Blogs from Yucatán, Mexico, North America - page 73

MERIDA & CANCUN On Saturday, February 10, a two hour flight transported us from the huge mountain metropolis of Mexico City to the tropical town of Merida. We had heard much about the charms of Merida and were somewhat disappointed in the empty, narrow streets lined with concrete buildings. Perhaps it was the rain or perhaps we expect too much based on our time in Guanajuato. In any case, it was still a great place to wind down from the mania of Mexico City. A few days later, we took a 4 hour bus ride from Merida to Cancun to meet my parents. As we passed through the Zona Hotelera we experienced the biggest culture shock of the trip: Las Vegas in Mexico. We managed to work through the shock quite quickly: our hotel was niiiice. ... read more

We arrived in Merida for party month! Whether this was just an excuse to dance a lot and listen to a lot of music or whether it genuinely was an official anniversary of something, I never found out, I just liked the idea of celebrating for a whole month! You couldn't go to any Zocollo (main plaza) without some sort of live music playing and folk dancing. And it wasn't really the young who were out shaking their butt, it was Mum and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa. And they weren't shy. Also it was great to see that alcohol wasn't needed. People were relaxed just to be in each others company, enjoyment was had in the old fashioned wholesome way. Shared. Out in the open, for all to see creating a fantastic communal atmosphere. There was ... read more

Yesterday went on out to many of the ruins on the Rura Puuc. Really wish i had a digital camera to share photos with you, but for photos you can google Ruta Puuc or go to this spanish website http://www.yucatan.com.mx/especiales/rutapuuc/ (If you google it you can get a translation into English) Puuc not only refers to a style and period, but from what I understand the hilly area where the ruins are about 60 km south of Merida. Took the public bus that stops at many of the small ruins / Labna, Sayil and Xlapak / all small sights were we spent 30 minutes each. Unlike at Chichen Itza, we (the 10 people on the bus) were the only tourists visiting so it was very peaceful seeing the structures in the jungle. The sights were ... read more

In Valladolid now - got here yesterday - smaller town and less touristy although yesterday the organized tour buses came through at about 6pm. Hostel here is excellent - good beds, great back yard with outside kitchen, tables, hammocks, and lots of trees and green. Finally feel like I am getting more adjusted to Mexico, though I must admit not to the midday heat. Here there is less a clear definition between indoors and out, stores and homes open out onto the street, all have grilled windows, doors shut with a padlock. Both the streets and sidewalks are narrow. all is a bit chaotic - but good. Vallodolid pretty well shuts down in the afternoon for the siesta and reopens in the evening. I Feel a bit wierd for I definately stand out as a tourist, ... read more

Hello again The webblogg was so long so we decided to break it up in two. One day we went to an old farm. They said it was a Hacienda. But they can't fool us. We know a farm when we see one. This farm was abandoned many years ago and was now a museum. They used to grow a plant there called Henequen. It is a funny looking plant that we have never seen before. Mum and dad had not seen those before either. The look a little like an umbrella, don't they? A few days later we went to another abandoned farm. Here they have started a little tourist business. On the old farm there are three cenotes, small freshwater ponds. They have a little train drawn by a horse that took us around ... read more