Explored some cities for a few days. First came Mérida after an EXCELLENT bus ride watching Mamma Mia (some of the buses are quite fancy). Lovely leafy main square, so we enjoyed our ice cream and did some people watching. Our hostel was almost a hotel, with this gorgeous pool surrounded by deckchairs and hammocks. This was a gorgeous retreat from the main heat of the day. We ate well here, Cochinita Pibil (local dish that is essentially pork belly nom nom nom) and even treated ourselves to a fancy steak and fish in the square one evening. This particular meal was coupled with a folkloric dance show from one of the local schools (kids balancing bottles on their heads whilst mastering some seriously complicated steps). We also became regulars at a small cafe for quesadillas/sandwiches/saladas and great juices.
There were some cracking museums in Mérida, which provided both a culture fix and some much-needed air con! The Mayan one was really interesting, with an unbelievable amount of figurines depicting various scenes from history. Archaeologists had also moved statues and masks from various ruins (such as Chichén Itzá) to the museum for people to gaze at, these were amazingly detailed. There was also the INCREDIBLE Palacio de la Música which took you on a journey through the music of Mexico through indigenous to classical, showtunes to current bangers. It was full of recordings of all sorts of songs, as well as areas that were set up as theatres or cinemas so you could watch a ‘show’ of that particular genre. The best bit was a room set up as a recording studio, where behind the glass stood a grand piano, and holograms of various famous Mexican artists would sit down to play. It was mad. One evening we also discovered Mercado 60 which is an outside food court with bar and live music (straight out of Shoreditch!) Tequila is fab and margaritas are wonderful, although not quite sure about mezcal just yet.
We caught the bus to the seaside city of Campeche and arrived in their afternoon storm (which is a regular occurrence during this rainy season). We haven’t seen rain that strong our whole trip, and coupled with roaring thunder and lightening that crossed the sky like veins, it was a relief when we found our place to stay. Tourism isn’t huge here (we only saw two hostels) so we went for an Air BnB. It was lovely to have our own space to cook carbonara and (amazingly!) watch Netflix. We also had our first experience of Walmart which was surreal as it’s HUGE and they sell EVERYTHING. Had a lovely wander around the coloured houses for the day, relaxing in the main square beside the cathedral (main photo) and gazing at the Gulf of Mexico from the malecón in the sunshine , before the inevitable afternoon storm crashed down.
holahola2019 