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.