Bill's Blog

Our Last Days in Merida

Press HERE to see a slideshow
of Merida in April photos.

Chichen Itza Pyramid

Stairway to the Convent

Johanna at the Window

We took a day trip to Chichen Itza, which is the premier archeological site in the Yucatan peninsula. From Merida we drove less than one hundred miles to the southeast before arriving at Chichen Itza. The visit was not the greatest of experiences. I questioned our presence almost from the moment of our arrival. The entrance to the site was overwhelming; there were hundreds of people from all over the world in line to buy tickets. Thousands of tourists come every week, mostly on a day trip from a week on the beach at Cancun. Unlike Uxmal, visitors are not allowed to climb the pyramids or tramp through the ancient Mayan buildings. All the visitors would certainly degrade the site if they were allowed to tramp all over. The grand pyramid is the most majestic that I have seen in the Americas. But both Tikal and Uxmal were much more satisfying places to visit. One other thing that surprised me, was the hundreds of souvenir vendors on the park grounds. There are dozen of photos at my flickr photostream of the amazing structures of Chichen Itza or check out my YouTube video.

First Swimming Lesson

Seth and Lucy with Gitta

Nora and Juan

After leaving Chichen Itza, we drove to the beautiful, old colonial city of Izamal. The town was built on the site of an old Mayan town. We stopped for a very late lunch. The food was wonderful. We drove through the town and stopped at the town's most impressive building the Convento de San Antonio de Padua or the Convent of St. Anthony of Padua. The convent was constructed about 500 years ago. The striking building was very beautiful. I panned the court yard with a short video. You can see it at YouTube.

Betty's birthday was very special this year, because that was the day that our grandchildren came for a visit. Johanna, Lucy, Birgitta and Seth arrive late on the 8th of April. They stayed for ten days. The first few days were incredibly hot. They survived but did not thrive. We went to a country house that Nora owns about 50 minutes to the south of Merida for a wonderful barbecue. The girls had trouble settling in, still they were pretty good. We all went to the city center on Sunday. Johanna was horridly afraid of getting in the water when they arrived, but Seth did a great job of accustoming the girls to the pool. Before they left, all Johanna wanted to do was get wet. One day we went to the Parque del Centenario or the local zoo. This one-hundred year old park is extremely kid friendly. It is funky, funny and super old-fashioned. Unfortunately we did not come on a day when all the kiddy rides were available. Still, all the animals were great, especially the big cats: lions, tigers, leopards and panthers. We did bring them to Uxmal, but it did not workout all that well. The girls did not appreciate the 70 minute car ride and by the time we got there it was really hot out. Still I am glad that Birgitta and Seth got to see the Mayan ruins.

Last night we had a wonderful shrimp diner with Juan and Nora. We talked for hours and shared two bottles of wine. They have been wonderful neighbors. After leaving Merida, we hope that we will see them again one day.

Today we are packing and getting ready to leave. If all goes well we will leave tomorrow morning. You can expect an entry in week describing our progress.

Merida in March

Press HERE to see a slideshow
of our March photos.

Couple on the Plaza

Scupture in the Garden

Actors on Break

Grand Palace of Sayil

With Maral, Marie, and Mohammed

A Swim in the Mangroves

Bill in the Swimming Pool

Yes, my regular readers, I have been very bad about writing. With the arrival of April, the calendar has twisted my arm and so I going to write about March.

There is much to do around Merida. We have participated in some of the activities. Every Sunday there are many cultural events in the city. There is the market in the Plaza Mayor. There are concerts on Sundays and other days during the week. Most of them are free and well attended. We like to go out and wander around on Sundays. We visited the city's sculpture garden next to the Macay Museum one Sunday. We often go out to a cantina on Sundays, where you can find music and free hors d'oeuvres. A favorite of ours is El Tucho, where there is not only music but comedy acts. It's too bad that our Spanish is not good enough to get the jokes.

There is much to do around Merida. We have participated in some of the activities. Every Sunday there are many cultural events in the city. There is the market in the Plaza Mayor. There are concerts on Sundays and other days during the week. Most of them are free and well attended. We like to go out and wonder around on Sundays. We visited the city's sculpture garden next to the Macay Museum one Sunday. We often go out to a cantina on Sundays, where you can find music and free hors d'oeuvres. A favorite of ours is El Tucho, where there is not only music but comedy acts. It's too bad that our Spanish is not good enough to get the jokes.

One Sunday we went to the Symphony of Yucatan with Jose Guadalupe Flores directing. The pieces by Beethoven and Schumann were good. The piece by Chopin was excellent. The pianist was Martyn Van Den Hoek. Going to a symphony always makes a city seem so much more cosmopolitan, and that is how I felt after the concert.

We took a couple of side trips out into the countryside. One was to Celestun, where there is a large national wildlife area along the large estuary. The Pink Flamingos of Celestun are the big draw, but the mangroves are extremely impressive. Celestun is a little more than hour away from Merida. We stopped at the primary departure point for tours. When we discovered how expensive the tours were - more than $50 for an hour for the two us, we decided to go into the village for a beer and to enjoy the beach. While there I asked our waiter if the departure point was the only place to get a tour. No, we could start right there at the beach. He called over a boatman and we learned that if the boat was full we would pay less than $25. The boatman arranged for us to join another group of travelers, and we were off for three hours on the water. The pink flamingos were great and so were the mangroves. The fresh water cenote was a place for a warm swim.

Another day we traveled the Ruta Puuc to see a series of Mayan ruins. The largest and grandest is at Uxmal, pronounced ush-mal. The Uxmal site is not at grand as Tikal in Guatamala, but it is very impressive: two large pyramids, a large quadrangle, a government palace and much more. There are more than a dozen photos in my photostream at flickr. We met three fellow travelers from Lebanon: Mohammed Ali, Marie and her daughter Maral. We sat on the grand pyramid and talked a lot. After leaving Uxmal we visited three smaller sites. They were really good too. In fact there are hundreds of sites on the Yucatan peninsula.

We have done some very light entertaining. After meeting them at Uxmal, we invited Ali, Marie and Maral for wine and cheese. Marie and Maral are Armenian Christians and gladly partook. After polishing off a bottle of good red wine, we went to listen to a big band playing Mexican dance music of the 40's and 50's. The music can be found every Tuesday night at the Santiago Park. We had a great time.
We also had Geraldo and Tanja over for a night of more wine and cheese. Geraldo is a couch-surfing friend and Tanja is his Croatian girl. They are a great couple and they had lots of interesting things to say. Geraldo is Argentinian, but he has been living in northern Mexico the past several years, where he writes for two newspapers.
Finally, we have had our neighbors - Juan and Nora - over a few times and we have been to their house several times. They are lots of fun. Juan is our caretaker too, and he has been extremely helpful.

One of the nice things about Mexico, is that vendors will bring really good food to your door. Once or twice a week, we get tamales, fruit and candy from a lady. The tamales and avocados that she brings are simply wonderful. Nora introduced us to her on our very first Saturday in the house. Just today Juan introduced us to a fish and shrimp seller. The shrimp was peeled and cost only 120 pesos ($10) for kilo. For half that you can buy a kilo of fish fillets. We got a kilo of each and fixed half the fish in the evening. It was so good, it was hard to believe. I wish that we had met the fish seller much sooner.

I have to say: hooray, the pool is back in commission. Even more importantly, the weather has gotten warm enough so that we can get in and enjoy it. The last few days it has been in the 90's and we needed a place to cool down.

What else is there to cheer about? Johanna and Lucy will be coming for a visit. Oh yes, so will their mom and dad. We expect to have nine or ten good days with them, starting in a week.

Well that is it for now. I hope you enjoy the videos and the photos.

The Pink Flamingos of Celestun