A Couple of Days in Merida

Nov 18
It´s Wednesday and we find ourselves on a hot, stuffy 2nd class bus working our way to Merida- the capital of the the Yucatan. Merida has a sizable population of 700,000 and is full of historical buildings painted in pretty pastels. As our bus arrived into the city, we were able to take in the colonial aspects of the city. Of course, the prettiest buildings were built by the enemy (the Spanish). Nomadas Hostel where we stayed was equipped with a pool (the first one I´ve seen at a hostel) outside lounge area and open kitchen. It´s funny when you enter a new hostel for the first time and everyone looks at you as the newbies. You kind of get that feeling like you´re the new kid in school especially when you see the already tightly formed cliques of travelers. Anyway, our first night was filled with eating Yucatan specialties (alot of turkey filled tortillas doused with spicy sauces) and drinking Montejo beers back at the hostel with some of the other travelers who were willing to open up and chat with us. We both went to bed tired, a little drunk and excited as one can be for the free city tour that would commence the next morning.
Nov 19
Again HOT. I feel like each day is hotter than the last and with Merida being inland, you don´t have any pleasant see breeze to look forward to. The city tour was done by a man name Pedro. Pedro is a spunky little man-probably barely 5 foot, who feels a special pride for his hometown of Merida. We learn (in somewhat broken English) that Merida at one time was full of Myan pyramids- but the evil Spaniards dismantled the pyramids and used the rocks to build more practical buildings-such as mansions for themselves. As we looked around the city, some of the buildings were still standing but were now badly damaged and in need of major resotoration. Perhaps the best part of the tour wasn´t even the tour itself, but the little Mexican boy (Emmanuel) who decided to follow our tour group around for the last half hour. The boy seemed to listen attentively to Pedro as our group of gringos walked from painting to painting (we were now in an art museum). Pedro didn´t say a word as this strangely out of place boy followed. Finally, as he finished up the tour he broke his English and said in Spanish ´´Little boy do you understand English?¨´ The boy didn´t say anything. Then Pedro said in the Mayan Yucatec language the same thing. The boy didn´t say a word. What was with this strange boy I wondered? Why was he following our group around (that was being spoken to in English) ? Did this boy have any language ability? As we walked down the stairs, another foreigner in the group asked Emmanuel his age. He quickly responded ¨10´¨ and then ran off. I came to the conclusion that Emmanuel was poorly attempting to beg for money, but soon became embarrassed. Kids.
Nov 20
Independence Day in Merida. Large parades full of teens filled the streets. The scene was not unlike that of Mardi Gras, however the musical endeavors of these particular children was a far cry from the Mardi Gras marchers. After a couple of days in the capital, with all it´s history, and pride- we were ready to leave the dusty city and move south to Campeche. A city stop on the way to Palenque. Josh, me and our newly adopted traveler friend Eliane, packed our bags and were on the road once again.

A Couple of Days in Merida

Merida, Mexico