VINTAGE VENTURES: I write my travel journals to look back and remember our ventures. A secondary reason is to allow me to organize all my trip photos. I have thousands of photos. Organizing them into a cohesive story makes sense.

Yet another great breakfast served to us by our terrific Airbnb hosts.

DAY 24, Monday, February 26, 2018

CENOTE TZA-UJUN-KAT

We wanted to snorkel one more time, and our favorite nearby cenote was in Homun, Cenote Tza-Ujun-Kat, or Kat for short. We didn’t want to do the whole tuk-tuk thing, but we knew that the cenote was just a ½ block away from the Las Palmas Restaurant. The plan was to snorkel the cenote and then eat at Las Palmas.

The plan worked great. Cenote Kat has gorgeous underwater formations - perfect for snorkeling. It was well into the 90s, and the cool water refreshed both of us. It was fun to see the look on Las Palmas owners' faces as we strolled up to get another chicken and rice dinner. I loved the chicken soup with the bowtie pasta and told them so. As a reward, they gave me an extra bowl. All-in-all, it was another terrific day in the Yucatán.

When we returned to Merida, we purchased our round-trip bus tickets to Celestun for Wednesday. The 2^nd class Oriente bus was the only bus company servicing Celestun, so we knew we’d get to see every little town and village along the way. We topped the evening off with a paleta from “Jugos, Helados Y Paletas Janitzio”, a shop at Plaza Grande. This wonderful shop had the best paletas yet. Their selection was endless, and I think they were the freshest. Sometimes, if the paletas don’t sell very quickly, they tend to get a little freezer burned. Not these; they burst with fresh pure fruit flavor.

Cenote Tza-Ujun-Kat became a favorite.

DAY 25, Tuesday, February 27, 2018

CHIXULUB AND PROGRESO

We will arrive home sometime early Friday morning – something like 2 am. I have a band gig that night, so I must get serious about practicing. I spent most of the morning going through our tunes but got bored around 11 am.

Earlier in the week, we looked for a colectivo to Chixulub and found it tucked away in a walled-in parking lot. However, I messed up. There are two Chixulubs: Chixulub and Chixulub Pueblo. One is a tiny resort village on the ocean near Progreso, and the other is a town about 15 kilometers inland. I knew this, but I had the two mixed up, so when we were ready to hop in the Chixulub Pueblo colectivo, I double-checked to ensure this was going to the ocean. It wasn’t. 

Thank goodness I checked. There didn’t seem to be any transportation linking the two Chixulubs. Had we taken the colectivo, we would have been stuck in Chixulub Pueblo.

We quickly switched to Plan B: take the Progreso bus to Progreso and find a bus or colectivo to the seaside Chixulub from there. This worked out flawlessly, except we couldn’t find a beach in Chixulub. It was all dinky hotels and small condos lining the oceanfront. There was very little public access to the oceanfront. The access we did find wasn’t very appealing.

We were also surprised that we found no mention of Chixulub being the impact site of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. We had read up about the impact. The asteroid was 19 kilometers in diameter and was traveling at the blistering speed of 36,000 mph. The impact crater is 160 kilometers in diameter. Everything within a 1600-kilometer radius died instantly. A 100-foot-high tsunami traveled to distant shores. Big chunks of molten rocks thrown up fell back to earth, causing massive fires all around the globe. All the finer debris sent up into the atmosphere blocked the sun and caused a 1,000-year 'impact winter'.

Chixulub was the center of the impact. And we saw no mention of it anywhere. I would have thought a museum devoted to asteroids, dinosaurs, and extinction events would have sprung up somewhere in Chixulub. I see a missed business opportunity.

Chixulub is a pleasant, pretty, quiet residential and resort area. But, with no beach and no asteroid museum, we flagged down the bus back to the big public beach in Progreso.

By this time, we were sweltering, and the water was terrific. Again, after dragging Wanda’s sun-tent along, the wind made it impossible to set up. We made sure to goop up with a lot of sun lotion and enjoyed the water. 

After the swim, we went to Eladios for mango margaritas and tapas. The 55 peso margaritas were large, and the tapas were yummy but less plentiful than the last time we came. Still, it was a great beverage and snack break.

There was little in Chixulub. There wasn't a commercial area, just houses, a cemetery, and flowers. We didn't find any reference to the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

So, it was back to Progresso to swim.

The water remains shallow at Progreso for a long way out. This long peer reaches out to the water deep enough for ocean-going ships to dock. When cruise ships visit Progreso, they dock at the end of this peer. It is two miles long.

We got back to the Airbnb reasonably early to start the packing process for home. Tomorrow is our last day, and we will spend it in the oceanside town of Celestun, home of the pink flamingos.

Dave and Wanda

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