Monday March 13, 2006 Campeche
Well, we finally left Merida. Friday was the last day of school for the kids, and their classmates and teachers sent them out with a bang. The generosity was overwhelming (in two senses: unbelievable how many gifts were given to the kids and---overwhelmed our suitcases too!) It was a very touching scene and as two people who get misty eyed at parades, Ruth and I did our best not to bawl.
We had also invited the kids’s surrogate grandparents, Fran and Claude, over from Playa del Carmen for the last day of school. Fran and Claude’s appearance was a surprise for Miles and Jill and certainly added to the moment.
It will be a darn shame if Miles and Jill don’t get back to that school sometime. Miles wants to come back for a month every year!
More on Fran and Claude. They were our upstairs neighbors in Playa del Carmen. They are recently retired Canadiens and are spending 3 or 4 months in Playa del Carmen. They were great neighbors and even watched the kids for us as Ruth and I went through the final extrication from the time share fiasco.
Not surprisingly, Fran and Claude had become bored in Playa del Carmen and took us up on the invite to come to Merida for a visit. They don’t speak a lick of Spanish, and we thought they weren’t very adventurous. So when we sent them out the door for shopping in Merida at 10:30 Saturday morning, we assumed we would see them again in a few hours.
By 6:00 we started to notice that they hadn’t come back and through a goofy chain of events, it was determined that they must be missing since they don’t speak Spanish, Fran has low blood sugar, Fran doesn’t tolerate the blazing heat that well, our hostel isn’t very well known or easy to find, etc.
By 8:00 we had talked to the tourist information offices, the Merida downtown police, the Merida non-downtown police, the Canadian foreign affairs office in Ottawa, and were in the process of checking local hospitals. At 8:30 Fran and Claude walked in with full shopping bags and big smiles and feeling tired after a great day in Merida making up for all of the boredom in Playa del Carmen.
What did we learn besides the fact that someone-who–shall-remain-nameless can infect many people with her paranoia? That if you were a missing person in Merida you’d be up a creek so to speak. When we went to the police headquarters, the desk staff were busy watching “Chunkey 3: Muñeco Diabalito” which is Part 3 of some horror movie where a deranged doll goes around killing people (I think it was called “Child’s Play” in the U.S.). The cops never quite pulled themselves away from the TV while we were there. Plus, they didn’t have a phone that could dial outside the police department so we weren’t able to call back to the hostel to see if Fran and Claude had arrived. We also learned that the Canadian government doesn’t maintain an office in Merida, but has someone in Cancún who answers calls during the week. But on weekends, the calls go straight to Ottawa. Oh, and the largest hospital in Merida doesn’t answer its phone.
All of the guests at Hostel Alvarez had some good laughs after Fran and Claude returned and we no longer had an excuse not to get busy packing our suitcases.
Here's a shot of the hostel crew on our last day:
On Sunday, Miriam’s husband Sergio drove Miles and me, Fran and Claude, and our gigantic load of suitcases to the bus station in his Rambler station wagon. I wish I had one again! Ruth, Jill, Miriam and Allie followed in Miriam’s car.
We put Fran and Claude on their bus to Playa del Carmen with promises to reconnect at their place in Niagra Falls in May, and we quickly caught a bus to Campeche after lots of hugs and goodbyes all around.
What’s Campeche like? Pretty nice. It brags about becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site a few years ago. Cobblestone streets, big old churches and colorful colonial houses, and live music in the main city park on Sunday night. It was a little odd that from the top of the UNESCO-worthy historic fort you can easily see the huge billboard for Sam’s Club, and it was equally interesting that in the city park in front of the main cathedral the Mexican orchestra placed "Hava Naguilla"(sp?).
We’re in a nice mid-sized hostel right near the park and church. Our host, Fernando, is related to our hosts in Merida. He’s got computers for us to use and a DVD player and home theatre system set up in the front room. The front room is right on the sidewalk with huge double doors that remain open all the time. So downtown Campeche is rolling by over my shoulder, and pedestrians are walking by about 18 inches from the televisión.
After dinner last night we came back to the hostel and Fernando offered to play some kid friendly vidoes for us. So...we saw our first (and hopefully only) full length Lindsay Lohan feature film! Ohmygod! It was like sooo stupid and just when Ms. Lohan was about to say the first meaningful thing in an hour and a half, an empty, metal, street vending cart was towed up the cobblestone street outside the door. It made such a racket that it thoroughly drowned out the Lohan Lecture that may have changed the direction of Jill and Miles’s lives. I think it was somthing like “Always tell the truth, be who you want to be, and tickle your tonsils if you ever start to get fat.”
So tomorrow we roll on to Palenque a day later than planned because the Monday bus was sold out when we pulled into town Sunday night. There is only one daytime bus from Campeche to Palenque. There are many overnight buses with dreadful departure times or dreadful arrival times. We’re not ready to subject ourselves to that.
And many thanks to the host at the Internet café in Merida who showed me how easy it is to put pictures on the blog. If anyone cares, Microsoft Paint will shrink any jpeg photo simple by doing a Save As to a new file name. And another bonus! Tonight I learned how to have my blog creation instructions show up in English! Yeehaw!
Time to pack,
Paul
Well, we finally left Merida. Friday was the last day of school for the kids, and their classmates and teachers sent them out with a bang. The generosity was overwhelming (in two senses: unbelievable how many gifts were given to the kids and---overwhelmed our suitcases too!) It was a very touching scene and as two people who get misty eyed at parades, Ruth and I did our best not to bawl.
We had also invited the kids’s surrogate grandparents, Fran and Claude, over from Playa del Carmen for the last day of school. Fran and Claude’s appearance was a surprise for Miles and Jill and certainly added to the moment.
It will be a darn shame if Miles and Jill don’t get back to that school sometime. Miles wants to come back for a month every year!
More on Fran and Claude. They were our upstairs neighbors in Playa del Carmen. They are recently retired Canadiens and are spending 3 or 4 months in Playa del Carmen. They were great neighbors and even watched the kids for us as Ruth and I went through the final extrication from the time share fiasco.
Not surprisingly, Fran and Claude had become bored in Playa del Carmen and took us up on the invite to come to Merida for a visit. They don’t speak a lick of Spanish, and we thought they weren’t very adventurous. So when we sent them out the door for shopping in Merida at 10:30 Saturday morning, we assumed we would see them again in a few hours.
By 6:00 we started to notice that they hadn’t come back and through a goofy chain of events, it was determined that they must be missing since they don’t speak Spanish, Fran has low blood sugar, Fran doesn’t tolerate the blazing heat that well, our hostel isn’t very well known or easy to find, etc.
By 8:00 we had talked to the tourist information offices, the Merida downtown police, the Merida non-downtown police, the Canadian foreign affairs office in Ottawa, and were in the process of checking local hospitals. At 8:30 Fran and Claude walked in with full shopping bags and big smiles and feeling tired after a great day in Merida making up for all of the boredom in Playa del Carmen.
What did we learn besides the fact that someone-who–shall-remain-nameless can infect many people with her paranoia? That if you were a missing person in Merida you’d be up a creek so to speak. When we went to the police headquarters, the desk staff were busy watching “Chunkey 3: Muñeco Diabalito” which is Part 3 of some horror movie where a deranged doll goes around killing people (I think it was called “Child’s Play” in the U.S.). The cops never quite pulled themselves away from the TV while we were there. Plus, they didn’t have a phone that could dial outside the police department so we weren’t able to call back to the hostel to see if Fran and Claude had arrived. We also learned that the Canadian government doesn’t maintain an office in Merida, but has someone in Cancún who answers calls during the week. But on weekends, the calls go straight to Ottawa. Oh, and the largest hospital in Merida doesn’t answer its phone.
All of the guests at Hostel Alvarez had some good laughs after Fran and Claude returned and we no longer had an excuse not to get busy packing our suitcases.
Here's a shot of the hostel crew on our last day:
On Sunday, Miriam’s husband Sergio drove Miles and me, Fran and Claude, and our gigantic load of suitcases to the bus station in his Rambler station wagon. I wish I had one again! Ruth, Jill, Miriam and Allie followed in Miriam’s car.
We put Fran and Claude on their bus to Playa del Carmen with promises to reconnect at their place in Niagra Falls in May, and we quickly caught a bus to Campeche after lots of hugs and goodbyes all around.
What’s Campeche like? Pretty nice. It brags about becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site a few years ago. Cobblestone streets, big old churches and colorful colonial houses, and live music in the main city park on Sunday night. It was a little odd that from the top of the UNESCO-worthy historic fort you can easily see the huge billboard for Sam’s Club, and it was equally interesting that in the city park in front of the main cathedral the Mexican orchestra placed "Hava Naguilla"(sp?).
We’re in a nice mid-sized hostel right near the park and church. Our host, Fernando, is related to our hosts in Merida. He’s got computers for us to use and a DVD player and home theatre system set up in the front room. The front room is right on the sidewalk with huge double doors that remain open all the time. So downtown Campeche is rolling by over my shoulder, and pedestrians are walking by about 18 inches from the televisión.
After dinner last night we came back to the hostel and Fernando offered to play some kid friendly vidoes for us. So...we saw our first (and hopefully only) full length Lindsay Lohan feature film! Ohmygod! It was like sooo stupid and just when Ms. Lohan was about to say the first meaningful thing in an hour and a half, an empty, metal, street vending cart was towed up the cobblestone street outside the door. It made such a racket that it thoroughly drowned out the Lohan Lecture that may have changed the direction of Jill and Miles’s lives. I think it was somthing like “Always tell the truth, be who you want to be, and tickle your tonsils if you ever start to get fat.”
So tomorrow we roll on to Palenque a day later than planned because the Monday bus was sold out when we pulled into town Sunday night. There is only one daytime bus from Campeche to Palenque. There are many overnight buses with dreadful departure times or dreadful arrival times. We’re not ready to subject ourselves to that.
And many thanks to the host at the Internet café in Merida who showed me how easy it is to put pictures on the blog. If anyone cares, Microsoft Paint will shrink any jpeg photo simple by doing a Save As to a new file name. And another bonus! Tonight I learned how to have my blog creation instructions show up in English! Yeehaw!
Time to pack,
Paul
posted by The Lambersons at 6:45 PM
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