Merida - Behind the Walls

The Mérida English Language Library, which serves the small but active English-speaking expat community here, offers weekly tours of houses in the historic district. We've been more than happy to tag along on two of them (so far). The colonial houses of Mérida follow a basic pattern. They are almost like fortresses with their four walls pushed up right to the property lines and everything happening inside the walls. Their plain facades are what our tour guide called the opposite of McMansions: no expansive front lawns, no elaborate architectural displays, no showing off. Everything is hidden behind the thick stone walls, including the living spaces, swimming pools, terraces and all the greenery, which is conspicuously absent out in the streets. High ceilings are the norm to allow for maximum air flow in the tropical climate. The houses we've seen on the tour have all been remodeled – some to retain historical details, some to a thoroughly modern style, some a mixture of the two. We can totally see ourselves living in one of these beautiful homes which provide a high degree of privacy but, with careful design, still manage to let in plenty of light and air and a sense of outdoor living.

Some facades look like this...

...and some look like this.

This plain facade hides a stunning house - our favorite so far.




Inside courtyard with a recreated street scence featuring seven different facades, including a "ruin". The doors on the sidewalls are fake and lead nowhere.

Beautiful pool with covered terraces all around.

They can build anything from concrete here. Straight building lumber doesn't grow on the Yucatan - only small twisty trees.

Second storey balcony overlooking the pool area, as seen from a roof terrace.

Another house with more traditional details, including elaborate tile in the kitchen.

Beautiful ironwork is common.

Sink carved from local limestone (you can even see bits of shell in the stone).

Another pool, open to the sky.

Merida - Feliz Navidad

Christmas eve day we walked down to the Plaza Grande, the main square, and took a look inside the cathedral. A Mexican man asked us in English if we were in line for confession. We said “no” but Deborah admitted we probably should be. This led to further conversation and before we knew it this gentleman was giving us an impromptu tour of the cathedral, and a very interesting one at that. We assumed he was just angling for tips, which we were certainly willing to give, when the tour led outside the cathedral and then next door to his little tienda, the entrance to which was somewhat obscured by the construction taking place on that side of the cathedral. So now after our uninvited but nevertheless enjoyable tour we felt compelled to buy something, which is of course exactly what he planned. After looking at the many things we didn't need including Panama hats (which aren't made in Panama, only here and in Ecuador), Guayabera shirts (a archetypical style in Latin America), and shawls made from cactus fiber, we ended up purchasing a loose weave shirt made from the same cactus fiber. After some mild negotiation we settled on a price of 300 pesos (about US$23) which we felt was more than fair for an informative tour and a climate-appropriate shirt. We said goodbye to the enterprising fellow who quickly headed back to the cathedral to drum up some more business.

Deborah put together a delicious Christmas Eve meal of fish and veggies and cheesecake which we shared with our landlady and her cats, who had been wary of us until we started offering fish. Most of the food came from, believe it or not, Walmart. Not a place we normally shop but in Merida it is actually the fancy store – much nicer than the Walmarts back home. We were surprised and impressed. Later that evening and well into the wee hours the sounds of fireworks echoed around the neighborhood, as I gather they do for most holidays and festivals in Mexico. With the warm nights here we leave the windows open so the celebrations don't make for the best of sleeping, but we certaily wouldn't begrudge the locals their festivities.

Merida Walmart - Not just for the trailer park crowd.

Inside the cathedral.


Start a conversation and he'll sell you a shirt.

Pinata in a church? Yes, the pinata was originally adapted to the celebrations of Lent, with seven points to represent the seven deadly sins. This one is aparently a bit more sinful.

Merida - Hot Time in the Old Town

While in Mérida we're renting an apartment for one month in the home of an American expat who has been here about three years. This isn't supposed to be a HelpEx assignment like we did last winter where we work for a few hours a day in exchange for room and board, but it's almost turning into that. Our host is a woman in her seventies with an arm in a sling due to a recent fall, so we've tried to help her out a bit. And of course Deborah, being the queen of volunteering (who is weed-wacking the lawn as I write this), has found time to rearrange the living and dining room furniture, sweep the patio, clean the pool and completely reorganize the kitchen. The latter is partly self-serving since we're primarily using our host's downstairs kitchen rather than the tiny kitchenette in our upstairs apartment (which she has also reorganized). Now the homeowner doesn't want us to leave.

Our temporary home is a bit of a walk from the historical center but not far from Santiago plaza which serves as the neighborhood focal point. This is where you will find a large church, a market, restaurants and many other businesses. Every Tuesday there is music and dancing in the plaza. We checked out the scene this week and Deborah narrowly escaped the grasp of a pot-bellied man who was aching to get her out on the dance floor. It was a wholesome, family affair though, well-attended, with mostly the elderly swaying and shuffling to the live band.

Most of the many plazas have some event happening at least once a week. Last night we attended a free concert at Santa Lucia Plaza. It was a genuine local event, not something staged for tourists, and although we didn't understand much of what was said by the emcee, the music was great, the ice cream cones were large, and the dancers were impressive, especially when they twirled about with trays of beverages on their heads.

Santiago Church

Smooth dancers at Santiago Plaza.


Deborah cleans the pool.

Dancers at Santa Lucia Plaza

Now that's what I call an ice cream cone.

Brass band at Santa Lucia Plaza.

Great guitar trio and singer.

Don't try this at home.

Merida - Walking in the City

Mérida is considered the cultural and financial capital of the Yucatán Peninsula. It's a big, sprawling, low-rise city of a million or so people with a huge historical center and lots of local flavor. It's inland rather than coastal – some 35 km (22 mi) from the Gulf of Mexico – built on the site of a centuries old Maya city. In the typical symbolic manner of conquerors, the Spanish dismantled the Maya pyramids and used the carved stones to build their cathedral and other colonial buildings. Mérida had a brief boom time around the turn of the 20th century as an exporter of henequen – an agave fiber with properties similar to sisal and used in the manufacture of rope and twine – which gave rise to a wealthy merchant class that built many of the large and stately homes. Street after street are filled with more modest colonial homes in various states of repair: some renovated to high standard, some abandoned and left to decay. And one type can be right next door to the other. Barrios, or neighborhoods, center around a church and an adjacent park, the gathering place for the local community, with many businesses concentrated around these central locations.

Getting from one place to another is in one way straightforward due to the grid pattern of numbered streets, with all even numbered streets running north-south and all odd numbered streets running east-west. So for instance an address might read Calle 72 no. 376 X 57 Y 59. Although that looks like a math-phobe's nightmare it simply means number 376 on Calle 72 between Calles 57 and 59. Driving is made a little more challenging because most streets (at least here in the historical district) are one-way.

Walking is made a little more challenging because the sidewalks have been cobbled together over the centuries to no common standard or logic. They vary greatly in width, height and construction and an even, level surface is the exception rather than the rule. In some places the sidewalks are wide enough for Deborah and I to walk hand-in-hand, other places we must travel single file. In some instances you almost have to turn sideways to negotiate the sidewalk without stepping into the street. And the heights of the sidewalks can vary from a couple of inches to (I'm not making this up) nearly two feet, the latter presumably to deal with the intense tropical rains in the summer months. But even if you successfully plant your feet safely on the ever-changing sidewalk landscape, you still have to beware of the telephone poles and guy wires and odd bit of rebar jutting upward – often from the middle of the sidewalk – and the electrical meters and air conditioning units protruding outward from the buildings, quite possibly at eye level. (Republicans should love it here: no regulations). Needless to say, attempting to see the sights while negotiating this municipal obstacle course is a true test of our multitasking abilities.

Merida

The Goverment Palace.


Inner Courtyard of the Government Palace.

One of many murals by Fernando Castro Pacheco within the Government Palace depicting the struggle between the Maya and the Spanish.



The Cathedral - built with Maya stones.

Tulum and Xel-Ha

We opted for an all-day tour of sites down the Caribbean coast from Cancun. The first of these was Tulum, home of a collection of 12th century Maya ruins perched picturesquely on a seaside cliff. Despite being packed with tourists and having the temples and other structures roped off to protect them from said tourists, it was fascinating place to visit, brought alive by our diminutive guide, who was of Maya blood. The Maya had a sophisticated culture and an impressive knowledge of architecture, astronomy and mathematics, but also worshiped the snake and had the goofy practice of deforming the heads of newborns by pressing them between two boards, all to make them appear more snake-like. By the way, our guide also assured us that although 2012 marks the end of a cycle in the Maya calendar, it doesn't portend the end of the world.

Leaving the serpent loving Mayas behind we spent the rest of the day at Xel-ha, an all inclusive lagoon park where one can swim, snorkel, float on inner-tubes, zip-line, hike, dive off cliffs or just lounge about in hammocks to your heart's content. You can also eat and drink as much as you like. Considering the fact that I don't swim and Deborah freaks out when fish touch her, snorkeling might seem a strange choice of activities for us. We did it anyway. As I discovered in Fiji a couple of years ago, life vests actually do keep you afloat so I don't mind getting in the water while wearing one – and they are required of everyone in the lagoon. I still struggled to get a tight fit of the mask over my beard and swallowed more seawater than I care to remember, even though employing a nose clip, but still had a good time. And Deborah found the concentration of fish wasn't so great that she had them sliding their slimy bodies over her arms and legs. So she had a good time too.

After we climbed out of the water I slipped on an algae-covered stone step at the end of a bouncy floating bridge and fell flat on my back. As I did so my snorkel mask flew out of my hands and into the dark waters under the bridge and some overhanging rocks, never to be seen again (as was part of my deposit for the snorkel gear). The well-named life vest may have cushioned my fall as I sustained no injuries. Still, my mother might insist that it is I not she who should be using a walker.

Tulum

Tall, white Maya


Face on the corner.



Working on a somewhat less long-lasting structure.

Iguana

Coati

Tulum by the sea.

Xel-ha

One of many cenotes (water-filled sinkholes) in Xel-ha

Swimming with dolphins.

Standing with ducks.

Xel-Ha

Cancun

Cancun is a short 1 hr 50 min flight from Fort Lauderdale. Before landing I warned Deborah about the time share salesmen that I had read about who harass any and all who try to exit the airport. Despite these warnings I managed to get sucked in myself (much to Deborah's amusement) by someone who I had mistaken for a tourist information official. At first he seemed to provide useful information on various attractions and it wasn't until after he asked, “Do you like to save money?” (duh) and started to offer discounts on tours if we attended a "presentation" that I realized whom I was dealing with. We finally extricated ourselves from his sleazy grip with the excuse of needing to catch our shuttle bus.

We stayed in the downtown area of Cancun rather than the hotel zone. The latter is where most tourist stay and it is very glitzy and Americanized and not particularly interesting to us. The downtown area is more genuinely Mexican. It actually started as a collection of shacks for the workers building the mega hotels. Everything is significantly cheaper there. We found a great little eatery we actually ate at twice. The second time Deborah got brave and ordered Chicharrones, not quite knowing what they were. When they arrived they looked like thin, limp, gooey slabs in a greenish sauce. She was convinced they were intestines or stomach or some other organ meat she wasn't at all interested in consuming. As it turns out they were pig skins – pork rinds really, but squishy not crunchy – not as gross as intestines, but not exactly mouth watering either. She will probably stick to enchiladas from now on.

Our funky hotel features multiple structures arranged jaggedly around a central courtyard with surprises around every corner.

Our hotel's lushly landscaped courtyard.

The maid gets creative with toilet paper.

A monumental gate marking the entrance to a residential zone.

Merry Christmas from Cancun

And Happy New Year.

Florida

We flew from North Carolina down to a significantly warmer Fort Lauderdale, not just because it is our springboard to Mexico, but because it is the home of Robert, Deborah's dear friend from her New York days who we haven't seen in ten years. Robert and his Peruvian partner Jose have a cozy, plant-filled, breezy Floridian rambler with a pool, a screened-in patio, a pair of Pekinese pooches and a 24 lb cat named Oliver. Robert was working the night shift during our visit and so was able to join us for beach walks and lunches out.

Unfortunately, he also had to shuttle us around in search of medical care thanks to Deborah's persistent urinary tract infection. She was set up with antibiotics before we left but they haven't been doing the job. Calls to her urologist back in Olympia met with the astoundingly unhelpful response of “Well, they SHOULD have worked.” So, after a couple of false leads, we finally managed to find a walk-in clinic who could prescribe some more powerful antibiotics. The walk-in clinic was almost comically inefficient. It took over an hour and a half of mostly waiting as various nurses and technicians filed into and out of the exam room at widely spaced random intervals until the doctor finally appeared for a two-minute interview that resulted in the much sought-after prescription – although it took quite awhile for him to locate his prescription pad. Even paying the undeserved $100 fee proved an ordeal as they struggled to get their credit card machine to function. We are actually looking forward to going to Mexico where the health care – at least in many areas – is reputed to be both excellent and affordable.

The ordeal at the walk-in clinic made us late for a lunch appointment with Deborah's second cousin Melissa (daughter of Denise) who we all agree is adorable. She went to college and now lives in Fort Lauderdale – at least when she isn't traveling in Thailand or Bali. She's young, but the travel bug has already got her...

Jose, Deborah, Rob and the Children

Rob and Jose's Place - The Patio

Rob and Jose's Place - The Pool



Rob and Jose's Place - The Patio Bar

Waiting to Bark at the Mailman

Oliver the cat - all 24 pounds of him.