Day 23: Merida

January 4, 2024

A Tale of Two City Views

We deny having a bad attitude about Merida. Yesterday we told it like it was, though, and that came out pretty negative. So today we resolved to only look for the beauty in the place. We have seen some websites that did that, and they sure were more pleasant to look at. Strangely, although we set out to give a "biased" account, Merida seemed to take up the challenge, and for the whole morning it somehow presented us with things that were genuinely and honestly beautiful. The first part of today's entry shows what we saw.

Next we turned around and headed for the depths of the "market" areas. Here there were suitable amounts of crowding and chaos. But we had become so calm and happy from the morning that we thoroughly enjoyed the chaos of the markets, finding a ton of interesting things, enjoying a meal, and talking to the people. The net effect of it all is that we like Merida a lot now. Here we go...

We began our attitude adjustment with our hotel, the Zocalo. The hotel is in a building from the 1700s, that had been the mansion residence of a prominent family. It is right next door to the Montejo House, which was the seat of the most prominent "founding" Spanish families.

Our building has long fallen on hard times, and has been chopped up to create the tiny hotel rooms. But you can still see the high ceilings, stone steps, and the earthenware floor tiles that go so well with plants.

Ok, so the steps are also a spiral of death, with a bike anyway.

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We left the Zocalo and set off in the direction of the cathedral, but bypassing the Montejo house, which was not open as yet. Literally every building around the large square is historic, and they benefit from nearby plaques. For example, the Little Rooster house:

Directly adjacent to the cathedral is a building from 1573, that was built under the auspices of the infamous Diego de Landa. It became the archbishop's palace, but has had other roles, like that of church and seminary, and since 1994 it is a museum of art.

We had been intrigued to read some background about the facade of the cathedral. Originally it had a Spanish royal crest up high, but this got scrubbed off and replaced in 1824 by the Mexican eagle after the revolution.

Our guide also pointed put that St. Peter and St Paul stand by the entrance. Paul has a sword and a book, while Peter clutches the keys to the Church.

Inside we find Peter again. He still has the keys, but this time he is giving us the finger. So rude!

Interestingly, Peter's successor - Pope Jean Paul II, was here, and seems far less aggressive. The photo is from 1993.

A variety of "Virgins" also grace the interior. We rather liked the sympathetic Lady of Sorrows.

The winner for popularity here is the Virgin of Guadalupe. I had to wait a bit for my photo, for some devotees to clear out from in front. Significantly, you can buy her tee shirts in the market, and as we'll see later, full sized heavy statues, that if you are so inclined you could strap to your back and ride around on your bike.

Next around the square is the Governor's Palace., from 1892.

Above the door is another eagle, and a snake. This is again a version of the Mexican state seal.

Guards at the door were mostly ceremonial. We found the one on the right to be friendly, and the one on the left to be rather stern. Still, they invited us in.

Inside there is a typical central courtyard. Art works, fairly murky, adorn the walls, especially upstairs.

I went up for a closer look. Nice stairs.

The painting is of an early 1900s governor.

There are other rooms up there, like this one! So removed from any crumbly streets filled with traffic!

We struck off from the main square, strolling over to nearby "Hidalgo Park". Along the way were more historic houses, like the "Pedz Balam House". As the plaque says, there are buildings around with materials that are from as early at the 3rd century. This one has a deliberate gap in the stucco so the old blocks can bee seen.

Around the Park we found at least three hotels, each more fabulous (in terms of price, anyway) than the last. The first one, the Gran Hotel, was actually something we might afford. The park was also great because it had an ice cream shop, Starbuck's, and Burger King. Wow!

Ah yes, just our style. We were already looking for where to put the bikes.

Visible from the park is the Church of the Third Order of Jesus. An interesting fact that we read about this is that it is the first Jesuit church in Yucatan, built 1618, and that it was built with blocks from a Mayan temple, such that some temple carvings can still be seen in its walls.

We continued checking out likely Grampies hotels. They sure were nice. But the last one came in at about 8000 pesos!

Is it worth 8000 pesos ($640 per night) - maybe, if they have a spot for the bikes!

Hey the police have a Twizzy! The only electric vehicle we have seen in Yucatan.

I set out to show some rows of nice houses, such as those below.

But when I came to shoot the next row, pesky cars were spoiling the shot:

This policeman asked how we were doing, and I jokingly told him we needed the cars cleared out of my shot. He (hopefully) jokingly replied "We can do that".

Dodie could be negotiating how many cars cleared out for how long!

We carried on looking for car free bits, without police assistance. Got shots like this.

Along one street some roadwork was in progress. At first we thought it noteworthy how manual work with shovels was being relied on. But soon we saw some power equipment in use. Even so, a key to having the thing work right was water being squirted from a Coke bottle.

Down at the end of the street above is a stripey building that is very unique. It's called the Moorish House. It was built in 1909 by a guy from Pontevedra, Spain, just as a residence. But at one point it housed the US Consulate. It's really noticeable, for its Moorish and French architecture.

Once we reached the Moorish House, we were getting quite tired, so we made our way back to the park with the Starbucks and sat for a while. Dodie got a cold "Dragonfruit" drink, made with dragonfruit - not common at Starbuck's back home! I got carrot cake - pastel de zanahoria. For some reason I am having a terrible time remembering the word zanahoria. I will have to go back for another crack at it!

Suitably refreshed, we now charged into the more exciting (or excited) part of downtown. There were two adjacent markets mentioned by Google and others, and we walked to where they were supposed to be. We didn't find, at first, any large covered market building or outdoor arrangement of stalls. Rather, the city blocks abounded in little stores or street stalls. To boot, it was a long time before we saw so much as a banana or a fish. So we walked around and around, looking. Eventually we did find fish, and fruits, and vegetables, but right now don't ask me exactly where, or how. It was all in among warrens and alleys and buildings, but it's not like there was a sign or anything!

These customers were really tickled with the cute kids' slippers.

Hard to say or remember just what is on sale here

But the people are in good humour. Those fish in the foreground were still wiggling!

This is mamey sapote, just called mamey here.

Virgins of Guadalupe, ready for bike mounting?

There were lots of shoe repair people, with leather stitching equipment, or this fellow with a treadle sewing machine!

Oh, so this is what Jamaica, used in drinks, looks like.

This stuff, including the neon marshmallows, is everywhere.

World's biggest donner. Here its called "pastor".

This store had three walls of TV controllers. Weird.

Jan 6 is Three Kings day Día de Los Reyes (in Spain also known as Epiphany). It is celebrated on January 6 to honor the Three Wise Men. This holiday represents the day the Three Wise Men gave gifts to Christ, and the day also closes the Christmas festivities. We see a ring of pastry for sale lately, with brightly coloured topping. It's the traditional cake for this holiday.

This king spotted my camera from across the street.

We both chose turkey, but Dodie got panuchos and I stuck with tacos. Panuchos are better!

Here in the crowd, some Hutterites. We had thought them to mainly have settled in northern Belize.

We distributed some of our money to people in the street, but of course you can not solve anything that way. Even so, if we can bring some little comfort to an old lady, blind man, or others, even for a moment, we will.

We stopped by the Montejo house on the way back. As you can read below, it originates from 1540. Famously the front facade shows Spaniards standing on natives. The house was kept in the family through a longline of inheritances, but eventually house and lands got sold off. Eventually it was purchased and restored by Banamex, which established a bank branch in it, but also preserved rooms as a museum. They periodically host art exhibitions here as well.

The ceilings are great. This was a little like visiting those chateaus in France.

The featured artist right now does sort of model ships, made from metal. Those stationary, most give the feeling of movement.

This tree in a courtyard at Montejo has been here a long time. We think it is calabash.

So what do you think? Is Merida best thought of as the place of historic and beautiful buildings and hotels near the square, or is it the vibrant and chaotic market blocks. If you had time for only one side of things, which would you visit?

Today's ride: 11 km (7 miles)
Total: 902 km (560 miles)

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Sue PriceI think we would stick to the historic center and enjoy the square. When we were there a band played one night and there were people dancing - lots of older couples. So fun to watch!
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10 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Sue PriceWe enjoyed both, but found the frantic energy of the markets too exhausting. We will probably stick with the calmer historical centre and the square next time ourselves.
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10 months ago