(Post 22 of 189. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr!)

For today, I was all set to go to the huge “local” market in the nearby town of Tlacolula that people from the mountains travel hours to get to on Sunday. I’d done my research, knew how to get there, and was looking forward to it. But… I felt off about it in a way I could not ignore. It might be that I was so tired. Or that everyone I talked to here in the last few days about going there warned me about the increase in pickpocketing of tourists. Or that “something else” was going to happen. I don’t know. But when I made the decision last night that I was not going to Tlacolula, I felt a lot better.

So I gave myself a slow Sunday morning. Still woke up early, but lazed in bed with coffee and my iPad, steadily plugging away at the last job in my queue. Upload speeds here being so slow, I got some pictures uploading to the blog so I could catch you all up on my adventures. I finally headed out late morning, with my destination being… church.

On the way there, my friends watching B called to say that they are heeding the Government of Canada’s call for Canadians abroad to come home ASAP as there is talk of closing the border. So they are on the first flight home this week. Thankfully, they are leaving Wednesday AM, but, unfortunately, that’s a few hours after I arrive, so we won’t get to say our goodbyes. 🙁 I understand their urgency to get home, of course. These are insane times we live in. It feels surreal to me to be here having a good time on holidays when the world is shutting down. Mérida is on lock down right now, so who knows what I am going to go home too. But I can’t get a flight till my scheduled one on Wednesday, so I might as well stay calm and carry on.

So my destination was Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the exterior of which we saw on Thursday.

Little did you know then what lies inside… Oh my world… So much gold!

I left a small donation and headed out in search of breakfast. There were tons of touts in front of the church mostly selling the same thing (“cocktail sticks”), but an earring vendor caught my attention, of course. She makes all her earrings from corn husk with natural dyes. I prefer dangly earrings, but hers were all too long, so I bought these studs for 50 pesos.