Wednesday 16 July 2003
This day had two purposes for us. First of all we wanted to buy some hammocks, for which Merida is well known. Secondly we wanted to leave this city and move on to the Yucatan peninsula. We had previously checked the prices on hammocks on the streets in Tuxla Gutierrez and in the center of Merida, it was typically 3-400 pesos and we were able to haggle it to 200-250 pesos, which is about USD 20.
The guidebook recommended a shop called “Hammacas El Aguacate” that only do hammock in high quality. We walk for an hour and found the shop on the street “Calle 58” where we bought seven 2-person hammocks for 1,000 pesos (USD 100). I guess that was a fine trade. The walk was hot and humid. The pavements were narrow and filled with pedestrians, the traffic intense with large busses driving really near without giving way to anyone.
We got back end fetched our baggage at the hotel and went by taxi to the bus terminal where we arrived ten minutes prior to departure of the next bus. The queue was very long and as we finally made it to the counter at to minutes prior to departure just to realize that this 1 pm bus was sold-out. Next departure was at 3.25 pm and we had some time to spend.
We went to a small restaurant for lunch and found an Internet café were we read the news and sent mails to friends and family. Internet is a fine thing when having too much time on hand and too little energy to explore the surroundings.
The bus ride to Valladolid was characterized by a tedious view, and an action movie on the video with Spanish subtitles. We indulged in the “Triple-X” movie, which made the trip shorter to us.
In Valladolid we decided to be a little extravagant and went for a mid-priced hotel with pool. We needed a little extra luxury after two nights in noisy cities and bad hotels, and the pool was such a relief in the heat. It was a very good decision that only costs us an extra 100 peso a night (USD 10).