Merida

We arrived in Merida, Yucatan on (at, in) the evening. We traveled the whole day from one far tip of Mexico to the other. Right away we felt the warm welcoming from the city, the temperature was high as it is the use for this time of the year. The narrow streets were calm of traffic as people is waiting for the sun to be down, get out side, and enjoy their place.

We got into our B&B, a very welcoming place with a beautiful interior tropical garden and a small pool, perfect for the kids to refresh before bed. Our breakfasts there were very happy, as we shared the common dining table they have in the back porch, with other guests and amused ourselves with an iguana that make its appearances every day around 9:00 a.m

Merida is a big (safe) colonial city of near 1,000,000 people, but contrary to what you might think it is very, very tranquil, with this flavor of a nice peace, may be due to the character of its people, they know how to cool down in a hammock or to dance romantic boleros. The main square fills with people every day to talk about the day, have a little fun with the streets artists or as we did just sit in one of the ice cream shops and enjoy a guanavana sherbet, my favorite!


The architecture of down town is colonial with the Spanish urban rules of the XVI century, a great plaza with the house of the Conquistador around it, as well as the government places, the peoples houses have a narrow colorful facades with no front garden, the green spaces are awaiting inside of the buildings as "patios", like our B&B. Something really nice about this old houses, among others, are their floors, the tiles are really neat with geometric designs or motifs like plates, cups and kettles for the kitchen.

The old streets are just made for horses or carriages. (Click on the picture to connect with the original side and the many pictures they have).

In Merida people can find a variety of tours to sight see the city, very easy to find them out. We had the double decker one, that stops several times in different places, so people can go the museum or just to have a closer look around and get into the next one, when they are ready.




A great attraction of the city is "el paseo de Montejo", a long boulevard flanked with spectacular mansions, built during the big industry of the henequen. The henequen is a kind of agave used during the first half of the XX century to make robes. The rich families of the time, brought French or Italian architects to make their "homes", even they imported materials to construct them, as well as furniture and decorations once they were finished.


Now days the Anthropology museum of the city is located in one of these palaces, Canton palace. Visiting one or more museums in hot days is something I would recommend.






Something very interesting in this city is about the sign corners. In down town, right up where the walls of the buildings come together to make the corner, there is a sign, could be an animal, a tree, a person, you name it, the girls had a great time identifying and talking about this "flashcards".

(this is for a flicker side)



We had to got "una hamaca" (a hammock) if were in the land of hammocks, right? so we did. Now we enjoy it in our back yard. Bidane was very excited to have it, as you can see she was the first to try it right in the market store.

Summer, is it just starting?

Wow!!! Summer time is just starting and I feel like is ending. The girls and I just returned yesterday night from our amazing trip to Yucatan and we are exhausted! We traveled - I say to them-, from tip to tip, from one peninsula (BAJA CALIFORNIA) to the other (YUCATAN).

We have so many stories to tell and remember, Yucatan peninsula is just beautiful and we had just a peek of its marvels. Very hot at this time of the year, but I think the heat was just a minus of many, many pluses we found and experienced. As many of you know we traveled as single mamas with kids, very singular because we didn't have any boy in our gang, just girls.

This experience of just girls, was very interesting, made me think how this "travel alone thing" could impact, in the future of our young girls as independent individuals. Made me realize too of the importance of their education.

Let me explain the last part. Yucatan has a big population of Maya people, and when I say "Maya" I mean people that speak this language only or are bilinguals (Maya and Spanish). As we traveled to the places we planned, or just from talking to people, I found out that the more educated the better Spanish they speak, people learn Spanish when they start going to the elementary school. But sadly we saw more women that just spoke Maya, which means they are less educated, with less opportunities. Many of them make beautiful embroidery work, but probably they can not sale their hand crafts in a profitable way because of their less education.

We visited places where women are organized in cooperatives to sale their work, like in Punta Laguna (with the help of a male translator to Spanish). I don't think the mayority of them around the states of the Yucatan peninsula can make it better if they interrupt their school (many reasons to do so, every thing to do with the poverty levels).

I never heard people talking Maya before, is wonderful they preserve their traditions. Talking to the taxi drivers, to our different guides about Maya words made me appreciate the importance of not loosing the traditions and languages of the world, it makes the human culture richer. Also it helps to understand more about the Maya civilization int this part of Mexico, which, let me tell, it comes alive when you stand totally amazed in front of those ruins.

School year "al final".

Almost the end (just a week to go) to finish this school year. A very especial year with lots of things and experiences.
The School had its first year in its new location, that little by little is taking the personality of our coop.
In a personal way I took part of a fabulous project, the School Garden. I never have thought of myself as a green thumb person, but with the advice of the greatest gardeners Annie and Amy, we raised vegetables that the kids actually ate. Even, we had time to plant a second round with kitchen herbs and some flowers.
We spent lots of after class hours planning our trip to Yucatán and talking about new ventures, that hopefully can be a reality very soon.
Thank you every body to be part of this wonderful community that nurtures and embraces our kids development.