Day 5: Mérida
After our very busy Thursday, we decided to stay in town Friday, so we ate our mediocre continental breakfast then headed to the famous Paseo de Montejo. The Paseo de Montejo is where many wealthy plantation owners and businessmen built their mansions during the height of the henequen trade, so there are some beautiful buildings. We started our walking tour of the strip at the Museum of Anthropology which is in one of these old mansions.
The museum was great, very well laid out, with well selected representations of pieces from the region’s archaeological sites and lots of interesting information presented in an accessible and easy to follow format. This information was nice to have after having seen all the sites we visited. I think it also could have been a good prelude to visiting the actual sites in order to provide context for the different types of structures and artwork.
There was also a fantastic temporary exhibit on the second floor of the museum which consisted of dozens of photographs from the Mexican Revolution divided into phases. The Mexican Revolution was a long, bloody, and at times chaotic struggle that almost never really had clearly established sides. It was fascinating to see common workers, farmers, and soldiers along with the famous figures captured in photos. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to live through such a tumultuous period.
Taking our leave of the museum, we headed to the Santa Ana Market for a snack and were immediately bombarded by the waiters of each stall trying to get us to sit at their tables. It’s always a little stressful when you don’t know which one to sit at and they are all so insistent. We finally chose one, and I ordered a dragonfruit water, which was delicious and refreshing, along with brazo de reina, which is a regional tamale made with eggs and chaya. Maru ordered cochinita pibil tacos. Everything was good, but the brazo de reina was definitely a misplaced order as it was a huge portion and really heavy for noon on a hot day. I couldn’t finish it, which left me a little upset, because I hate wasting food, but that was that.
With some calories in our stomachs, we walked up and down the Paseo, stopping in a couple of shops and admiring the buildings. From there we headed back towards our hotel looking for a place to eat a full meal, and we got lucky, finding a little restaurant with a delicious and light “menu del día” (they give you 3-4 courses for a low price) that consisted of salad, perfectly cooked fish served with pasta and squash, and a passion fruit mousse. It was just what we needed to offset the grease of our earlier snack.
A monument at the end of Paseo de Montejo
Russ and Leanna, our new expat friends from the cenote trip, had invited us to their house for drinks that evening, so we rested for a bit in our room then headed out their way. Their house is a beautiful colonial a few blocks away from the main plaza in a really nice little neighborhood. They had a few other of their American expat friends over and we enjoyed a relaxing evening on their back patio which then progressed to the nearby loncheria for what I think were the best salbutes and panuchos we ate the entire trip, and we ended things with a nightcap with just Russ and Leanna back at their house.
Panuchos. Handmade tortillas stuffed with beans, fried, then topped with goodies.
FYI, their place will be on House Hunters International in the near future. It was great to spend some time in someone’s house. The one downside of travelling is that you are constantly “out”, so you really appreciate the comforts of home, even if that home is someone else’s.
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