Merry in Merida

Merida is definitely worth seeing.  In hindsight, I wish I had realized that most everything would be closed on New Year's Day, and not made that our day to see the city.  Oops!  The city reminded us a lot of Savannah, GA and New Orleans, LA.  I didn't expect that.  Our bus tour guide told us that during Merida's boom years the city's builders all wanted to imitate Paris.  Looking around, I could see that that's what they were trying to do.  There is a big boulevard in the city called the Paseo de Montejo.  Kelley and I were told by several people that the Paseo de Montejo looks EXACTLY like the Champs Elysees in Paris.  Having walked up and down the Champs Elysees myself, I can testify that this claim is unsubstantiated.  I do have to give the folks in Merida credit for effort and a gold star for civic pride, though.  We had a lot of fun on our first night in Merida, New Year's Eve!  We went out to the Zocalo with some other tourists from our hostel on New Year's Eve. The handicrafts that can be bought in Merida boggle the mind.  We were overwhelmed by the quality and selection.  Getting to and from the archaeological sites turned out to be harder than we had anticipated.  Mostly because we couldn't find any tour operators open on our first day (Jan. 1st).  We did book tours to Uxmal (excellent!) and Chichen Itza (not as good) through operators in Merida.

A great start to our Yucatan journey.