Merida Day 25 - Noche Mexicana and random notes

Last night we caught a taxi outside the house and went to Noche Mexicana. Those of you who are regular readers have heard of this term before as George and I have been twice. This was Mum and Dad's first show.

The first couple of acts were solo singers. just warming us up. The main performers were a Mariachi Band and a dance troop. The picture above is from their first dance. They would do about 3 dances and then change costumes.

The full dance troop was 9 couples and that's a lot of people to have swirling around on a relatively small stage. The choreography was very good. The energy was amazing, especially as it was at least an hour of almost constant dancing.

However it was the costumes, for both the men and women, they were fabulous. They involved full changes, right down to hats and shoes and, for the women, hair accessories.

The dancing was followed by a group playing Marimbas. Something I had never seen before and Mum and Dad had seen in Oaxaca. Very melodic and also a form of choreography as the 6 people playing have to move up and down the instrument.

It was a great show. This morning we had no agenda. Easter Sunday, we didn't know what would be open so Mum and Dad went to the City Museum, which was open. George and I stayed home. I experimented with a little watercolour painting, not a medium I an at all comfortable in.

The photograph looks better than the original, maybe that's the solution.

I wasn't particularly happy with the results but I think I just have to start painting and hope that I will improve with practise.

As, again, we are settling in rather than being tourists this is rather a sparse blog, so just some random notes:
Birds - Mum and Dad bought a bird book with them and the garden here is so treed you can just lie in the hammock, or sit in the shallow end of the pool, and bird watch. Up high there are always Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures, in the trees (and part of the dreaded-because it is so early-"morning chorus") there are lots of Zenaida Doves and little Aztec Doves. There are also plenty of Mocking Birds, Kiskadees and Boat Tailed Grackles. The bird book lists 3 pages of Hummingbirds for Mexico and we have some Cinnamon Hummingbirds regularly in the flowers . The most unusual looking bird was spied by George at an archaeological site, a Motmot, then Mum and Dad saw one on their Flamingo watching trip. At the coast we saw Pelicans and Frigate Birds.

Frigate Birds floating up high.

Hammocks - these are not just for lazing, they are actually used for sleeping in many houses in Merida. Walking by and looking in windows we can see them tied up on the hooks on the wall during the day. At night they are hung from one wall to another, sometimes 3 or 4 in a room.

This is how the hammocks are hung during the day (tied by Anna, our cleaning lady). This photo
also shows the hook in the wall. In Casa Bonita there are 3 hooks in our bedroom, 4 in the front
foyer, 3 in the living room and 2 in the courtyard. We only use the ones n the courtyard.

Merida Day 24 - Casa Bonita Decor

Mum and Dad were glad to not have to set an alarm and set of on a tour today. They have been out of the house "touring" 4 days out of the last 5 and Dad is rather stiff from all the walking. As their decision to come down here was impulsive they didn't go into training and had not walked much this winter. However all was not well as they have run out of tea and the only tea that the SuperAki stocks is Chamomile.
There were therefor 2 chores that had to be accomplished today. Booking their return bus ride to Cancun and finding some decent tea. George and Dad took a taxi to the ADO bus station, CAME, and Mum and I took the bus downtown. We went to the market, yes on a Saturday again! It was not as busy as the previous time George and I went but still quite busy. We bought an avocado, mangos, carrots, tomatoes and a strange looking fruit that we will try tonight.
We then went to the Museo de Cuidad (City Museum) and checked out the top two floors. One was a display of art by artists from Merida and another was a display of Modern Mexican architecture. From there we met Dad and George at Restaurante Mary. We had cervesa all around, twice, as we were thirsty, and then some of their good Yucatan food. The total bill for lunch came to 330M$.

At Restaurante Mary (Calle 63 between 56 and 58). One of the reasons we like it
is the large pictures on the wall menu helps you get an idea of what you are ordering.
Also the food is good and the beer cheap.

Dad and George had booked Mum and Dads bus ticket for Wednesday at 6:15am and George and I are going to Chichen Itza on the 9:15am and returning on the 5:15. That should give us enough time to see the whole site (we only saw about a third on the tour) and to do some sketching.
After lunch Mum and Dad bused back and George and I went into the artisans market by the bus and I bought an embroidered blouse and embroidered belt, after a little haggling. We bused home and swam and relaxed before Dad and George headed off to Walmart in search of TEA and other necessities like meat. They have been gone a couple of hours but both like to wander around stores.
in light of the sparse pictures in this post I will end with some of Casa Bonita's decor.

A Mayan style tile embedded in the wall near the pool

Another in the wall by the patio.

A wooden jaguar in the front foyer

Mayan mask also in the front foyer.

Another Mayan mask, this one of a mans head in a jaguars mouth,
on our bedroom wall.

Well the wanderers have returned, claiming to have gone to Walmart via Cancun. They were successful however, we now have tea in the house as well as meat, and wine.

Merida Day 23 - Good Friday

Mum and Dad were up early again and left on their tour to Celestun, basically to see Flamingos. We had a leisurely morning and then headed downtown to see if there was an Easter parade. We had read in Yucatan Today that there would be a procession, with guards in Roman uniforms and Christ carrying the cross etc in the Plaza Grande this afternoon. However everyone we asked for verification, even the tourist bureau, seemed unsure of if, when and where.
Well it wasn't in the Plaza Grande between 12 and 3 (there goes one suggested possibility) so we decided to head up to Santiago Square (another suggestion). Had lunch on the way at a restaurant advertising a "Menu del dia"  for 50M$.

George had chicken fajitas and I had fish grilled with garlic and both were delicious. The special also came with a drink and we decided to live dangerously and try them. One was made out of rice and the other some kind of tea from a flower. Both were quite tasty but George was a little concerned whether they had been made with purified water or not as we have had no reaction, to date, to Mexican food or drink.

We had the restaurant to ourselves, out on a lovely little patio with Mayan motifs painted on the walls.

Afterwards we headed to Santiago Square and nothing was going on there except everyone was taking Mass in the church. We grabbed some stuff at the SuperAki just before it closed and headed home on the bus. Mum and Dad got home at about 5 after an enjoyable day on a boat,bird watching.
We had a quick supper and headed down to the Plaza again, still in search of the procession. Things looked more promising, there were crowds of people, cops around, pylons to close off the streets. We settled on a piece of wall opposite the Cathedral and waited. Well after sitting there for over an hour we did get a procession but hardly the one described in Yucatan Today. Lead by a priest and nuns a large group of people made their way down Calle 60 and stopped in front of the Cathedral. They were absolutely silent and scattered through the crowds were people carrying high signs saying "silencio". The priest moved forward and banged on the huge knocker on the massive wooden Cathedral doors. They opened and everyone trooped in, still in silence. We had been into the Cathedral this week and seen that the altar area was draped from floor to ceiling. Well now there was a massive statue of Jesus on the cross.

The crowds of people outside the Cathedral after the doors opened and they started
to move inside. You can just see the huge crucifix inside.

I thought I would fill out this post with some pictures of the flora at Casa Bonita.

I took this picture of a flower on a palm like bush in the front courtyard
on the fourth day we were here.

This is what it looks like today.

This plant is growing out of the wall beside the pool

Cacti at the back of the yard

This looks like a prickly pear cactus tree at the end of the yard

Flowers on the "prickly pear cactus tree"

Flowers in the tree in the courtyard just behind the bedroom.
We have seen hummingbirds in these and the prickly pear flowers.

Merida Day 22 - Campeche, Part 2

Had a great nights sleep and ready to do the rest of this post.
Campeche's historical district is 6 blocks by 8 blocks, almost entirely enclosed by the old city walls.  The main square is bordered by the cathedral and long buildings with arches on the ground floor and balconies above, painted pretty pastel colours.

The area does not come across as particularly touristy. Aside from the entrance through the walls where there were some stalls, we saw no souvenir shops, there were no wandering hawkers, no sidewalk snack sellers.

The homes and businesses are smart and painted with plaster
decoration and lots of iron work

Two story buildings tend to have balconies

In fact we were hungry and had a difficult time finding a place to eat. We wandered the streets for at least half an hour before finding a comida economica and having a quick bite. We had only seen commercial buildings and retail up to that point but on looking at the map we had picked up, we saw the two gates marked that I wanted to see. We found a street that was pedestrian only between the two gates. I'm not sure how many gates the walled city had, but I had read that the Land Gate guarded the road coming from Merida.

The Land Gate from outside the walls of the historic city.

The Sea Gate lead to a pier as Campeche was a major port in the 16 to 18 hundreds. According to what I have read the walls and fortifications were built to withstand the acts of pirates, including Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkins, pirates that were essentially "licensed" by Britain.

Bell at the Sea Gate

Between the two gates the pedestrian road had a temporary exhibit of bronze sculptures, mostly of winged men.

In addition, there were sculptures scattered around, both inside the walls and out.

One gringo, one pirate.

We walked out of the Sea Gate and down to the Pacific. All along the sea front is a malcyon (walkway and bike path) and 4 lanes of roadway. By the city there are also large hotels. We had to walk along the sea front for quite a way before finding a bar to have 2 cervesas (oops 3, George raised his glass to cheers the waiter and it was translated into "I want another one", no big hardship there)

It was a nice little bar, "The Buccaneer", and we ordered guacamole, had a view of the ocean, felt the sea breeze and watched a "galleon" motor past.

Walked back, through a nice little neighbourhood and through a church and into the walled city again. There I did a quick sketch of the Cathedral bell tower and then we caught the buses again.
I will end this post with a couple of pictures of the sculptures.

This one was "in the moat" with one of the small fortifications
showing on the wall behind.

This is life size, as all of them are.

This is in bronze and shows the original layout of the city.

Maerida Day 22 - Campeche

Its 10:30pm and we got home at 10 after leaving the house at about 8:45am. Needless to say this wont be a long post, I just want to go to bed.
We planned to take the bus to Chichen Itza today but got to the bus station about the time the bus was leaving and the next one wasn't for 3 hours so instead we booked a ticket on the bus to Campeche which was leaving in about an hour and a half. While we were waiting we explored the area south of the CAME bus station. There are 2 nice squares and some quiet neighbourhoods.

Templo de San Sebastion

We checked out the churches in the squares. The one below was used in a movie and the square was supposed to be in a village. We know this because on one of our tours we stopped here for the Mexican tourists to take pictures of it and they explained why.

The Hermitage of Good Travel

We got back to the bus station and caught our bus to Campeche. It took about 2 and a half hours and was a nice luxury bus with a movie playing and a washroom,. Cost us about $36 each, return.

ADO CAME bus station, Merida

We arrived at the Campeche bus station and realised that because we had done this on impulse we had no tour books, had done no research and basically had no clue where the town was in relation to the bus station. Luckily, as we were standing outside the station wondering what to do, a local bus went by and just like the ones in Merida, the last think on its route list, on the window, was the word "Centro". We figured that was a good place to start.
Campeche appears to be almost as big as Merida so the bus took at least 15 mins to get downtown and drove around the outside of the walls of the old town - Centro Historico.

The first sight of the Campeche Cathedral, behind the walls.

We walked into the historic area and into the main square.
Its no good, I'm too tired to do this tonight. I will do a second post for Day 22 tomorrow morning. So stay tuned, more Campeche to come.

Merida Day 21 - Casa Catherwood?

Mum and Dad got home quite late yesterday evening after hours of walking at Chichen Itza and what sounded like an excellent guide. They said it was very crowded so Semana Santa is definitely having an impact on the number of  Mexicans that are on holiday and travelling.
We had a leisurely morning, no alarm clocks or appointments and didn't get out of the house til about 11am. Bus to Santiago to try and find Casa Catherwood. This is a small museum devoted to the paintings that Catherwood did when the Mayan ruins were first discovered and they are used for a lot of the reconstruction as the only record available. It took some finding, just a little sign and when we went in we were told it was closed for Semana Santa. We will try again next week.

Mum and Dad had not been to Parque Santiago so we strolled the SuperAki grocery store, loncherias, market and had coffee in Flor de Santiago. Dad headed downtown to pay for tomorrows tour to Uxmal and to book one for Celestun ( boat ride to see flamingos) for Friday. Mum and I sketched in the park.

I am on the bench to the left and Mum on the one behind the fountain.

The subject 

George took pictures of a couple of the street corner tiles around Santiago Square.

We relaxed during the afternoon, preparing for a busy day tomorrow with Mum and Dad going to Uxmal and George and I taking the public bus to Chichen Itza.
To fill out this post a little more; Merida (and Mexico) is known for it's tiles. Casa Bonita has its share.

House numbers at the street.

Embedded in the cement beside the entrance

At the doors, like an entrance mat.

On the stairs going up onto the roof of the kitchen

The whole floor of the front bedroom, with a contrasting border.

There are two of these, placed like area rugs, in the bathroom.

Transition of entrance foyer tiles to living room tiles.

Some of the tiles in the house are obviously quite old and in fact the instructions warn not to wash them with anything but water because they are antique. Others in the bathroom and back bedroom are embedded in cement floors and look more recent.