Merida

John had a work event in Cancun in February and we decided that not only I should go and work remotely from the resort, we’d take a few additional days off and visit Merida, a colonial town in the Yucatán peninsula that we’d wanted to visit on our trip to the area 12 years ago.

Highlights at the Cancun resort were the beach for walks and this 50 meter outdoor swimming pool for lap swims – tucked into a corner of the resort. There was a bar at the end, mandatory in Cancun swimming pools it seems!

On to Merida! What a gorgeous city, we had a delightful time. Highlights included the Diplomat Hotel, where we stayed. I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed a hotel as part of a stay quite so much!

The hotel owners are super nice and knowledgeable and they gave us wonderful suggestions for day trips. We combined a revisit to Uxmal with swims in 2 cenotes (spring-fed caves), a viewing point for the landing of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, and a visit to a hacienda.

Uxmal has aged less that we have haha! Really amazing and extensive Mayan ruins and much less crowded than Chichen Itza. I love all the animal ornament.

Off to swimming in cenotes. We passed a former hacienda and car that are in the process of returning to nature on the way. Swimming in both of the cenotes was very refreshing.

We made a quick stop at this point to view the flatness of the landscape, with ripples still visible from the asteroid hit. Not much else to say except there’s a family that owns this viewing spot and you have to do a pretty confusing paying them a small amount of money to climb up a rickety ladder to this spot. And you walk through a “shaman museum.” It was way too confusing to document!

Then we drove on to a hacienda that is open as a historic site and for events. Short history on the haciendas, the area was very wealthy from rope making out of the plant Henequen. Rope was shipped out of the nearby port town of Sisal (see-sal) hence the name in English of Sisal for rope. Haciendas were like plantations – the big house where the landowner resided (but not really in the Yucatecan case, the landowners might go there occasionally but they lived in Merida for the most part). When the hacienda system broke down due to ending serfdom and slavery, the buildings were left to either fall to complete ruin or be turned into historical sites or repurposed. Excuse the very brief history there! I’m trying to keep up with the march of time on blog posts!

We had a really great time in Merida walking around and enjoying the friendly and laid back, yet sophisticated!, vibe of the city and having great meals in really cool restaurants. We also took a walking tour with a great local guide one morning and learned a ton about the city and area! We started in the cemetery where the first few photos show an area dedicated to rope makers union workers, the first communist party leader in Latin America, and the musician union workers area. The monument is a really cool whole history of the region and Merida, readable as you walk around esp if you have a great guide telling you the story!

One of the really interesting things about Merida, is that it was founded by the Spanish conquerors who were latter run out of town for being incredibly cruel and exploitative of local Mayans. Despite that, all the main streets, local beer and statues are still focused on the Spanish. Most striking was this craving on the main city building of the original founder of the city, standing on the heads of decapitated Mayans! Very shocking! We asked our guide if people protested, and he said not many really do, “around here if you worry too much about the past, you won’t have time to worry about lunch!”

Here’s the carving we were talking about! I don’t think Irish people and Americans would be quiet so forgiving!

We caught Noche Mexicana one evening – a festival in one of the town squares. Really impressive singing and dancing! This dance was a long story with a man dressed as a pig.

We also took a day trip to the ocean front at Celestine, and visited a nature reserve in the estuary there where we saw so many types of birds. Pelicans, flamingos, a falcon, a tiger heron, kingfisher, and also a little crocodile! Our guide did a really impressive high speed U-turn into a mangrove forest, where there’s a little boat parking spot and short walkway to a cenote. Another refreshing dip!

Another political sign!

We had a great last breakfast at the Diplomat (breakfast burritos)

And remembered fondly our last dinner in Merida – at Catrin. The outside back garden has this huge mural that they dim all the lights and play a light show on around 8pm. Check out the video snippet below with accompanying music! Food was amazing too.

[wpvideo lgZJB355 ]

Then next thing you know, back home!