Day Eight 2/2/26 (Monday) Travel Day

 Our flight home was in the afternoon so we had another delicious leisurely breakfast, then packed and checked out of the room at 11. We left the luggage at the hotel and continued our exploration of Merida. We walked along Calle 53 to the English Language Library. Phil told us about it because he goes there regularly for English/Spanish conversations, lectures and other events. Unfortunately, the library was closed because it was national holiday. Many stores and other places were closed too. We walked around Centro Historico some more, and then back to the hotel on Calle 55. We took an Uber to the airport, which was very quick because there was no traffic. Both our flights were on time, but we had a strange experience in Dallas. We had to go from Terminal E to terminal A so we had to take the airport train. We got on the train in the direction of terminal A (3 stops), but at the first stop there was an announcement that the train won’t go any further and  everybody has to get off and board the train in the other direction on opposite track. Everybody, including us, did that. To get to terminal A on that train would have been 7-8 stops. The train went to the next stop, the doors opened and we heard the same announcement – get off the train and board the train going in the other direction…. Everybody was totally confused, but we all followed and changed trains again. WE were waiting and waiting and waiting, but the train never moved. Finally, we got off the train and decided  to walk to terminal A. It was a loooong walk – more than 2 miles. Luckily,  we had a 2 hour layover …

Our plane landed in Orange County at 10:40 pm -  20 minutes before the 11 pm curfew!

 

Note about Hotel Diplomat in Merida: It’s a wonderful hotel and unique in some ways. The owners, Sara and Nick, are Canadian. They renovated this colonial house and made it into a hotel about 12 years ago. It’s one of the most thoughtfully designed hotel spaces we’ve ever been to. Everything you need is there, and it’s in a place your instinct tells you it should be. Everything is beautiful – the room, the bathroom, the common spaces, the food… They use local crafts and materials. The outdoor bar Hola is an honor bar – there is no attendant. You take whatever you want from it, and just write what you took and your name in a book. They also have a store with a curated selection of local crafts – same honor system. I compared the prices of several items in their store with similar items in Mayan art coops in the city, and the hotel prices were about half of the city prices. When we arrived, we had a bottle of wine waiting for us in the room. Every day, they also had a selection of 4 different brands of tequilas and mezcales in the patio for guests to taste. They were different every day. Service personnel was basically invisible. If you wanted anything, you just needed to ring the bell to the service quarters… It was more like staying in a private house than in a hotel.

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