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Published: November 30th 2009
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Noon in the Central Plaza
People just seem to be drawn to the town's central park. Always good for a photo or two. Well, we finally made it to Mexico! It's been a long haul this year with our trip being put off a couple times but now that we're here, we couldn't be more happy with how the timing turned out to be more in our favour.
Take this morning, for instance. Here in beautiful colonial Merida, it's barely 10AM and the weather is 24C but with the humidity feels just over 30C. And it's clear skies today. Should be perfect weather for some bargain hunting at the artisan market in the town's central market this morning. Later today we'll head out to Uxmal for an afternoon tour, dinner and light show. Uxmal will be our first ruins and should be amazing, not only because of the scale and grandeur but also (relative) lack of crowds (a la Chichen Itza).
Yesterday was a good day, we took a first class bus from old Cancun to Merida, which was half the price of a single return ticket from Calgary to Edmonton via the Red Arrow. Twice we encountered military checkpoints and at one time they did an inspection of the luggage compartment. Try as I might to keep my eye on them,
Time to shine
If I'd been thinking and had the luggage space, I would have brought some nice shoes just to get a professional polish. when one hombre has a machine gun (an HK G3A3) literally 3/4 the size of him I wasn't going to be able to protest too effectively. At our destination our bags appeared to be unmolested though in the future I'll be securing our zippers using zip ties.
Last night we had a jaunt around the city after finding a little joint (quasi-touristy but it was all local eats and servers, no habla Ingeles) where we had enchilladas and tacos and a cold cerveza. Then we went to the Plaza Grande and took in the nightly festivities. Some kids had a screamo band going and were really putting on a good show for the locals, though the parents who'd come out to supervise their kids seemed either disinterested or sleeping. Jenny and I spotted a beautiful hand made blanket-afghan-throw-shawl... half-blanket as I'd say, that is just perfect for the couch or on the busses with full-blast Antarctic air conditioning. Price, $100 pesos, or about $10 CDN.
Only took a few pictures so far, as we were only in Cancun (not the hotel district) for an evening and barely into Merida yet. Plus Merida has been so busy we've just
Colonial Cathedral
The Spaniards dismantled a Mayan temple and used its blocks to build a cathedral atop the former building site. been walking around on the narrow (and congested) city streets to get our bearings. So far we've noticed that the nearly million residents seem to love buying junk. There were four of the same retail-chain shoe store that sells cheap kicks in about an eight block radius, a dozen clothing stores, thirty places to buy clothes (plus a couple fabric and yarn stores in the mix, should you feel a hankering to make your own), a handful of bootleg DVD kiosks (
2012 with Spanish subtitles, anyone?) on the street corners, three or four department stores that looked quite upscale and yet another handful of electronics and appliance stores resembling pawn shops.
After we see the market, find some fruit and maybe some cheap tacos, we'll likely head out to a museum. Apparently there is an excellent archaeology museum which will act as a wonderful primer to actually visiting the ruins.
Other than that, there isn't much yet to tell, except perhaps about our hotels. In Cancun city, we stayed at a quaint little place called Hotel Colonial that is built around a central courtyard with a fountain. Waking up to tropical birds in November just does something for
Hidden Hallway of Art
Some local art was on display in a quasi-hallway between a cathedral and museum. the soul. Here in Merida, we're staying at Hotel Dolores Alba. Yet again it's built around a court yard, except with a twist. In the older wing it's an open air (though with a new roof) dining hall/common area, and into the newer wing it's open sky with the balconies overlooking a fountain and refreshing pool that's just big enough to swim some laps. Prices are higher than what we encountered in Costa Rica but we haven't exactly started slumming it just yet, either.
As it's getting late in the day I'll bring this to a close and upload my photos so we can get out there and bring back more tales to report!
Next time, Uxmal!!
Adios!
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Christina Luber
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yay, you guys finally made it south! i always enjoy reading your blog, it brings me right back to central america! (i was just there for a month and miss it all the time). hope the rest of your trip continues to be fabulous!