Merida Fest

January 6th is significant in two ways for Merida.  It´s the 473rd birthday of the city´s founding in 1542 by the Spaniard Francisco de Montejo, El Mozo.  The other celebration is Three Kings Day or Epiphany,  In Mexico, children receive gifts just as the Magi brought gifts to the baby Jesus after the 12 days of Christmas.  This post will focus on Merida Fest with a series of short video clips to give you a feeling of the experience of Merida Fest.

The festivities begin on the evening of January 5th.  At 9 pm, nothing begins before at least 8:00 in Merida, a series of performances began in the Plaza Principal in front of the Palacio de Independencia.  The same gentleman is the MC for practically everything in Merida and he is just wonderful.  Interestingly, while people are late for nearly everything, they are always 2 hours early for all of the free performances, but I digress.  I don´t know if it´s true of all of Mexico, but in Merida at least, they are great story tellers and eager to share and celebrate their history.  The program began with prehispanic Mayan dance beginning with a dance about the land, then a war dance, then a dance with the entire company.  All the while there was a narrator telling the history in story form.

At the end of this performance, the MC came out and directed everyone to another side of the plaza, in front of the Casa de Montejo.  The Maya marched around the square as the hundreds in the audience moved over.  At this time, the Mayan king called out to Montejo who emerged on a balcony and Montejo proclaimed the land as his in the name of Spain.  The Mayan king protested and eventually Montejo and his people emerged from the ground floor and the two men shook hands. Somehow I don´t think this is how it really happened.  We know that the Maya did not give up so easily and Montejo tore down the Mayan palace to build la Catedral de Idelfonso.  Once this performance was over the audience was directed to yet another side of the plaza, in front of the cathedral.

This portion of the program focused on the joining of the Spanish and Mayan people and they danced together.  Following this short performance we were again directed to another stage, This time down the street about 100 meters to el Parque de la Madre.

Here the dance was of the campesinos.

Thee final performance was another block down the street at Parque Sta. Lucia. The dancers were dancing a traditional dance of the vaqueros.  This video is not of the dancing, but for you Spanish speakers, a description of the clothing worn by the Yucatecan vaqueros.

But wait, there´s more...the crowd moved over to the street where several groups of troubadours were in the street ready to lead the crowd back to the Plaza Principal.  By now it was about 11:45 and I could not stand any longer, but... at midnight the most wonderful fireworks began.  Since I have a rooftop room at Casa Alvarez which faces the plaza and is only three blocks away, the view was perfect.  No photos of the fireworks, I just wanted to enjoy it.  There are more celebrations beginning in the morning, so I´ll write about that next.

Izamal: The City of Hills

Mexico has 35 Magical Cities and Izamal is  one of two in Yucatan state.  It is referred to as a "city of three cultures."  Its strong historical roots in the prehispanic era, the colonial era, and post-revolutionary era are evident.  It is also known as the "city of hills" because of the five large Mayan pyramids located there.

Important to Mayan civilization, Izamal has been a pilgrimage site since 1000 BCE.  The maim pyramid, Kinich kakmo, which I visited is a manifestation fo Itzim Na, the god of healing, resurrection, arts, writing, ad agriculture  It's located near the center of town and we took a ride in a calesa (horse drawn carriage) around it before scaling the pyramid.  That's my horse in the pink.

Construction of the convent at Izamal was begun in 1533 and completed in 1561.  It was built atop one of the city's pyramids using stones from the pyramid and was one of the first convents in the western hemisphere.  In 1562, Fray Diego de Landa burned thousands of idols and 27 manuscripts.  He destroyed all, but three of the Maya codices which were hidden.  Because of the loss of these records, it is difficult to know why Izamal was so important to the Maya.  De Landa was punished for destroying the records and spent the rest of his life trying to piece together the records he destroyed.  

I just love immersing myself in all of this history.  

In 1993, Pope John Paul II visited Izamal and the people are very proud to have been visited by him.  He called together all of the indiginous people of the Americas and delivered a speech especially for them.  The speech is posted in Spanish on the wall of a special room in the convent which also has photos of him crowning the Virgin of Izamal and the chair in which he sat.

After the Juan Pablo's visit, the people of Izamal were very proud, so proud of their city that they painted it yellow.  That's right, the whole city is yellow!  I heard a joke while there.  Something about a boracho flagging a taxi to take him home.  When the driver asked which house was his, he said the yellow one. Umm, they're all yellow..haha

I didn't wander too far from the Zocalo since I was afraid of getting lost.  After some free time, we went to the pyramid Kinich kakmo.  Now this pyramid looked pretty small compared to El Castillo at Chichen Itza or Uxmal, but it was deceiving.  We climbed up the first part and there was a big grassy area surrounding the main pyramid.  While it wasn't as tall as some I have climbed, it was definitely steep and there was nothing to hang on to.  For those of you who know me well, I am always turning my ankles and had turned the right one a few weeks before my trip and the left just a few days before, Stairs are my nemesis, especially when descending.  I decided against climbing the second part since my injured ankles were swelling a bit and still tender, but our wonderful guide climbed up and took some photos for me.

                             

Izamal is a charming and laid back city with a very nice market.  I would love to go back and stay a night or two to get to know the locals.  It would be nice to explore the side streets and the lesser known ruins.  Izamal is 72 km east of Merida, about 45 minutes on a nice highway.

Musings on Merida

 Just some observations...

1.  A woman dining alone is usually seated up front rather than next to the restrooms or kitchen as frequently done in the US.  In fact, usually they allow you to choose your table.  Of course, it could be that gringos are seated up front to show other gringos that this is a good place in which to dine.  

2. Sometimes where you are seated is dependent upon the waiter who ushers you inside.  Many of the moderately priced restaurants send their waiters out to the sidewalk to drum up business.  If a waiter is fortunate enough to entice a patron into the place, he gets to seat you in his section.  Sometimes the competition is fierce.  There was one who was working so hard to fill his section, that he didn't pay much attention to his customers.  The food arrived and then...nothing, but you weren't in a hurry anyway.

3.  If you choose to dine al fresco, don't do it if you are bothered my smokers or don't want to deal with souvenir hawkers.  All outdoor seating is the smoking section.  I like to dine al fresco, but the smokers really bothered me.  As years pass, I notice that there aren't very many of them anymore.  Hardly any Americans, Canadians or Mexicans smoke.  I've only encountered a few Europeans and they don't seem to care about whom they might bother.

Sellers  and beggers - Beggers are quickly removed from the premises unless they are the little old lady missionaries.  Hawkers on the other hand, are allowed, even in upscale places.  You will encounter the girls from Chiapas selling blouses, bags and scarves, people selling handmade jewelry, and little boys and girls selling chicle or chocolates.

4. Dealing with hawkers - English speakers have been taught to say, "No thank you," so we naturally translate it to, "No gracias."  I had learned to walk away quickly or just turn my head, which to me, is rude, but I also think it's rude to keep trying to sell me something I clearly don't want.  Hello, Lost in Translation.  Before this trip, I read that you should really just say, "Gracias" and can add Buenas Tardes or something like that and they will walk away.  I decided to try it out immediately.  Guess what?  It works and I don't feel rude.  Some are a bit more persistent, so I just wish them good luck.  

5. Many tourists are rude and clueless. This is nothing new, but I find it so irritating.  At a cafe where I went for breakfast  one day, I had been seated and was waiting for the mesero to take my order when a man who I later learned was Canadian, waltzed in right up to the counter and announced that he was ready for his scrambled eggs and cofee and could they hurry it up.  Excuse me, but some of us were here first.  Do you know they actually served him first?  His friend later arrived and walked over to the Australians seated nearby and used the only Australian term he knew, "G'day mates."  Later when he left the teenaged boy commented that the man watched too much TV.  Hah!

6. Mexican time can be super slow and everyone is late, but watch out if there's a free show (practically all shows are free here).  The people will arrive 2-3 hours in advance to  get the best seats.  It took me a few tries, but I finally figured this out and got seats to the concert of the year.  More on the concert in another post.

7. Nothing,  I mean nothing, starts before 9:00 at night.  Siestas are mandatory if you don't want to miss out on anything. It's tropical here so the city is bustling early.  School lets out around 1:30 and the  smaller  shops in the mercado close thier stalls so everyone can have the main meal after which is siesta.  Arround 6 pm people come out again as it cools down to shop, go to the movies or whatever.  The restaurants get really busy around 9pm.  The streets in the centro stay busy until around 11pm when the stores begin to close, but most of the festivals I went to ended after midnight.  Youu need the siesta so that you can stay up late.

Technical difficulties

I have written several posts, but am unable to include the videos from my iPad.  Since I'm returning home tomorrow they will have to wait a day or two.  I have had so many wonderful experiences and can't wait to share them.  Nos vemos pronto!

Mérida en Domingo - Sunday in Mérida

Sundays in Merida are my favorite days.  From 9am - 9pm there is an open air market in the zócalo, which is also known as the Plaza Grande.  Each town has a main plaza which is called the zócalo.  For my friends from Chico, imagine our Thursday night markets lasting all day long.

On  Saturday night, they set up temporary metal stands for the vendors along with tarps for shade in two rows around the perimeter of the park.  The streets that circle the plaza are closed to traffic during this time and around three sides temporary restaurants and food carts are set up.  I say restaurants becuause they actually have waiters to take your order and serve.  You  can have a full meal here.  

The carts serve snack foods.  Here you can get something cool to drink, Yucatecan style ice cream cones and paletas (frozen fruit bars), french fries (the best I´ve ever tasted), marquesitas (a crepe filled with cheese and topped with nutella or fruit spread), fried plantains, and salchichas (hot dogs). 

 

Mexicanos snack like nobody´s business, but the government is trying to promote good health so you will also find a medical trailor, much like the ones we see for blood donations, where anyone can enter for a simple physical.  Outside are doctors and nurses who will check your blood pressure. Oh, and don´t forget the pharmacy across the street where you can fill your prescription.

The market is a great place to buy souvenirs, jewelry, blouses and guayabera shirts.  Most items are made locally, you just have to check the tags.  Here you can bargain with the sellers, in fact it´s expected, even if you think everything is cheap, keep in mind it´s all relative.  Since most Americans aren´t used to bargaining, it can be a challenge at first.  Each time I visit, I get a little better at it.  Especially if one plans to by more than one item from a particular seller, you should ask for a discount to buy more.  Just know when to stop and be reasonable and polite.  Graciousness will get you far here.  

After a siesta, it was time to find a new place for cena (dinner).  Since it´s very hot here, people don´t come out until around 8 or 9 pm for cena.  They might just come out for a snack and a serenade or have a complete sit down dinner.  Some of my friends and family are  about safety at night.  Let me say that in the centro, there is no cause for concern.  They close off some of the streets and restaurants put out tables and chairs so that patrons may dine al fresco.  There are hundreds of people in the streets enjoying the cool evening breezes, shopping and having dinner.  Most restaurants also have live music outdoors. 

This is La Bella Epoca hotel and restaurant.  It was formerly one of the colonial homes and the interior is beautiful.  The way many restaurants fill their tables is to have waiters stand outside with menus inviting passersby inside and showing them the menu.  I have passed by this restaurant with an amazing band many times and decided to try it out.  There was a little rain and so I was offered seating in the balcony.  The one on the right to be exact.  The food was delicious or muy rico as one would say here.  I had camarones de Maya, shrimp in a delicious slightly sweet achiote sauce with steamed vegetables and rice, accompanied by fresh bread, salsa and habanero sauce on the side and since they didn´t offer wine, a cold beer.

Inside one of the dining rooms.

View from the balcony of the park across the street.