Merida - Day 4, Sunday

Last night we did walk back over to Paseo Montejo and as indicated there were a lot of handcraft vendors and a stage with entertainment. It was packed, and not with tourists though you could find a few of us in the crowds, mostly with Meridans, of all ages. We were able to find seats, after another couple left and watched for about an hour, a singer did 2 sets and dancers who did 3. The dancers were doing a sort of mix between tap dancing and step dancing and changed costumes about every 3 songs. I gather from the guide book this is called a jarana dance. Heather who does traditional Canadian step dancing would have loved their precision and their energy.

This morning, as it is Sunday, we were not woken by as much traffic and no jack hammers. However the roosters don't care what day it is and there were many church bells, actually a lovely way to be woken.
We walked down to Plaza Grande, via Calle 53 (to check out were the English Library is) and then down Calle 60 which is closed to traffic on Sundays (which made for nice walking and dodging the bicycles)

Normally Calle 60 is busy with cars, buses and collectivos.

 

 



The city has many little squares like this one. They are usually bordered by

a church, have lots of well populated benches in the shade and on Sunday are

 full of vendors. In the far right corner you can see the stage with a band

 and people just up dancing if they feel like it.

Before reaching Plaza Grande we decided we needed lunch. We had stopped here before but ate the food before we thought to take pictures. It is the Mexican equivalent of fast food, delicious and cheap.

They make the little tortillas by rolling the dough into balls and then flattening and frying

them. They then slit them open like a pita bread and fill with whatever you choose.

We think they are called gordas and so far our favourites are quesadilla and pollo mole.

We are gradually working through their menu. Price - 11.10 Mex Peso (a buck each)



The Palza Grande was full of vendors stalls and people. The local Maya are quite a short people, many are under 5 ft., so George has quite a time ducking under the tarps over the stalls and has even complained that the trees are only trimmed to the height of a Mayan. We wandered the market and were approached by a guy with great English who said he had lived in Sault St Marie. He ended up taking us to a hammock shop were he and the shop keeper extolled the virtues of his hammocks (made in his home village, entirely of sisal, very fine weave etc). I don't know how much of that was true but the hammocks were lovely but way more expensive than the guidebooks say they should be. We politely declined.

The Mayan women make and wear beautifully woven and embroidered clothes and

were sitting sewing while manning their booths.

 

 

This is over the doorway into the Casa de Montejo. The building was occupied by the

Montejo family until 1970 when they sold it to a bank. It sits on one side of the Plaza Grande.

The guidebook describes this statue as " a conquistador trampling savages underfoot"

 

 

We walked back home, a trip that takes about an hour, and learnt the wisdom of the Mexican siesta. Nothing was open and it was brutally hot, even choosing the shaded side of the street at all times. We will know better  in the future not to walk much between 2 and 5. We got home at 4 and the pool was very welcoming.