yucatan in February

Phone problem. I lost my phone in mexico (for less than a day) and before I recovered it someone had made a bunch of changes to it (the desk top with rows of apps was gone, everything was in spanish, etc.). I recovered a bunch of things from the cloud but I still have a big problem in that I cannot make calls or texts. When I turn on the phone it says: "no SIM card - emergency calls only". When I try to make a call it says "mobile network not available" (despite being at a location where network as been available in the past). When I try to use Signal messaging app to text it asks me to enter a your mobile number to receive a verification code, but of course I can't receive any code because the text is not functioning. When I try to you the messages app it says "No preferred SIM selected for sending SMS messages". Google is helpful and agrees to send me a new SIM for free. MEXICO TRIP: While at the ER, last Monday [Feb 26?] I looked into my wallet

boat of snorklers [email] Finally made it on the 2 hr reef snorkeling tour. Wasn't as spectacular as I hoped and true to form I didn't go all the way but staggered back to the boat early. [We were to follow the guide around as he showed us parts of the corral, and I ran out of steam, saw the boat and headed towards it. The boat guy saw me and headed towards me.] Still ... Have checked out of the hostel and will make my way to the aeropuerto bus. See you tonight. Love Mark

Get up. Skip the apples-and-coffee breakfast (worst breakfast on offer at the hostels I stayed at). Walk to the collectivo stop and go to the port town. FInd out there's no snorkeling and then walk up and down the beach. (several miles). Go back to the hostel and hang out reading and getting something to eat. [email to Carol] My last full day of tropical sun shine. I should be feeling dread or depression or something, but I feel excitement! Aren't I terrible! [letter to Carol] Some of the interesting people who were here yesterday seem to have vamoosed, so frankly given a choice between snorkeling the reef tomorrow (one of the putative highlights of the Maya Riviera) and coming home early, I'd go with the latter. Still no reef snorkeling! (Red flag, the international warning sign). Tomorrow is my last chance. I have to do it quick before the flight If the weather permits. This appears to be the international dock of the port, with barbed wire to make sure you go th

[email to Carol] snorkeling hoy no. :-( (See the red flag in the upper left? It means the harbor is closed. Wind apparently.) I have one more day to snorkel. ... Furthermore, there is little certainty the surf will be calmer tomorrow and boating not cancelled. Oh well. Red flag. No snorkling. Boats lining beach unused.  [Email from Carol] Looks from your lovely photos that you are enjoying yourself .......meanwhile I have been shoveling a lot of snow! Cheri was supposed to visit yesterday....I made a big pot of soup and cleaned the house .....and then she cancelled ........the weather was nasty, I must admit.....  [email to Carol]I feel a little bad being in the tropics and not having the time of my life. In two days at this time I will be on my way to the airport.  [email to Carol] Looks like snow will fall just in time for my arrival! ... I'll shovel it! ... I too am ready for a beer or two. I have had about 4 beers the whole trip since I couldn't find any one t

[email to Carol] Got up at 7:20 to enjoy golden hour. [was quiet except for gringo joggers and some Mexican workers. I was walking east and as the sun rose and started shining in my face (powerful sun here, you won't be surprised to learn) I turned around and headed back towards the hotel. Dawn on Isla Holbox beach  Packed up to leave and checked out. Bought a ticket for bus to Cancun airport from the hotel. hiked to the ferry. from the ferry walked to the ADO bus stop (actually, in a boneheaded stunt I walking another 20 minutes or so beyond it into town to some festiva before asking about the bus and being told to go back) Bus to Cancun airport. (Cancun airport is closer to PM then Cancun Pueblo so I saved time but for some reason tickets to and from are expensive) from there another to Puerto Morelos. Used my google map to find the Hostal Humanity. Checked in ... pretty much went to bed.  [email to Carol] Today I checked out of Isla Holbox and took buses to Puerto

[email to Carol] Internet is slow here. Went on a $420MX ($22.50 USD Tres Islas tour) wildlife tour this morning. Lots of birds in sanctuaries Tres Islas tour had wildlife, Yum Balam, cenote, Boat on the way to los tres islas White wading bird Next we went to the mainland where there was a cenote with a spring. Yum Balam nature preserve from viewing platform next to cenote spring in cenote

Feb 17 Isla Holbox. Hotel Beach Inn (Dorm). Arrive Checked out early and took a fairly early bus to port of Chiquila and then ferry to Holbox. (Tried to get cash at the bus station before I left for Holbox being warned cash was scarce. Machine seemed already to give me 3000 pesoes (I think I requested) until ... it didn't and starting showing the adds you see in between ATM customers. Anyway, at Holbox sure enough as I had been warned,  there was no cash available from the ATM, so I had to use my credit card) In holbox town I wandered in the hot sun looking for Hotel Beach Inn until some kind store clerk gave me directions which I misunderstood but finally got there, checked in and went out to the beach. Another mural (Hobox) Reasonably priced beer Tasty meal: fish tacos seashells as beach material Sunset

Feb 16 Tulum.Hostel Roots Quintana. (Dorm) Today after pancakes and scrambled egg DIY breakfast I went back to Ziggy Beach and got my key, then rode north to the public beach and walked along it. Surf too rough to swim in my estimation. In the afternoon I head south to two cenotes trying to use the snorkel equipment from Roots Quintana. The cenotes are beautiful and I can snorkel for a while, but end up with asphixiation anxiety before long. I get back on my bike and ride back to the hostel and try to drink a beer with the workers there. One is a blue-collar gringo older than me from Colorado who lives full  time in Mexico, notwithstanding he doesn't really speak the language. Tells me he's broken so many bones he can't take the cold. Even 50F degrees is too cold. Before long he and a Mexican worker leave, leaving me to finish my 25 peso (cheap) beer and go read.  [email to Carol, pictures of new age hotels on Tulum shore] Some of these places are $300 a night

I get up in time to walk to the Coba entrance in time for opening. Looking up how to say: "I lost my phone and was told it is here", in espaniol. The parking lot guy nods and tells me something about over there and mentions "tip". My heart is light! Tip? no problem! I go back to the entrance and after some time wasting figure out the man with the phone is the same guy who held our packs yesterday as left luggage. Sure looks like my phone. "Tip" he tells me and I give him 200 pesos, over $10USD. Then I turn the phone on. My desktop is gone! A bunch of stuff in spanish is there instead. I play with it and eventually get my email and most apps back, but when I try to text or call I get the message: "no SIM card" I later figure out the SIM card was removed and any photos I didn't send to Carol or put on facebook have been lost. In the mean time I go back to the Hotel Sac Be, check out and wait for the 2nd class bus to Tulum. (Bystanders had to

Very unfortunate day. Take collectivo to Coba on the way to Tulum. Hang out with two Dutch guys. We Leave our packs at the sanatario with the attendant. Walk and walk around the large area of Coba (many people are being ridden around in tricycle taxis). Hot and sweaty we have lunch and then wait for the bus to Tulum. In an ominous and stupid foreshadowing a woman calls to me as I walk past that my pack is unzipped and book has fallen out. I thank her but am too tired and hot and stupid to realize something else might have fallen out. We take the bus to Tulum where  I check for my phone and  ... it's not there! God you are stupid! What could have happened to it? I'm certain I didn't leave it on the bus. I ask at the ticket counter to see if anyone has turned it in in Coba. They don't speak enough English to understand. What to do? Find a Yankee with a phone and ask them if I can call my phone! I hear an American accent from a woman and ask her. "I lost my p

Visited Chichen Itza, going in with several 20-something Europeans to hire a guide, and then haning out with them afterward and going to Yerbabuena del Sisal Restaurante, which was not as wonderful as I hoped but pretty good. Bought earrings for Carol at Chichen Itza. Said goodbye to the Europeans so tired I forgot that I was supposed to meet some of them later (embarrassing). Mark Mchugh <markgregorymchugh@gmail.com> to Carol Got to the biggest name sight in Yucatan, Chichen Itza this morning. Hung out with European backpackers (Germany, Netherlands, Finland) from my old cheap hostel (the one with the mosquitoes) and had lunch at this stylish whole foods restaurant. (Unfortunately I got the runs later.) It's good to meet smart nice international travelers like these, especially when you are a little sick of your own company. Love and kisses, Marcos PS I bought you something today.

 Feb 12 Valladolid. Hotel Candelaria  (dorm) After breakfast I took a collectivo to Ek Balam (a second-string mayan archelogoical site.) Came with Canadians (one possibly transgender) and went home by cab with Italian self-described "independent tourists". Ek Balam (This is not actually my photo, since all mine were deleted when I lost my phone) In the afternoon I rented a hostel bike and bicycled to  Cenote Dtzitnup, which is actually Cenote Samula and Cenote Xkeken Cenote Xkeken Cenote Samula The dangling rope like things are tree roots. Didn't really laze around in the water like everyone else there. Just swam and left. Was by myself and a little worried about leaving my pack unattended (for good reason! I later found out.)

Feb 11 Valladolid. Hostal Tunich Naj (dorm) hike to ADO southern bus station and take a morning bus to Valladolid, getting there in the heat of the afternoon. Walked to the cheap Hostal Tunich Naj and checked in. Read of some more of the captivating Chinese sci fic book Three Body Problem. Had weird stinging sensation while lying in bunk at Tunich Naj. Bugs? chemical on the sheets? The people seemed more aloof and the breakfast was slim so I went to another hostel, Candelaria and paid for a night. Later that evening, I decided Hostal Tunich Naj wasn't so bad, and thanks in part to the manager had a nice fun friendly vibe, which trumps creature comforts in my book. Well, Canderaria was good too. Spent two night at Candelaria in the dorm. (More expensive Nice place. Big basin to wash clothes, TV room, ) [Email to Carol] Honey let's not get in fights when we're far apart like this. Let's just say nice things on the phone. It's not exactly paradise here. Hot and

Palacio Guberno, on the Zocalo Spanish, English and Mayan translations in Palacio Feb 10 (Saturday) Merida. Nomadas Hostel (dorm) Walked around town saw the Museo of contemporary Art, Cathedral, tried to withdraw some money from an ATM but was told my PIN was wrong. called up wings financial and after some difficulty (bad connection they called me back) got it straighten out, Weeew! Thank you Wings Financial! [Email to Carol] It is hot and sweaty here. Walked around some sights this morning and had to take a shower.  In the perfect end to the perfect day yesterday. I caught the back pocket button of those peddle pusher pants on a hammock, ripping off the button and ripping the pocket, making those pants close to unusable. NFL-themed ponchos for tourists These ponchos were for sale on the zocalo. Lack of luggage capacity prevented me from purchasing this vender's wares. Carnival Saturday Evening go to Carnaval at the Carnaval Plaza (Xmatkuil) in the southern

Feb 9 Merida. Nomadas Hostel (bedroom) One day (Feb 10?) I took a tour of the surrounding areas including two Mayan ruins including the big Uxmal site (also Kabah, a second string mayan archelogoical site. not nearly as big, but also not nearly so crowded). We had a pretty good guide and learned some. (good English is rare among Mexican guides and tourist people so that's a bit distracting) First we saw an ancient hacienda, or the ruin of one. Gate of hacienda near Merida ruin of hacienda Then we saw a small pyramid site known as cabah. This is the remains of a phallic Mayan altar that used to be much taller before the Spanish wrecked it in the interests of decency. Then we went to the major site, Uxmal. Above the tree line atop Uxmal pyramid preparing to descend pyramid, note shadow of photographer Drones were forbidden here. 

Feb 8 Merida. Nomadas Hostel. (bedroom) Flight to Cancun. Bus to Merida Flew to Cancun airport in a not-very-long flight arriving in afternoon. Huge lines at passport control and customs then went directly to ground transport, specifically to ADO buses where I bought a ticket to Merida. About 3 hours later or so arrived at  Fiesta Americana  bus station in Merida, figured out the street direction and walked with my pack a couple of clicks to Nomadas Hostel (north of the center of town) checked in (had already booked with booking.com) to a room and went to sleep. (stayed at Nomadas for 3 or 4 nights moving from room to room to dormitory)