Merida Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula - Gulf of Mexico

Thankyou Travelin' Pat for sharing this with us.

Here we are on the road again.  We sold our house in Tucson and are taking some time to unwind from it all. I’m a little bit sad because even with its gun toting culture, illegal immigrant problems and copious amounts of rattle snakes we really love Arizona!

This time it’s Merida Mexico. For those of you who may be a little foggy on its whereabouts, it’s in the Yucatan, on the Gulf of Mexico and as far east as you can go and still be in Mexico.

There are somewhere around a million people here and it is the oldest continuously occupied city in the Americas. Around the turn of the century Merida had more millionaires than any place in the world! The Spanish Conquistadors founded it in 1542. They took over a Mayan city Ichacaaniziho (try saying that fast!) so consequently there was trouble ahead. They then had to wall it all off to fend off revolts from the Mayan people. Sadly today the Mayans seem to be second- class citizens who were at one point almost on the verge of losing their language.

Our B &B is wonderful…a graceful colonial mansion right in the heart of El Centro. No other guests but us, … just Serjio the proprietor his 3 dogs and 6 cats. Good grief. And of course the dogs…this time it’s Labradors and these guys want a toy lobbed into the swimming pool constantly. They lunge into the pool after it and reward us by coming out and shaking water all over our books and us!

Merida is such a vibrant city, with Music and dancing all part of everyday life. Yesterday as we were exploring, we stopped at one of the plazas to listen to some live music. The minute the band struck up a tune the stage was flooded with couples dancing. Apparently there is music and dancing in the plazas all year long. On Sunday’s, streets in el Centro are closed to traffic and the locals don on their best Sunday go to meetin’ clothes and head into town for entertainment.

Strolling in an elegant neighborhood that speaks to the old Colonial Days when life was a bit grander…well for the rich people anyway, we happened on…ready for this?? A STARBUCKS!! Nothing like a chai tea latte to draw all the ex pats together…that pretty much is what we do all day long. Walk. Oh yes and a wee bit of shopping… Aaron purchased a Panama hat and looks rather dapper in it if I do say so.

Sejio told us that Mayan people used to be tall then they started sleeping in hammocks and became much shorter. Now the young people are sleeping in beds and getting taller again. Who knew?

We have rented a car and are off to the beach and some exploring for the next 9 days. Onward and Upwards!

The church in the main square at night

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