Mexico #10

We spent last week in Merida, in the northwestern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. Went there to visit with Patrick's dad and his wife (George and Susy). Susy is from Mexico and lived in Merida for some time, and they've bought a house there to live in part-time. Her sisters live there now, and they are really very sweet. Highlights of the Yucatan include: Mayan ruins, fresh fish everywhere, some lovely beaches, and interesting wildlife. Our itinerary:

Monday: Lunch at 100% Natural, a chain restaurant with lots of fresh juices and whole grains. Went to Chedraui, a huge Wal-Mart like store, to stock up on groceries and miscellaneous household items. Spent some time deliberating on which cheese would make the best quesadillas.

Tuesday: Ruins at Dzibilchaltun. At the equinoxes, the rising sun shines precisely though the doorway in the main temple (at left). My fav part was the cenote, where we swam and were nibbled upon by the little fish. Though it is shallow enough to wade in on one end, it extends down some 44 meters on the other side. In this flat, salt-water dominated landscape, cenotes were once essential sources of fresh water. Some of them are connected by underground rivers (as suggested by the helpful diagram below) with caves that you can tour, but we didn't do any of that on this trip. We did go to the beach at Progreso, where the wind is strong and the water of the Gulf is warm as anything. Delightful swim.

Wednesday: Home Depot. (Merida is full of American and American-style developments.) George and Susy's house is still coming together. We got a drill bit to go through the concrete walls (everything is concrete) and some other odds and ends. Then to downtown Merida, where we enjoyed a free exhibit of incredible Goya prints at an art center of some kind. He really engraved a wide range of horrified/horrifying expressions. Observed that parts of the downtown still have some colonial-era beauty, but overall it is on the dirty, hot and crowded side of things.

Thursday: More ruins. Opted for the less-crowded Uxmal over Chichen. The pyramid was big and there were enormous iguanas everywhere. Looking at the pictures, I realize how neat a place it is (somehow, the feel of it reminded me of the Getty Museum), but at the time I was very hot (temperatures reaching above 100 degrees Fahrenheit) and bothered by mosquito bites. This was before I discovered Avapena (cloropiramina, it says), a medication that replaces the hormone that my body is missing to help it process bites without blowing up, or something. As with all medications in Mexico, it is sold over the counter, and I got it on the recommendation of a veterinarian (and excellent chef) who is Susy's brother-in-law. Now I have it and I feel much better. Anyway there is a Mayan pyramid at Uxmal that was supposedly built and re-built five times, each time larger. We saw an old photograph and realized that the current restoration is quite significant, from repairing broken walls to landscaping.


Friday: Flamingos! Did I say it was flat and salty? These conditions are perfect for the tall pink birds, and even though peak season for their migration doesn't come until August, we saw dozens of them, dunking their heads in the shallow lakes, napping on one leg, ignoring the cormorants, and generally looking much cooler than they do in the zoo. Also, we hadn't seen enough ruins yet, so we took a short turnoff marked Zona Arqueologica: Xcambo. It was actually my favorite site; the smaller scale made it much easier to imagine the way people would have lived there (and I was on Avapena). If Chichen Itza were New York, Uxmal might be Chicago and Xcambo might be Albany. Friday was further packed with a search for the perfect beach, which we very nearly found in the form of a stretch of shore served by the restaurant Bella Mar, owned by a Korean-Mexican couple. More warm, warm water, lots of beautiful shells, a strong breeze keeping things cool (and mosquitoes off!), and yummy fish dishes. We had to walk some 30 feet out to reach water deep enough to swim in, which meant that there was lots of shallow water to explore. We found a starfish!


Saturday: We left Merida just as Master Ou arrived. He is at the center of a pangu qigong conference that Susy worked hard to plan while the rest of us played at the ruins and the beaches.

I think I've gotten the hang of putting pictures on my blog, but it's always hard to tell how they'll show up on screens with different dimensions (but remember, you can always click on an image to see it larger). Also, blogging takes forever! I have other stuff to do, man. Before I go, here's one more photo, of a small but brilliantly colored lizard.