Yucatan Road Trip: Merida, Capital of Yucatan
We arrived in Merida the day before Christmas Eve and stayed through Feliz Navidad. Two nights in the capital city of Yucatan was not nearly enough time! I can see why this town is an expat haven - it has a tremendous variety of restaurants, pubs and bakeries, English libraries and bookstores, Spanish language classes, Mexican cuisine cooking classes, markets, and high caliber museums explaining Merida’s proud history — from the birth of the Mayan peoples, to war and conquest by the Spaniards, to servitude on henequen plantations, to the Caste War, and eventual over-throw of the conquistador caste system.
We initially went to Merida because I wanted to see the weekly Friday performance of pok-to-pok, the ancient Mayan ballgame, in the Grand Plaza. I hadn’t taken into consideration the holiday, though. The Grand Plaza was transformed into a sprawling and quite exotic nativity scene, with a Christmas market and festive music drifting from the Cathedral. Local families strolled beneath palm trees, enjoying treats and taking selfies next to Baby Jesus and his elephant, tiger, and pigs…
Highlights
Korean Immigration Museum
Our tour guide at Chichen Itza told us about the Korean Immigration Museum, which memorializes a significant immigration event in 1905. Over 1,000 Koreans sailed on a cargo ship from Seoul to Mexico seeking employment on Henequen plantations. The work was more difficult than expected, but the Koreans banded together as a community, forming schools to preserve their language and culture and eventually integrating into life in their new world. Our full write-up of the Korean Immigration museum and the realities of working the henequen plantations is here.
Lucas de Galvez Market
The Lucas de Galvez market is a big street market open every day, year round. It has everything you can imagine, from vegetable and fruit stands to queso wheels, picante and mole sauces, from brooms and keys to birds and bunnies. Inside and outside the market, we had a ton of fun exploring the stalls, people-watching, and sampling various tasty treats, like friend bananas and slow-roasted authentic cochinita pibil.
City Hall (Palacio Municipal)
The rich and complex history of the Mayan people in Merida is beautifully depicted in a series of paintings on public display at City Hall, which is adjacent to the main central square. Admission is free. The paintings illustrate the socio-economic story of henequen, Mayan history, and the caste war’s heroes and villains. Admission is free.
Where We Stayed
As in Valladolid, we rented an AirBnB in Merida for two nights. This place was a DIY designer’s dream! Super cool layout, hand-made artwork, and refurbished furniture - we rented the entire place, since we were a party of four people. Optionally, the owner rents by the room, as well. From the backyard pool, an open air gate flows into a small indoor seating area and then into a large shared kitchen and dining space. Off-shooting from the main living spaces are three separate individually-locked bedrooms, each with a full bathroom.
Note: There is no solid wall between the outdoor pool area and the indoor living space; just an iron gate. At some point, an opossum slipped inside the gate and made himself at home, partially eating some bananas we had left on the counter and leaving a little trail of poo to his hideaway behind a cabinet. We spied him with a flashlight. Poor little thing was likely scared and confused. We tidied up his mess, stowed all other food in the refrigerator and then headed out for the day, leaving the rear gate ajar. When we returned, he was no longer behind the cabinet; we assume he found his way out… Ha!
