A week ago we made our way from Merida to Uxmal, very excited to see these impressive ruins. We had pre-booked our bus tickets using SUR, a second class bus company that is the only one that travels to Uxmal (50% discount for me using INAPAM over 60 resident card). This bus continues on to Campeche. Something we would do the following day. There is no on-line booking for SUR so you must go to the bus terminal in order to purchase your tickets. Uxmal is a popular trip, especially for day trippers, so I would do this initial section a couple of days in advance. 

It had been difficult getting actual information on the bus service and route for this bus. At first it looked like we could take the bus to Uxmal but would either have to return to Merida and take a separate bus to Campeche or we would have to resort to a 1900 pesos ($99) more direct taxi ride. But it seems this thru service is new and we lucked out (see more on our post Three Days In Colorful Campeche). Continue Reading…

Thinking correctly that it would still be the cold winter weather up in San Miguel de Allende during February and March we added colorful Merida into our 2 month Yucatan adventure. Today it is 99 at 5pm, so we are definitely getting our heat fix in. 

Here for a month, we have plans to return in December and January, once again to escape the cold San Miguel weather. Because of the heat having a pool at our Airbnb is a must and we lucked out with a nice sized one, big enough to do laps in. A good Merida Airbnb is not cheap though and we will go over our monthly rent budget. This time we have a house in the Santa Ana neighborhood but it isn’t available at the end of the year. For that we just booked a two bedroom apartment, once again with a decent pool for its 6 units. Booking ahead during the busy season is essential in order to remain at least partially on budget. Some offerings are ridiculously priced for what they offer so do some homework. We really like the Santa Ana neighborhood for proximity to Centro.  Continue Reading…

Izamal is a small town in the Yucatan about an hour drive from Merida, making it a nice day trip. We made it there on our second attempt, since the first day we tried had rain clouds and eventually a bit of rain and we didn’t feel like wandering around and sightseeing in a downpour. On our second try the sun was shining, a bit too much it turns out, as the temperature was 98 degrees!!! 

Looking up the bus schedule online we saw the morning ones left at 8:30 and 10am. So thinking there would be a lot to see in Izamal we woke up early and headed off by Uber ($2) to the second class Noreste Bus Terminal. As we arrived at the ticket counter at 8:20 we were informed that the bus actually left at 8:15am. So much for planning. We had an hour and a half to sit on our butts in the terminal and while away the time with our ever present, life-saving, Kindles.  Continue Reading…