After enjoying the long weekend, we were both back to work on Tuesday. Merida is very well suited to a working location. During the day staying inside working feels fine since it’s so hot and bright (it’s winter here, but for us very hot and bright!). Then after the sun goes down around 5:30 we go outside and enjoy the cooler temps. There’s so much activity outside in the evenings! This week our local park had its regularly scheduled Tuesday evening Merida symphony band playing with big crowds and dancing, then every other night has had other bands playing as part of Merida Fest. We’ve also been to Dzalbay Cantina (pronounced “zal-buy”) a few times to hear different bands. Really nice vibe in there and great music too. Another cultural site that we noted but didn’t go into is the Merida English Library. It’s a members lending library with different events that are catered to the expat community in Merida. I’d do my duty as a librarian and work there if called upon! But I suspect a lot of the expat community in Merida are also librarians so there might be a lot of applications for a librarian job there!
On Friday nights, there is a light and audio show at the main cathedral in Merida, Catedral de San Idlefonso, in the main plaza. We caught it last night, and really enjoyed it. It goes through the history of Merida with very colorful illustrations and wonderful accompanying music. Today, our last day here, we went to a couple of museums, starting at the Museo Casa Montejo. We’d not rushed to this museum in the past since we had kinda thought it was a restored house with Victorian furniture, etc. A bit of it was, but there was also a really good video about the history of the area and also an exhibit of sculpture by Miguel Paraza – very large and detailed ships and more abstract pieces. And in the courtyard, a calabash tree with many fruits.
Still near the main plaza, we went to the contemporary art museum, with an exhibit that we really liked by Fernando Garcia Ponce. These first two pieces by him are really large collages with all kinds of materials. The sculpture next to John is a very charming rat – which struck a chord because of the “rat hole mania” back in Chicago. (Impressive that the Chicago rat hole has its own Wikipedia page already! People amaze me, how quickly they spring into action when these things happen.)
Our airbnb has very cool tiles in some rooms, and I’m not sure if they are ceramic or a type of tile that is called a pasta tile here – cement tiles that are a specialty of this area. I’d love to visit a pasta tile workshop (maybe during a future visit!) – the pattern is applied in colored cement into a mold, then the cement (concrete?) is poured in and blocked off from what I understand. Then the tile is removed from the tile to dry and it is incredibly durable thereafter. Our airbnb also has a metal lattice in the same type of pattern but laid out differently. And I saw these linens in a shop today – they have the same embroidery pattern I learned from Maria last year!
One of our favorite restaurants here is El Apapacho. The front is a feminist bookstore with a few tables set up, and there is a really lovely tree covered patio. Funny but I got photos of the patio last year, but missed this very cute mouse mural. Located very conveniently nearby is the amazing Palateria las Rellenas de la 60 – which is truly the popsicle place of the Gods. I know one reader who is a big fan of ice blocks – I think the palaterias / popsicles / ice blocks here would be a big hit!
We’re winding up after a really wonderful 2 weeks in Merida. Will sign off for now and cover anything else that happens later today from the Dallas airport tomorrow. So for now, hasta luego!
We’ll have the inside track on the name of ice blocks when we’re in Mexico! Great post… looks like a lovely place to hang out for a few weeks!