Mérida

Dancing in the street.
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After a 3 hour bus journey from Campeche, we arrived in Mérida. Contrary to our expectations, this has turned out to be the friendlist city so far on our travels. Everyone wants to talk, and offer information free of charge, without even a hint of wanting to sell you something.  They have a special knack of embellishing their stories which has a charm all of its own.

When the Spanish conquistadors entered T'ho (as Mérida was then known) in 1542, they found that the lime-mortared buildings reminded them of the Roman architecture of Mérida in Spain, so they renamed the city Mérida.

Talking religion with a Mayan "Cuban" cigar seller!

Santa and friends in the main square.
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The Mérida coat of arms was granted in 1605 by Felipe III of Spain to honour the birth of his son and heir, Felipe IV. The crest also states "very noble and loyal city of Mérida", and is made up of 2 halves.

A golden castle with three towers which represents power and constance, and a golden lion in a green field which represents courage, strength and majesty. There is also a royal crown, which appeared on the coat of arms for all of Spain´s provinces and territories. It was modified at the start of the 20th century with the addition of 2 olive branches.

Coat of Arms Mérida.
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In our opinion, and having visited Campeche, Mérida does not have the same small town charm and quaint streets that are found in Campeche. It´s a much bigger city, more polluted, but has a real vibe and vitality nevertheless.

After getting to know the city a little, we headed to the Zócalo on Monday night to see the traditional dancing. It turned out to be rather entertaining and colourful, as the grand finale consisted of young dancers in very traditional costumes, dancing feverishly and pirouetting with trays of beer on their heads, and hardly spilling a drop.

One of the 3 remaining Gateways in Mérida.
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We got talking to a Mayan Cuban-cigar seller in the square, and spent hours discussing Maya religion, schools and generally put the world to right. He talked about how the Mexican Government is helping Maya families to obtain a better standard of living, for example, providing free machinery and sewing machines to families who produce craftwork and traditional clothing for sale. We also touched on the subject of the Mennonites who live in this area of Mexico. They are people who have German roots, and still to this day live in their own communities, with their own schools. Our Mayan friend told us that they are not allowed to marry outside of the Mennonite "faith", as they believe that they are pure, and presumably marrying outside their group would dilute that purity.

We've seen many Mennonites around Mérida, the men wearing thier black or dark indigo dungarees with checked shirts, the women wearing very "mumsy" purple dresses. Both men and women usually wear hats when outside. They lead a very traditional lifestyle (mostly farming) and seem like they have stepped out of a bygone era.

Tuesday 11 December 2007

We spent a relaxed day today, just wandering the streets, visiting the city´s Cathedral and City Museum, and generally meeting and talking with many of the locals. It worked out quite well however, as Montezuma visited Dave, so we were keen to stay close to a WC!!!

Tomorrow is the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and many of the locals we talked to informed us that all shops would be closing early today, and staying closed for an entire week as part of the Maya festival. Most of these friendly people had links with some craft shop or other.

We decided to get an independant opinion fron the Tourist Information, and it transpired that it will be "business as usual" tomorrow, and they know nothing of a week-long Maya festival. So no matter how helpful and friendly they are, please don't fit your itinerary around the info you get from them, just in case...!