October 20, 2002 - page 2

Our itinerary included tooling around in Puerto Morelos, snorkeling at Xelha, visiting the colonial city of Valladolid, swimming in the surrounding cenotes, hiking the ruins of Chichen Itza, and finally arriving at Merida. (To my faithful readers, yes, this itinerary is almost the same as the one we had our second week in Mexico.)

I had never noticed the amount of potholes and topes (speed bumps) in the road until I was navigating them myself. The topes were an interesting feature in every small town on the highway; entrepreneurs had set up shops selling artesanias and fruit on either side, allowing them to run up to our car as we slowed down to get over the tope and hawk their wares. (Which came first the tope or the shop?)

Once we reached the outskirts of Merida, the driving got really interesting. (I’d like to note here that my sense of direction is horrible.) Although the way from the highway to my house looked simple on the map, the map didn’t mention that the road takes an abrupt turn to the right. I will mention that the people in Merida are extremely helpful. When we stopped at a corner store to get directions to my neighborhood, there was a whole group of people who pointed us in the right direction.