http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat-E1n/Merida/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , Mexico , Yucatán , Merida en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:05:24 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:05:24 +0000 Mary and I are adventurous eaters and don't shy away from local food including street food. We've been enjoying the fare here. Based on a mention by Paul Rounds mdash Hammockman a favorite local expat blogger whom we had the pleasure of meeting we lunched at Rescoldo's in centro historico. Their stone hearth pizza was superb. The Canadian couple who run the restaurant were generous in sha http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-464955.html Two days before Christmas we visited inside some amazing homes in Merida's Centro Historico district on a walking tour which is organized each Wednesday at the Merida English Language Library 200 MXD. The library was organized by local expats. The collection is housed in a home left to the group by the estate of one of the founders. The tour guide was knowledgeable of the history of architectu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-462929.html This morning we decided to visit the central market of Merida. Being the day before Christmas we were advised to park many blocks uptown to avoid the chaos. Thanks Kerry The traffic was intense even on foot. Everybody was there doing last minute Christmas shopping no doubt. I had hoped to find some shelled walnuts for blending into morning oatmeal but none could be found. I was able to bu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-462558.html I put up a blog yesterday and even looked at it online so did Mary but today it is gone Don't know what happened. I wont attempt to rewrite it but I will put up photos with captions. Basically it was interiors of the place we are staying and photos of our walk around town mdash and to the anthropology museum to see relics of Mayan civilization. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-462346.html Although we are here in the highdry season of tourism the sun has been on vacation elsewhere. But today it peeked through faintly and stirred me to take a few photos inside our compound. It seems all homes here feature walled grounds. Some are utterly private others allow some visual intrusion. Yesterday one of these visual intruders a Mayan laborer working on a renovation next door was ut http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-461894.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-456968.html 6509 Cuzama CenotesWish never had to wake up this morning one of those rare days that could sleep forever. Trudged off for toast to wake me up 4 slices did the trick then got ready for day visiting lsquothe cavesrsquo. Both caves and Chichen Itza reopened as of today . Got ready and headed off to bus station at 10am. Bus was just first part of journey today would be a day of m http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-427869.html Our last full day in Merida we took a taxi to Monumento a la Patria father which covered the inner circle of a huge square at the end of a mansion filled boulevard Avenue Montejo. We strolled south with weird art every block or so. My personal favorites a mass of broken boards like a house hit by a combination hurricane tornado and A bomb a space age robot and a bench covered in poo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-427097.html Merida Centro is crowded with narrow dirty sidewalks and speed racer traffic. This morning we took a 3 taxi to Centinario Park Zoo and a 50 cent bus back. This will probably be our final trip to Mexico as the Travel God has given us 3 of 3 warnings. Warning one While walking under a tree in Plaza Grande either a pigeon turkey vulture or condor dropped a big sloppy on Lee's shoulder that sl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-427095.html We camped out in the shade by the fountain and pool with a formerly cold now tepid nearly extinct Coke. Our hotel namesake Doris Albino liked to have herself painted numerous times and hung on the lobby walls. From a distance not bad but as you get closer she has the thick dark unibrow and a telltale wing moustache thatgoes below the bottom lip. If you could afford to be painted why n http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-427089.html WeI made some bad choices yesterday which will not be made public until Lee BLABS about them. The good choice was taking a leisurely stroll to Cenote IK Kilsinkhole across the road from our inexpensivecheap but acceptable Doris Albino Motel. The grounds leading to the sinkhole have a beautiful array of tropical plants and flowers. The sinkhole after they trot you through the souvenir s http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-427084.html 4509 A chilled day in MeridaSurprisingly slept really well on way to Merida nearly all of the 9hrs. Of course woke up when the doctors got on to do their swine flu inspection but then barely blinked as the armed police got on later in the journeyhellipsomewhat worryingly am getting rather used to that now Arrived at 730 and jumped straight into a taxi that charged us 40peso to get to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-423863.html I spent 10 days this month in Merida again and had a glorious timeI didn't get to see all my friends because of time restrictions but managed to see quite a few.Tourist traffic in the Yucatan of what I saw was almost nonexistent. I'm sure almost everywhere in our states are experiencing the same lack of enthusiasm in spending money on a vacation.I got sick with heat in Progreso before I even got http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-421593.html Ok everyone I know it's not a blog entry really but just thought I'd put up a quick map to let you all see the journey so farxxx http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-418912.html We arrived in Merida in the early afternoon after a 4 hour bus ride from Cancun. We didn't want to be in Cancun any longer than we had to be due to its reputation of just being an unslightly tourist town. Our hostel in Merida was a pleasant surprise being built around 2 courtyards with tropical plants cooling the air. We dumped our bags and headed out to see our first real Mexican town. Dan appea http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-415218.html These are the last of George's wonderful pictures of our experiences in Merida that I will post on here.The first set is of a Home and Garden Walking Tour in the downtown Merida area that George and Nancy went with. The second set is of various ruins that Nancy George Shelley and Ed experienced.They had immense fun on all their ventures. These two ventures were not my cup of tea.I've picked th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-412273.html I can almost hear everyone groaning 'another batch' Well I promise that I've almost worked my way through all of the pictures that George had taken during our stay. I appreciate your patience and hope I'm not boring you to death.I promise when I leave for Merida again next week I won't be taking a lot of pictures. I have so many other things I want to doThe three of us had taken a taxi to t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-412240.html When friends Nancy and George traveled with me in March to Merida Yucatan Mexico one of the sites we planned to visit was Dzibilchaltun located about midway between Merida and the coastal city of Progreso. Dzibilchaltun is pronounced something similar to dizbillchaltoon and said as one word of course but it sounds much more natural from a native of the area. We were especially excited ab http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-411672.html First let me wish everyone a Happy Father's Day and I hope that all of you had a safe and enjoyable day.These next pictures are more of the ones that George took during our great adventure and there will be yet more to come. He snapped a lot of shots Ed and Shelley some of your pictures shared may be in this group and if not they'll get on here. We miss you two I'm so glad we met and are f http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-410834.html As promised George let me have his photos taken during our trip to Merida Yucatan in March.Let me tell you he knows how to 'click' a camera so there are many. So many that I've broken them out into groups when I could remember where they were taken and will show them to you in different posts.I'll start with our stay in the downtown area of Merida known as Centro and our fabulous stay at the H http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-409263.html