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Posted by: jimndianne | November 22, 2009
A Word About The Photos
Posted by: jimndianne | November 22, 2009
Houses (casas) for Sale.
22 November 2009 Mexico
Miguel, a young man with excellent English and who worked at Main Street cafe, next door to our hotel, mentioned while we were having coffee there, that his boss had a few houses for sale. We were interested in looking at the houses, three of which were not too far from the hotel, and just a few kilometres from the town centre. He agreed to talk to his boss and make the necessary arrangements to take us through them tomorrow. This suited us well as we had already made plans for today to walk around the town centre area and visit the market, as well as watch the dancing and listen to the music in the street that night.
Just so you know, we are certainly having our fill of Mexican food – have now had Empanadas (filled with fish for me, and chicken for Jim), Quesadillas, Chimichungas, Guacamole & Black Bean dips. When faced with an option to top your food with spicy chilli sauce, tomato and onion salsa and more, the choice is obvious, give it a try! The result is very tasty and not always so very spicy!
After our Empanada lunch at a nice “Cafeteria” we decided to walk the twelve or so blocks to Walmart, the iconic American store, to purchase a Battery Charger for the new camera. Being a Sunday, the streets 
were very quiet and we had the pavement to ourselves all the way. Some rather palatial houses on the way. The Walmart we are used to from our Colorado days was quite different from the one we located in Merida. Firstly, I noticed most prices of goods were half of what we normally would pay in Australia and here I’m talking about items like shampoo, hair colouring, moisturising creams and the like. Clothing, also, was extremely inexpensive there. It was quite dark when we exited Walmart so crossed to a nearby local bus stop where we hopped straight on, the bus taking us to within 100 metres of our hotel. At this point I feel obliged to say that at no time have we ever felt unsafe since arriving in Mexico – we still take obvious precautions when it comes to walking around with money and I wear my handbag with the long strap over my head and across my body. We will continue to be careful though, as there is always the exception to the rule but in the general sense the Mexican people are among the most warm, friendly and kind people we have ever met! Our Spanish language capabilities are not very great but we certainly make an effort to be understood.
The town square was in full swing when we hopped off the bus right by it, with music issuing forth from a band at one end and a young drummer doing his thing in the park with a crowd of admirers watching on.
Food booths were busily cooking up a variety of great snacks, mostly fried, unfortunately, but tempting our nostrils just the same! Other colourful vendors with traditional Mexican dress for sale were hoping to sell their products too. It was great fun listening to the
various bands playing their own choice of music for the huge group of dancing public in the street, all eager to show off their dance skills. At around 9pm, we found a Sorbet shop, ate one each from a dish and then felt hungry again so made our way to Main Street Cafe once more, where we shared a great pizza over a couple of Coronas (beer) but just couldn’t manage to finish it all. Shame…
Posted by: jimndianne | November 21, 2009
The Ballcourt at Chichen Itza
22 November 2009 Mexico
One of the structures we saw at Chichen Itza was a Mayan Ballcourt. It comprised two long and high parallel continuous stone walls with a raised temple area at each end. The court was 545 feet long and 225 feet wide 
with a stone hoop set on its side 20 
feet up halfway along each wall. The temple area was for the Mayan King and his cohorts.
The walls were constructed so accurately that a whisper from one end of the court to the other end could be heard clearly through the length and breadth of the court. In 1931 Leopold Stokowski spent 4 days at the site to determine the acoustic principles that could be applied to an open-air concert theatre he was designing. Stokowski failed to learn the secret. To this day it has not been explained.
Now the game comprised two teams each of six players and a latex ball about 30cms in diameter and weighing some 2.5 – 3 kgs! The object of the game was to get the ball through the vertical hoops and there was very little clearance between the ball and the hoop, believe me. Initially, the ball could only be hit with the hips or shoulders but in later years a rudimentary narrow bat was used.
The real kicker in this game was that the captain of the winning team had to offer his head to the opposing captain who had the honour of the decapitation. Not a great incentive to win the game, eh!. The reason behind this, as the story goes, is that this would give the winning captain a direct ticket to heaven without having to go through the 13 steps that the Mayans believed they would normally have to achieve to get to heaven.
Posted in Mexico | Tags: Ancient Sites, Ballcourt
Posted by: jimndianne | November 21, 2009
Chichen Itza
21 November 2009 Merida, Mexico
On a recommendation from a young travel agen
t at our hotel, we booked a coach tour to the very historic site of the ancient Mayan civilisation. Located in the eastern section of the State of Yucatan and just 120 km. from the City of Merida, Chichen Itza is one of the most controversial, studied and visited ruins of the mayan world. Its history and chronology are the subject of debates and the fate of its people a puzzle that archaeologists continue to theorise about as excavations continue.
When our small group of 4 Venezuelans, 2 Colombians, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Americans and 3 Mexicans entered the ruins that are Chichen Itza we were all totally spellbound by its size, grandeur and nature.
Our driver/guide, did an excellent job of informing us in both Spanish and English, alternately, and made sure of answering all of our questions about this majestic site.
One can scarcely begin to describe the enormity of the place which in its golden era covered an area of over 25 square kilometres.
Without spending too long in explanation, the most impressive building by far is the Castle of Kukulcan, also known as the pyramid, rising 30 metres from the earth. Its 
age is roughly calculated as being between 650 and 800 A.D. The numbers of its different measurements relate to digits in the maya solar calendar, e.g. 91 steps on 4 sides, or 364; plus the platform, 365, the number of days in a year. The five adornments on each side of the temple are 5 x 4, or 20, the number of days in a maya month. This structure is simply unbelievable! I hope our photographs do justice to its enormity and beauty!
There were a large number of ruins to see including five temples, the Steam 
bath,
the Ba
ll court, the sacrificial well and the Platform of Eagles and Jaguars and it would 
take far too long to explain them all, but trust me, try to make a visit at some time of your life to this very special place. We are so very glad that we did.
Our group returned to the bus at 2.30pm, very hot and very hungry, and were being driven to lunch (we thought). However, our driver mentioned he wanted to show us one other amazing place before we could eat, that of the Sacred Blue Cenote (or sink-hole) located at the Eco-archaeological Park Ik-Kil. At 60 metres wide and about 40 metres deep, it is an open well-type cenote with exuberant vegetation and waterfalls! As we looked down inside from our position in the sun it was a sight to see, 
with several people swimming in the water way below on this very hot day. A long 
internal stairway leads to the water and we made the trek down so that we could take photographs from the swimming hole. Here are some of our group smiling happily, albeit with growling tummies as it was by now 3.30pm!
We certainly enjoyed our buffet style ‘lunch’ when we finally had it, which was All-You-Can-Eat. It was teeming with rain at 6pm when we were eventually dropped off at our hotel so we just stayed in and wrote some of our blogs.
Posted in Mexico | Tags: Ancient Sites, Mayan Ruins, Pyramid, Sink Holes
Posted by: jimndianne | November 20, 2009
By air to Merida, Yucatan.
20 November 2009 (Mexico)
Although we have not seen a lot of Mexico City, we will need to return here in order to get to Ecuador, so we have decided that if time permits we can explore it further at that time. Therefore, we have booked flights (on-line, of course) to fly out today at 11am to Merida, in the state of Yucatan. It i
s known as the White City because of its use of white limestone and white paint! Leaving the hotel Camino Real (painted a bright pink) at 9am we only needed to cross the road to catch the Air Train, an elevated three-carriage train, which would take us around the periphery of the Aeropuerto to Terminal 2.
A slight hiccup at the check-in desk, due to our foreign debit card being rejected on the internet to pay for our flight, (only Mexican cards were accepted) meant we had to locate a Ticket Sales desk and pay once again. This achieved we were finally able to 
pass through to our Gate in readiness for the flight. During the flight we passed several volcanoes complete with a capping of snow. Within an hour and a half our Aeromexico-Connect flight was on the ground in Merida, where the first thing we noticed was the dramatic change in temperature. In Mexico City it had been cold, down to 13deg.C, due to its high altitude (2,300 metres above sea level) though its summers are generally moderate, with an average temp. of 18deg.C. Here, it was instantly very hot and we knew it was finally time to get out our summer clothes from the suitcases! Everyone we have come across in Mexico has been extremely friendly and polite here, even going out of their way to be helpful. We love that!
Our hotel here has proved to be 
just as 
fascinating as it appeared on its website, a
true colonial hotel dating back to the 17th Century when it was a Catholic school. It has a delightful inner courtyard garden viewed from the reception desk, complete with tinkling fountain, large mango tree and an aviary with two colourful Toucans named
Pierro and Julie. 
Our room is on the 2nd floor, the top one, and looks 
down into the courtyard towards the hotel restaurant on the ground floor. There is a spectacular view of the nearby Cathedral from here too.
That night there was a huge parade celebrating the past revolution. It was the same one that they were preparing for when we left Mexico City. Lots and lots of marchers,
some on horse back, some on trucks etc but mostly on foot. Loads and loads of police everywhere and even they put on a demo of gymnastics including diving through flaming hoops and making huge pyramids.
After a quick Mexican snack of guacamole, black beans and salsa dip with taco chips plus some Mexican beers (one dark and the other light), off we went to bed.
Posted in Mexico | Tags: Cathedrals, hotels, Parades
Posted by: jimndianne | November 19, 2009
We’re in Mexico!
19 November 2009 (Mexico)
How exciting is this, to wake up knowing we’re in a country we’d always wanted to visit! Breakfast was a real eye-opener, with all kinds of spicy dishes to choose from, like Tortillas with ham and cheese, Pork crackling in green curry sauce (yes), refried black beans, omelettes of your choice with/without jalapeno sauce, Mexican sausages, Potato pancakes, chicken pieces in red chilli sauce, etc. We did try a couple of these and they were yummy. There was of course the usual Oatmeal, cereals, pastries and fruits, many of which were foreign to us but we tried them just the same! Our coffee cups were constantly refilled by our lovely waitress, Antonia, and we almost rolled out of there knowing that we would be skipping lunch that day!
Tried to book for a further night at Fiesta but they were fully booked so with check-out fast approaching (1pm) we hastily managed an on-line reservation at the Camino Real, right opposite the airport. Once there and happily checked in, we took a taxi off into Mexico City itself! It had been a week of festivities in Mexico, and the next day, Friday 20th, was the culmination of it all, Revolution Day, which is celebrated every year. We knew that the huge square where it was all happening was in the centre of town so our friendly young taxi driver dropped us right near it and we walked from there. There were hundreds of people all with the same idea, just walking here and 
there, while the central part of the square was a hive of activity with huge towers being erected for the Light and Sound show the 
next day. The Cathedral in the square was quite awe-inspiring and there were many artistes, clowns and organ grinders winding their twangy instruments along with food, sellers of trinkets, and jewellery everywhere. We even found a keen fellow doing some knitting.
The camera was never still as we captured all of this incredible vibe!
Our daughter, Nicole, along with her good friend, Harriet, had spent a few days here in 2000, after their Youth Challenge Australia volunteer work was finished in Costa Rica. She asked us to look for the Hostel where the girls had stayed and we were lucky to find it very easily, just off the main square, where we took photos of the interior and up on the roof where the girls had spent a few nights of musical pleasure, along with many of the other young residents of the hostel.
A short walk took us to see the beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes, an absolutely 
magnificent building used for the performing arts, folklore dance shows etc. The entire inside was made of a beautiful beige, brown and white marble, just stunning, while the outside was built entirely of white marble. Though construction on the Palace began in 1904 due to a whole lot of reasons it was not inaugurated until 1934. Many famous opera singers, including our own Kiri Te Kanawa and Pavarotti have performed here. The weight of the building is so massive that it has been slowly sinking a few centimetres annually since completion of its construction. In front of the building, a beautiful square with pegasus statues and gardens has been completed in recent years. It was simply one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen.
Caught a taxi back to the Hotel from in front of the Palace and paid the ridiculous meter charge of 44 pesos ($3.60) for the 20 minute journey, which compared to our inward ride in another taxi of 130 pesos ($11.00) means we were ‘ripped off’ big time! Along the way, we noticed that there were parts of the city which looked quite poor, not exactly slums but certainly showed definite signs of needing a clean-up. We had a truly wonderful day nevertheless.
Posted in Mexico | Tags: Cathedrals, Historic Cities, hotels, Palace of Fine Art
Posted by: jimndianne | November 18, 2009
Dallas Fort Worth USA and Mexico City
18 November 2009 (USA, briefly…)
Continuing our journey towards the ultimate destination today of Mexico, the 10 1/2 hr flight from France through daylight was calm and very uneventful, which is surely what one hopes for in airline travel. American Airlines were impeccable with their service, plying us with delicious food and snacks along the way. The aircraft, being a B767, did not provide personal in-seat movies, these being shown on larger screens in the ceiling for all to see, (just like the old days). “Hotel for Dogs” was quite amusing and kept us occupied for a couple of hours.
For those pet lovers out there, this is a Notice seen in the latest American Airlines flight magazine:
‘CARRY ON PETS’ must stay in their kennels and under the seat in front of you. American Airlines assumes no responsibility for the well-being of carry-on pets.
On flying in towards the Dallas Fort Worth airport (Texas), it was very interesting to note the huge conglomerations of housing complexes which appeared to be all identical. After a one and a half hour transit stop in the airport, we changed aircraft for the two and a half hour flight to Mexico. Unfortunately, we were in the absolute rear of the plane, right over the wing so we were unable to see any of the terrain below. It was quite dark by the time we arrived in Mexico so didn’t know what we were coming to! Our bags arrived in good time and we were collected from the airport by our hotel shuttle, which carried us the short distance to the (4 Star) Fiesta Inn, a nice place with big inner garden area as well as fountains and a swimming pool. This was a good choice with a nice big room and two double beds! Exhausted by now from all the flying, it being 3 a.m. in ‘our’ day, though only actually around 8.15pm in Mexico, we collapsed into bed and slept the sleep of the dead…
Posted in Mexico, USA | Tags: Carry-on Pets
Posted by: jimndianne | November 18, 2009
‘Bye to Paris and on to…
18 November 2009 France
Well that was quite a day yesterday, really brought back memories. So up early and packed, down to the foyer, forget about breakfast, no time. Now over to the front wall of th
is quaint old hotel for a quick shot of the
lovely cemetery.
They are all fresh flowers and this is very typical of cemeteries that we have seen throughout France. Ok, into the cab and off to Charles De Gaulle airport and climb aboard our American Airlines 767.
So that is it for Europe. We have completed most of the regions we wanted to visit in Italy and France.
Just to bring you all up to date as to what we are up to, we are evaluating four different countries with a view to buying a house in one of them and to take up residence. Two years ago we joined an organisation called International Living which has been in existence for the past 28 or so years. They search the world for places in which expats, like ourselves, might prefer to live and evaluate them on about ten different factors i.e. safety, cost of living, residency, climate, health system, etc. So we thought, why not, lets go and see what it is all about!!
We now have Italy and France (in specific regions) under our belts and have been very impressed with a number of places, nothing big, very rural but close to all amenities. However, the jury is still out until we have looked at the other two countries.
The engines are revving up and off we go down the runway ……………..
Posted in France | Tags: cemeteries, hotels, Houses
Posted by: jimndianne | November 17, 2009
We’re in Paris!
17 November 2009 France (final day)
Yes, we’re in Paris and it’s raining! Shades of Rome… Off into Paris on the A.1 to return our trusty Citroen C4 to National Rental Cars. Despite the peak hour morning traffic, which was at a snail’s pace all the way in, we had no trouble locating the Gare du Nord (north railway station), where we were to leave it, but actually getting into the car drop-off area was hideous due to ‘no left turn’ signs. After several circuits of the area, and fraying tempers, we triumph – and enter the sub-terrain six floors underneath the station where it was eerily claustrophobic, depositing the car into its bay.
From there on it was all fun! After purchasing a book of Metro tickets we chose to first 
visit the Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. Map in hand and on foot now, we hiked uphill via at least 100 steps to the site of the famous Sacre Coeur Cathedral, immediately finding ourselves within a sea of tourists of all nationalities. It was with some surprise that we noticed several women sitting on the ground begging right at the very doors of the cathedral. Although the weather had cleared up somewhat, it was so cold and very hazy and so our photos of the vista from that high place do not show it at its best advantage.
A few paces further and we were right in the Montmartre, or artists’ area, which was just magical! As a very minor artist myself it was wonderful to amble round to study each artist’s style and flair. Many were of an advanced age, too, and apart from just a few tourists having th
eir portraits drawn, it 
appeared there was little business being done. We did not purchase anything, having no room in our suitcases for extra items and already owning quite enough paintings in any case. We were by now becoming quite hungry but as the prices in the cafes there were rather extortionate (coffees around 5-7 Euros) we descended via a few quite steep streets into another better-priced area. Over Crocque Monsieur (grilled French cheese on toasted bread) and a great salad, we filled our growling tummies. A French couple (Nadine & Erik), originally from Paris but now living in Cannes, sitting at an adjacent table began a conversation with us asking where we were from and they were delightful! We ended up exchanging email addresses and felt they were the kind of people we’d love to catch up with again sometime in the future! The French everywhere are just so friendly!
When in Toulouse we noticed a unique idea, that of a great little business where smart 
bicycles are attached to a lock on an adjacent pole. Once the required amount of money was paid into a machine in a booth nearby, this would release the bicycle for use! We saw many people riding them as they were a very conspicuous shade of red. In Paris we also saw these racks and racks of bicycles everywhere in a silver colour. Perhaps a bond has to be paid first in order to ensure that the bicycle is returned to a rack.
We again entered the Metro system in order to get as close as we could to the Arc de 
Triomphe, at the end of the Champs Elysees. There was some nostalgia at this point as we recalled the last time we were near this landmark, in 1992, with both of our daughters, after visiting Barcelona and then Expo in Seville, Spain. Walking a 
major part of the Champs Elysees, past the expensive designer stores and restaurants, to stand right in front of the Arc de Triomphe, was such an amazing feeling being right there amongst all of that history! So much to see and not enough time right now.
As we also wanted to revisit the Eiffel Tower that day and the light was beginning to 
fade somewhat, we hailed a taxi which sped us across 
the bridge over the River Seine with its huge tourist boats. There it was – the magnificent Eiffel Tower – and we were soon standing right under it! More nostalgia… In order to ascend the Tower we were first required to undergo a security check, where all personal items are searched, before we were able to queue for tickets to either the 2nd or 3rd level. Being the adrenaline junkies that we are we 
opted for the latter. Quite some time was spent in queuing, I might add at this point, as there were only two lifts operating instead of the normal four. As the lift began its slow ascent, there were gasps all round from the many tourists and if we thought it was high at the 2nd level we had still another 700 mtrs 
or so to reach the 3rd level. It was exciting yet scary looking down from that lift, I can tell you. Finally at the top, we were released into an absolutely freezing wind, such cold air, and lucky there is security wire from the railings going right overhead or there would have been many hats and scarves taking off into the wild blue yonder! The most incredible views could be seen of the entire city of Paris and we could pin-point many of the major 
historic buildings and landmarks. It was dark by the time we had queued for the ride down and all of Paris had put its lights on just for us! We were very lucky to have viewed the city in daylight and in darkness.
After a delicious casual dinner (with wine!) in the Gare du ‘este (their stations are not like ours – they are very upmarket), we caught 
the 350 bus back to our Hotel near the airport, arriving about 9.30pm. It had been quite a day, one to remind us that we must come back to Paris again before too long as there is much, much more to see. With suitcases packed up at the ready for our 7.45am departure from the hotel, we fall into bed on our last full day in France.
Posted in France | Tags: Arc de Triomphe, Canal boats, Eiffel Tower, Montmartre
Posted by: jimndianne | November 16, 2009
Haunted Motel and on to Paris
November 16 2009
Well, so much for the haunted part. We awoke to find about eight cars outside so we weren’t ‘home alone’ last night. And a quick stroll down to the dining room showed a petit dejeuner in full swing! After all of the usual juice, bread rolls, croissants, yoghurt, fruit salad and coffee we were back on the Autoroute at a steady 125 kph heading for Paris. The max allowable speed was 130 kph but this didn’t stop the 
Michael Schumachers whizzing past at about 160 kph. However, they do use clear signals when pulling out, returning to the right hand lane and do not hog the fast lanes. The landscape was much the same a yesterday, flat but with
masses of
trees lining the road. Some of these trees had numerous large bird nests but no sign of their owners so don’t have a clue as to what type of bird put these together but boy, they sure had been busy. At this point the countryside was now becoming littered with Autoroutes, main roads (often two lanes each way), secondary roads and lanes. No matter where you wanted to go there would be a way. Another pit-stop for fuel. (This car is amazingly good on fuel for a 2 litre diesel. Overall we have done about 2,100 kms and used only about 117 litres of fuel which corresponds to around 5.6 litres of diesel per 100 kms). Picked up a more comprehensive map at the service station showing the approach to Paris in larger detail so we were able to pin-point our hotel which chosen because of its proximity to the Charles De Gaulle airport. Booked on-line, their special rate for 2 nights was only Euros 89. Our trusty navigator was able to take us directly to there without any drama and avoided the ‘excitement’ of driving through Paris.
Checked in and then had to decide whether we should hand the car back at the airport the day we leave or in Paris tomorrow as planned. Which would be less hassle? The airport, of course, and as there was plenty of the day left we set off to see how easy it would be. Easy wasn’t the word. This must be the worse designed airport in the world. There are five different terminals each with numerous sub-terminals. We would be leaving from No 2 and that is split into A,B,C,D and E!!!! Did we ever find where the car rental return for Terminal 2 would be, no, but we sure found plenty of other departments, dead ends, service areas, maps in glass cases at the side of the roads (which only added to the confusion) and car parks galore but NO car rental return areas. So we drove back to the hotel rather frustrated and shaken due to the density of traffic. Option 2 it would be!
Posted in France | Tags: Birds nests
Two Adventurers 
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