Mexico: Merida, Progresso, Dzibilchaltun, Uxmal

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Merida, Mexico

When the Spanish arrived to this place, it reminded them a lot of home--Merida, Spain—and so they decided to name it after their beloved city. I spent most of my time here. I wasn’t even planning to visit this city in the first place, which makes me conclude that it’s really pointless to have an itinerary in your travels. In Merida, everyday can offer you something fun you can do whether it’s bike riding, going to a museum, walking around the city, going to a bull fight, taking a daily trip to a Maya ruin (the Ruta Puc, Uxmal, Dzibilchaltun), hike and swim at a cenote (a cenote is basically a sinkhole containg water and they are unique, and in the Yucatan it’s the only place in the world where they exist), Merida can offer you all this and more. Evenings don’t disappoint also, you can go dancing to a few places or just hang out with the locals at a bar, and you can do this pretty much everyday of the week. One tradition that they have in Merida and some other cities in the Yucatan peninsula is that alcohol is not to be sold at stores after 5pm on Sundays, however you can get alcohol at a bar or club. It’s one of those things that don’t make sense to visitors but the locals take it pretty serious. To say the least, this city is safe, beautiful, and very lively. I recall walking around at night enjoying trio music and watching the artwork of artisans along the sidewalk of the streets. I think what made this place one of my favorite colonial cities was that I had great company from people that I met at the hostel.

Journal entry:

This place is beautiful and everyone appears to be really happy here…this place made such an impression on the Spanish when they first arrived that they called after a city in Spain, I imagine it reminded it of home. I believe the Maya had called the city T’ho but as usual the Spanish got their way. This reminds me of a funny incident I read about when the Spanish first arrived to the Yucatan. They had asked the Mayan or Toltec, whoever was here at the time, what was the name of the land. They responded by saying Yucatan, which meant in the indigenous language, “we don’t know what you’re saying?” Hence the name, Yucatan…funny, I thought.

A night in Merida is pretty amazing! There is much to do. I was fortunate enough to meet some people while I danced salsa back at the hostel. We ended up going out and we went to a club that played live music. I have made a good friend here named Roi, he is a free spirited man and we have a lot of things in common. He’s told me a lot about Isla Mujeres so I look forward to making it my last stop...
Spent most of the day walking today. It was great to get to know more of Merida. I really don’t want to leave and I can’t decide if I will stay here, or go east or west. I don’t know. I don’t want to plan these things anymore they should work themselves out. I’m starting to believe that more and more, and my life has kind of turned out that way. Three weeks ago I wouldn’t have believed that I would be here in Merida, but I am and that’s exactly my point.

Listening to a guitarist who is playing at the hostel that I’m staying in. He’s been playing here for the past couple of nights, he’s great to listen to while you enjoy the evening out in this open area as the warm breeze brushes your body, going hand in hand with a cold beverage refreshment--beer. We planned to go to Uxmal or Progresso, and we made the decision to “roll the dice.” It’s an expression that Roi and I started saying to just go with the flow of things. It was a fun day at the beach (Progresso), although we originally had made the trip to find this park reserve where we can see flamingos. We ended going there and finding out that the flamingos had left for the season, damn. Tomorrow is an exciting day though, I decided not to go to Chichen Itza for the equinox but instead go to Dzibilchaltun to see this effect of the sunrise coming up through the doorway that only happens during the equinox. The Mayans studying the stars well enough, made the observatory.

Another blissful day in Merida and we biked throughout most of the city. On Sundays they close some streets to make a bike route throughout the city. It’s a lot of fun. On this day, Sunday, there is all kinds of entertainment around the city, from live music, open markets, and food. I was amazed to find a small plaza of an older group of people dancing as I biked along the city. They were so lively, and I’ve never seen old people just rock the house, imagine your grandparents getting down ‘till they just can’t boogey no more.’ It will definitely give you an appreciation for their spirit! I heart Merida!

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