A week ago we came back from Merida Mexico. Call this the bad timing reward. Even though when we was in Mexico the COVID-19 virus was much less of an issue than it was in the states it still affected the vibe of the city. Since I have never been there before I loved the city and my issue was making sure that we could get back to the states. But Teri was dissappointed since she been here before and most of the activities she had planned for us was either cancelled or with mess less people involved. We was suppose to see a few more cities in Mexico but thanks to me we was only in Mexico for 4 nights instead of 9 nights.
To get to Merida we flew into Cancun and then took a 4 hour luxury bus to Merida. It was very easy to get through customs at the airport and then we had a couple of hours to kill before our bus to Merida
The above is our restaurant at the hotel. This restaurant was outside close to the bus terminal. Our bus ride dropped us off in the upscale UPTOWN part of town.. We then had a 15 walk to our hotel. It was an easy walk just straight down one of the main roads. Merida is a very easy city to get around in. It is a grid system and most of the horizontal streets are odd numbers and the vertical streets are odd numbers. The hotel Teri got for us was the Gran Hotel which is located right in the center of town next to a small square and only 1 block from one of the main squares in the city.
The first night we walked around the city so Teri could show me the place that she loves and we had dinner at one of Merida’s finest restaurants La Chaya Maya. This restaurant specialized in regional cuisine. Also cool about this place is you have ladies making tortillas in the seating area of the restaurants.
The next day we took a walking tour with our guide “Mi Amego Ivan” It was a comprehensive tour showing us the local university, churches, great restaurant recommendations, colorful squares, and important statues and monuments. As usual these walking tours had people from all over the world and everybody was really happy because almost everybody came from a place that was being affected with the corona virus much worse than Mexico. It was also cool that we had some conversations with our fellow walking tour compatriots and even saw some of them later on during out time there.
When we was in Mexico City we saw plenty of murals there most of them painted by the legendary Diego Rivera. It was the same thing in Merida. One block from our hotel is the Yucatan Government Building (official name Palacio de Goberno del Estado de Yucatan) . Besides holding government and tourism offices and huge murals documenting the history of the Maya people and the state of Yucatan.
Another thing that is standard in big Mexican cities is a huge market where everything is being sold and Merida has theirs as well I thought I was in the Lucas De Galvez Market. I was told that this market was huge but I found out later it is in the suburbs of Merida. But Teri showed me a huge market that is in the center of town called Mercado San Benito. This place is huge and goes on forever. It is so huge that Teri, who has been here before, did not even realize that there was a second floor. I am quite sure that the Lucas De Galvez Market is probably even bigger which is almost impossible to fathom.
Near the end of our time in Merida we went to the Museo de Arte Popular de Yucatan. Art museums in Latin America are usually more colorful than in the states. It was a relatively small museum but we had a great time here
Even though we did way less walking than some of my solo New York trips or my 2018 trip through Europe we did some walking through Merida because there is always something interesting to see in the city. One of the main boulevards in the city is the Paseo de Montejo and one of the highlights of this is the circle that is close to the main long distance bus station. This monument is very photogenic the Justo Sierra Mendez Monumento
Unlike Teri I will repaat I have never been here before so despite we constantly worrying about making sure I can make it back to the US I really enjoyed my time in Merida. I am posting this blog March 2020 and hopefully it will be very soon that people will be asking me why did I post this last picture.
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