Have Tefl will Travel

There is a ruined hacienda on Isla Mujures with a fascinating past. Fermín Antonio Mundaca y Marecheaga Fermin was born in  October 1825 in Santa María, Bermeo, Spain, he studied maritime navigation, before setting off to the New World.  He became fabulously wealthy as a pirate, smuggler and slave trade—capturing and selling both Mayan and African people to Cuban plantations. He was one of the original Pirates of the Caribbean and like many a successful business men of dubious repute, he decided to retire and live off his ill gotten gains, the British were also cracking down on pirates and slave traders!!  He became fabulously wealthy as a pirate, smuggler and slave trade—capturing and selling both Mayan and African people to Cuban plantations. He was one of the original Pirates of the Caribbean and like many a successful business men of dubious repute, he decided to retire and live off his ill gotten gains, the British were also cracking down on pirates an...

When I last visited Claudia, seven years ago, just before the pandemic, we didn't explore Yucatan much; the children were little,  I only came for 2 weeks and spent 4 days of the 14, relaxing in a resort in Progresso. So we were determined to do more this time  and even had planning meetings with our diaries to fit everything in. We wanted to go away for the weekend with Lorrie Polina, Claudia's daughter and it  turned out that on Mothers day weekend we booked a hotel on Isla Mujures,  just off the cost from Cancun.  Cancun is 3 hrs and a different time zone from Merida. So on the Friday afternoon we arrived parked the car at the ferry terminal and caught the ferry to the island. Its a beautiful tropical island, the roads are so narrow everyone uses golf carts to get around and Lorrie volunteered to drive us and did a brilliant job, even though she's not old enough to drive on the mainland. she even managed revers parking into a space!! Fresh coconuts from a sta...

    I've had a surreal few days. Claudia's world can be like that , she has such a wide range of interesting friends and connections. Claudia, Alex and I visited an exhibition opening in Merida. A range of artist from a wonderfully talented local artist with beautiful vibrant paintings, an expat who had sampled repeatedly images until they became ethereal landscapes and a woman who had glued coloured string (very neatly) onto boards to describe inner vibrations.   the string paintings    dinner in town one evening at Chocolate y Roses On Saturday we got up early to go to the hacienda where Claudia and her 2 colleagues are planning to hold a summer solstice retreat and new moon party, they happen to be on the same day in June. The hacienda is really beautiful, its 30 mins outside of Merida and already the venue for luxury retreats and stays as there is a beautiful swimming pool and an enormous central area covered with a lattice dome.       ...

  I booked a day trip tour of the waterfalls to see them from both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides.  This involved passing through the border between the two countries although it was quite informal.  We spent the whole morning walking around the falls on this side, i also went back the next day to explore some of the routes we hadn't taken and just to spend time in the beautiful scenery. From the  Argentinian side For the second part of our tour we crossed to the Brazilian side - a 30 min road trip , then a lovely walk along a forest path with spectacular 'picture postcard views of the falls and  had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the falls. This was where The Mission was filmed San Martin island - a part of the falls that had broken off and become a separate island over time. I loved theses of wild Black Capuchin monkeys on the Argentinian side, one of the bridges had a colony living in the tree either side and using above and below the bridge to pass f...