Mérida – Yucatán's ‘White City’

Another terrific day!  After only an hour's drive on terrific roads from Uxmal, we arrived in Merida and parked directly beside Jonna and Mimi!  We were so lucky that they were here! Jazy was getting annoyed because we hadn't called them nor told them exactly when we'd be arriving. We drove in and their Lazy Daze, Tortuga, was here!  Haha!  They gave me their satelite Hughesnet password so we have internet- hooray!

11.27.08

Grocery store field trip!  I missed the nearby Chaudraui store that was just after a round-about and we went 3 miles down the busy boulevard to the Mega Store.  Amazing!  First, you stop by the cash machine, since we’re basically in a “cash economy” around here.  Then you ride the flat sidewalk (like an escalator, but you can take a grocery cart on it) up to the 2^nd floor.  There, the store is like a Super-Walmart.  We tried to find some traditional Thanksgiving food.  However, things like pumpkin pie weren’t available- only queso (cheese) pie.  We did get what we think was cooked turkey slices and some cans of corn.  In this enormous store, they only had about 15 feet of canned vegetables.  Certainly there was a larger selection of hot dogs than veggie cans.  The bread and pastry sections are really large and delicious with very inexpensive fresh breads.  All-in-all, it was a grand store.

We were able to park outside the store with the help of the lot attendant.  We have learned to pull in and just sit there until the attendant comes over.  We flubbed up and didn’t know to tip him, but next time we will know better.  He also takes the cart and tells us when it is safe to back up- really nice and I feel terrible that I missed the tip.  We did tip each of the grocery baggers- apparently that is their only salary so we gave them each 5 pesos, which Jonna said was the right thing so that’s good.

Mimi drove me to the Mechanico where they kindly followed us the mile up the road to the RV park.  Ciao Baby had a squealing belt that I was sure was from the new alternator, but no.  She was out of Power Steering Fluid and as soon as that was added (which I had), all was well.  200 pesos ($15) later including tip and problem was solved.  Gold star to the mechanical dummie.  <sigh>  You have got to check those fluids every year!

I did some research about our future travels.  Mimi suggested I skip Cancun because there’s not much there for RV’ers.  Having enjoyed the hotel district before, I had to agree that in an RV, heading to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tulum directly with some neat villages along the way sounded like a better idea.  So that’s the new plan!

I also emailed Henry, who runs an RV park in northern Belize and was mentioned in the Church’s book as someone who will escort us across the border for a small fee.  The caravans use his services all the time.  I thought that sounded like a grand idea.  I’m going to write the book:  Adventure RVing for Chickens.  I hope he emails me back- otherwise I’ll call him next week before we cross.

Mimi and Jonna took us out to dinner at a wonderful Palestinian-Mexicn restaurant.  Paula, from Canada, came along.  Really she’s from England, then Canada, and now moving to Merida.  She is hilarious and fearless!  Paula and her husband made plans to move here prior to arrival and were fortunately pleased upon laying eyes on Merida.  However, she’s not overly fond of RVing as they had no experience when they left Canada 2 months ago with the RV and explored Mexico’s West Coast prior to heading through the interior.  Having sold everything they owned in Canada, bought the RV, and traversed the continent was stressful enough without having to learn Spanish, driving in Mexico, and being a bit early in the season for many RV parks to open. 

Anyway, she kept us laughing with her tales of adventure- I hope she writes a book about it all.  Paula’s husband returns to Merida tonight since he had to fly back to Canada to sign *in person* at the Canadian bank to allow wiring of funds so they can buy a property here in Mexico.  That was a long journey for a technicality in our day of technological conveniences! 

So we had a terrific time at our non-traditional, but delicious Thanksgiving Feast.  (We did eat some of the “turkey” from the store before we went so Jazy could have traditional food).

Under construction

No.  I don't have any pictures from last night.  It was my Dirty 30 birthday.  I wasn't going to be responsible for carrying around a camera just to document the debauchery that ensued.  Bonnie occasionally reminds me that she took some pictures, but luckily for me she pulled a Bonnie and lost them all...somewhere in the limbo of space between her camera and her computer...they remain...drifting...and unavailable as evidence against me.

Thankfully, we had splurged, or I should say my friend Bonnie splurged in honor of my special occasion, to get a nice room for the night.  Note to anyone out there on the road that is planning a particularly gastly evening of drinking and dancing and God knows what else until who knows what time in the morning; your money is well spent on a place with air conditioning, a nice bed, and hot water to help you recover from the atrocities of the previous evening.  You may even consider the late-checkout fee.  I recommend it. ;p

Anyway, the next day saw us checking back in to a more backpacker affordable hostel where we could mingle with other gringos, Euro-packers, maple-leaf backpack-patch bearers, Sudamericanos, and young traveling locals in an attempt to re-integrate into that culture from which we had so briefly parted.  After some time with a large water bottle and several cigarrettes, I gathered the energy and courage to hike down to a super to buy some essential food stuffs and another 12-pack of chelas.  You know, no better way to revive and stay alive than to reimmerse yourself into alcohol.  We found some cool travelers to chat with, and of course the standard hostel fare of dodgey buggers who had lost a few too many of their marbles and were rambling along in conversation with anybody who would listen about some fantastic day trip where they had just gotten lost and had to get a ride on a donkey to the nearest medical station to have some large ticks removed from random unmentionable places on their body that they had picked up while hiking with machetes in hand on a quest for a long lost and long buried temple that they had been tipped off about by a drunken Maya gentleman leaning on the next urinal at the discoteca they had gotten kicked out of the night before. 

Anyway, after years of practice, both Bonnie and I had managed to gain the patience and skills required to throw random "oks" and "rights" in their direction while actually getting along with a couple of other friendlies we had met at the next table. 

After making plans to have dinner and drinks with a couple of the most tolerable in our hostel, we ventured off to see some of the town that surely we had seen and couldn't remember from the night before.  We may have tried to do some shopping, but soon realized that we hadn't the energy for much but to find a nice place around the zocalo to have a cold drink and feel the breeze while we watched the passers by, which, by the way, I do enjoy.  I can be a cafe nerd, too, you know.

I had heard that I would love Merida.  The people who told me this I held in a fairly respectable light.  They did not disappoint.  Meaning, Merida did not disappoint.  It is one of my favorite large cities in Mexico.  There is some great history there.  The architecture is beautiful, as is expected in big Mexican towns.  The food was superb as uausal.  I love Mexican food.  As is the case in so many places where I travel, I can just walk from one restaurant to the next to a cafe to a bar and back to a cafe and maybe another restaurant, and then most likely to several more bars.  What I mean is, I can eat my way through this country in a state of pure bliss.  Beyond that, I really enjoy that the hostels in Mexico are laid out in the Spanish colonial style so there are beautiful courtyards with gardens and hammocks and cool breezes to enjoy.   I love Merida.  I love Mexico.

After Mexico city, this was my next destination, mainly because it was on the way to chichen-itza. We flew here, although I would recomend buying the tickets from a local company, it's a lot cheaper and service is the same you would get in any other airline. We had to change our departure dates and it only costs us $ 10 per ticket!!! yah! that cheap! the airline we took was aviacsa.
The food here is different from DF, the best thing I've tried was poc-choc, which is pork with some kind of sauce, delicious! (i know! not very descriptive but trust me, it's good!) This town is small, quiet and I loved to walk on those stone streets which feels like you are in the colonial times. In the main plaza you can find refreshing ice-creams and get to know some people. I stayed at a hostal, although I had a private room and bath, I didn'think A/C will be necessary but, big mistake, since it was the peak of their summer, I think. Other than that, it was nice, clean and somewhat close to everything. Since I didn't stay here that long, is hard for me to comment much on it. All I can say, is that is porbably better to go when there's a festival or something going on in town, that would help appreciate the culture at a different level.

Merida del 16 al 17 abril.- Bueno la veritat es que Merida em decepciona una mica, me n'havien parlat prou be, pero jo no li acabo de veure el que. Bueno suposo que hi fa una mica tambe que jo estic cansada. M'apunto a un tour gratuit de lajuntament per veure una mica els edificis importants de la ciutat, aqui coincideixo amb l'eva, una noia de valencia que esta per aqui. El tour gairebe ens el fan tot desde la sala de lajuntament, una mica de morrinsqui. Bueno doncs aixo que jo no li acabo de veure el que a la ciutat, aixo que te fama de que hi ha forca activitat cultural i nocturna tambe, pero vamos que jo em quedo amb san cristobal. Des daqui tambe mhan dit que pots anar a veure algun cenote xulo, jo no ho vaig fer, mira, no se, em va entrar malament aquesta ciutat, de fet hi volia passar mes dies pero com que no em va agradar men vaig anar cap a valladolid.

Bueno jo aqui a merida vaig a estar a una mena dhotelucho del costat de la terminal de busos, es que vaig arribar cansada a les 5 del mati i no volia caminar mes, pero em van recomanar que anes al Nomadas que es veu que estava molt be. De fet em sembla que aqui es on vaig pagar mes, aixo que em va fer descuentillo del preu que tenia tarifat, nose algo mes de 100 segur pero bueno vaig tenir un superlavabo per mi sola que aixo feia temps que no ho tenia.

Bueno a mes a mes el menjar el vaig trobar una mica car, lultima dia vaig fer un menu en un garito del costat de la terminal, estava bo i el iaio era simpatic pero tampoc es per recomanar/ho, sense cap mena de gracia.

we did a bit of shopping in town throughout the morning... got some pretty cool stuff. bought our tickets to the bull fight for $15 aus! the arena was still really hot from the day so we sat right up the top next to the Sol beer stand... perfect! it was pretty amazing to watch.

later that night we had a transfer to Villshermosa. 8 hours. Villerhermosa was pretty. we went to the zoo and saw some panthers wich was cool. the days are really hot here and you get very tired very quickly. Next day we went to Palenque, a site that is only 10% discovered. the rest is still in the jungle. it was really great cause unlike Chitchen itza we could climb te pyramids and enter the tombs to have a really good look around.

this city last night was a little scarey but today we had a good look around. I picked up a kids map from the hotel restaurant and decifered the spanish. so we used that to check out the Museam of Archeology, the town hall and a Cathedral that I don´t know the name of. The museam was awesome. had heeps of stuff from Chitchen Itza. town hall and cathedral were oposite each other and really beautiful. The pope has actually been to the cathedral. it is like 400 degrees here so we came back to the hotle. we are going to a bull fight tomorrow

totally amazing place to be. spent 2 hours wandering around the massive ruins and loved every minite of it! They were brilliant astronomers, mathematicians and builders. took a bus to Merida which is a little scarey. It is an old city built in colonial times but it nobody takes care of anything, the beautiful buildings havnt been touched since they were built. the streets are dirty too but we are tired and sunburnt, think we will tackle the streets tomorrow!

Got off to a rough start leaving Palenque this morning, but then our lucky star must've been shining on us 'cause we met one of the nicest guys ever . . . by the name of Jesus! Go figure!! This guy was the best! He took real good care of us and even gave us a ride all the way to our destination, Mérida!

At first, I was a bit disappointed with the city itself because we thought it was just another bit town, but then had a change of heart.  Very lovely town! We even got a chance to experience "Noche Mexicana"! Nice time!

We were very pleased to have visited this new world wonder, however very surprised at how expensive it was to get in! Luckily, I passed off as a Mexican, so didn't have to pay!! Sabida! Definitely a beautiful site, but I'd encourage you to get a guide, for sure! Unfortunately we weren't able to afford one, so we tried tagging along with other English speaking guided tours! Sneaky us!! Worked for a bit too!

Nous voila à Merida, on a mis le temps, 9h de camion.  Le stop à Palenque marchait pas très fort, on a du marcher une heure, c´est long avec le sac! Notre prophète, Jesus est venu à nous.  Un grand mec barbu, avec un grand camion orange nous a accueilli comme des rois.  Ca a été impressionant tout le trajet. Il nous a invité a manger, un bon repas à midi, le café froid un peu plus tard, des bieres pour le soir. Pour vous ca a l'air banal, mais pour nous c'etait le pied.  Et c'est pas fini, arrivé a Mérida, il nous a acheté une carte téléphonique pour appeler notre contact, Daniel.  Et ne pouvant pas entrer dans la ville avec son camion, il s'est garé, nous a appele un taxi et nous a amene chez Daniel, devant la porte.  Autant de générosité ca fait plaisir.

Arrivé chez Daniel, que je vous explique c'est un mec de 25 ans qui vit chez ses parents et tous les jours a des invités, comme nous, via internet.  Beaucoup de gens sont passés chez lui.  Donc pour le logement, c'etait bon.  On a visité la ville, mais c'est plus vivant le soir, dances traditionnelles, tous les samedis, toute l'année, des groupes musicaux sont dans tous les coins de rues.

A Chichen, on est vite planté dans le decor, tous les temples sont quasiment dans le meme endroit, contrairement à Palenque, ou il faut marcher 2h!  Le temple de Kukulcan est très impressionant, juste a cote les colonnes des milles guerriers, une cour de jeux avec le son dolby.  Je vous conseille la video!

Tired but happy we arrived in Merida, the capital of Yucatan.

Its a smaler but lovely town and we stayed in a verry sweet hotel in the center.(have to look up the name;P)

We went for dinner in a restaurant near the Zocalo and had a good drink at a funny bar/pub or whatever you can call it:P!
We also went through the streets and had a look on the shops...in the end we bought a hammock, was a very expensive one but well...:D it was hand made!

I can´t imagine a more perfect day.  Did yesterday even happen?

We met Dr. Vick and Anna at the restaurant for breakfast.  My new favorite fruit juice is watermelon.  They just put it in a blender and pour it from a jug, no water or sugar added.  It´s a subtle flavor, not too sweet, and I can only describe it as liquid refreshment.  I was ready to start the day.

Jen wasn´t feeling well after yesterday, so she and Vin stayed at the hotel while the rest of us headed out to Hacienda Yuncu.  The hacienda is the center of a small village populated by the ex-worker´s of the hacienda.  It is actually owned by Dr. Vick´s friend, but he lets her stay there whenever she likes.  The people of the village think she is the owner, since she is there so often.  Unfortunately, it is being rented out for the next few days, so we can´t stay overnight.

The hacienda is amazing!  Driving through the gate, the brightly painted main house stands on a small hill overlooking the henequen drying fields (no longer in use.  The whole hacienda is no longer a working henequen farm after the government abolished the hacienda system of land ownership.)  We got a tour of the house.  It is basically a long, wide, tall hallway divided into rooms.  The bedrooms are at the far end.  Dr. Vick´s room is the master bedroom, which used to be the office where the workers would line up to be paid.

After the tour, we went out to the pool for a swim.  The pool was being filled with water pumped from the cenote underneath the pool.  Originally, the pool was the resevoir for the hacienda, filled with water from the well adjacent to the pool deck.  Looking down into the well, we could see the cenote underground.  Bats flew back and forth through the single beam of light hitting the water below.

We jumped in the pool for a while, enjoying the water.  Dr. Vick hadn´t joined us yet, and was busy taking care of some business with the groundskeeper.  When she came to get us, she suggested that we see the cenote before the sun was too far past its high point.  That way, the most light would be coming in through the well.

The entrance to the cenote was a small hole in the rock under the pool.  We had to crouch down and climb down a rusty ladder to a platform in the cave, about 30 feet above the water.  All the while, the bird inhabitants of the cave were rushing out past us.  There was no way to bring a camera dow with us, so I only got some shots of Tara climbing down the ladder.

The cenote is beautiful.  The water is perfectly clear.  The shaft of light coming down from the well illuminated the water at its deepest point.  Dr. Vick told us that no one, not even professional cave divers, had ever found the bottom of the Yuncu cenote.  Obviously, a jump from the platform into the water below was in order.  I psyched myself up, took a  deep breath and plunged!  I landed right in the shaft of light, a side of which struck an underwater rock outcropping before continuing down into the abyss.  After dropping as deep as I dared, I surfaced and let out a whoop.

Justin followed with a jump of his own, while the girls climbed down another ladder into the water.  We swum around for a while and walked up the shallow end of the cenote as far back into the cave as we dared.  Aside from the dwindling light coming from the well-hole in the ceiling, it was completely dark.  Dr. Vick told us some history and lore about the cenote, as well as some amusing anecdotes about how the local people feel about it.

It was time for one more jump before we had to leave.  I wanted to do a double jump with Justin, and then a triple jump when I realized Tara was going as well.  The metal platform didn´t feel stable enough, so we nixed that idea.  Tara found a safe place for her glasses, then leapt.  I was so proud of her.

Before I jumped, I asked Dr. Vick what a good Mayan war cry would be.  I can´t remember the Mayan words, but the translation was "Petrifying War Serpent!"  With my battle cry announced, I jumped again from the platform, determined to see how deep I could go.  My head started pounding before I even got close to the rock outcropping where the light was hitting.  It was probably another 30 or 40 feet to there, and I was already pretty deep.  I surfaced, waited for Justin to jump, and then we climbed out.

There was a small adventure climbing out, as Tara´s glasses fogged up and I had to guide her up the ladder with my voice.  At one point, Justin shouted out as 30 bats flew down from the ceiling and dive-bombed us.  We all got out in one piece, and jumped back into the hacienda pool to wash off.

After dressing, I took a walk around the aqueducts along the tops of the hacienda walls.  The walls sectioned off the old henequen growing fields.  Tara, Justin and Sabrina started to follow me, but turned back.  I was fascinated by the walls, so I kept going.  For some reason, they reminded me of the computer game "Myst."  Old walls, overgrown with vines and trees, no other people around, and silence except for the buzzing of insects.  Every now and then the wall would divide, and I would follow a path to a deadend.  Then I would turn around, walk back to the fork and take the other path.  I eventually looped back towards the hacienda, and past the decrepit henequen processing mill.  Now it really felt like "Myst"; a run down building, filled with rusty machinery, pipes going out in all directions, and a huge smokestack.

Back at the hacienda, we loaded up the van with Dr. Vick´s luggage for the week, took one last look around, and headed back towards Merida.  On the way back, I find out that there are still haciendas for sale, and they aren´t that much more expensive than buying a home in the USA.  My new goal in life (one of many unattainables): hacienda owner.  Apparently the killer expense is the upkeep.  I still think it would be worth it.

Back in Merida, we met up with Jen and Vin for dinner.  Dr. Vick and Anna left for their friend´s house; we will meet tomorrow for breakfast.  The rest of us went out to eat.  Afterwards, we continued onto the Plaza Grande, to see the Cathedral and the Governor's Palace.

The Governor's Palace is filled with the powerful and haunting works of Fernando Castro Pacheco.  Over 20 huge murals adorn the wall, depicting Mayan mythology, scenes and famous figures from Yucatecan history.  My favorites are Hombres des maiz (Men of the Corn) which shows the creation myth of the Mayan people being born from corn, and Las manos de henequen (The Sisal Cutter's Hands).  A simple mural of 2 giant hands, cut, bloody and calloused seemed to encapsulate the whole history of oppression the Mayan people have gone through, while the strength in the hands symbolizes their enduring spirit.  Many of the murals moved me greatly.  They cast the hacienda I had been swimming at earlier in a much different light.

After the palace, we shopped for a while, then took a carriage ride around Merida, the "Hollywood" of Mexico.

Back to the hotel, shower, then sleep.  We have an early day tomorrow.  The hotel has moved us to a different room, the "Shaman."  Tara and I got the private bedroom in the back while Justin and Sabrina shared the front room with the futon and hammock.

Driving tomorrow, the big 9 hour push to Palenque.

Horray, our second destination! We arrived at Merida, a city that should be about 4 hours away from Isla Mujeres. However, thinking economically, we decided to purchase 2nd class bus tickets for 60 pesos less. So our bus ride took close to 6 hours.Lets just say we learned our lesson. We are staying at Nomades Hostel. The nights of drinking and partying that we enjoyed on Isla Mujeres caught up to us, and the peaceful nature of the hostel is a welcomed change.

nice city