made an impression on me.

I got plenty of pictures, along with a bit of video. My small digicam allows me to get snips of video at least to the extent of the memory card in the camera. Of course, there are signs posted stating “No Video Cameras!” all over the place, but I think I was only bending the rule a bit, since mine was not technically a video camera. But I guess I could say I risked a Mexican jail getting the pictures!

I was desperate for a restaurant that was non open-air and included air conditioning as part of the meal. I figured we should be able to find one in Merida, but the first place we went to was still open-air only. So I was fed up, noticed the Hyatt Regency was close (could see it rising above the others) so I told Rocio that's where we would have lunch. It wasn't that expensive, and even if it were, it would have been worth it to me by that point. Just to eat in an air-conditioned room was a pleasant experience. And the food was great, too. Seafood buffet, and I figured being the Hyatt I could risk stuffing myself. And I did. And would do it again.

From there we went to do some more shopping, going to a mall across the street for a while and buying a few things, then across the street to Merida's Super-Walmart where we picked up some stuff for Rocio's family and a few other things. The sky was clouding up pretty badly at this point, so we thought we were going to be caught in a downpour. Fortunately, we were able to grab a taxi that was willing to take us back to Progreso. What a ride! Speed limits on the Merida-Progreso highway is 60 kph. This guy was doing 120 kph. I don't think his little Nissan could have went any faster without starting to shed it's body panels. But he got us there, and he took us direct to the hotel, which was different because they usually would only drop us in the center square of Progreso.

Day Ten

Today we finally went to the beach in Progreso. Well, actually, we walked up and down the Malecon, or boardwalk. I did step into the water for a bit with Julie, and took some pictures of Rocio and Julie in the surf as well. It's a beautiful walk. You can see the pier disappearing into the distance (Progreso is home to the world's longest pier). The beaches on the Malecon are for the tourists, so they're kept very clean, and the water is the typical Carri bean emerald green. Rocio said that when a cruise ship was docked there were a lot of topless sunbathing, but (darn it!) there was no ship in port during our stroll.

There are a lot of street vendors along the Malecon, and they can be very aggressive. Especially if you show even the least interest in their stuff. We did buy a few things, but mostly we were just walking. I impressed the locals, blinding them with my snow-white legs. Liberally smeared with sunscreen so they didn't become bright-pink legs.

We stopped and had lunch at one of the typically open-air restaurants, one called Flamingo's. The shrimp cocktail was outstanding, and the fish I had was good as well. Street vendors would wander through the place trying to get us to buy necklaces, bracelets, etc. Some would send their little kids through, thinking that it would spur us to buy more stuff. And it did work, we ended up buying a few things from one sharp little boy.