On our recent trip to Mexico, we stayed in a quiet little fishing village called Chuburna. It is located about 45 minutes from the capital city of Merida, 20 minutes from the cruise port town of Progreso, and 10 minutes from a slightly bigger fishing village called Chelem, where we stayed last time. Chuburna is the perfect “get away from it all” – literally IT ALL. There is not much of anything in town: a couple of Tienda Six’s, one or two tortillerias and a few restaurants that may or may not be open at any given time. We learned quickly to not rely on the hours listed on Google for any of the restaurants. So on our 1st night there, not having had a chance yet to hit the Soriana grocery store in Progreso, we realized we’ll have to drive all the way into Progreso for any hopes of finding an open restaurant. We had a great meal of aguachile shrimp and tamarind margaritas at Sol y Mar and met an American couple there. They chatted us up and invited us out for after dinner drinks. We had a pretty good time with them, despite the few attempts the woman made at trying to talk politics with me. I had to kindly tell her I wasn’t interested in discussing the subject, as our views were clearly not in-line. And anyways, I’m on vacation! I came to this remote Mexican town to get away from the ugliness and divisiveness of our national politics, the last thing I want to do is get in an argument with someone I barely know about Black Lives Matter while I’m on vacation.
Our night out on the town came to an end, and Bill started the drive back to Chuburna. I was feeling rather tipsy, which I think was heightened by the long day of traveling and the excitement-induced lack of sleep that always happens to me the night before a big trip. I felt almost serene. We passed through Chelem and a few minutes later we start coming into Chuburna Puerto – keep in mind this is only our 2nd time driving into this tiny town which, at that time, was still very unfamiliar to us. It is late at night and there are very few streetlights and no people to be seen anywhere. There is a dog sitting in the middle of the road. It makes no effort to move out of the way. I roll down my window and try to coax it out of the road as it runs up to our car and starts barking and chasing us. We finally get past it only to be greeted by another dog, just sitting there in the road. We honk the horn and once again try to coax it out of the way and once again the dog starts running up to the car, barking and chasing us. We get past that one and there is yet another dog sitting in the road, as if waiting for us. Same old story – dog runs up and barks and chases our car as we slowly try to go around it. All the while, still no people around, no signs of human life really, it felt strange and rather unsettling, almost like we were in a ghost town or in a canine version of the movie set for “Come Out and Play.” Finally, we get past the trio of dogs and make a right down our road.
It didn’t take long for us to really appreciate and enjoy the stillness and peacefulness of this sleepy little town. But that 1st night driving into it was eerie. The combination of the dark still night, desolate looking buildings, sandy roads and lack of people around felt truly bizarre. There are quite a few street dogs in these towns, and I do have to say that they seem different at night. It’s like they change into something else – not vicious, but guarded and untrusting. Another dog near our place would be friendly as can be during the day, but at night would follow you and bark at you in a way that made me nervous. Eventually, we learned to keep a few rocks in our pockets when walking around at night, which luckily, we never had to use.
I write about this in no way to fear-monger or discourage travel to the state of Yucatan – we love it and hope to live there one day. But just know if you travel here, it’s a different world. And hopefully that’s why you are traveling – to immerse yourself in unfamiliar places and experiences, even when they may at times feel uncomfortable. But why else travel, if not to witness and be a part of places and cultures unlike our own?
