Did I brush up on my Spanish pre-trip before arriving in Merida on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula? Of course not. Many young people in this cosmopolitan city speak some degree of English. But I did make sure my iPad translation app was ready for me to use without internet need.
While visiting with an American long-time pal who often winters over in Merida, I depend on him for most interactions. But I want to venture out on my own too. An easy start is the Starbucks one block up from the AirBnB where we occupy two separate rooms off a main courtyard….each room with its own bathroom.
“Chai latte…caliente… alto… con leche almendras”
The words come back to me fairly easily from when I was visiting two winters ago.
I have near exact change and put the paper bills into the young barrista’s hand, then extend my other with a variety of coins for her to choose from. I give my name, which prints out for the order as “Geil”, or “Guel”, or sometimes with a slight Celtic flair, “Gael”. Probably depends on my pronunciation that day. But close enough. Then the fast question in Spanish comes, and all my language prep goes out the window. I give her a confused look, and in English, she asks, “Anything else?”
I forgot about that question….oops. Now I remember…..”No mas”.
There is familiarity here in the colonial city as we walk the streets. Some rituals of place, like buying food at a local market, or the eroded sidewalks needing walking-focus or avoidance. The colorful mansions from a bygone time…walls eroding down to the stones beneath the plaster. Favorite cafes of my friend.
I search the internet to plan for some new experiences. Like the Friday night video-mapping show in the Plaza Grande in the center of the city, complete with narration. But my Spanish-listening skills are weaker than my speaking skills.
“Sacred Stones” does have a storyline (the origins of the Mayan culture and its evolution over time, according to the online events listing translated into English), but I resign to just snapping photos of the video spectacle oozing along the cathedral facade.
While visiting with an American long-time pal who often winters over in Merida, I depend on him for most interactions. But I want to venture out on my own too. An easy start is the Starbucks one block up from the AirBnB where we occupy two separate rooms off a main courtyard….each room with its own bathroom.
“Chai latte…caliente… alto… con leche almendras”
The words come back to me fairly easily from when I was visiting two winters ago.
I have near exact change and put the paper bills into the young barrista’s hand, then extend my other with a variety of coins for her to choose from. I give my name, which prints out for the order as “Geil”, or “Guel”, or sometimes with a slight Celtic flair, “Gael”. Probably depends on my pronunciation that day. But close enough. Then the fast question in Spanish comes, and all my language prep goes out the window. I give her a confused look, and in English, she asks, “Anything else?”
I forgot about that question….oops. Now I remember…..”No mas”.
There is familiarity here in the colonial city as we walk the streets. Some rituals of place, like buying food at a local market, or the eroded sidewalks needing walking-focus or avoidance. The colorful mansions from a bygone time…walls eroding down to the stones beneath the plaster. Favorite cafes of my friend.
I search the internet to plan for some new experiences. Like the Friday night video-mapping show in the Plaza Grande in the center of the city, complete with narration. But my Spanish-listening skills are weaker than my speaking skills.
“Sacred Stones” does have a storyline (the origins of the Mayan culture and its evolution over time, according to the online events listing translated into English), but I resign to just snapping photos of the video spectacle oozing along the cathedral facade.
As I stroll the grandiose Paseo de Montejo boulevard, tourists ride by in horse-drawn carriages, or snap photos of majestic mansions from tour buses. Sentence snippets of English or German filter through the Spanish greetings from locals passing by, selling their wares, or working in buildings being renovated.
Local food:
The modern version of Merida overlays the colonization history of the city. Walking the grandiose Paseo de Montejo boulevard, erosion and modernization poke through the rusting fences and gates. The majestic mansions lining the Paseo hold their memories of a time gone by.
In 1542 Francisco de Montejo gave the name Mérida to the captured Mayan city T'ho, and the city became an early base for Spanish efforts to conquer the Maya. The Mayan buildings were dismantled and the huge stones of the original constructions were used as the foundations for the cathedral and other colonial buildings.
During the 1600s and 1700s, the assimilation of the Maya allowed the Spanish to prosper in goods and exports of cotton, wax, corn and honey. Following a bloody Mayan rebellion (the Caste War) in the 1840's, Merida experienced another period of prosperity as the world's leader in henequén (sisal) production.
The mansions along the Paseo continue to symbolize the affluence that bloomed from being a commercial center in the Yucatan. Today, these mansions no longer serve as residences, and instead host banks, museums and private social events.
Yucatán entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the appeal that indigenous exoticism generates from foreign visitors. Strolling the Paseo, Yucatan culinary favorites are offered by upscale restaurants and sidewalk food carts as well.
My friend and I walk through the neighborhoods talking about humanity, conquering, and what prices are paid in the name of progress. The hypocrisy of the city is everywhere, as I suppose echoes the rest of the world. Within the neighborhoods fanning out from the historic city center, affluence no longer parades its facade. Behind locked gates, the division of socio-economic layers shows the true colors of racial diversity.
Sidewalks, eroded and buckled, draw the pedestrian into a survival focus. Cut off rebar, holes, cracked concrete like tectonic plates undermining the glitz of a time left behind. Wall plaster revealing the stones once used to build a Mayan community.
Colonialization decay:
Within this city full of history, both colonial and Mayan, diverse cultures co-exist and offer themselves to those with a desire to understand and experience. My friend and I visit museums, indulge in local foods, and take side trips to balance the more mundane day-to-day life in the neighborhood: the supermarket, Starbucks one block up from the AirBnB, the neighborhood pharmacy. A multi-sensory collage of place and people, language and navigation. And the stuff of a long time friendship based in nomadic travel and a thirst for the questions about life itself. Every friendship holds a unique quality not found in other friendships and relationships.
Neighborhood churches:
Museums:
Day trip to Progreso:
As we turn once again to traverse our divergent paths until we meet up again down the road, I celebrate the longevity of our friendship. Adios.
And Adios to Merida.
For more experiences and musings about Merida and its Yucatan enviroment, visit my post about my first visit there in January of 2022:
And Adios to Merida.
For more experiences and musings about Merida and its Yucatan enviroment, visit my post about my first visit there in January of 2022: