One of the guys said he stopped in a restaurant/bar to have a beer, and they wanted 50 pesos. Yikes. Normal price for a beer in bar in Mexico is between 20 and 30 pesos. So far, the Yucatan area is a bit pricier than the rest of Mexico. We'll reserve judgement for another couple of weeks, but I think when we design our own RV caravan tour route for the winter of 2019-2020, it's not going to include the Yucatan Peninsula at all.
And longer. I keep saying, four months is the right amount of time. We don't have enough "do nothing" days where you can just relax in the shade and read a book.
Sherman, at the Rainbow Maya RV Park in Merida.
We ended up walking about 1.5 kms (1 mile) to the big Chedraui superstore to do a decent grocery shop. We're pretty stocked up now, especially considering that we do so many meals out with the group. We stocked up on wine, because the cheap tetra pack one liter size was on sale 20% off. So we ordered an Uber taxi and it cost 40 pesos ($2.75 CAD, $2.25 USD) to get dropped off right at Sherman's front door. We love Uber. No idea how the taxi industry thinks they can compete with that.
Sherman, and the huge Mexican flag at the Liverpool shopping center next door.
The rest of our group.
There are only two other rigs here besides our group. One is a couple from Elliot Lake, Ontario with their travel trailer. The other is a German fellow with a big Unimog style vehicle. I didn't realize that there is an American company who builds these things. AdventureX, based in Missouri.
Priced between $250,000 and $500,000 depending on options!
The Rainbow Maya RV Park has been here for many years. Our tour guide the other day is a Merida native, and he says he thinks it's been here for 50 years. He said there was a time when many people came down to Merida in RVs. I think they probably have 50 sites here.
But the services could use some updating.
The problem of course is there is no money to be made. The park sits empty most of the time. Funny thing is, apparently the owner just doesn't want to sell, despite the fact that the property is probably worth a ton of money. One of the owner's daughters comes by to check on things and collect the rent every evening around 5:00pm. She's very pleasant. It now costs 300 pesos ($20.50 CAD, $16.50 USD) per night, with full hookups.
Ruth did some hand wash, using our Bucket Laundry Plunger. It works so well that some of the others have come to borrow it. You just do a few items at a time, and hang them to dry. Simple. Saves us having to lug things to the lavanderia.
While she was doing that, I did some vacuuming and tidying up.
Then, we played several rounds of backgammon. Pretty close so far this year... Ruth is ahead by a couple of games! She is winning in Yahtzee too... I will have to pull my socks up and roll some better dice!
Today, we are off to the town of Piste, which is located only a mile or two from the ruins at Chichen-Itza.
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And in Canada, the Ancestry DNA Kit is on sale...
More relaxing days are really a necessity in our books, enjoy as many as you can.
ReplyDeleteWe love being on the go and doing lots of exploring so for us we only need a real relaxing day every so often. Even on the days where nothing is planned we always seem to find something to do. :-)
DeleteI'm making a kit of useable things for camping. I've looked at your hand washer but I didn't see a video to see how it works. I'm enjoying the tour of Mexico and places I'd like to visit. I don't speak Spanish and usually travel alone so I think I can do some of the cities you traveled through. I traveled to Cancun alone but met a group later and explored local areas including Chichen Itza. Oh, and I love the big Unimog style vehicle. I'd seen those on TV. A business man lives in one and parks his vehicle close to where he works. If my ship comes in, I'll look it up hahaha
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to our post with a video of the hand washer www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2015/12/a-great-way-to-do-laundry.html.
DeleteWe are glad that you are enjoying our posts and no there wouldn't be a problem traveling alone in most of the places that we have visited. There are lots of women that do it. :-)
Hi guys, When we stayed there last year we spoke to the owner several times. We cannot remember his name right now. His daughter told us that he has good days and bad days with his dementia. He told us how the rv park is his pride and glory. He told us stories of the glory day when all sites were full. His driver drove him through there about every other day last year. His daughter told us that the place is for sale but the price is expensive because of development. We asked how did her father get in to the RV park business... she shared with us that he owned a lot of land in Cancun before it was tourist Cancun and he made a lot of money selling that land. He then invested in a lot of land in the Merida area. He was a very smart investor. She told us of her days growing up in this rv park where the mangoes were the sweetest she had ever tasted. I think there is only a one or a few producing mango trees left. That rv park made us sad due to the disrepair and the love for the place from the man who built it. Dementia is awful. We found Merida expensive. Finally so surprised that you are going to offer RV caravan tours! YIKES!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to get a little bit more of the story, thanks Diana.
DeleteRegarding the Mexico RV Caravan Tours, we are not independently wealthy. So while this isn't our normal style of Mexico travel, it allows us to still come to Mexico in the RV, while having 8 months of the year to travel to other places and earn a bit of income in the process. Plus, we really do enjoy showing some of the beautiful places of Mexico to other people so that they get to see the real Mexico instead of the all inclusive Mexico.
We will likely design or own route, but run it through Caravans de Mexico.
Kevin does a bang up job with caravans. He is probably the most competent, and certainly one of the most popular wagon masters, Caravanas de Mexico have used. We have varied the routes every few years according to demand. The northern half of Mexico is certainly a lot easier than this route, which has poor infrastructure and is tougher for larger rigs. The last one Kevin led was in northern Mexico, an area he is very familiar with. He has helped me convince the company to make their trips a bit more off the wall and less like an all inclusive cruise. The attraction of this route is for people who have a keen interest in archaeology, rather than beaches.
ReplyDeleteThanks for those kind words Paul. We do love to show people Mexico and some of the more off the beaten places that we love and there are so many of them out there. After two years of this particular route we will have had enough of it, providing we do this trip again next year. It is always nice to switch things up and keep it interesting.
DeleteVery interesting discussion today regarding the RV park you are staying at. Yes more down time days would be more relaxing for all of the group. Enjoy your travels.
ReplyDeleteIt is often nice to know some of the background on the RV parks that we visit, so yes, this has been and interesting post regarding that.
DeleteWe try to never travel without wine:)
ReplyDeleteWe are the same, except if we are traveling in Canada where wine is so much more expensive.
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