 Yucatan: sightsee en route or use a hub location?
"Neena" <neena@slack.com> wrote in message
news:1126455408.872004.77000@g14g2000cwa. ...
> Hi folks,
>
> I have a dilemma. I'm going to the Yucatan for a couple of weeks in
> November. It's not enough time to see everything I'd like to see, but a
> start.
>
> There are a number of sights that you can see while on en route from
> one night's lodging stop to another. Some possible examples:
> Valladolid-Chichen Itza-Merida. Or Valladolid-Tizmin-Rio Lagartos. I'm
> not asking about these specific routes, but about the general issue of
> sightseeing en route.
>
> Sightseeing as a stop on a longer day's journey is efficient, and it
> minimizes time spent going back and forth to the same base or hub. It's
> also a good way to see out-of-the-way places. But you need to leave
> your car (and luggage) in a parking lot...something that's not
> considered a safe thing to do. And I'm sure the various sights have
> varying levels of security in the parking lot.
The area is big enough that, in general, working from a hub would be
very inefficient. There are exceptions. With your time frame Valladolid
would work as a hub for a couple of days, same with Merida; but, in general
you'll want to travel a big loop. The larger archaeological sites have
adequete security. On or near the town square is generally a reasonably safe
place to park in smaller towns. I've parked at most of the smaller
archaeological sites in the region without problems--often in a fully loaded
motorhome.
Some places I generally seek out secure parking--all of the larger
cities--including and especially Playa del Carmen. In addition to paid
parking lots and most hotel parking lots, supermarket parking lots often
have good security. I have parked on the street near the INAH museum in
Merida without problems, but this was with a rental car without much more
than our clothing to be concerned with. I'm a sucker for the watch your car
scam and will generally pay 10 or 20 pesos, after the fact, for this
service--depending on the time frame involved. There are exeptions, in areas
where I figure it's a pure scam I politely decline. People were offering to
watch our car in the Basaseachi falls parking lot, for example, and the area
is both small enough and busy enought that it obviously isn't needed. You'll
generally find people offering this "service" at some of the smaller
archaeological sites and in the business district of some cities. In parking
lots with uniformed security if the security person is very attentive when
you park this is usually a signal that tips are very appreciated.
This is all reminds me of returning to our small class-b motorhome at a
parking lot at one of the smaller archaeological sites in the Rio Bec
region. These very rural sites are generally pretty safe. I get more nervous
in or near the cities. A man had washed our mud splattered rig with just a
wet rag. We did give him a good tip for the service, even though we hadn't
asked for it.
I think the best advice I can give is to limit what you take. I
sometimes have diving gear and all sorts of other foolishness, but there
sometimes isn't any way around it. At those times I'm more likely to seek
out secure parking, if it's available, and use public transportation to get
around.
TB
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