Hello, old friend - Back in Merida

This is my fourth visit to Merida, my second home and the place where I plan to live again one day.  The trip down went well.  I took a different route this time - Sacramento, Guadalajara, Mexico City and finally Merida.  There's nothing like being awakened at almost 1am for a ham sandwich.  Mexicans sure do like their ham sandwiches.  It's always a crap shoot when you find out who your seat mates will be.  I can say that I had very good luck this time.  The first was a very nice Headstart preschool teacher from Yuba City.  Both of her daughters are educators as well and CSU alums.  As soon as she heard me speak Spanish, that was it, she became my Spanish teacher for four hours.  We talked a lot about education, especially bilingual education and the plight of poorer school districts and what teachers can do to help ESL students.  When the ham sandwiches were served, she whipped out a huge container of organic persimmons.  When she saw that I ate everything except the sandwich (I'm vegetarian), she insisted on sharing the persimmons.  Boy were they delicious!  

                              

Guadalajara airport is interesting.  The first sign I saw through the terminal window was Subway.  Pretty much every American fast food place you can imagine was there.  It was a little confusing at first, but I soon figured out what to do.  Basically, you go through Immigration, then Customs, then Security again.  I got the green light at customs, yay!  I felt just as thoroughly checked at security as I do in the US.  The flight was on time and I met my new seat mates.  A young man and his little boy.  This jet was brand new with touch screens on every seat and free movie selections. The little boy was very sweet and quietly watched his movie.  This was a short flight and soon we landed in Mexico City.

Mexico City, get with the program!  It's a very nice airport and there are tons of information specialists to help out weary and confused travelers, but they are the only airport without free wifi.  What is going on?  I mean, I managed, but with wifi, I get notifications regarding gate changes and delays from the airline.  The flight was again on time and it was a smaller jet, Embrear 190.  As soon as I stowed my luggage, a lady asked if I would switch seats so her family could sit together, no problem.  Before I could sit down in my new seat, a man asked if I would switch with his wife so that she could be near their children.  No problem and many thanks from the families.  So, I sat next to a young woman who was either engrossed in her phone or asleep.  So nice...

Boy was I happy to finally land in Merida.  They have special airport taxies with fixed prices that are run by the state.  I love that I don't have to negotiate a price and can just walk up to the window and pay the cashier a fair price.  The driver even gave all of us travelers ice cold bottles of water, gratis.  Taxi rides are always fun.  My driver, Luis, was a comedian.  He also took the opportunity to practice his English.

                                                   

I was greeted warmly by Miriam, Enrique and Julia at 62nd Street Guest House.  They are such lovely people and a couple from Maine that I met two years ago are here too.  It's so nice to have a little family down here.