I’m clearly settling in to Mexican time as my blog posts have slowed down and everything can be done “manana.” I am now almost a week behind on our travel updates and I thought it best to get this written before I forget the details.

We left on a Sunday morning to ride out to the coast. Nick booked us an Airbnb in a tiny coastal town at the end of the road. Our casita was the last one with just lagoons and ocean beyond.

The ride was uneventful; mainly a long stretch of highway until we reached the town of Progreso. I did start calling the ride Dog Day as we saw several dead dogs on the highway and then the ones in town were travelling in packs and we got chased a few times. At Progreso we hung a left and followed the highway along the coastal road through a town named Chelem and finally made it to Churnuba.

Both towns had sports games going as we passed through. We stopped to watch a women’s soccer game on a beautiful artificial turf and then a baseball game. It appears that there is a significant expat community along the coast and that the towns survive primarily on fishing. We had heard that the pandemic shutdown had really hurt the community and they are just getting back on their feet.

We dropped our panniers off at the casita and met our hosts Mike and Sandra. They are Canadian expats that have only retired down here about a year ago. They have a lovely home and we were happy to just chill out and do nothing for a few days.

Turns out we picked a good spot. There was nothing going on so we explored the lagoons by bike and saw flamingos! So cool. I was hyper aware of crocodiles though so we didn’t go too close to the waters edge. We had been told that there weren’t any flamingos out this way so it was a pleasant surprise.

We cooked ate home primarily, however we did venture out a few times for a fish dinner from a local restaurant called Cristo del Rey; it is octopus season so we tried the ceviche and also had prawn fajitas. So delicious!

The only downside of the area was the bugs, they were relentless in the morning and evening. Nick and I were feasted on and I am still scratching away. After 3 days we were feeling recharged and ready to head out on our next adventure. The plan was to head back to Merida via a different route, have a one night stop over and then grab a bus East. Either towards Holbox or Isla Murjeres. We are watching the weather though as the East coast has a lot of rain in the forecast.