February 24, 2016 by Rae

Visiting the Mayan Ruins at Uxmal and Kabah

Well, Tuesday was an amazing day. I went on a tour with Mayan Heritage to tour the Mayan ruins at Uxmal (Oosh-mahl) and Kabah. I picked Mayan Heritage since their recommendation by the tourist kiosk was supplemented by strong Trip Advisor reviews and they offered tours in English.

The cost for the day seemed low, but quickly increased when I learned that there were entry fees to both sites, that we had to pay for drinks with our included meal, and, of course, we had to tip. It wound up being a nearly $1,000 day, but that’s nothing considering the value for what we got!

Cost breakdown:
$525 for the transportation, guide, and three-course lunch
$213 entry into Uxmal (payable in two portions one for a federal program and another for a state program, so you get two tickets)
$50 entry into Kabah
$65 for a bottle of water and a beer at lunch
$20 tip for lunch
$50 tip for our guide (we did research and this was the suggested amount per person for a group our size and what we each paid)
Total: $923

I was supposed to be picked up at a hotel around the corner from my apartment between 9:30 and 9:45, but was told they would likely be late. So at 9:00ish, I went to Oxxo to find a snack since I knew we’d get a late lunch and was delighted to find trail mix. By the time I got to the hotel, it was 9:15… and the bus was waiting for me! I was the last one getting picked up, so after a brief stop at their office, we hit the highway.

The top part I’m used to seeing (no selling of liquor to youth). But the bottom part about not drinking in public was surprising. I don’t think much about getting a beer from a convenience store in Maz and drinking it on the sea wall on the Malecón or walking with an open container.

This part of Mexico is like a completely different country. The roads have good signage, drivers more or less obey traffic rules, and everything is very clean and well maintained. I didn’t see any signs of abject poverty like I see in Sonora and Sinaloa.

It was about an hour to Uxmal, where our guide introduced himself as Jorge. His English, while accented, was flawless. We all had about ten minutes to use the bathrooms and buy our tickets before entering the site. Before I get to the pictures, I’ll say that Jorge knew his stuff and was very entertaining! We had two hours at Uxmal, most of which was spent listening to Jorge talk about Mayan history and the complex while watching other people poking around the ruins. I was torn between wishing I was exploring and being grateful to be there with someone who had so much knowledge to convey and who could convey it well. We did have a scant 30 minutes to ourselves at the end, but that was barely enough time to climb one of the pyramids (!) and get back to the bus.

This is commonly known as the Magician’s Pyramid, but I preferred the word Jorge used, soothsayer, as I know that’s more accurate.

There were lots of iguanas running around at both Uxmal and Kabah.

These are “false” or “corbel” arches lacking a keystone.

The entire complex was essentially rebuilt/restored in the early 20th century so it’s not like these magnificent structures have beens standing for thousands of years.

Jorge spent a lot of time explaining all the carvings. These columns have the elephant-like water god carved into the corners.

This is an owl. The Maya name sounds like “such.”

The complex is absolutely massive. This vast courtyard is just a small piece of the entire thing.

These carvings represent their mathematical concepts. Jorge was very good at explaining how the Maya came up with their math and how it related to the natural world around them.

We passed through a false arch that was “blessed” with this handprint. I wish I’d thought to remember to ask if it’s an original or not.

Looking from the first complex through the ball court to another complex.

This is the ball court. You can sort of see a ring that the ball would have been thrown through.

There is another pyramid hidden from view from the main complex. We are allowed to climb this one! The steps are quite wide, so I had no trouble getting up and down.

Some folks needed to crawl up and down. I would have needed to do that with the narrow steps at the Soothsayer’s temple, but not for this one.

This is how far I was from the Soothsayer’s temple after leaving the other pyramid and hoofing it back to the bus!

I still can’t get over that we have stuff this old and complex in North America. The Maya share so many things in common with the ancient Egyptians. They were not a “primitive” culture. Jorge stressed how the Maya have survived through two things, bloodlines and their oral language, and have not just vanished.

From Uxmal, it was about a twenty-minute drive to Kabah. I had time to inhale my trail mix on the way since there was no food allowed at the ruins except in a designated area with shops and such. It was almost 1:00 by the time we finished our tour and I’d had breakfast at 8:00, so I needed some quick energy! Trail mix was the perfect snack and I’m glad Oxxo carries it. It was funny that the guy ahead of me in line at the store also had some, but a different kind, with chocolate. I had gone for the fairly standard peanuts, almonds, cashews, raisins, pineapple, and papaya because chocolate melts!

It was a twisty route to Kabah, where we spent about a half hour, which was mostly spent poking around on our own. I felt that we got ample time there, surprisingly.

I enjoyed a presentation at the beginning by a wood carver who is recreating rock carvings. I thought at first that it would be a sales spiel, but nope. The point really was education. Some of the carvings were explained and we saw how much work goes into them. The man uses a type of very rough leaf in lieu of sandpaper! This snake is one of his least elaborate works. He had some amazing tablets recreating steles. None of us felt comfortable taking too many photos because we weren’t going to buy anything. I loved the two-headed snake and would like to find a pendant with it, so that was the one picture I allowed myself.

Kabah was also reconstructed in the early 20th century.

These stairs were very narrow. I would not have wanted to climb much higher than I did!

You an really see here how the false arches have no structural integrity of their own.

Across the road and a short walk away is free-standing arch. I didn’t see any signage to it and am glad we were told about it.

We then drove back to the general vicinity of Uxmal to have a late lunch in what appeared to have perhaps been an old house. It was decorated inside with bright yellows and oranges. Outside it had a very lush setting!

Lunch had several choices, but none were vegetarian or pescatarian. We had a choice of three starters:

-lime soup (chicken soup with lime juice in the broth, a classic Yucatán dish);

-black bean soup;

-vegetable soup;

-salad.

The black bean soup was temping, but I knew to have the lime soup. It was soooo good. Very light and savoury. The chicken in it wasn’t yellow like the chicken back in Sinaloa and was very tasty. There was also tomato in the soup. We got totopos and a very spicy habañero salsa to go with our starter (very grateful our meal wasn’t “Gringoified.”)

For our main, we had, I think, six choices, but they were essentially all variants on chicken or pork done a Yucatán way. I had tried all of the dishes already (!) and so I picked cochinita pibil pretty much at random. Cochinita means suckling pig and pibil means buried, as the dish used to be made by burying the meat under banana leaves and slow roasting it. I liked my main well enough flavour-wise, but found it very greasy and lacking in vegetables. I had a pile of shredded pork with pickled red onion, black refried beans, and rice. I started to turn my meal into tacos, then asked Jorge if that’s okay in the Yucatán. He laughed and said to please keep eating like a real Mexican. LOL

Dessert options were flan and crema española, both of which are egg-heavy, and fresh fruit, so I had the fruit. We got a slice of cantaloupe, watermelon, and pineapple, a perfect end to a rich meal.

Drinks weren’t included. Some folks had fresh juice blends, but I had beer and water.

When I consider that $525 included Jorge’s time and expertise, the fuel, and a good meal, I think we really got our money’s worth. I mean, the whole trip was worth just over $3,000, or 270CAD to the tour company.

I’m glad I went to Uxmal and Kabah for a couple of reasons. Chichen Itza might be the best known Mayan complex, but it is apparently not as large as Uxmal, is not an easy day trip from Mérida, and is completely overrun by tourists and vendors. There was almost no one at Uxmal and Kabah and the only vendors were non-pushy shops at the entrance to the complexes.

If you go, please don’t make the mistakes the other two people my age on the tour did: 1) not wear a hat; 2) drink soda instead of water. Do wear heaps of sunscreen, consider bringing a parasol, and if you go in the wet season, bring mosquito repellant (we didn’t need that yesterday, thankfully).

We got back to Mérida around 5:15 and I was the second to last person to be dropped off. I asked Jorge if he could drive a block past the hotel where he’d picked me up so I’d only have a block to walk home. Certainly!

I was ready to go in and collapse, but one of the guys on the tour, C, was my age and he’d asked me and a Swiss gal about our age, too, to meet him at a bar for a beer around 7:00. Jorge told us to go to La Negrita. So I made the decision to go back out and meet C. The Swiss gal said she doubted she’d go as she was completely tuckered.

So around 6:30, I headed for the bar at the corner of 62 and 49, about 2KM from my apartment. I could have taken a bus down 62, but by the time I got to the corner of it and 35, there really was no point. I did not feel uncomfortable on the walk down.

La Negrita wound up being a great watering hole inside an old house. It had room after room packed with tables. It reminded me of one of my favourite pubs in Ottawa, the Heart & Crown in the Byward Market, only with a tropical twist. I’ve found my Mérida watering hole, something I can’t say for Mazatlán!

I took a table by the entrance to wait for C. When he showed up, we were sure enough the Swiss gal wasn’t going to join us to move to a table inside. We ordered $49 local beers (yes, that price is correct, for beer in cans). I do have to say that my Belgian-style beer was so good I had two!

And then we had a very reasonably priced ($25) XX Amber. I have to say that the expensive beer is somewhat offset by the amount of free munchies we got, but, of course, those are super salty and meant to keep us drinking! There was popcorn and some crunchy things covered in hot sauce, other types of crunchy things, chiles curtidos, peanuts, and mandarine and pineapple (canned) that surprised us by being very vinegary and hot. We drank, munched, and gabbed en français for a solid two and a half hours. It was great fun and I’m glad to have had an excuse to be out after dark as Mexico is pretty much another world after 8:00 p.m.

I had thought to ride the bus up 60 to 35, but the night had cooled a tiny bit and I decided that I wanted to walk. I did so mostly up the Paseo de Montejo and was surprised to see how much more vibrant it is after dark, with plenty of places to get a drink much closer than Centro. I also discovered that I’ve been walking by something rather important and which I didn’t notice because of foliage until the sign was lit up after dark:

I passed a dulcería (sweets shop) and popped in to see if they had ice cream. Nope, but they did have fresh fruit sorbet. $40 (including a small tip) got me a large portion of guava that was very refreshing on the rest of my long sticky walk home.

So that’s get home from a bar after dark and a few beers without feeling concerned off my to-do list for this week!

Tuesday was a full, rich day.

Today, Wednesday, is going to be a much needed rest day. I’ll do a little work, find a nice place for lunch, then go see a movie.

February 22, 2016 by Rae

Gran Museo del Mundo Maya (and Lots of Searching), Mérida

A lot is closed in Mérida on Mondays so when I learned that the newish Gran Museo del Mundo Maya (Great Mayan World Museum) was open, it made sense to head there today. I knew that it was quite a ways north from Centro, so I’d have to take a bus or a taxi.

I went to the Paseo de Montejo tourist kiosk to ask about the bus.

I just thought it’s kind of cool to be so near Cancún, a popular holiday destination for Quebecers.

The lady told me to go on Calle 60 in front of the Hyatt and take a green or yellow bus marked Siglo XXI, Gran Plaza, Francisco de Montejo, or Liverpool, and that the cost is just $7. The Hyatt was just a block or two over.

I can’t believe that there is a Chili’s in Mérida! I also saw a Boston Pizza (!!!!!!) and a TGI Friday’s!

I arrived to find a bus waiting at a red light that not only had most of those things written on it, but also Museo Maya! That was easy! Like in Maz, the driver had change.

It was standing room only at first, but I eventually got a seat. As we drove further and further from Centro, I realised that I really want to live close to the Zocalo. Campestre, a runner up neighbourhood, seemed clean and quiet, with easy proximity to both a Soriana and a Mega, but it’s definitely the suburbs.

The drive to Gran Plaza was probably 15 minutes. I could see the museum in the distance and waited to see how close I could get to it before getting off. I ended up overshooting by two blocks, not bad!

The museum looks rather like a Borg cube from a distance.

It’s an imposing structure, but there is not much upstairs. The museum itself is all on ground level. Very surprising.

The museum opened on 12/21/12, “Year of Mayan Culture” and coinciding with the Mayan end of the world date.

Mérida is the “city of peace.” It is considered one of the most harmonious countries in the world.

There was an exhibit about an old-style wooden sailing ship and its voyage. Two crew members shared their stories. One was from Winnipeg…

And the other was from Mazatlán!

Entry for “extranjeros” (foreigners) was $150. Holy smokes!

First stop was a movie called “Armageddon” about a meteor that landed in the Yucatán and wiped out the dinosaurs. I caught a lot of what was said and between the language being very poetic and the music being so sad, I was practically sobbing when it finished (LOL). My favourite bit was near the start when the narrator speaks of a new normal day rising and how ordinary it is and shows all the animals going about their business. *pause* The only thing extraordinary about this day is that it is the last day. What would you do on your last day before the world ends? Then boom and all those critters perished. Heartbreaking stuff, I tell you! 😀

The movie ended with a quote by Albert Einstein: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

I then moved into the museum proper. There is a lot in English, probably close to 95%, and it is decently translated, so that just about justifies the very high cost for foreigners to visit. I stuck to Spanish mostly, just for practice, but was glad the English was there to verify words I didn’t know.

The Armageddon exhibit is a temporary one and was fascinating, giving lots of insight into prehistoric Yucatán. I learned that there is a new scientific branch of study emerging, that of the Armageddon, or mass extinctions.

There were some interesting dinosaur skulls on display.

And fossils.

And more skulls.

And a partial skeleton. Can you see how the back end has muscle and skin while the front is just the skeleton?

The next exhibit was about Mayan culture. The museum is very poorly laid out with no directional signage whatsoever. I had to ask a guard at the end of each exhibit where to go next.

I learned a lot about Mayan civilisation over the next couple of hours. They were as advanced a civilisation as, say, the Greeks or Romans, with cities, governments, a fully developed concept of mathematics (including zero), and a rich oral and written language.

One of the things that I notice about a culture is whether or not it has a sense of aesthetics, as that speaks a lot to how far beyond subsistence the culture is. The Mayans made a lot of beautiful things. I love the embroidered dresses and blouses. These are made with cross-stitch, an embroidery style I practice and never thought to use on clothing.

This part of the museum had beautifully tiled floors.

Of course, the museum eventually had to move on to the ugliness of the European conquest. It is estimated that when the Spaniards arrived, there were 800,000 people in the region. A few hundred years of massacres, famines, and epidemics later, only 20% of those people remained.

I enjoyed an exhibit about the Mayan ball games, which are still played today. There were giant stadiums, or courts, built to play these games publicly. I am boggled that this culture was considered primitive by European standards.

The ball itself was pretty impressive, made with a primitive vulcanization process (ie. it was essentially rubber) and it could bounce!

One of my favourite parts of the museum was these interactive touch screens. There were a lot of them. Some had Q&As, others had quizzes, and some had games. They were available in Mayan, Spanish, and English!

One of the last ones had this game that taught me the very confusing Mayan counting system. Here, I managed to count to 83,187 in Mayan, no easy feat!

At the end of the exhibit, I was let out into a courtyard with photographs of famous sites in the Yucatán. This church is stunning!

All told, I was at the museum about 2.5 hours. I felt that I got a lot for my $150 and that the museum has very good information that is well laid out. They just need to solve their navigation issues. So this is a must see in Mérida and, again, the bulk of the museum has good English!

From the museum, I headed off in direction of where I thought I could catch the bus back to Centro. I passed the monument commemorating the 100 years of Korean immigration to Mérida. I did not know that Mexico had a strong Korean expat community and urge you to go read more about it.

A bus marked Centro pulled up to a bus stop at the same time as me. Talk about timing! I got off the bus a block from the restaurant where I wanted to have lunch, but they were closed. *sighs*

I walked around my general neighbourhood looking for an alternative place to eat lunch. Pickings were very slim on a Monday. It wasn’t even a case of waiting till 2PMish (it was noon when I arrived back from the museum), which is closer to the time Mexicans have their largest meal of the day.

Walking around, I noticed some gorgeous architecture:

And some funny translations:

I gave up on finding lunch near home, didn’t want to go eat my leftovers (which would have meant having to find groceries to make dinner too), and needed a hat for tomorrow’s plans, so I schlepped down to the area of the Zocalo and the mercado. Food choices were also dire in this area, but I finally found a chain diner-type thing called Trompos that was open. Reader Colm mentioned eating there.

By this point, it was almost 2:30, I’d been ready for lunch since 11:00, and I’d walked a lot. I ordered a cold beer and what looked good without really thinking of the calories I’d about to take in. They got me at “al pastor” and “salsa verde,” but I ignored the guacamole, sour cream, wheat tortilla, and bacon. OMG, what did I do?! My “ke-burro” was very good, though. I was disappointed that it was not “bathed” in salsa verde as promised, but then the server came back and gave me some more, saying the chef hadn’t been sure I’d want the usual portion. Funny because it wasn’t spicy.

Lunch would have been very reasonable if they hadn’t charged me TWENTY-EIGHT PESOS FOR A BOTTLE OF WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I buy the same bottle at Oxxo for $6! I know restaurants have a markup, but it’s usually about $15 for water. This was highway robbery. I would not go back to Trompos because of this. I did like their weekday afternoon beer price of $25.

I then wandered around looking for a hat. It was hard because Mérida is known for its “Panama” hats and so there don’t appear to be many cheap hats available. Since I now knew how to get most of the way home on a bus, I was happy to wander for a long while. Centro was more vibrant than yesterday, especially around the mercado.

Did you know that Mérida’s cathedral is one of the oldest in North America? It was completed in 1598.

There were a lot of vendors today and people doing some serious shopping!

So. Many. Shoes in the mercado. This is just a tiny portion of them!

Here’s a Maya Museum bus, but coming from it. Take a bus on calle 60 to go north, calle 62 to go south (most streets here are narrow and one way).

I had passed the Chaya Maya at one point after eating and a greeter tried to lure me in. I told him I’d eaten there already. Well, I ran into the same guy an hour or so later in front of the cathedral and he wanted to know more about me (nothing pushy or invasive, just wondering how I’d liked the food, how long I was in Mérida for, and we also compared Mérida and Maz). We chatted a bit and then I asked if he knew where I could find a cheap hat. He gave me directions to a shop and it had what I wanted! Unbelievable!

The hat shop owner wanted to know where I’m from and I said Saskatchewan, Canada. He proudly said that he knows where that is because he lived in Mississauga, ON, for a time! He’d moved to Canada for the promise of a “better life” and said that he made a lot more money working there than he did running his hat shop in Mérida, but he couldn’t get ahead, buy a house, or send his kids to good schools. So he came home, happy to have had the experience so that he can better appreciate how good life is here despite all of Mexico’s problems. He thinks I’m really lucky to be able to live in Mexico on a Canadian (actually U.S.) salary. YES. That is a huge deal! I would be just as broke here as back home if I was making Mexican wages!

My hat was $150 firm when we started chatting, but $140 when I finally paid him. Not a huge difference, but appreciated!

I then went to calle 60 to get a bus. One marked Hyatt came by almost immediately and I tried to flag it Maz-style (sticking my arm out) since I’d seen other people do that, but he drove by me. I decided to try with the next one, also marked Hyatt, and this one stopped!

I wanted to get off at the corner of 60 and 35 (a block or two before the Hyatt) and look where I landed:

Not a bad first couple of experiences riding the bus in Mérida! Home was about six blocks east and north from there, including having to cross the Paseo de Montejo.

Oh, look here’s a picture of my hat. The rose has to go. 🙂

It wound up being a very full day even if it doesn’t feel like I got much done. One thing I’ve learned is that this neighbourhood sucks for food beyond fast food such as tacos (and there are no carts that I’ve seen yet), tortas, and the like. I have yet to find a restaurant that is open past 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. The only sit down restaurant I found today that was open was a very pricy Italian place and some Gringos told me that they’d waited more than 30 minutes to even be acknowledged when they sat down. I wasn’t in the mood for pasta, so I gave it a pass. I’ll definitely need to get closer to Centro. Having a choice of eateries is important to me. I work from home and sometimes the only thing that motivates me to get out is not having to cook!

Tomorrow, I’m heading out of town. Spoiler: Mayan pyramids, here I come!

February 21, 2016 by Rae

Exploring Mérida’s Paseo de Montejo and Centro Histórico

Today was another getting the lay of the land kind of day, trying to get a feel for the location of Centro Histórico to further narrow down where I might want to live. Calle 35 is a bit too north, but not bad. I think I’d like to be between 41 and 59, though.

First order of the day was to pop in at the Oxxo a few blocks away to add some pesos to my account since I ran out last night. The internet in the apartment is a bit unreliable, so I added $200 and then bought the $169 “Alto7” plan that gives me 1GB of data with a week to use it up. That’s cheaper than paying the per MB rate, which is what I’ve been doing for a while since I’ve only been using my phone when out and about in Maz and, for some reason, sites like Facebook are free to use. I couldn’t phone or send a text from my phone last night, but I could still post to Facebook. Too funny! My $200 purchase netted me $200 in “salda regalo” (gift balance)! So that will cover me for calls, texting, and casual data use for several months!

I walked up the Paseo de Montejo from the Oxxo and discovered that one lane is closed to vehicular traffic on Sundays!

There were a lot of folks on bicycles.

I strolled for a bit, wanting to find the Paseo de Montejo information kiosk. It was marked as being at the intersection of 33A and Paseo de Montejo, but this intersection was not on Google Maps. I walked up the Paseo de Montejo to the intersection where I turned onto it yesterday and saw the kiosk kitty corner from Walmart. Say Walmart is the NE corner, the tiny information kiosk is on the SW corner.

I went in and got a map as well as the free tourist guide book. I had a nice chat with the couple running the kiosk. They were pleased that I’m planning to move to Mérida and thrilled that I am avoiding the expat Santiago neighbourhood at all cost so that I can get a more authentic Mérida experience. They think that I picked the right neighbourhood (Paseo de Montejo) and strongly urged me to go check out Santiago and Santa Ana for my peace of mind that I did my research and got it right. We also talked about the weather and they said that if I can handle the weather this week, I could make it through the hottest part of summer as long as I have AC and a pool. I have been thinking of looking for a house with a pool… 🙂 But seriously, I think that too much fuss is made about the heat. People come to Canada to live in areas that frequently hit 40 below or colder and nothing is really thought of that other than to buck up. The culture here is used to the heat and there is siesta. I will be fine. I’m more not looking forward to the rainy season.

From the kiosk, I turned around to go back the way I come to go down to the area of the Zocalo, or Mérida’s main square, where I could catch a free traditional dance show at 1PM.

The Paseo de Montejo is known for its grand houses:

This one’s for rent. I wonder how much!

These are “las sillas de confidentes” and are featured on the cover of the tourist guide.

This one’s bound to be cheap, right?

This is the museum of archaeology. I’ll be visiting it for sure!

So beautiful. Remembers me of some of the architecture in Southern U.S. cities.

This tricycle looks like a lot of work.

Roads were blocked for bikes all the way to the Zocalo.

This is a smaller plaza. There were lots of vendors selling jewelry and traditional clothing.

Now, we’re at the Zocalo. See that green umbrella on the left? Little did I know I would be sitting under it some time later!

Basilica.

Entering the Zocalo. Lots more vendors.

Pretty building off the Zocalo.

I wouldn’t mind living above shops…

Very useful discovery!

Artisan market, but it was mostly shut tight.

This part of Centro is a lot more like Maz, only the drivers aren’t insane.

Another artisan market, with some vendors open. I had a look at the clothes and am glad I can recognise what things are worth now. Some things (like my dressing gown) are made of very thin fabric with seams that fray on the understand because they are not overlocked. Other things (like my traditional dresses) are made of thicker fabric and better finished. I don’t mind my lesser quality items because I paid a fair price for them. I didn’t like the prices here at all.

I then went into the central market. It was huge. Some parts were really pleasant to shop through, but the bulk of it, especially where the veggies are sold, was very grotty and was over due for a power washing. I actually don’t know if I could see myself buying produce there!

Speaking of produce, I’ve never seen a stem on a pineapple!

I made my way back to the Zocalo. I was ready for lunch and when I spotted a place with shade and beer, that was good enough for me!

I ordered a traditional Yucatán dish called poc chuc. There was no description on the menu, so talk about taking a leap of faith! It wound up being pork marinated in sour orange. The meat was very gristly and I had to work hard to get good bits of it, but what there was was very tasty, especially dipped in that non-spicy red sauce on the plate (to which I added the spicy sauce you can see in the above picture). I loved the grilled onions and black beans, as well as the slightly charred tortillas to mop up my plate. Lunch was only $140 with the tip and I also got some advice from my server to take an organised tour out of town instead of renting a car…

By the time I’d picked up a lime sorbet thingamabob in a cone from a cart, toured all the vendors in the Zocalo, and found a place to stand for the dance show, it was 12:40. I was disappointed it had been standing room only by the time I’d arrived back a the square at 11:30 since I was pretty fatigued, even with having sat for lunch.

The show was very entertaining, but having to stand for most of it and move around to stay out of the sun and get different views means I didn’t get to really absorb it as much as I would have liked.

The dancers wore traditional costumes. I love those white dresses with the bright embroidery. Women here wear them all the time! I’ve seen coloured dresses with the same embroidery and which I find tempting, but the cut is not fitted and so wouldn’t suit me well. They are so pretty, though!

There were a lot of different dance numbers. There is a video after the pictures with highlights of my favourite bits.

See the yellow flowers in the hair of the dancer closest to me? All the ladies had a different main colour to the embroidered part of their dresses and matching flowers in their hair, as well as, for some numbers, a shawl.

The music was live, and very loud!

Here they are with their shawls. That’s my kind of outfit. 🙂

This was a Maypole-type dance number, where they wove the ribbons.

Here they are building a “palapa” (their word). I really appreciated all the times the announcer said, “¡Lista cameras!” (ready your cameras)!

I’m really glad I stayed till the end because of this amazing number, where they danced balancing trays of glasses on their heads. That’s in the video!

There was another info kiosk right by the Zocalo, so I popped in to ask about tours. I was given a brochure in English, but got all the information in Spanish, same as at the Paseo de Montejo kiosk. The man understood my desire to do something close by (I’m saving Chichen Itzá for when I move here!) and proposed what sounded like the perfect tour. It’s well reviewed, so I contacted them to see if they can fit me in this week…

I then schlepped home, tempted as I was to get in a cab, and popped into a a shop to get three cold Tecate Light beers, which were only $32.50, or just under $11 each. I get four for $52 on Isla, or $13 each. I was surprised since beer at a restaurant is so pricy here compared to Maz.

I hadn’t planned to go out again today, but now I’m hungry and trying to decide which will take less energy, walking to a restaurant or making my own dinner. 🙂

It was a very good day for getting myself grounded in this part of Mérida. Now, I’m ready to play tourist!

February 20, 2016 by Rae

Dinner at La Chaya Maya, Mérida

I wanted to try Yucatán cuisine while I’m here (duh!) and yesterday Buzzfeed Mexico helpfully published a list of 12 of the best Yucatán restaurants in Mérida. Number two on the list, La Chaya Maya, was about 2KM away and really well reviewed, so I decided to go there for dinner. I must have walked close to 20km today, btw!

I’ve passed these former beauties several times today:

There are two Chaya Mayas and the best reviewed is this one at the corner of Calles 62 and 57.

I was given an English menu. It was actually pretty well translated, but not particularly helpful. I gave up trying to imagine what anything tastes like and zeroed in on this “Flavours of the Yucatán” deal that would give me four different items for just $95! I ordered it as “sabores del Yucatán,” though. 😉

I ordered a XX beer, but the server said that the bartender wouldn’t sell me one because they weren’t cold enough. Dinner was off to a good start! I picked a beer at random, Montejo, and discovered that I have a new favourite Mexican beer! It is a pale lager that is incredibly smooth. I could have downed several of those!

Beer came with totopos, two kinds of refried beans, habanero sauce, and salsa mexicana (“pico de gallo”). The habanero sauce took out a layer of my taste buds. The brown beans had a strange flavour that was okay, but not really to my taste. The black beans were awesome and the salsa mexicana had an extra ingredient in it, possibly sweetened vinegar, that made it addictive!

So here’s my meal. Isn’t it pretty?!

The turkey on the left was soaked in a black sauce reminiscent of squid ink in appearance only. The middle one was also turkey and I’m pretty sure the other two were pork. Yucatán is not an agricultural state like Sinaloa and so the cuisine is very meat-heavy.

Using their online menu and my incredible powers of deduction, I think I had:

Top: vaporcito (not on the menu). It’s shredded meat with masa around it and a red sauce over top.

Bottom Left: relleno negro taco (black-filled taco). The black apparently comes from a mixture of a bunch of spices and chiles…

Bottom Middle: panucho (black beans smeared on a tortilla) with shredded turkey and veggies.

Bottom Right: cochinita (pulled pork marinated in sour orange and other things) and topped with purple stuff.

Everything was just delicious (and nothing was even remotely spicy!). It was all foreign to me and I’m having a hard time remembering what each individual thing tasted like. I know the panucho turkey tasted like a well roasted turkey that had been brined, but had no other seasoning. It was the best plain fowl I’ve had in Mexico. The black stuff was my favourite. I sampled everything, then worked my way around the plate to finish with the black taco. I left one and a half tortillas and the egg behind, but otherwise gobbled up everything. I really need to go back and try each thing individually. But, hey, now I know there are four things on the menu that I like!

The bill had a cute presentation:

I found the beer very pricy at $31 (and I ordered off the cheap menu!), but even with a generous tip, my dinner came to only $150, or 12.35CAD. I know! If that’s the going rate for a gourmet meal in Mérida, I’ll be able to eat out like this every night!

Needless to say, I’d recommend La Chaya Maya!

I was pretty stuffed and actually looked forward to my walk home after. But I did mull over whether that was a good idea. I’m in a very residential neighbourhood that is very dark and quiet at night. It is well kept up, though, and the bulk of my walk was up a street with buses passing frequently, so I decided I was okay to walk. I passed three people on my walk home and they were all women about my age walking alone. There you go!

Not only does Mérida have street name signs and addresses, it actually let’s drivers know they are turning on a one-way street and which direction to go. *squints at Guamúchil*

February 19, 2016 by Rae

Landed in Mérida!

Oy, it’s been a very long day, but I’m here!

I made the mistake of going to bed at my usual time yesterday and so I was up at 6AM, not good when you know bedtime won’t be till 11PM your time/midnight local time.

I had 5.5 hours to kill till departure for the airport so I had a lie in, then made breakfast and finished packing and cleaning the house (I always give the floors a final pass at the last minute). My ride showed up 10 minutes early, but I was very nearly ready. Better early than late when you’re on your way to the airport!

The road out is just about all paved!!! It’s unbelievable. I heard that there is talk of paving more of the main street on Isla, too. The times, they are a changing! Needless to say, we were at the airport in record time.

Since I wasn’t sure that my luggage was under the weight limit for carry on, I elected to check in at a desk, something I haven’t done in a long time. To give me less to handle, I only had my small suitcase and my tote bag, which was full to bursting with my electronics, documents, liquids, and more. It was heavy, but I made the right call. Check-in, done in Spanish, went smoothly and I was given tags for my bags confirming they had been weighed and were to good to go. I was warned that there would be a 10-minute delay for my flight, but assured that I had plenty of time to make my connection…

I’ve spent a lot of time on the main level of the Mazatlán airport, but had never been upstairs. All there was up there was a couple of restaurants and shops, plus a Carl Jr’s hamburger stand. I was pretty sure there was nothing beyond security for food and, being a full three hours early for my flight, I’d decided to have lunch at the airport. The two restaurants were ridiculously expensive, even for an airport, and not appealing, so I caved and got a fast food cheeseburger. Should have brought my own lunch!

I then went through security and, wow, that went very quickly! I didn’t get a pat down (it helped that I remembered not to wear a bra with underwire!) and I didn’t have to take my shoes off. My liquids were packed correctly (which the lady at check-in had confirmed anyway) and I didn’t have to turn on my electronic devices. My suitcase did raise a flag and they asked for permission to open it. What was I going to say, no?! As I expected, they were curious about my stainless steel French press, but accepted my explanation without even touching it. I did get a laugh for having marked my bag of white powder as “leche con polvo” (powdered milk)!

There was just about nothing on the other side, just a jewelry stand and a small bar/cafe where I could have gotten an even more expensive lunch than on the other side. I did spend a whopping $15 on a bottle of water and also $40 for a coffee. My first thought was that was a crazy price, but it was an Americano, so espresso from fresh ground beans with hot water. It was so smooth I was able to enjoy it black. Totally worth the money!

It was a long wait. I really could have left home later, but I’d rather the wait than to be rushed. I watched an ep of the show I’m currently enjoying (Defiance) on my iPad and that helped 45 minutes go by quickly! I also finished a funny book about the career of a customs inspector in the UK, rather à propos reading for my location.

We finally boarded, 10 minutes late, but we were off very quickly. I’ve only ever before flown Air Canada, West Jet and one of the U.S. airlines. InterJet had something none of those airlines have: leg and elbow room.

It was interesting to see Maz and Isla from the air as we took off. The airport is so close that I could spot my house as we were taking off. I am not joking/exaggerating! It was a case that I had to know exactly where to look as we made our ascent, and I did!

We only had about a 1.5 hour flight, but still had a snack and beverage service. I accepted a small bag of rather yummy Frito/Dorito-style chip things with a bit of kick, but was at a loss as to what to ask for a beverage other than water. When flying in Canada, I always get ginger ale and it’s a huge treat, but I knew they wouldn’t have that in Mexico. I asked if they had a soda with lime hoping to get something like a 7-Up or Sprite. The flight attendant pondered my question for a couple of seconds and said, “7-Up?” Yup, that worked. 🙂 I only have soda on airplanes because the carbonation helps me clear my ears.

I read through my flight and we were in Mexico City in no time! It’s huge! I thought Chicagoland (where I’ve landed several times) was big, but this was civilisation as far as the eye could see! Traffic was bad! As we landed, I could see many roads were backed up.

By the time I’d deplaned, I only had about an hour until my next flight was supposed to board, so my first priority was to find my new gate. It wasn’t on the boards, so I asked at an Interjet information kiosk and was told to come back at 7:00, about 45 minutes later. So I went off in search of food and found a rather uninspiring food court with Subways, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Wings, and a few other stands. I picked Sbarro’s, which I think is a U.S. pizza chain (I only know the name from the movie The Terminal), just because pizza sounded good and their pizza looked decent enough, even if a slice with toppings was $72! I went with just plain cheese for $51 and had to grudgingly admit that it was pretty good, especially for airport pizza. 🙂 I then popped into a 7-Eleven to buy a litre bottle of water so I wouldn’t have to worry about finding some when I got to Mérida. That would give me enough to get me through the morning, including making coffee. $11. Even Mexico airports gouge you on everything!

It was 7:00 by that point, so I went back to the information kiosk, where I was told to come back at 7:30. What? That’s when we were supposed to leave! They said a word I did not recognise. I know “delayed” as “con retrazo” (very close to the French “en retard). They used a word that started with d and it took me a second to process that this is what they were saying. Delayed?! OMG. I asked how long and they said about 30 minutes.

Thirty minutes was fine. I’d told my host I would be there between 10:00 and 11:00 and a half-hour delay put me at the apartment around 10:15, 10:30. Absolutely no reason to panic. I still had no idea where my gate was going to be and found a seat within sight of the information desk. Minutes after I sat down, a man in a bright orange security vest came up to me and said “You’re going to Mérida?” I replied in the affirmative and he told me to go to gate three and that we’d be boarding around 7:45. Talk about service!

This was my first time traveling through a country where I can barely understand the language when spoken and I’m glad I made it through as well as I did. There were some English announcements, but the accent was so strong it wasn’t really not much clearer than the Spanish.

Our plane finally arrived and the passengers on it deplaned in record time. I was one of the last ones to be allowed to board. Air Canada will board rows such and such, then such and such and Interjet has a similar zone system. I understood this on my first leg of the trip, but couldn’t find my zone on my ticket. This time around, I had plenty of time to locate it way at the bottom. Zone one, since I was in row six. Great, I’d be one of the first to deplane!

We boarded with great efficiency and were taking off in no time at all. I was very impressed! It was another very short journey, just enough time for a snack and a few chapters of a book before Mérida was sprawled below me.

I’d texted my “greeter” in MC and hadn’t received a reply, so I decided to call him before getting in a taxi. Always risky. I don’t do well on the phone at all. I thought we agreed that he would be waiting for me when I arrived, but had a feeling I’d be left waiting on a curb…

Like Maz’s airport, Mérida’s airport has official taxis with set rates. I’d been told it would be $200 to go to my apartment, but they insisted on $270. Fiiiine.

I knew I wasn’t in the proverbial Kansas anymore when my taxi driver actually buckled up… and didn’t drive like a maniac… and obeyed all red lights and stop signs. What I could see of Mérida was very clean and tidy, with clear road signs. All a sharp contrast to Mazatlán. I told the driver this and we started chatting. He says that April and May are the worst months here weather-wise.

He found the apartment without any trouble and I knew I was at the right place because a) the street had a sign that matched the street name I’d been given; b) the building had a number that matched the address I’d been given; and c) the building looked like the picture from the Airbnb site. 🙂

So there I was on the curb. The door into the apartment complex was locked. I was a bit earlier than I thought I’d be, the journey from the airport having been super quick, so I figured the guy was going to be along shortly. But after a good 20 minutes, I was beyond ready to be settled for the night (and grateful to be in a neighbourhood that felt safe!) and used the last 4% of my battery on the phone to try my “greeter” again. Augh, he’d been inside one of the apartments the whole time waiting for me to call!

He rushed out to show me to my place, in the back of the complex and up… a spiral staircase. Be still my beating heart! The only way I would be more excited about my apartment was if it also had a turret. I’ve always dreamed of living somewhere with a spiral staircase!

The apartment is large and seems clean. I got a whirlwind tour and discovered that I have a balcony! What a bonus! I am a tad disappointed by the kitchen, though. I don’t even have a decent pot in which to boil water tomorrow. So I have some shopping to do. I’m going to be here for eight days and it’ll totally be worth it to get some cheap things to be comfortable. Just from tonight, I know I need:

– a pot and a frying pan;
– a new sponge for the kitchen;
– wash cloths for the bathroom (I knew I should have packed some — even my hotel in Durango didn’t have any);
– trash bags (although shopping should will take care of that);
– toilet paper

No big deal at all. It’ll give me a chance to figure out where I’ll be buying home goods when I move to this neighbourhood! 🙂

I had a shower and then crashed in bed with my computer, where I am writing this post. I am very grateful that the bed is super comfortable, a huge improvement over my bed on Isla, even with a topper!

I think I will be happy here for the next eight days. Let’s see what the morning brings.

I apologise for any typos in this post. I’m starting to see double. 🙂

A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Restaurants

Visiting the Mayan Ruins at Uxmal and Kabah

Gran Museo del Mundo Maya (and Lots of Searching), Mérida

Exploring Mérida’s Paseo de Montejo and Centro Histórico

Dinner at La Chaya Maya, Mérida

Landed in Mérida!