Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico       December 7, 2023

I left the hostel at 8:15 to get to the tourist office in time to sign up for a 9:30 walking tour.  As it turned out, there were only about a dozen of us anyway and what was really good was that everyone spoke English so the guide didn’t have to repeat himself in Spanish.  Believe it or not, we spent an hour and a half in the Zocálo and I really didn’t learn much - I do a lot of reading about where I’m going but it was interesting just the same.

Another beautiful building on the way to the square-

A close up of the Montejo building- Spaniards stomping on the heads of the Maya-

There are peep holes in the cathedral so the enemy could be shot at but whoever was in the church was safe-

One of the five buildings built first by the Spaniards using the carved limestone rocks from the Maya pyramids is the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Hospital of Saint John of God-

It was closed.  I don’t know if it ever opens because the doors looks really old and rickety.

Next to the cathedral is the Museo Fernando García Ponce.  Of course his work is on permanent display but there are other artists showing there too.  The artist’s names mean nothing to me so I’m just showing the “art”???-

These are fun!  This one is called First Wedding and they’re by José Luis Ramirez.  They’re still smiling-

More craziness-

García Ponce’s work reminded me of Purvis Young who also used scraps of wood and other garbage in his paintings-

From here I walked to the local market and had a chaya juice ☹️ and a delicious piece of pizza-

I bought some rambutan-

People are so lazy the vendors peel the oranges and grapefruit.  They’re very cheap as the oranges cost $1.55 and the grapefruit $1.94-

There are so many stores selling Christmas decorations-

I caught a combi to The Great Museum of the Maya World.  The outside is very interesting-

Inside there were a lot of interactive computer screens and a thorough display of the Maya culture.  They lived primarily on the peninsula and further south into Belize and Guatemala-

They carved anything-

A ring used for scoring in the game of Pok A Tok-

Explaining the field-

I caught a combi to La Negrita Cantina for a beer.  Today’s antojitos included bean dip, pickled beats, chicharon and fried tortillas rolled into a tube-

Lupper was shrimp ceviche.  It wasn’t Bucerías ceviche-

I walked home, had a swim and enjoyed my room.  Today was a big day!  Tomorrow I think I’m either going to the ruins at Ixmal or Celustun to see the flamingos!  I had another good day!