Eligio Chi Perez, pictured below, begins his day before sunrise by riding his bicycle seven kilometers from his home in Colonial Bojorquez to the Diario de Yucatán office in downtown Mérida to pick up newspapers to deliver.
Each day his delivery of 175 newspapers takes him as far north as the Grand Plaza area, eight kilometers north.
Still smiling, seventy-one year old Eligio has faithfully made his rounds for the past fifty-two years.
Amazingly, he has only worn out two bicycles in the process and not burned a single drop of gasoline.
Congratulations to one of Yucatán’s most ecologically friendly citizens, Eligio Chi Perez.
An early morning pit stop for a snack and hydration in the tranquil little town of Timucuy finds Ken Scott with his high-tech go-fast recumbent bicycle. This is angel gate at the entrance to an old colonial style mamposteria church. Fresh air and tranquility abound.
At the peaceful little town of Tecoh where motor vehicles are scarce and bicycles dominate the quiet clean unhurried streets, we took our morning coffee break in the shady central plaza. Ken fits in with the people powered bicycles and tricycles at the municipal market. After cycling out of Mérida at 6 AM south on Calle 42, we completed our leisurely fifty kilometer back road tour by 11 AM in the picturesque city of Acanceh. This gem of historical structural monuments of the past contains several Mayan temples. Interspersed throughout the city are Spanish colonial buildings unchanged over the centuries.
Above the two ladies are returning from the market. One dressed in western attire known as catrina style and the other lady in the traditional Mayan hand embroidered dress known as huipil. All speak the Mayan language and most also speak Spanish. Note the conspicuous lack of motor vehicles, and this is the main street.
A church and chapel sit nestled amongst the ancient Mayan temples in the city center of Acanceh. Those temples provided the materials to build not only the church and chapel but the rest of the town buildings.
It is turn around time. A happy and satisfied Ken Scott is fresh as a daisy after our lovely 50 kilometer back road bike ride.Here he is pictured with the jovial kitchen workers at the cocina-economica where we stuffed ourselves on the generous portions of traditional Mayan style cooking. This restaurant is adjacent to the bus terminal on the central plaza and buses and colectivo taxis depart for Mérida every few minutes.
Postscript: John L. Stephens in his epic book; Incidents of Travel in Yucatán, describes his departure from Mérida and journey south on the same road that Ken and I traveled to Timucuy and Tecoh.
See pages 65, 66, 67, 68; subject 1842 trip to Tekoh 8 leagues from Mérida.
This story began when Jane’s doctor told her she had to change her life style.
Jane had a painful leg condition complicated by her job. She spent her workday at a computer terminal.The prescription was to find work that would let her move around without too much standing. The best recreation would be bicycling and tennis.
This is where the story gets interesting.
It turns out that at this time our ambitious five year boat building and escape plan was nearly complete.
With Jane’s last paycheck, she headed to the bicycle shop and I tagged along with no intention of a purchase. That evening we both came home with new Schwinn bicycles equipped with lots of bolt on extras.
This prescribed therapy opened a door to a wondrous world neither of us had envisioned.
In 1972 Jane and I set sail.
Our worldly positions including our new bicycles were aboard our new floating home Dursmirg. You can read about that adventuresome epic voyage of escape in the recently published books.
Travels of Dursmirg Volume 1 by John M. (Bing) Grimsrud
This true adventure story is told in the first person. It began as an idea and unfolded into a rich and fulfilling dream come true.
A lifelong obsession of escape materialized in 1972 with the building and launching of the dreamboat Dursmirg when the five year bailout plan was consummated.
John and Jane went over the horizon and out to sea on a voyage of escape.
Departing Duluth-Superior on the western terminus of the St. Lawrence, they crossed the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal and Hudson River to New York City. Then they headed south to Florida, stopping at Annapolis, Chesapeake Bay and Savannah along the way to the Oldest City of St. Augustine. In an active winter of exploration; Jacksonville, Marineland, Daytona, Disney, Miami, Key West, Tampa and Tarpon Springs were a few of their diversionary side trips.
This love story began with desires and aspirations and was molded into reality.
Highly recommended for all those free spirited dreamers out there that have the drive and desire to live life to the fullest. This is one of four volumes in a series.
Travels of Dursmirg, Volume 2 by John M. (Bing) Grimsrud
Summers at Daufuskie
Beyond their wildest expectations a new life of independence laced with exciting discovery and good fortune opened a wealthy world there to be savored by those who take the time to enjoy it to its fullest.
John and Jane spent their first season living aboard Dursmirg in the Old City of St. Augustine and found more fascinating attractions, new friends, southern cooking and exciting diversions than they could be packed in. They were enticed to return again and again.
Springtime arrived and the Sea Islands beckoned. FernandinaBeach, Brunswick, Savannah and Charleston were visited. Living at anchor opened a new realm and they learned to live out of the sea. Exploration took them to places CumberlandIsland, DaufuskieIsland and more.
Discover the best southern cooking from the Sea Islands, humorous encounters, tricks of harvesting seafood and living with nature that were all part of a dream come true.
This book is recommended reading for determined adventurers yearning to find a place in this world to live free. This is the second of four volumes in a series.
Travels of Dursmirg V-3, Down in the Florida Keys, Swinging in a Summer Breeze, Volume 3
“I am going where the wind blows, when the spirit moves me and the price is right.”
These were the driving forces, the goals and aspirations that would be fulfilled beyond their wildest expectations. Quality of life and standard of living were to be far above anything imaginable. Yes, they did it!
Using the Oldest City of St. Augustine as a home base, winter sojourns south always included the Indian River where lifelong friendships were cemented, bountiful seafood harvested and anchorages a slice of paradise.
Miami and Biscayne Bay was a cruising boaters dream come true. Anchorages abounded at Dinner Key, Biscayne Key plus Sand, Elliot and Rhodes Keys in the BiscayneNational Park. Venturing south the Hawk Channel took you to Marathon, Boot Key, NonNameHarbor, Key West the Marquesas and Dry Tortugas were part of the best cruising, fishing, and exploring to be found anywhere.
Dodging the bullet that wounded the nation and slipping off into a utopian paradise while the world was in turmoil and upheaval, they migrated together with like-minded sailors into a new dimension.
More than a life story this was a love story where husband and wife were also the best of friends and pals. This is the third of four volumes in a series.
On May 3, 1886 after a strike protesting for an eight hour working day held at the McCormick reaper works in Chicago, several workmen were killed by police.
The next day, May 4, 1886, at a rally held in support of striking workers in Haymarket Square, an unknown person hurled a bomb into the crowd as the police were breaking up the public meeting. The international anarchists took credit for the bomb. The anarchist’s objective was to protest against police violence. The bomb killed eight police and injured twenty-seven other people. Eight protesters at the meeting were arrested, charged and four were hanged. The workers rights protesters that were charged became known as The Martyrs of Chicago. The Haymarket affair is generally considered to have been an important influence on the origin of international May Day observances for workers. May Day is celebrated through out the world as an official worker holiday. May Day is also a traditional holiday in many cultures. In 1958 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed May 1, which was previously known as May Day or International Workers' Day, as Law Day. Eisenhower considered groups associated with workers rights as communists. In Mexico, El Dia del Trabajo or International Workers Day is a celebrated event. The Martyrs of Chicago are still remembered for their efforts in behalf of workers. In the Yucatán port city of Progreso, the henequen workers union has built a school commemorating The Martyrs of Chicago.
ESCUELA MARTIRES DE CHICAGO or School the Martyrs of Chicago built by the henequen workers union of Progreso, Yucatán, México.
May Day is also a traditional holiday in many cultures.
Ever smiling owner of El Negro taqueria Sr. Buenaventura Couoh makes his clients happy and eager to return to his exquisite seafood mini-restaurant.
Located in Mérida’s city center on calle 64 between 59 and 61 is this little restaurant with a well deserved reputation built over twenty years for fresh “mariscos” or seafood tacos and sandwiches. Reasonably priced with rapid service and top quality, they have the recipe for success. Open from 7 AM to 3 PM every day. They also feature turkey, pork and regional dishes. Catering is available on request. Tel. 924-44-45
Irresistibly tempting for all seafood lovers; this presentation is pleasing to the eye.
Happy friendly waiters make El Negro taqueria a good choice.
The no frills atmosphere is offset by fresh quality and friendly prices. New Yorker’s Pat and Dave fill up on shrimp sandwiches for breakfast.
(In Yucatán, Mexico, a mestizo is a person of mixed Spanish and Mayan parentage.)
Monument in Chetumal, Quintana Roo dedicated to Gonzalo Guerrero, his wife Zazil Ha and their children
This fascinating story actually begins with the birth of Gonzalo Guerrero back in the early 1470’s at Palos, Andalusia, Spain.
Trained as a military combatant he fought to drive the last of the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula by 1492 ending eight centuries of Islamic occupation. Then he took up his next position of soldier/sailor on Columbus’s first ocean crossing expedition aboard the small open carvel vessel, Niña.
This soldier of fortune’s story did not reappear in the annals of history again until 1511. Gonzalo set sail in good weather from the Gulf of Darien on the Colombian coast of South America north bound with looted treasure and slaves.
What happened next is one of the worst nightmare stories that could happen to anyone.
Forty year old Gonzalo was plummeted into the sea aboard a makeshift raft with no food or water, one of eighteen men and two women to survive the wrath of a hurricane that dismasted his ship and sunk it.
Only eight lived to make landfall, having to resort to cannibalism in order to survive.
Salvation did not happen. The group of eight survivors were apprehended and enslaved by their Mayan Cocom captors on the Yucatán coast.
Four of these survivors were sacrificed and eaten immediately. The others were caged and fattened for a future festival of flesh feasting. The fattening gave the remaining four the strength to escape to the Tutul Xiues tribe of Mayas who were enemies of the Cocom’s.
(An interesting fact of logistic history; in the recorded accounts of the first encounters of these Europeans arrival in Yucatán it was noted that hammocks were in use by the natives.)
Tutul Xiues made slaves of these surviving Spaniards. Due to extreme hard work and exhaustion only Gonzalo Guerrero and Geronimo de Aguilar survived.
Geronimo de Aguilar kept his religion and cultural ways but Gonzalo Guerrero took up the Mayan ways and became a military advisor and trainer teaching the Maya the combat tactics of the Spanish. It has been speculated that this Spanish combat training gave the Mayan people of the eastern jungle part of the Yucatán peninsula the ability to drive out the conquistadors. The Mayan of the Quintana Roo region, (eastern jungle) have never been completely subdued and it wasn’t until Méxican federal forces put down the protracted Caste War in the early 1900’s that this area became a territorial part of México.
Gonzalo Guerrero left a lasting legacy with his newly adopted countrymen.
Next Gonzalo kills an alligator attacking his master and gains his freedom from slavery. He then engaged in ritual mutilation and tattooing that included piercing his ears and cheeks. These acts assimilated him into the Mayan way of life.
Gonzalo next took a Mayan princess named Zazil Ha as his wife and was given the temples of Ichpaatún north of Chetumal, presently designated on maps as Oxtankah.
Chetumal Bay has been a major route of commerce since the days of the ancient Maya because it linked sea-going trade routes to rivers incorporating man-made canals. Lamanai is one of the three most prominent Mayan settlements that remained continuously active through the post-classic period and even after European arrival that is linked by river/canal to Chetumal Bay.
In 1519 Hernán Cortez arrived at the island of Cozumel and attempted to rescue the two Spanish survivors, Geronimo de Aquilar and Gonzalo Guerrero from the Maya.
Gonzalo Guerrero replies; “I married a Mayan woman, have three children, am chief and captain, taken their ways with tattoos, pierced ears and scared face…this is my place.”
Gonzalo’s daughter was rumored to have been sacrificed in the cenote at Chichén Itza to end a locust plague.
He eventually met his fate in battle against the Spanish invaders.
Geronimo de Aguilar went with Cortez and took a job as translator.
For centuries Gonzalo Guerrero was despised by the Spanish for being a traitor, defector, and renegade. He was a man, who had fought against his countrymen, turned his back on his land of birth, society, renounced his faith and denied Christ.
After the independence of Mexico a change took place; strangely some Mexicans descended from the conquerors now began to feel a real passion for the Mayan culture. From the Maya one name that symbolizes the struggle in opposition to colonial imperialist power and a struggle for freedom was Gonzalo Guerrero.
Ultimately Guerrero would go from villain to hero and from traitor to a champion of freedom.
The Mayan ruins and Church at Oxtankah in the jungle north of Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico have been restored and memorialize this extraordinary man and his wife, Zazil Ha, the parents of the first mestizo. An adjacent lagoon in the area of the Oxtankah ruins near Bacalar bears his name.
On the prestigious Paseo de Montejo in Mérida a monument now commemorates his memory. Donated to the city of Mérida by the founder of Akumal, Pablo Bush Romero who was also the president of the Explorers Club of México this bronze monument sculpted by Raul Ayala is perched atop a stone pedestal at the north end of Paseo de Montejo.
Remarkably this monument to one of the most noteworthy Spaniards to ever venture to the New World, Gonzalo Guerrero, his wife, Zazil Ha and their three children sits between eight lanes of bustling traffic.
There is no sign of recognition or plaque of explanation and few people if any that pass here are ever aware of the incredibly fascinating story behind this first Spaniard to integrate into Yucatán.
The symbolic sculpture of Gonzalo Guerrero attired in his Mayan clothing with his wife Zazil Ha behind cradling one of his infant children while another of his three mestizo children plays with a Spanish conquistador war helmet tells much of this epic story.
This sculpture of Gonzalo Guerrero is a part of the monument in Chetumal dedicated to the Cradle of the Mestizo.
-->
Square, an unknown person hurled a bomb into the crowd as the police were breaking up the public meeting. 
