Merida December 2014

Wednesday Dec 17 2014

We had an easy drive to Sea-Tac and no hassles flying to Houston and then on to Merida.  Once in Merida it took a long time to get through the immigration and security lines.  About an hour and a half after the plane landed.  Matt was there to take us to their casa.  Linda met us at the door.  They fixed a light lunch and a margarita, we talked for a while and then went to bed.

Thursday Dec 18

After breakfast we took Judy and Linda to the Las Monjas church, the second oldest in Merida, built in the late 1600’s, so Linda could practice the organ.  Matt and I then headed to the central market to buy some fruit which was very inexpensive compared to home.

Fish market

Linda at the Las Monjas organ

  We then went back to the church to listen to Linda play.  She did very well and we enjoyed it.  

Judy and Richard in church courtyard

Linda, Matt and Judy at lunch

They took us to lunch at one of their favorite little places close to their house.   
 Back home we sat around talking and Matt practiced for his music gig in a few weeks.  Linda made a very flavorful chicken dish for dinner.  More talking and then to bed.  Cooking class tomorrow.  So far on the fig tree on the neighbor’s lot we have seen doves, grackles, a woodpecker and parrot.

Green parrot in the fig tree.

Friday Dec 19

Today was cooking class.  We got up early, had breakfast, and headed off to the Hotel Caribe to meet with our tour guide.

Inside the Hotel Caride

The guide, a nice young Yucatacean woman, took us a few blocks to the main city market.  She showed us all kinds of foods, let us taste them, and then buy ingredients for our cooking lesson. We went to a woman’s house in the Northern part of Merida.  Our guide and this lady showed us how to make several Yucatan traditions foods.  After cooking, we all sat down and ate all the good foods we made.  A pork dish of chopped pork in a tomato sauce, rice cooked with garlic and onion, white refried beans and candied papaya.

Linds, Sofia the cooking instructor, Richard, Judy and Matt

 All  disheswere very good tasting.  The cooking instructor’s family had owned a hacienda near Merida at the time of the Revolution in 1918 and had to flee the country or be killed. She and our guide told us all kinds of things about the local history, local foods and traditions.  We had a very fun day.  Then time to relax.

Richard resting after a hard day

Saturday Dec 20

After a leisurely morning we went to Las Monjas church to choir practice with the organ for the English mass on Christmas Eve.  We then rushed off to the private residence of a Christopher Lee, a world famous concert violinist, who give us and educational two hour concert about the violin to about 22 people 
.It was a fabulous experience and will be remembered forever.  He also showed us around his house which was very old but elegant. For dinner we went North to the small village Xcanatun to the Hacienda Xcanatun for dinner.  The hacienda has been converted to a restaurant, hotel ($500 US per night) and event center.  After dinner,  a string quartet; of which Christopher Lee was one of the members gave an amazing concert . . All was very good and memorable.  Whew, lots of music today.

Sunday Dec 21
Judy was coming down with a cold so Matt, Linda and I went to a side chapel and the cathedral for the English mass.  Most of the people who attended this particular Sunday sang in the choir.  This was an interesting place because it had life sized statues Mexican style of the last supper.

Life size last supper statues

 

 We went to lunch at a local restaurant and about t16 people showed up many of whom I had met before.  Later in the day we went to Sears and a big nice supermarket similar to Walmart.  We were very interested in seeing the local prices.

Monday Dec 22

We finally got a hold of Boris from Croatia and agreed to meet him for coffee at 7 am at his hotel the Mucuy.  Matt was very kind and agreed to take us.  Judy, Boris and I walked to a café near the main plaza and had coffee and breakfast and talked.  It was sure great to see him here. 

He had to leave so Judy and I took a cab back home.  Judy decided to see a doctor about her cold which a gotten worse.  So we went to a clinic and the doctor took care of her.  The afternoon party was canceled because Judy and Matt were sick.  We did a little shopping on the way home to get some food for Christmas dinner.

At  Sears in Merida

At the mega food store

Tuesday Dec 23

Judy and Matt still under the weather but Judy is feeling a little bit better.   Judy and Linda headed downtown to do some last minute shopping.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and recovering and preparing for Christmas eve and day.

Judy and Linda looking a what the flower lady had for sale.

Wednesday Dec 24  Christmas Eve
The morning was spent planning for Christmas dinner and doing some food preparation.  In the evening we went to the cathedral for the English mass.  Linda and friends sing in the choir.  The chapel has an interesting nativity scene next to the life sized last supper display.

Notice baby Jesus is many times bigger than Mary and Joseph.  A truly Godly virgin birth.  After mass everyone comes up to the alter to kiss the baby Jesus.

 We then rushed over to the las Monjas church which used to be a convent for another mass.  Judy, Matt and Linda as well as others, some of whom sang at the cathedral, sang for this mass too.
The video of the choir practicing before mass.
 An American played the organ, one Mexican man played the cello and another played an oboe.  The music was beautiful and uplifting.  The altar was typically Mexican as there were Christmas trees with flashing lights as well as a nativity scene with flashing lights.  
 After mass the four of us went to a Irish restaurant Hennessey’s for dinner.  Three of us had hamburgesa and one had shepherd’s pie.

Matt, Linda, Richard, Judy at the restaurant

Paseo de Montjeo at night

After a busy day we went to bed and slept like logs.

Thursday Dec 25 Christmas Day

We spent a lot of the day getting ready for having people over for dinner.  There were nine of us and we had a great dinner and great conversation.  The main course was called “turducken” which is a deboned chicken stuffed in a deboned duck inside a deboned turkey.  The lady living next door brought it from the states.  

 Friday Dec 26

Matt buying oranges giving some to the local kids.

We went to the hacienda Sotuta de Peon which  is being run as an historical henequen (sisal) plantation.  Since we arrived late we got a half tour which included a ride on a donkey pulled train to visit an 80 year old Mayan man who had lived and worked on the property for 60 years.

On the train to the Mayan House

Us by the Mayan House with donkeys

The 80 + year old Mayan man.

  He talked about the early days when henequen was the Yucatan green gold, which disappeared with the invention of nylon. 

We then went to a cenote on the property and Richard went for a swim.  The others were chicken.  The water was nice and refreshing.

Richard in the cenote

As it was late we did not get into the hacienda.

Judy and Linda on the hacienda veranda

Shopping at the hennequen store

We did manage to see the factory but it was not running.  The factory makes rope and twine from material on the farm but also does some from small local farmers.

Hennequen fiber drying after removing pulp

Very interesting day.  When we got home we had yummy left over Christmas dinner.

Saturday Dec 27

We all went out for breakfast at a local hotel.

Judy shopping at the hotel store

Then Matt and Linda dropped Judy and I at the brand new Grand Museum of the Mayan World.   They told the story of the big meteor that hit Yucatan and helped wipe out the dinosaurs.  The museum also told the story of the Mayan people from their beginning up to the present.   After dinner we went to a free program close by called “Noche Merida.”   There were singing acts as well as local dance groups.  

  There were lots of people there watching.

Sunday Dec 28

We went to church at the cathedral and then went out for breakfast.  None of the other church members joined us today.

A little shopping after church and breakfast

  We relaxed during the day.  In the evening we went to dinner at some of Matt and Linda’s friends.  We had a very nice dinner after they showed us around their home.  Their home was filled with furniture and mementos of from their parents.  Everything was decorated for Christmas.  We had our picture taken in front of their tree.

Richard, Judy, Linda, and Matt in front of Richie and Harrington's Christmas tree.

 Monday Dec 29.

We got up at 5 am and finished last minute packing.  One of Matt and Linda’s friends picked us up at 5:45 am and took us to the airport.  Our flights were typical with cramped seats.  Immigration and customs seemed slightly better than normal.  We got to SeaTac at 6:20 pm.  When we got to the Thrifty car park, the Honda had dead battery.  We had left the overhead light on.  After a jump by the Thrifty people we were on our way.  A quick stop at Jack in the Box.  We got home and went straight to bed.