Driving to and From Merida

Some who may be reading my blog may wonder about driving to Merida.  Here it is.

Since we were going to Merida for almost six weeks, we decided to drive there. You don't really need a car that much in Merida but it's nice to have to go to the grocery store, side trips to interesting places, etc.  It is a long ways and the roads are not always the best but we felt totally safe the whole way. There were a number of military inspection points but we were always waved through. One look at the two old cue tips in the car and they knew we weren't worth inspecting.  Going there we decided to leave on December 29th and drive half way which takes you to Minatitlan - same as we did last year.  There isn't a lot to recommend this city but we found our way to the same Hotel Madrid that we used last year.  It was reasonable and pretty comfortable and quiet.  It had a decent (but not great) restaurant so it was fine for a good night's rest.  The very best thing about driving over to the coast now is that there is a wonderful toll road by-pass around Mexico City - Arcos Norte.  What a treat to not have to go through Mexico City.  We really didn't have any problems on the road - no accidents, minimal back-ups at the toll booths and we arrived at our first destination before dark - that's a must.  Last year we were not so lucky.

Main Parque - Campeche

Day two we drove to Campeche where we booked ahead at the Hotel del Mar overlooking the gulf and just a couple of blocks from the historic centro.  We booked for two nights so that we would arrive in Merida on Jan. 1 when our rental started.  The hotel was very nice and we enjoyed walking through the old walled town and took a trolley tour.  The city was colorful and clean - we enjoyed our short stay there very much.  New Year's eve was surprisingly quiet.  We walked over to the park and there wasn't anything special going on so we didn't stay long and ended up not waiting for the new year to roll in.  We slept right through it.  No fireworks or if there were, we sure didn't hear them.

New Year's day we had breakfast in the hotel dining room and headed for Merida.  We arrived there early afternoon and moved into our apartment.

Nice thing about driving is that you can bring more stuff like a waffle iron - one of John's favorites.  And, we had a plug-into-the-cigarette-lighter cooler.  We were able to pack our lunch and snacks and drinks for the road. It's a little awkward getting into the hotel rooms but usually there is a bell boy with a cart to handle it.

So, yes, I would advise driving to Merida if you don't mind sitting in the car all day for 2 days.  On the way home, though, we decided on less driving per day so we  drove to Ciudad del Carmen the first day, Orizaba the second day and home on the third.  The only issue was that we drove in and out of rain all three days and leaving Orizaba, we drove through the mountains (up to 8500 feet) in fog and clouds - not so much fun.  But, we arrived home by 3:00 p.m. on the third day and we were not exhausted.