Merida Revisited

Almost a year after we first came to Merida as part of our sabbatical (I have settled on calling it sabbatical, everything else, e.g. six-month vacation or tour halfways around the globe, or extended trip just sound way too luxurious, especially in light of the current economic situation. "Sabbatical" at least implies some type of work or study) we are back for another mini-sabbatical or poor-economy sabbatical - just three weeks ;-)

We all worked hard over the last six months, including Max who's English has gotten much better and who has pretty much managed reading in both German and Spanish (still slow, but what do you expect from a 4-year old) and so we decided - against better judgement and the backdrop of a tanking economy that we would go after all. Life is cheap in Merida, we decided, we can have lunch or dinner at the food stalls of Santiago Parque for $10 between the three of us, which seems to be the price of a pound of coffee or a loaf of bread plus a bit of butter at Safeway these days. I guess we have become Americans after all - casting aside our frugal European roots and engaging in a bit of dancing on the volcanoe just before it is about to erupt.


I was curious about how it would feel to get back, familiar, strange, new, old, interesting, exciting, none of the above? It is actually hard to tell for me because I was sick and tired (literally) when getting here but since then it has been fun to rediscover Merida. I think it is fair to say that no revolutionary changes have happend since we left in mid-February for India. Little differences we noticed: there seem to be somewhat more renovated houses around - but maybe we just gotten more used to some of the delapidation around us and so it doesn't register as much anymore. There seem to be fewer "Se Vende" signs on houses, last time around, every other house seem to be on sale, now I'd say no more than 20%. We were obviously speculating why that is: less sellers, or fewer buyers so people just took those, which have not been moving forever off the market. A new law seems to be going into effect on Jan. 1 subjecting foreigners who sell their houses to a 28% capital gains tax - which will probably put a big damper on the desire and ability of foreign house owners to sell them after Jan 1.

The Meridians are a jolly as ever, we went to the Zocalo last night - a normal Monday evening - and found it buzzing with people, vendors, musicians (unforunately of the pan flute type), kids playing, lovers smooching, families milling about - if anything it was even bussier than when we were last here.

We got here on Christmas day and for this first week Pamela was staying with us. We had a few adventures together the biggest being exploring Campeche, the capital of the Mexican state by the same name. It is one of the three states that makes up the Yucatean peninsula, together with Yucatan and Quintana Roo (where Cancun is). According to all accounts Campeche is a beautiful little town and an UNESCO World Heritage site. I had really wanted to go there last time around but somehow four weeks proved to be too short for the trip. So this time it was high on the list and since Pamela wanted to see it as well we took off Saturday for a two night trip.
And, indeed, it was lovely. Little colonial houses in all colors of the rainbow plus all pastels conceivable to mankind plus a few others I don't have names for. In the center of town a big iglesia, busy with people, a wedding going on on Saturday night, people out and about, kids playing with the square closed for cars on Saturday and Sunday and the big old wall around town that successfully kept the pirates out for centuries. We staid at a nice hotel, eat at a very nice seafood restaurant that was very kid-friendly on top of everything. The weather was warm but not overly hot and so the idea of moving to Campeche crossed our minds more than once.
From there we went to explore Edzna, another big historic Mayan temple site and found out very soon what the weak spot of Campeche is: street signs. But the huge detour, the illegal U-y across a grassy middle lane and the dent to the rental where worth it, Edzna was definitely worth the trip although Max kept whining that he really wanted to go to Uxmal instead. (in Max's world nothing is worth trying for the first time, only things that have been done before - by us - are worth doing).
Sunday night Pamela took Max out for "bread and games" while Uli and I walked through town (carefully peeking around corners to avoid bumping into them) and eventually had another nice dinner at the seafood restaurant, this time without constantly checking whether somebody is about to pull the tablecloth off the table, screams on top of his lungs or borrows his fingers to the knuckles in his nose (a new obsession).
A really nice scene was going on on the central square (typically, that was the only time in the week since we got here that I leaft the house without my camera - we were just going to have dinner and it is dark outside anyway ...): tables were set up and around them clustered large groups of little old local ladies (mainly) playing Bingo with old boards with numbers and symbols and glass thingies like the ones sometimes used in flower vases to fill up the bottom to mark the numbers they had. In front was a table with the "lotteria" lady who would use a megaphone type thing to call out the number she had drawn out of an old and odd contraption and everybody would go to work busily and place their glass thingies. The winner eventually called "lotteria" and the games was over. I could have staid and watched for hours but Pamela and Max were just around the corner playing mini-golf (that is Max was on all fours doing - something - and Pamela stood by looking a little puzzled from afar) and since Max hadn't spotted us jet it was wiser to make a quick exit.
Now we are back in Merida, its New Year's Eve and despite everything we heard or assumed the city is dead quiet. We had expected and gone as far as promised Max a big fiesta with fireworks and dancing on the Zocalo, tons of fun and opportunities to play with kids and bewitch little old ladies but nada, nothing. The Zocalo was extermely quiet, most stores are closed and several people we talked to told us that this is family day. Many people seem to be celebrating in Progresso on the beach and here we walked through completely deserted streets. All a little puzzling to me, they never skip an opportunity to celebrate here - and now this.
So it is Margaritas at home and surely Jan 5 and 6 - the birthday of Merida - will be celebrated in a big way with musica und bailar, comida typica de Yucatan y fuego artificial (fire works). It better - we already promised Max to make up for the disappointment.