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.