i loved the stone streets and the architecture... even the bars were beautiful....
in this area (i can't remember what it was called) the street was lined with giant, old, beautiful houses....
there were horse drawn carriages all over on the weekend...
our hotel, luz en yucatan, was wonderful. after a long day of traveling we arrived and asked if we needed to pay or fill out any paperwork and the man at the front desk, esteban, said "no! now you relax!" then he took us to our beautiful room were he had cold beers waiting for us in the fridge. they also made up a packet with all sorts of information about the area to help us during our stay. i highly recommend this place if you ever travel to merida.
photos of the sunday festival in the evening....
the gorgeous cathedral overlooking el centro park...
the travels to merida were quite long... a four hour bus ride there... and a four hour bus ride back. the buses were quite an experience. we had a lot of interesting experiences. i think that the only thing that truly frightened me over my trip to mexico was traveling in any vehicle and crossing the street. the traffic laws are very different there. i did feel a little nervous though as we were driving through merida on the bus and i was noticing that every window and door was barred and locked... a bit unsettling. then we arrived at our hotel which was also barred and locked. we buzzed to be let in and they welcomed us so warmly (as i mentioned above) with cold cervezas waiting in the fridge. we were very hungry at this point and the sun was starting to go down. the hotel provided us with a nice list of recommended restaurants, but thinking of all the bars and locks i was extremely nervous to go out at dusk. matt asked esteban if it was safe to go out though and he said "yes, very safe." i was still quite nervous, but quickly i realized there was absolutely nothing to worry about. we decided to eat at a new pizza and pasta restaurant that was right down the road. when we arrived and were seated outside there was hardly anyone there and it was a bit late, probably 8 o'clock, and not more than 10 minutes later nice car after nice car began to pull up in the valet parking and all of the women getting out of the cars were beautifully dressed with giant heels. the restaurant filled up in about 20 minutes or less.... merida was already surprising us.
sunday was wonderful. there were celebrations all day long. the roads around el centro were closed down so families could ride their bicycles through the streets. there was music and dancing. everything was lit up beautifully. it was quite a romantic experience. all of the restaurants we ate at in merida were absolutely wonderful and all of the people so very kind. i look forward to going back.
then we made the long trip back to cancun, and took the ferry across to isla mujeres. it was a very small island. it was one of the most calm areas that we visited. everyone was super laid back and it was the only place that we went to where the traffic wasn't at all frightening. i have absolutely no photos of isla mujeres. our visit there went so fast and we both got sick there... matt had too much tequila our first night and i got some sort of a stomach bug. it was a nice little island. the beaches on the north side were small but quite beautiful, and i heard that the south side of the island has snorkeling and a turtle farm that sounds quite fun. i think isla mujeres could be a really nice place to travel to as a family. it feels very safe and calm. once again, very kind people. our trip was wonderful. we learned so much. next time though, we will not move around quite so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment