Merida Mexico Christmas 2017

We went to Merida, Mexico to visit our friends Matt and Linda for the Christmas holiday season.

Judy and Richard

Linda and Matt

 Monday Dec 18

We decided to take the Narrows Bridge route to the airport because of the train wreck at Dupont on I-5 as the north bound lanes were still backing up. We drove up to Sea-Tac airport and spent the night at the Red Roof Inn which has safe parking at a reasonable price if you spend the night.  Went out to dinner and early to bed as our flight was leaving close to 9 am.

                                                          Tuesday Dec 19
Got up early and took the hotel shuttle at 6:20 am to the airport.  We went through all the check in stuff with no problems in Seattle, Houston or Merida.  Nice flight to Houston.  No problems on our flight to Merida getting in there at 9 pm.  Matt and Linda were there to pick us up.  We were excited to see them again.  Their house is in the Central district and is very nice.

Getting Settled in the bedroom.

We went to bed early.

                                                                   Wednesday Dec 20

Matt and Linda fixed breakfast for us which we ate outside by their pool.  The temperatures during our trip were in the high 80’s to low 90’s during the day and  high 60’s and low 70’s at night.  Linda belongs to the International Women’s Club in Merida.  They had a dinner at one of the member’s houses and invited us to join them.  We met a lot of nice and interesting people.  Lots of food and fun conservation. 

                                                                    Thursday Dec 21

Matt and Linda made reservations at a resort called the Reef on the Gulf of Mexico for two nights.  The resort is east of Progresso which is just north of Merida.   This is an all-inclusive resort which means all meals and drinks, etc.

At Telchac Puerto

On the way we stopped at Telchac Puerto for lunch. The resort is just down the road from the port.  We had a great time there.  Actually, we had been there on one of our previous trips just to look around and the place was deserted.  Our room was ground floor with a view of the sea. 

In the sea after dinner.

Nice views, good food and drinks and great friends.

View from our room.

                                                                        Friday Dec 22
We spent the whole day lounging around, swimming, eating and drinking, talking, reading and the ladies knitting knitting scrubbies and dish cloths.  We had a very relaxing day. 

Matt and Linda in the sea.

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By the pool in the evening.

The staff came around all the time checking to make sure we had enough to drink.  Remember…all inclusive.  Such a beautiful setting.  The beach is white sand mostly made up of shells and coral.

                                                                        Saturday Dec 23

After breakfast, we packed up and lounged around enjoying the morning eating and drinking.  We checked out at noon and headed back to Merida which was about an hour and one half away. 

                                                              Sunday Dec 24  Christmas Eve

We went to the English Catholic mass at a chapel in the cathedral a 5 pm where Matt and Linda and friends were in the choir.

The choir.

   The priest was Fr. Roberto whom we had met before and is well loved by the international English speaking community.  In the chapel is a life sized “replica” of the last supper.  Crazy. Also, only in Mexico, a flashy Nativity scene. Then we had to rush out because Linda was going to play the keyboard to St Lukes Episcopal church at 7 pm for a pre-service round of Christmas songs.  After the sermon, first in Spanish and then English, we skipped out to go to a dinner at Elizabeth’s house, one of Matt and Linda’s friends.  Also present was another Elizabeth, who in her 80’s plays violin with the Merida symphony.  A world famous violinist, Christopher, was also there, and plays in the symphony. Chris opened his huge Colonial home and gave a very impressive concert the last time we were there.  He remembered us and is a special presence at a party.   A really great evening of fun conversation and food.

 Monday Dec 25 Christmas Day.

 We had another party to go to in the evening so we relaxed during the day.  The party was at a place all the ex-pats call Cassini’s Castle.  The house was two houses put together as one and extensively remodeled.  It is elegant.  The owner Greg has gone around Mexico collecting items for his house which is now somewhat like a museum.  Greg gave us a tour of his house.  It is unbelievable what he has put together as his house.  This man is generous with the house, giving lots of events so people can get together.

Dining area with lots of Christmas decorations.

For dinner tonight he had twelve people.  His employee Carlos decorated the house for Christmas and cooked the dinner.  What an experience for us.

Tuesday Dec 26

This is our last day in Merida so of course we had to do some shopping.  First though we went to lunch with Peter, whom we had met before, at the restaurant Local 59.

Judy, Linda, Peter, Matt at brunch

Local 59 Restaurant

To start the shopping, we went to the central district to the Guatemala store where we bought some things and then Mondo Maya.  Matt and Linda know one of the sale persons there and is very helpful in picking out things to buy.  The store has fabulous silver jewelry.  Then we went to a mall called FiestaAmericana (?) where Judy bought some (lots of clothes).  She is set for the next summer season in Washington, Arizona or anywhere the sun shines!   Then off to another place, a hotel, but the gift store was closed so we had something to drink instead.  Then to a Walmart store where Judy bought some medicine at half the price in Shelton. Judy and I invited Matt and Linda to dinner but the first two restaurants we went to were closed.t  We finally went to Poncho’s in the central district where we had a good chicken dinner.   Then home to finish packing and to bed.

Cat in the Creche

Wednesday Dec 27.

Got up early and took an Uber 5:40 am car to the airport.  No problems going through all the check in.   Except they took Judy’s plastic knitting needles again like last time.  We thought plastic ones would not be detected or unacceptable because they were plastic. Flight to Houston was ok.  Except the seats on the planes are getting narrower and less leg room.  No problems with customs and immigration in Houston.  In Seattle, got the Red Roof shuttle back to our car.  We stopped on the way home for food at the Buffalo Wings.  Probably will not go there again.  A bit out of our kind of place to be… it is for the very young.  We were hungry, so we tried the wings. We had a very crowded drive from the mall to the turn off to the Narrows Bridge.  At home all was well and always good to be in our own bed.