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.

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.

Guatemala baby!

This will be my 4th big trip to Latin America.  This time, Guatemala and Mexico.  Several years ago, I did a study abroad program in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico.  It was an amazing experience and since then I have been intrigued by the Mayan culture.  Guatemala has been on my list for a while, and I am finally visiting this coming winter.  I'll also be going with my study abroad buddy and after Guatemala, visiting Mérida again for the first time in 13 years...so excited.

As I prepare for the trip, I will post a few photos and stories from my trip to Costa Rica in 2009.  Who knows, I might even scan a few photos from Mexico and post those too.  Friends and family, I hope you enjoy this chronicle of my travels.