Merida Day 16 - Barrio de la Mejorada

It was extremely hot today, peaked at about 40 degrees and quite humid. I am not complaining, I assure you, but Mum found it hard to take. We set out at about 10:30 and Mum and Dad got their first taste of the Merida bus. We went to the Plaza Grande and into the Cathedral.

The Cathedral has quite a plain, stark, stone exterior.

This gave Mum the opportunity to sit in a  cool environment and acclimatize a little. The Cathedral has an immense, vaulted stone interior There is a lovely organ area above the entrance.

But there was a quite a lot of the statuary covered by cloths and the large cross behind the altar was also hidden from view. I am not sure if this is somehow related to Easter week or if this is normal protection.

We left Mum and Dad to rest there and then explore the plaza while George and I went in search of an alcohol distributor that had been recommended by Pancho's bartender, when we were there for happy hour. It was in an area to the East of the downtown that we had not explored yet. We walked out and under one of the three arches, Arch of the Dragons, named after the cavalry building that was nearby. Topped by a saint to bless the travellers, just like the San Juan Arch that was in a previous post.

We also walked past another lovely little church and popped inside. The churches here have very deep walls, almost feel fortified and very few windows, helps keep them cool, I guess. This little church did however have some small stain glass windows up around the dome.

Beside the church, in the building that had bean a convent is the Yucatan School of Architecture and a peaceful little garden. The neighbourhood, barrio , is named after these structures, del la Mejorada .

We finally found the "liquor store" and George was able to find his aged tequila and I was able to get the liquor made from honey and anise. There was an excellent selection and it was better pricing than we had found anywhere else. Thanks Eduardo.

We walked back to the Palza Grande and met Mum and Dad at a restaurant for lunch. George and I had Sopa de Lima  and Dad had Pollo Pibil (chicken in a mole sauce, wrapped in soaked banana palm leaves and baked. It just falls off the bone).

 

After lunch Dad and George went to book a couple of archaeological tours for next week and Mum and I sat in the Square and sketched.

I don't usually attempt people but this time I tried to sketch a shoe shine man, reading his paper while waiting for customers. However he moved before I had finished. Next stop was home and the pool and the shade of the garden.
By the time we got home, Mum was managing the heat and the bus ride much better.