Monday 14 July 2003
It was time to leave the Chiapas state and proceed to the Yucatan peninsula that known for all its sights and resorts. Friends had told us that the scenery was pretty boring all the way; hence we decided to catch a plane from Villahermosa to Merida.
This implied a bus trip to Villahermosa, which is located in the state “Tabasco” and were anxious if this would as bad as the trip from San Christobal to Palenque. The premises were better as our stomachs were in good shape, but we brought sick bags just in case. Maybe was the road condition better or the Spanish dubbed “Harry Potter” movie really intriguing, nevertheless we arrived 2.5 hours later in Villahermosa in good shape and well rested.
Our guidebook did understandably not praise the city to the skies, it was noisy and worn down. We found a rather miserable, but cheap hotel and went to get some lunch and drinking water. Actually, we regretted that we did not plan on flying from here to Merida this present day and skip staying over. The city is boring, charm less and incredible hot and humid.
Later we were looking for a nice restaurant to make up for the drearily surroundings and followed the top recommendation in the guidebook. We walked some 3 km along the shore and felt well getting a little exercise. The temperature was pleasant at this time.
We succeeded in finding the outlying restaurant and felt very curious about this place that was praised to the sky in the guidebook. Unfortunately it failed from the beginning as they server a rather gross Piña Colada, while we ordered the today’s special – a delightful fish en croûte.
Some carpenters started to work on a stage in the corner and hammered very loudly. The kept on working for a while and we though about leaving, but the waiter assured us, that they would stop in a minute, so we took it lightly. The food arrived and looked good. We got a whole bottle of white wine despite we only ordered a glass to each. When we attempted to explain the mistake to the waiter everything messed up. First they brought a tumbler, then two. Later they got hold of a waiter who claimed to speak English who brought us two additional wineglasses. A bit ridiculous.
After long time the carpenters stop their work and we enjoyed the food. Ten seconds later the waiter turned on the stereo equipment, which apparently is a must in Mexico. As we were the only guests in the restaurant, we asked if the music could be turned off. The waiter nodded and then changed the record.
Later when we got the bill everything got messy again. Of course we did not want to pay for a full bottle of wine as we only ordered and drank one wineglass each. It took some while to explain, as the waiter refused to fetch the colleague that spoke a little English. Fortunately we succeeded to reach a compromise and paid for three glasses of wine. We called a taxi and drove back to the hotel. It was a rum evening and unfortunately a bit expensive in proportion to the experience.