My Travels in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc, Mexico

Mahahual to Chetumal, Mexico: An Otherworldly Lake, a Time Machine, and Great Presents for Everyone

Bacalar Lake with piersAlmost on cue, just minutes after my wife Jet was finished with her massage on the beach in Mahahual, the wind picked up, and we and everyone else could notice that the squalls that earlier were further out and more separated were now consolidating and moving closer.  Evidently not strangers to what would happen next, everyone but us folded up and headed for nearby shelter.  Having a full itinerary, we got in our van, retraced the road back to the main highway, and made a left...

Read More


Akumal to Mahahual, Mexico: Way Better Than a Spa Day

White and brown dogs on a pier in Mahahual, Mexico – Best Places In The World To Retire – International LivingWhen you envision someone in December packing their van in the middle of a driving rain, what pops into your mind?  Do you see a person in swimming trunks and sandals?  Probably not, unless you had the same experience as us, as we got ready to leave Akumal.  I just couldn’t think of a smarter way to do it.  It was raining hard, it was warm, we needed to get going right away, and I needed something that would dry quickly and that I could easily change out of. ...

Read More


Mexico’s Riviera Maya, Including Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Akumal and Tulum: From Modern Resort Destinations to Mayan Ruins

Tulum Beach with Jet Metier – Best Places In The World To Retire – International LivingIf you want to travel by any vehicle in the Riviera Maya (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Akumal, Tulum and everything in between), you’ll have to take the main highway.  As in every other place in Mexico we’ve been, this means driving amongst Mexicans who drive way too fast to be safe, and lots of ill-advised passing. In addition, there are “returnos.”
 
The simplest, most non-threatening definition of a “retorno” is that it is nothing more than...

Read More


From Merida to Valladolid to Akumal, Mexico: Interesting Friends, How to Pronounce 'G' in Spanish, and Pre-Planned Inspiration

Jet Metier in the surf at Hotel Tulum, Akumal – Best Places In The World To Retire – International LivingTo paraphrase, add to, modernize (and a little bit botch) Robert Burns: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry… so it is great to have the Internet for quick research and decision-making.”

And that we did.  Upon leaving Merida, on very short notice, we had to find a place to stay during the first week of December, which is the beginning of one of the most popular tourist times of the year, and in one of the most popular tourist areas in the world-- the...

Read More


My New Mayan Friend, and the Evolution of Merida, Mexico

Jet Metier in trici-taxi in Merida, Mexico – Best Places In The World To Retire – International LivingMy new Mayan friend had a beautific smile.  Most likely in her 50s, I met her as she and her family were making and selling sandwiches from the very small porch in front of her home with the half wall she used as a built-in shelf.  On the street was a solitary plastic table covered by a plastic tablecloth, with two plastic chairs.

The street of my friend’s house was perpendicular to the main street bordering the hacienda in which we had rented a place to stay. ...

Read More


Merida, Yucatan, from a 400-Year-Old Veranda to a Mystical Cenote

Veranda of Hacienda Nophat, Merida, Yucatan, MexicoAt each of the stops on our road trip through Mexico, there emerged a personal and unique theme for Jet and me. In Baja California Sur, it was the rugged beauty of the desert juxtaposed against the almost unimaginably blue and clear waters of the Sea of Cortez.  In the little town of Lo de Marcos and Nayarit in general, north of Puerto Vallarta, it was the rich, verdant jungle, plunging into the Pacific in little bays bordered by volcanic outcroppings.  In Jocotepec, it was our...

Read More


Best Places In The World To Retire