Mérida – city of culture.

It’s been quite a few years since my stay in Mexico, but I never had time to write about the rest of the trip. Some time ago, however, I decided to finish the account of my trip, if only for myself. My last post was about the ruins of Mayapan and the city of Campeche, you can read about it here. From Campeche I returned to Mérida, which is by far my favourite city in Mexico. Of course, I stayed with Cristina, whom I met through Couchsurfing, and who became my friend, my “Mexican sister” (she even came from Mexico for our wedding in Sweden).

Not far from Cristina’s former house is Animaya, a wildlife park where you can go on a little safari and admire animals from all over the world. It is not a typical zoo, because the animals have large enclosures, and the admission is free! A great idea to spend a few hours, especially if you are with children. The park made a big impression on me, I have always liked animals, and how was I supposed to know that two years later I would be in Africa and go on a real safari, which I have described here. And below are some photos.

As I have probably mentioned before, Merida was founded in January 1542 and to commemorate this event, every year Merida hosts a cultural festival, called Merida Fest, which consists of various events: lectures, dances, and musical performances.

We went with Cristina in the evening to the city centre to see what was happening. At Plaza Grande, we found a crowd of people and a few scenes where I was able to see traditional Mexican dances and listen to a concert of… fado. Even though I was in Lisbon before, I had to come to Mexico to listen to this melancholic music.

I have a few short videos for you, which I will gradually add to my YouTube channel, “Polish Traces Around the World”. A small sample of Merida Fest:

The next day, Sunday, we decided with Cristina and Carolina (a couchsurfer from Argentina) to visit the ruins of Dzibilchaltún and relax a bit in the seaside town of Progreso. Although Dzibilchaltún is one of the oldest Mayan cities in the Yucatan (inhabited from around 500 BC until the arrival of Spaniards), it’s not as spectacular as Chichen Itza or Uxmal. Dzibilchaltún was inhabited by tens of thousands of people and there were a few thousand buildings there. The archaeological work is still ongoing, so we will probably find out more in the future.

One of the best-preserved buildings is the “Temple of the Seven Dolls”, named after the seven dolls that were found there by archaeologists, and which were probably an offering. Offerings were also made in an open cenote located in the ruins. Since virtually all of the Yucatan Peninsula is soft limestone rock, the water has formed thousands of cenotes, wells and “pools” filled with water. Sometimes cenotes are open, as in Dzibilchaltún, and sometimes they are underground. Cenotes are used as swimming pools and so was the one in Dzibilchaltún. As local residents don’t have to pay admission to the ruins on Sundays, many people took the opportunity to cool off in the water.

I tried yerba mate for the first time, as no self-respecting Argentinian goes on a journey without his favourite drink. As Carolina explained to me, if you’ll see somewhere people pouring hot water from a thermos over dried leaves in a characteristic straw cup, there is a good chance that they are Argentines and you can approach them. It is good manners among Argentineans to offer mate – a kind of Argentinian “ceremonial pipe” as Native Americans tend to call them 😉 I tried it too 🙂

From Dzibilchaltún we went to Progreso, a very nice town situated by the sea. There are quite a few retired Americans living in the town, so I was not surprised that they were showing American football on TV… We had a delicious lunch: ceviche de pescado (a dish made of raw fish, “marinated” in lime juice, onions, tomatoes and fresh coriander) and empanadas de camarón (large shrimp dumplings, deep-fried and served with pickled onions).

After the meal, we went to a lovely beach to relax and have a little… therapeutic session. Those of you who did some backpacking, know, that you often meet people, to whom you can tell your life story over a beer and then you never meet them again. Somehow it’s easier to unblock yourself in front of a stranger sometimes. There is something liberating about this. So we talked with the girls about life, about our problems and fears. Sometimes it’s also good to shout. Shout out what’s inside – it helps a lot.

When leaving Progreso, the police checked the alcohol level of each driver. The town is close to Merida, so probably often people from the city go there to party. We ended this wonderful day at Cristina’s, with a bottle of Fernet (to which, I confess without beating, I added Coke…).