Week 3: Merida
Welcome to our weekly recap! This one's for January 16th-22nd, which is Week 3, 2014. We have spent this week in the beautiful city of Merida, Mexico
Surprise of the week: The weather is much colder here than we expected, we have even needed woolen socks on some evenings. Not really complaining though, this is better than sweltering heat.
What did we learn: Many parks have wi-fi (this we knew already), but some even have power sockets! Especially in the evening time, you see plenty of people in the parks with their laptops, or at least a smartphone in their hand. And in overal, parks seem to be a very popular place just to hang out in the evenings.
Food love: Yucatecan dish Poc-Chuc, see picture below. It's so good at Maya Chaya restaurant, we keep coming back for more.
Random thought: It's fun taking the local bus, makes us feel like normal people :) Problem is figuring out the system. From our place to the center it is easy, but for the way back we still don't know where to catch the bus that comes closest to our home. We keep getting different advice, and none of it seems to be correct.
Tip for others: Be ready to ask for advice, there often isn't much signage around. For example, we spent more than an hour walking up and down Paseo de Montejo street looking for a specific bank. We only found it after asking from several people, since the building didn't have the name of the bank outside.
On Saturday we had our art fix during Meridafest. This fascinating mural from the Guvernor's Palace (right on the main square) present the birth of (Mayan) man. The palace is beautiful, has several huge murals and is free to visit.
We also walked through corridor of Museo Macay, presenting comtemporary art. Fascinating sculptures, like this very bendy woman.
And this couple in love.
This is our current food crush, Po-Chuc. Melt-in-mouth grilled pork with tasty sauces. Pair with a lime margarita and you have a pretty good dinner.
On Sunday we moved to a new home. Our friend came to visit us for a few weeks, so we needed one with two bedrooms. The house is pretty, bright and sunny, and we have a hammock in the backyard. Close by there's a local elementary school, and we like listening to the cheery sounds of the kids. We are now living in Northern Merida, about 20-30 min bus ride from the center (which is an adventure itself), but there are plenty of restaurants and things to do here also.
Sunday is The market day in Merida, and the main square fills with vendors selling (local) handicrafts, souvenirs and clothes. Our main draw was the food stalls and we tried out several of them. Many places were selling french fries with sausages, so we had to try it. Nothing special, and there were only two small pieces of sausage on our plate. We thought first it was juts because we are tourists, but every one else seemed to get the same set. Rest of our try-outs were excellent. The tacos were supergood and costed only about 0,6 euros. The churros gave us a sugarfix and the pitaya ice-cream a perfect ending to our stall-to-stall meal.
This is Mayan script. Think about how long it would have taken to write anything with these?
One highlight of the week was a visit to the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, an excellent museum presenting the past and present of Mayas. The museum is only a few years old and very well done with plenty of multimedia to tell the stories and help you dive in.
That's it. How was your week?
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This post is a part of Instagram Travel Thursday. a gathering of Instagram related blog posts every week. You can find a list of other participating posts, or add your own post, at Destination Unknown, Skimbaco Lifestyle or at many other hosts sites.
We are Mirje and Antti, a 30+ digital nomad couple, entrepreneurs with restless feet and passion for experiencing the world. more »
