Day 21: Sacalum to Ticul and back

January 2, 2024

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The land inside the compound that houses our little apartment is well landscaped but rather unique in that it has numerous levels, terraces I suppose, each connected by one to three steps. This creates a bit of a puzzle as we look for the most convenient way to conduct our bikes in and out.

The levels theme actually continues inside the apartment, where there are two steps up from the sitting area to the kitchen, three steps from the kitchen to the bedroom, and two from the kitchen to the bathroom. There is also then a big one from the bedroom down to the bathroom. This reminds me of the days when my parents lived in a sort of similar house in the suburbs. It was called a "split level", which at the time was synonymous with "swanky". There was also the concept then of the "sunken living room", which though it sounds like something at risk of, or already, flooded, was supposed to be de rigeur as well.

All this was not in my thoughts when early this morning I left the bed and headed for the bathroom, eyes still mostly closed. Dodie thought someone might be trying to break in, when she heard the crash. But I must be as young as I think I am, because I merely bounced on the tile floor, finding myself suddenly ten feet further into the room, but no worse for wear and not really knowing what happened!

Watch your "step" on the way to the bathroom!

It's a good thing I had not diverted to the kitchen for a snack, because that cliff is a doozy.

We do very much like the place, including the shady concrete spot by the door. This is great for working on the bikes.

Some of the landscaping around our place.

Our main plan for today was to head back to Ticul, for another look at that great market. We also hoped, of course, to grab some higher quality food than what can be seen in Sacalum. Unless we are missing something, there are no fruits or vegetables, or almost any fresh foods here. Either the people are subsisting on Bimbo white bread and Coke, or like us, they are making pilgrimages into Ticul regularly. Google Maps has a normally irritating feature called "Latest in ..." that is shown when you search for a place. I guess it's a paid advertising thing for local businesses. They may also show a menu of restaurant, hotel, shopping, etc. opportunities, plus gyms, attractions, and such. But for Sacalum, the mighty Google was mostly stumped. They did mention a restaurant in town, that we might actually try, but generally it's better to just go to Ticul. That of course is not Sacalum's fault, and I bet Google would also have a hard time with our own little town at home. It's just that Dodie was scratching her head with "Why exactly did I book two nights here?"

We were tickled, as soon as we got onto the road to Ticul, to run into a small family of Wild Turkeys.

The sun was directly facing us and it was backlighting any birds that we saw, such as this Groove Billed Ani.

and the many White-winged Doves.

We always like to find a Motmot, for its exotic colouring, fancy tail, and fun name. This time I was the one lucky enough to spot one. It has to be luck, of course, because Dodie is the one by far with the keen eye.

The road, once again, was just the way we like it, with little traffic and perfect temperature.

Others were on their way into town as well. We think these boys were carrying wood, maybe to sell at the market?

Ticul, of course, is the place with the Mayan statues in the street dividers. We think this a famous feature of the place.

Just opposite the market building there is a Chedraui supermarket. We made this our first stop, and I got parked with the many motos, while Dodie went to see what was on offer.

Dodie came back with a much higher grade of junk food than I had been able to find at Super Willys, in Sacalum. Here is her haul:

Dodie correctly figured that I would enjoy a spin around the Chedraui, and that was quite right. Like Soriana, this chain sells the likes of motos and washing machines, as well as groceries. My eye immediately went to a pair of bright red scooters. If I had to have something on two wheels with gas, I would like one of these! I must have good taste because their price was about double that of other motos on the floor, though there were some at higher prices again. At about 40,000 pesos ($3200) they are not exactly giving these things away. However, you could also buy a moto here at the grocery for 16,000 pesos. For comparison, a Vespa scooter in Canada is about $5000 (62,000 pesos).

Look, you can also buy a big screen TV at Chedraui. You would presumably need a cargo bike to get it home!

Washing machines here are very simple and flimsy. But it sure beats agitating your stuff in the sink and hand wringing! About $300 and you are in business. Don't ask about dryers, that is what the sun is for!

Chedraui makes their own tortillas, "baguette" too.

The very considerate Dodie then watched over the bikes in order to send me into the main market for a look. I wanted to find prepared fruits, but came back empty handed. So we had to send in our keen eyed spotter. Success!

With Dodie's example of how it's done, I went on back in. I had been attracted by some wood smoke, where chicken was being grilled for inclusion in tacos, it seemed to me. But the crowd at that spot was too much, so I lined up at another stand.

I got to watch very closely as I waited in line. It turned out that everyone was making not tacos but panuchos. "A Panucho is a Mexican food specialty from the Yucatán made with a refried tortilla that is stuffed with refried black beans and topped with chopped cabbage, pulled chicken or turkey, tomato, pickled red onion, avocado, and pickled jalapeño pepper. It is occasionally topped with eggs in some variations."

I was attracted by the process of "refrying" the tortillas, since of course I like fried food, as does everyone, right? In this case the tortillas seem to sit in the oil a long time. But this is not due to neglect. Abuela, in the photo below, checked on them very frequently.

The next part in the process was to open the puffed up tortillas and pour some very liquid refried bean paste inside.

Now the tortillas are laid out, and a process begins that seemed to take a long time, yet the ladies working were a blur of continuous motion. It's hand shred the chicken - shred shred shred - and drop the product on the tortillas, Then its sprinkle pink pickled onions - sprinkle sprinkle sprinkle. Add shredded cabbage, add tomatoes, cut avocado, sprinkle magic seasoning, pour on some more liquid beans. And in the case of my "take out" order, put spicy shredded cabbage into a baggie and tie it, and put more bean sauce into a baggie, and tie it. Then wrap the whole production in brown paper. I was really fascinated to watch this all happen, but poor Dodie was out in the street. She was patient though, because she knew I was having fun inside.

Other food preparation was going on in other parts of the market. For example, here below abuela is slicing small quantities of vegetables. I think those plastic baggies are her final product, but she is clearly not a big dealer.

Here at the market as well they have a tortilla mill. These are radically more common than any sort of bakery.

These folks are looking over the butcher's offerings. They seem to be thinking hard.

On my way out, I also bought some of those tangy miniature bananas. So great!

Back in the street, it was necessary to dodge the oncoming onions.

In the street I noticed a lot of cases of older ladies coming along seated in the trike taxis. You don't see them on their own bikes, but you sure see them out and about like this.

We set off back toward Sacalum. As we often see, here is someone - in this case a quite old guy - with a machete, cutting green by the roadsides. He is going to load it on his moto, meaning that he is a good rider even if he seems quite old. We have no idea what the purpose of these greens is.

High in a tree, Dodie spots another wasp nest. It is less dramatic than the one we saw the other day (Day 17).

Just to review, these are Polybia Occidentalis wasps. They are a social insect, and will come swarming out of the nest if slightly disturbed. As with other wasps their venom is a neurotoxin. It may be developed into a drug to prevent seizures, but staying away from these guys is an excellent idea.

Here also up high is another oriole nest. We have never seen one in actual use. (OK, so both of our gurus, Bill and Scott, feel this is an Oropondula nest. Who are we to argue? Oropondula nest it is.)

We made it home, and guess what's for lunch? Panuchos!

UPDATE: This is a pretty trivial update, but we were thinking about that restaurant that Google said was one of the attractions of Sacalum (amid almost no competing attractions). So I grabbed the backpack and walked out to find the thing It turned out to be rather a straight shot, though Google had me walking some backstreets. Did it think that would be part of the glorious full experience?

At the restaurant I was again proud of myself for understanding a pathetic short list of concepts: The burgers come with fries, no need to order them separately, the order will be ready in 30 minutes, and its ok to pay now or pay later.

I showed up back at the apartment, and we unpacked my score. Guess what? It was excellent! Now that we know this restaurant and even (on the walk) found some baking, Sacalum could see us again! But right now it's an early bedtime, to be ready to shoot into the big city and state capital of Merida tomorrow!

Inside this chicken burger is a thick breast fillet, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and cheese. We were too timid to try the little baggie of red sauce!

Today's ride: 27 km (17 miles)
Total: 829 km (515 miles)

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