My friends G+G and I got a cheap white rental car(with insurance) in Playa Del Carmen and escaped heading west to Merida. We eat our breakfast pizza pie? from the local bakery pondering on the roots of this culinary wonder, well I guess there are a lot of Italian tourist that go to Playa. We hit the road, I get sleepy as usual and doze of, but not quite, I did crack open my eyes to see Greg swerve just in time! Rest of the drive was uneventful and we arrive in Merida 240 miles, 4 hours later.
So navigating in Merida can be confusing or very easy, you see in the centro the streets are numbered on both cross street, north south is even numbered, east west is odd. Any map will do till you orient yourself. Beyond logical if you ask me.
This city is a colonial beauty that bustles during Mexican peak hours, morning and early evening, lots of people shopping and going about daily business, driving and honking, barbers cutting hair, women selling wears, kiddies going to school in their uniforms and a few tourists here and there in their all terrain shoes. Its awesome, its real, its hot, its got history and its modern, its zocalo has music, its got art.
Ok, so once in a while you can do a tourist tour and not feel bad about it right? We did and we lucked out, having the bus almost all to ourselves. The dbl decker city tour bus that bombs around town has an optional audio guide. Good for an overview of the architecture and layout of the city, hey and there is a nice breeze when riding on the roof deck! But don’t stand up while the bus is moving, you might catch some street wires.The strangest achitecture to me was the victorian mansion stocked with peacocks in yard and the elaborate chinese temple-like home with swooping roof details. Merida also has modern buildings and highrises, so its really a city that has it all.
We also dared to walk the empty afternoon streets to check out public sculptures dodging the sun.
And for the real Mexican experience go to a cantina with the cowboy saloon doors, inside you will find men, men, men, and cheap beer. Try not to look awkward while downing beers quickly. You can try to drink as many as the local dude beside you but you won’t be able to pound 6 1 litre beers that fast. This cantina had a jukebox that was loud as hell, friendly drunks, x-mas decor and coronas, what else could you want? Outside the escape route, otherwise called saloon doors, there was a handy hot corn on the cob vendor. The corn is slathered with gobs of butter, spinkles of chili and fresh lime, its the ultimate combo for corn!
On another night we checked out Alberto’s Continental Lebanese restaurant thinking it would be tasty, we got service like you wouldn’t believe, there were about 6 waiters lurking in the dark background and we were just about the only ones there. There was an anitque shop or sorts there, actually the whole place was a time warp. It would have been better if we ate at a small local joint, bah, damn those guide books! Leave your guide books at home all you travellers! All you need is a map.
Merida has some old colonial homes that have the gringos reaching for their wallets in order to buy, restore and resell. Restoring one of the old colonial homes there or another Mex loc is a great fantasy of mine. Not sure where in Mexico though, maybe Merida, maybe the west coast, one can keep dreaming and scheming. Still so many places to check out in Mex…
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Even Dean and Cam fit snugly behind the pilot and co-pilot. 30 high flying minutes later we landed on the small runway in Qualicum, our friend and her dog greeting us with big smiles(yes, dogs smile).
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