The Sunday Traveler~Merida’s City Scene

Downtown Merida is a happening place, and the usual Mexican main plaza in the middle of a town holds true to form here too.

The cathedral in a Mexican town is almost always at the main plaza or in very close proximity.

Merida, the capital of the state of Yucatán, is so very tropical, and the beauty is enhanced at night. I flew into Merida to stay with family for two weeks, and for the first time ever did very little research on this destination I had never visited before. I had the comfortable knowledge that the cousin I would be staying with would fill in all the need to know details once I arrived. Such a confession this is after so many years of travel and always scouring everything I can get my eyes on about where I’ll be going. Maybe it was just the feeling of needing to break and run and get out of Dodge after pandemic cabin claustrophobia. But I digress, I thought Merida was right on the coast; it is actually 22 miles inland. You learn something every day. But, a little more of downtown.

We spent one evening walking around downtown, I in search of some of the local Maya clothing. The street vendors had quite a selection of locally made beautiful things they were selling for an excellent price. My heart goes out to the women trying to make a living to feed their families that I gladly bought what I wanted from them. When I first started talking to this woman, her little boy was trying to keep his eyes open, but he finally just fell asleep as his mom continued showing me blouses.

We went in to town a few more times during the day to walk around a bit, and to have a couple of meals.

One restaurant in particular, The Museum of Gastronomy, was a hit in my book for a fabulous meal of local Yucateca food, Cochinita Pibil; a pulled pork with an orange citrus marinade that is incredible.

Yes, oh my! I’ll be back next week with more of the museum part of this restaurant.

Hasta entonces, until then.

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