We are currently in Merida, a big city on the Yucatan Peninsula that many consider the ¨Cultural Capital¨ of the region. We´ve spent our time here in relaxation mode though, as we needed a few days to recharge our batteries a little bit. We´ve been sightseeing and walking a lot and running around for over a month now, and our nice hostel in Merida has a pool and a lot of secluded hammocks for resting. So we haven´t done too much, though Rich took the afternoon today to visit the Palacio Gobierno and the Contemporary Art Museum. Kendra sat in a hammock and read her book... all day. Yesterday, we saw a concert at the cultural center of two blind guitarists-singers who sang traditional Mexican music. The music was good and the air conditioning amazing. Tonight we went out for traditional Mayan food which was excellent.
Other than that, it´s been a low key few days. Tomorrow we head to a smaller city called Valladolid (see the map) to visit several cenotes (underground swimming holes) and a wildlife reserve famous for Flamingos. Pictures from Merida (and our 10 hour wait in the Palenque bus station) will pop up sometime this weekend for your viewing pleasure.
All that said, what we´ve really celebrated was our 1 month mark of our trip this past Saturday. To celebrate, here are a few fun anecdotes about Mexico that we´ve discovered in our first month:
Top 3 Places (hard! we love them all!)
- San Cristobal de Las Casas
- Sierra Norte
- El Panchan
Top 3 Activities so far...
- Hiking in the Sierra Norte
- Ruins at Palenque
- Shopping at traditional markets
Top 3 Food Items/Meals!
- Entomatadas!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Rich)
- Oaxacan hot chocolate, Horchata, and Chiapas coffee (drinks)
- Flautas (Kendra)
Top 3 Embarrassing Moments
- Ordering not free food on free food night at the restaurant in Mexico City on our first night
- When Rich, practicing his spanish adjectives, called the large policewoman ¨beautiful¨ instead of ¨fat¨ to our neigbor at the Semana Santa procession
- Being tricked by a local ¨Archeology Professor¨ into visiting the hammock store he actually worked for, where he left us with his apparant business partner ready and eager to complete the sale of ¨Authentic¨ Mayan hammocks (this is actually kind of a long story!)
Top 3 Questions About Mexico
- Why do the shoe stores more closely resemble techno clubs?
- For the love of everything mighty, why so many speedbumps?
- Why are the bottom 4 feet of every single Mexican tree painted white?
Top 3 Things We Miss From Home
- Consistent shower temperatures (and water pressure)
- Pequod´s Pizza
- Kitties!
- Honorable mention: Friends and family
Top 3 Friends We´ve Made
- Uncle Paul!
- Our Seattle friends Heidi and Michael... good conversations and fun times
- Our friend the San Cristobal rapping, partying street clown, who we first met while he was drinking ¨Cervezas por desayuno,¨ half his makeup still on at 8am (a really nice guy with a rough past but a clown´s soul)
Top 3 Things We´re Looking Forward To
- Biking to underground swimming holes (called Cenotes) on Friday
- Snorkeling in Belize
- Spanish language school and a homestay in Guatemala
1 Down... 11 to Go!
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5 comments:
I would like to attempt the 3 questions about Mexico:
1. Clearly you are buying shoes for clubbing so they want to make sure you're "feelin' it"
2. Mexico once had a traffic problem and instead of hiring police officers and enforcing the traffic rules they hired one guy to build speed bumps (and he was very industrious). [more seriously - we had this same issue in Southern India. Out in the middle of nowhere there would be a speed bump so you'd slow down from 60 mph to 5 and then speed back up again.]
3. The white on the trees indicates "you must be this tall to climb".
Please write a blog posts on the Archeology Professor and Uncle Paul!
You need some time off to recharge? What the hell...recharge from laying in hammocks and swimming at the beach.
Love, MOM
This is a great post and a great way to sum up your first month of the adventure... I like the lists of the top 3 things...
Here is my list of the top three things I miss about not having Rich and Kendra around...
1. Watching BlackHawks playoffs with Rich
2. Intellectually stimulating conversations with Kendra
3. Not having lots of cat hair around my house... (but I do love the kitties... really)
I actually can answer one of your questions... with a legitimate answer (ehem Uncle Mike). They paint the bottom 4 feet of trees white to deter bugs from nesting and infecting the bark.
I'm not really sure why or how I know this but I do. Someone once told me it also had to do with preventing the tree from getting sun burnt. I think this part may have been BS but I'm not sure many people could really argue it.
Glad your having fun!
Love the summary. Rich, it's a good thing you called the police officer "beautiful" instead of "fat" to your friend and not "fat" instead of "beautiful" to her face!
If you really find C-notes underground send some this way!!! (Yes the bad sense of humor runs in the family....just groan and go with it!)
Have you had to replace your walking shoes already? How many miles have you put on?
Megan, I was thinking the same thing about the trees. I think we used to see that in Rocky Point....you've heard of it I'm sure.
It took you taking a year off and traveling for your Dad to appreciate loving a kitty....Now THAT is an accomplishment. (I definitely recall something about a cat and a baseball bat in his childhood. Not to worry, no contact was ever made between the two.)
So how about the the top 3 things that are driving you crazy (Go on, you have to admit there can be challenging times doing so much traveling in new places and having to carry everything you own in one bag.)
AND the top 3 things you LOVE about traveling 24/7 together. (C'mon, give us some schmaltz!)
Preveo con mucho gusto cuando puedo ver los flamencos rosa!
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