January 22, 2018
Day 19: Tizimin to Rio Lagartos
Getting up before dawn can have its quirks. Last night Dodie woke me up with some urgent topic, like where is the toilet paper. Once up, I went to brush my teeth, and then to pack away clothes, ready to leave. I turned on the computer for a quick check, and it claimed it was 11:30 p.m. "Well yes" said Dodie, "I wondered why you were brushing your teeth". I suppose my body was happy enough not to actually leave just then, because before I knew it it was in fact 5 a.m.
We tarried at bit, reading and responding to a nasty and ultimately sad email from the operator of the Crazyguyonabike site, where formerly we posted all our blogs. That site can be credited with fostering a community of cycle tourists over about 15 years, but now it is repelling most of its best authors, many of whom can now be found here on Cycleblaze.
Back through the main square of Tizimin we paused to note the 16th century Franciscan monastery. Unlike in Spain and especially France, the churches are not especially prominent here - either in the present day or in apparent past glories. We have the feeling that the population never truly embraced the religion of the conquistadores, but we are not really schooled in that topic.
By the time we were leaving, the town was coming alive, people arriving by collectivo, and children streaming to school. All were well dressed, we noticed, and some walked arm in arm.
Of course we stopped when we found a bakery. The Mexican breads and pastries are all quite fluffy, but fresh bakery is a treat no matter what. Too bad like in France, they do not offer coffee. I will just have to try to survive it somehow!
A very brief zone of "suburbs" followed, and then we hit the open road. It would be a dead straight shot of about 50 kms north to Rio Largartos.
| Heart | 4 | Comment | 1 | Link |
Hundreds!
Open and closed bakeries.
Entered and not entered bakeries.
Obvious and surprise find bakeries.
Bakeries, bakeries, bakeries.
Your the man, the expert!!!
Dodie sure helps out a lot.
6 years ago
The road was good, but a little narrow and with basically no shoulder. We have found that this is fine here, because traffic is normally light and very considerate. But this road was a trifle over the line. There was just enough traffic to get that situation where cars in both directions pass right where we are. In the majority of cases the drivers waited until it was safe. But in just a few, they cut too close. And once a semi trailer did this, leaving us stopped and gasping "What the hell!".
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Most of the ride north was still through cattle country. We really could see how Tzimin would be hosting a rodeo. We think the main cattle variety is "Brangus", but images we have seen of that lack the very pronounced hump. So maybe there is another main variety running around here as well. Some of them are certainly very pretty!
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Our ride turned up other bits of local life, like the bird, the flowering trees, and the little "almost violet" flower in the photos below.
Rio Lagartos town is on a little peninsula in a lagoon,as you can see on the map. Of course just cycling in you do not see this, but rather the usual jumble of town buildings. We were looking for our booked place "Casa Playa Lagartos" which was supposed to be on the main street. We cruised up and down a few times, but saw nothing. Finally, and quite hot and frazzled, we followed a sign (yeah, a sign!) to the restaurant and guide service where we had booked a flamingo tour for tomorrow.
It was great to be able to park the bikes in the shade go up into the restaurant. We were welcomed very sweetly there, and had our choice of tables looking out at the lagoon. We pulled the computer out and set about trying to see what that darn hotel really was. Very soon the owner, Diego, came over to lend a hand. Even the police in town had not recognized the name, and neither did Diego. But he phoned for us and together with the Google Maps orange man, the mystery was soon solved. The place is really a private house, and putting up a sign of any kind obviously had not occurred to the otherwise nice lady who runs it.
Meanwhile back at the restaurant we were very impressed by Diego's English ability. He says he learned from years of receiving visitors, and can even distinguish European, American, British, and Brazilian accents.
But English was not the only language flying around. At the next table a party of people who turned out to be from near Montreal were struggling with the menu. Clearly they had not been in the country here long, and it was all a mystery. We applied our knowledge of French and by now vast appreciation of restaurant menus to put them on the path of some good food.
They also expressed a desire to see flamingos, and we explained that we had chartered a boat for 3 hours tomorrow, and that the cost was fixed and could be shared among up to six. But they had reservations in other towns and had to leave. Since they had a car, we then told them about the limited but still good flamingo viewing possibilities beyond Progreso and nearer Telchac Puerto. It turned out they had a rented house near Progreso, so they should be fine!
Another couple had overheard the conversation, and came to ask about the boat. This was Goran and Stephanie, from Paris! Goran speaks French and Spanish - not sure yet about English. So after some reminiscing about Paris, we all arranged to share the boat. That will be at 7 a.m. tomorrow. There is going to be red waters and pink flamingos, and no doubt many other birds!
A couple at another adjacent table we Italians, from Lake Como. Yes, of course, we reminisced about northern Italy with them, not to mention the tiramisu of Merida!
At yet another table were seated six Swedes. This was more a United Nations than a restaurant!
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Back to the main street of town, we started with one bit of excitement. The street has a centre divider and of course is one way on either side of it. That was clearly lost on the motorcycle rider that almost hit Dodie, as he travelled the wrong way up the lane. Dodie spotted him from the corner of an eye and slammed on the brakes. But the other saving grave was that the motorcycle rider like most here was not rocketing but only motoring along. He also easily swerved and stopped.
It was "fun" to closely examine our "hotel", and to count how many times we had passed by looking for it. The place itself is very pleasing, with a nice cross draft in the room, a hammock, a large balcony, and a hot plate for heating water for coffee or chocolate. Ok, no AC, no hot water shower, shared bathroom, but our bikes are happy in their own parlor - and that is worth a lot!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 1 | Link |
Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 899 km (558 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 7 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
Journals are a different story, a day or two back presumably when you deleted your journals the total dropped by 40 journals overnight. As you say he is losing his best writers, but abusing you is no way to gain friends.
Mike
6 years ago
6 years ago