Sleepy Puerto Sisal, Another Yucatan Beach Destination

Bienvenido, loyal reader. Please join Bruce and Mary as they venture forth to explore Puerto Sisal. As usual for those of you who prefer to view these post from the original blog site, please click here.

Whenever we get a three day weekend we like to get out and explore Yucatan. And because we love the beach we chose Sisal for this adventure. Usually we like to stay over one or two nights but in checking out Sisal online we could find no hotel websites and excellent publications such as Yucatan Today were not much help either. Now if we owned a car, like most gringos we know, we’d just run over for lunch  and check it out as this port city is only 53 km away. But when you rely upon public transportation it gets a little trickier. Now don’t get me wrong, after 20 yrs in the car business I love our car emancipation, but being car-free does present challenges.

Based upon a webpage that I have since trashed , we walked all over Centro (31 blocks in total) trying to find the bus depot that serves Sisal, only to find that the webpage’s depot does not exist. Finally at the TAME terminal we were directed to this station, Noreste, on Calle 67 y 50.

Mary is waiting in line to inquire about buses to Sisal. She is told there is a bus to Sisal at 12:20 and 19:20 cada dia, every day. Mary asks about returning buses and the clerk has no info, but does volunteer that it is a 1 1/2 hr trip. Armed with this information we head home.

It’s Friday, Sisal day, and we’re at Noreste. Here’s Mary buying the one-way tix that cost 28P each.

We allowed ourselves a little time for a light lunch. This is a food vendor across the street and where I have possibly the best fish sandwich I have ever had, for 12P.

Mary is in the waiting area of the depot.

The bus is very comfortable but has no banos. I mention this because some of the destinations out of this terminal are several hours in duration.

Heading out of town on Jacinto Canek we pass by the Yucatan Supreme Court building.

This is the zocolo, central park of Caucel, a small pueblo en route.

This is the zocolo of Hunucma, a town of significance half way to Sisal. The bus had just stopped at a small bus terminal a few blocks from this park and a few passengers boarded. So we are surprised when the bus circles this park and stops on the far corner to allow about 20 people to board. We wonder, where did these people come from?

We’re finally in Sisal and we debark opposite this bus terminal. But hold on a second, this joint ain’t open and looks like it hasn’t been for years, how do we get back?!

Mary jumps back on the bus to ask the driver, “How do we get home?” He explains that combis, 15 passenger vans, leave about every hour, serving Hunucma and from there we bus to Merida. He points at a couple combis up the street. We walk over to one of the combi drivers and he confirms this and also tells us that the last combi leaves town at 6. We both breathe a sigh of relief. Mary often criticizes her Spanish to which I always respond, “You’re batting a 1000, babe, every time we need to communicate, you get it done.”

Feeling relaxed about our transportation needs we start to explore. This is the pier, only a couple blocks from where we debarked. The gulf is not particularly inviting on this cool, breezy day.

From the pier, this is the view west.

And this is the view east.

It’s time for some beer and grub. Just a short walk from the pier is this restaurante, Muelle de Sisal.

We had ordered our beers and I am considering ordering the Filete de Pescado en Salsa Roja when our beers and botanas arrive, Shrimp and Conch ceviche, very good. And as I am not that hungry this is all the food I need.

Mary is not a marisco, seafood fan so she has ordered up these Deditos de Queso, cheese fingers. I am quite pleased that they also see fit to bring me mas botanas, in this case, Fish Ceviche and another plate of Shrimp. Que bueno! BTW, the cheese fingers are delicioso.

The gulf from our Palapa table. In stark contrast to the hub-bub of activity on the Progreso beach, this playa is muy tranquilo.

Adrian has been providing our excellent service at Muelle de Sisal, a new, modern restaurante that we highly recommend. They are open every day, hours are 11-6, cash only, no credit cards.

We have already decided that we will want to visit Sisal again and for at least one night so the next order of business is to locate lodging for that next visit. Adrian had told us of cuartos, rooms just up the pier road. We found them behind a fence and inquired about them at the cantina next door and are told that they are not available, (BTW we have found no one so far who speaks English) but we are informed that there is lodging a block up and then a block left. We follow the directions and come upon Tienda de la Lupita. We enter and meet Jorge the store owner and owner of Posada La Salida del Sol which is up the road 3 1/2 blocks. And here it is!

We find this cuarto at Posada Sol to be quite acceptable.

The bathroom and the entire unit is very clean. These units are available for 300P/night. You can contact owner Jorge Quintar at 988-103-0837. Directions are (we found nary a street sign): Take a left two blocks from the pier, go one block to Tienda de la Lupita and then another 3 1/2 blocks to Posada La Salida del Sol.

After figuring out the lodging part of the Sisal equation we explore the town and find that there are only a few blocks of town separating the ocean from an extensive ria system, which gives the town the feeling of an island.

The side streets of Sisal are very quiet.

We do a little more exploring. This is the zocolo, just a half block off the pier road. There are free banos publicos here, but bring a clothespin for your nose.

The lighthouse still remains, from the days when Sisal was the principal port of Yucatan and sisal fiber derived from the Henequen plant caused said plant to be called the “green gold” of Yucatan.

It’s time to head back so we check in at the combi stand. This combi is waiting to fill.

We decide we’d rather wait here.

The only beers they sell here at Restaurante Brisa del Mar are these 190ml “Ponies” but at least they’re only 10P. I am keeping my eye on our combi in the background.

We see that the combi is starting to fill so we settle our bill and board, for 12P each. But it is still another half hour wait as these combi drivers will not leave until that 15th passenger has boarded. It is 5:00 when we finally head out. It is dusk as we enter Hunucma. The combi dumps us (BTW if you’re wondering, our camera batteries have gone dead) at the same corner of the park where the mystery people had boarded our bus to Sisal earlier today. We’re very confused and are not sure where the bus terminal is from here so Mary asks the driver. He motions up the block where we can see a Sitio de Taxis. We walk up and a combi is boarding.  “Merida?” Mary asks, “Si” the driver responds, so we jump in and the combi heads out directly, only half full but we soon learn that that is because we are picking up people all the way out of town. We enter Merida and people are debarking all along the way. We could get home faster if we debark on Calle 59 and taxi from there but we are curious where this combi ends up so we ride it all the way to a Sitio de Taxis on Calle 64, 65 y 67. Mary settles up for 14P each and we exit through this quite modern facility. We catch a taxi at La Plaza Grande and are home at 6:45. There and back again!

Thanks for visiting, gentle reader. Bruce hopes you enjoyed your virtual tour of Sisal and as you  know, he loves commentary, so please feel free. Hasta proximo Domingo!