Highlights of Mexico (13): Merida
Day 10 (Friday) was another flight and another state.
To give ourselves good time for dressing, packing and breakfast, we were up at 6 am as we were departing the Chan Kahn Resort outside Palenque at 8 am. Since there are no flights to Merida from Palenque, we made the two hour drive to the airport at Villahermosa which is actually just across the state border into the state of Tabasco (known for its sauce). Compared to the road journey to Palenque, this was a dream: a straight road across flat terrain with none of those accursed ‘speed bumps’.
The AeroMexico flight from Villahermosa to Merida was in a turboprop aircraft the ATR 72 600 and took 70 minutes. We were now in another state, Yucatan, and we had another guide, Raul, who doubled up as our driver. Arriving in Merida at about the hottest time of the day (1.10 pm) was like walking into a sauna – it was a blistering 39C/102F!
Raul led us to our minibus and joked “The problem is that the air conditioning is not working”. Actually the joke was on him because it turned out that the air con was the only thing working. So we had to abandon this vehicle and wait for the local travel company to send along another. The group persuaded Raul to take us first for somewhere to have lunch, partially because we were hungry and thirsty and partly because we want to wait foe the heat to die down a little.
He obliged and took us to a place called “Los Almendros” (“The Almond Trees”) which serves traditional Yucantan food. Both Vee and Roger ordered a local dish called ‘cochinita pibil’ which is made with suckling piglet marinated in recado rojo (a regional condiment), wrapped in plantain leaves, before baking.
We were suitably refreshed and the temperature was a little lower when we left the restaurant at 4 pm. Raul briefed us ion the history of the city. Merida was founded by a hundred Spaniards in 1542 on the site of the Mayan city of Ichkansiho. Today it is the capital of Yucatan state – the fourth and last of our holiday – and has a population of about 700,000.
Raul led us on a walking tour around the lovely main square which is called appropriately Plaza Grande. We went up to the first floor of the City Hall for a good view of the whole square. Next we viewed the oldest residence in the city, La Casa de Montejo built in 1542 with a facade depicting conquistadors standing on the heads of indigenous people. We looked inside a small museum which is now located in part of the residence (the rest is now a bank). On another side of the square, we visited the Cathedral – completed in 1598 – which is very plain compared to the other cathedrals we had seen on this trip but has two claims to distinction: it is the oldest church in mainland America and it houses the largest indoor crucifix in the world.
Finally we entered the Governor’s Palace which on the first floor has 27 murals around the external walls and inside a large hall. These pictures depict historical events relating to Mexico generally but Yucantan particularly. Raul seemed disappointed that these works, by local artist Fernando Castro Pacheco, are not as well known as the murals by Diego Rivera in Mexico City. This might be because the style is more impressionistic and darker both literally and metaphorically.
After an hour and a half of walking around, we were wilting in the heat and returned to the minibus where Raul gave us cold bottles of water and cold flannels. Feeling fresher, we were then driven around the city for a while to obtain a better feel for the place. Particularly notable was the Paseo de Montejo, a wide, long, classy boulevard that is Merida’s equivalent of the Champs-Elysees, and the Monumento a la Patria, a striking sculpture in the middle of a roundabout which has a huge Mayan chieftain flanked by stone murals of Mexican statesmen.
It was growing dark when we reached our hotel at 6.30 pm, over 10 hours since we had left our hotel in the morning. Our accommodation was the Hotel Gran Real Yucatan which is situated in the historic centre of the town. The property was converted from the former 19th century mansion of a wealthy family which produced a native plant called henequen. Today it is a hotel with 73 rooms, each with a small balcony, and there is lovely central courtyard with elegant classical columns.
Sensibly Vee decided to spend the evening chilling in the hotel, but bravely Roger thought that he would try to walk to the main square to see a re-enactment of the Mayan ball game that was to be held there. He strode on down poorly-light streets that all look the same, along seriously uneven pavements that regularly trip one up, while the heat and the humidity too their toll.
After half an hour he gave up. But then it took another half hour to return to more or less where he started. By this time, his legs were starting to turn to jelly and his body was dripping with sweat. There was only one thing that would revive this intrepid explorer and fortunately he found it at a place called “Cafeteria Impala”: a delicious banana split.