Mayalandia

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Saturday (We have been out of e-mail contact til today...so I will be adding blogs from earlier)

We woke up to a cool, grey morning in Merida. After packing and breakfast, we walked a block to the rental car lot and loaded up our blue Nissan Sentra for the trip down the Puuc road to Santa Elena, a town of 4000.

The drive was about 90 minutes and took us over the rolling hills into the Puuc region. We passed small farms and a few villages. This a Mayan area, and many people are more fluent in Mayan than Spanish. There are many ruins here, the most famous of which is Uxmal. We will visit there on Monday.

Our hotel, the Flycatcher, is owned and run by a Mexican/American couple. They were very interesting to talk to and know all about the area. The husband was born right in the village.

We had a siesta, walked around the town, came back for beer on the veranda, and then went out for dinner. Later we followed the sounds of a band and the explosions of fireworks to watch a tradition procession through the town. There are many new houses being built...we found out that they are financed by local boys working as dishwashers in San Francisco. One went there about 20 years ago and many others have followed, sending home money to the village. There is a painting of the Golden Gate bridge on the “Welcome” sign as you enter the village!

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Photos

View out of the church in Santa Elena
The church is on a hill and is painted red. You cann see it from a distance. There was a school group visiting when we were there.

Welcome to Santa Elena
Notice the Golden Gate Bridge?

Jesus of the Bathing Suit
Found in the church in Santa Elena

Comments

[Mom]

I will have to make a print of the Jesus bathing suit photo. What a riot!