Meridá is a bright, lively city containing buildings dating back to the 1540’s courtesy of the invading Spaniards including the impressive cathedral built using the stones from the Mayan temple that used to occupy the site and Francisco Montejo’s house, of which the façade remains. Horse drawn carriages clip clop along the busy streets and though there was a peaceful strike by telecom workers while we were there (nothing unusual there), the people are friendly and it’s one of the safest places in Mexico.
Dinner at La Parilla was a hoot as we devoured cocktails in yard glasses for 88 Mexican pesos each, wore colourful sombreros and knocked someone out every time we turned around, posed with unloaded but still real shotguns, Pancho Villa style, and had a laugh with the waiters, one in particular, Derek who kept playing tricks on me with feathers and went in for a kiss as I was leaving 😉 Sam’s highlight must be his Mayan sacrifice shot delivered by one waiter holding his head back and a funnel filled with ice down his mouth, another waiter lighting the alcohol and then pouring it into the funnel. The flaming stream out of the jug into the funnel was cool and to his credit, Sam took it all like a man.
Celestun sanctuary, nearly two hours out of Meridá was my day trip to view herons, cormorants, brown pelicans, ospreys, gulls and thousands and thousands of pink flamingoes. A breezy ride along the river took us past red mangroves catching glimpses of birdlife overhead and poking in the shallows. We slowed down as we got closer to a shimmering pink sliver on the horizon between brown water and green mangroves. The sliver grew into a squawking rabble of elegant flamingoes occupying a huge sandbar, occasionally taking flight in small groups looking graceful with their outstretched necks and legs skewering through their expansive pink and black wing span. It was such a spectacular and special view to see a thriving animal population, protected for future generations by the good side of tourism. On the way back we veered up into a space in the mangroves to try and find alligators, instead seeing several birds up close, bump into mangrove roots, swat mosquitoes and stop to walk around a boardwalk built around a natural spring. The pool was teeming with fish and the crystal clear spring water contrasted greatly with the brown river water.
Onward to a coastal town for lunch on the beach, though the weather wasn’t playing nice. Overcast and windy are not swimming conditions even if it would have been my only chance to take a dip into the Gulf of Mexico. As the tour was all inclusive, this meant the menu was per-ordained…prawn cocktail to start, grilled fish for mains. Fab. I don’t eat prawns. I gulped them down with the tomato sauce followed with swigs of beer and it wasn’t that bad. The fish was great and so far I haven’t had to regret it. So there’s another notch to trying new things.
With some free time to wander the beach and town I got chatting with a man from Peru who puzzled at my efforts collecting cone shaped shells and pushing them into the sand to take a few creative photos. I regretfully didn’t catch his name but it was nice to chat with someone new and discuss traveling, culture, work and be told to be careful in Guatemala. See, everyone has my best interests at heart 😉
Pedro, our elderly and character of a guide spoke softly and deliberately, rolling off the same spiel he must deliver thousands of times a year in Spanish and English, dead pan humour and heavily accented. He got a double cheek kiss and tip from me at the end and his face lit up. I’m sure if you asked him, he’d say he loves his job.
Ruth and I took some time to tour the cathedral, have some dinner and look through the gallery of work and sale pieces from local community craft artisans at Mundo Maya. All too fragile/heavy/big for me to buy, though it was hard to leave empty-handed. We wouldn’t have known to drop in had it not been for a local stopping us in the zocalo to talk. We admittedly kept waiting for his angle to emerge but it turned out he was just a local citizen giving free, good advice on what to do in town, encouraging us to come back. Perhaps this civic pride is what makes Merida such a lovely town to visit.