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Other entries in Mérida

welcome to the hotel california

Merida! The place where I want to stay at least 4 days as theres lots to see in the area. Hostel is spacious, clean and comfi and has salsa lessons every eve. Looks promising.
First visit is to Izamal. Used to be a major Maya site, but then the spanish came..They just built a huge convent and church right on top of a pyramid. It`s supposed to have the second largest atrium in the world, but some of the stones that were used have mayan carvings on them. I just call it phoney and mean. The convent and the town is painted in yellow, which kind of gives it a nice feel I guess. Just out of the village still are 2 pyramids, both on which I climbed, but overall theres little left of what used to be.

Another place I went to is Uxmal. One of the loveliest ruins in the region. Theres a 30 meter tall pyramid, a nunnery with very detailed masks of Chac, the rain god. Bit further there are a pelota playground, the house of the governor (100 meters long) and the house of the turtles with..little turtles on. Way further is the cementerio, with cool skull carvings. Theres another pyramid, but as we are taking our time we get kicked out at closing time. We are: Zoe and Joris from Antwerp, Nina and Ian from England and Jean Pierre from France.
In the hostel its getting busier and busier with more and more beers as well. Some people from Switzerland, some from France, Ireland, another belgian guy and a german cycler (from Ushuaia to Alaska-a very brave man) have also arrived. Also there are people for the whale and dolphin congres thats being held in Merida. Especially the brasilians bring along the party. Why stay in and drink your own beer when you can go out to salsa parties. That`s precisely my idea!!

On sundays the town is partially closed off for cars so people can bike or wander about in town leisurely. Lots of foodstalls and things going on including salsa for the elderly. It sounds a bit denegrating perhaps, but it looked lovely. Seventy years and older and still dancing with such grace and proud, both men and women. It was so beautiful to watch. Hope I can do this to instead of bingo when I`m old.
So monday was the day I was supposed to leave, but I still hadnt gone to Celestun, a nature reserve with flamingos at the seaside. Its cheaper to take boats with six, so I decide to wait another day, to have a group of six. Which means I can stay another 2 days at the coolest hostel in Mexico.
Unfortunately Celestun, lovely as it was, gets done too quickly. Two hours by motor boat to see flamingos, pelicans, fregatbirds, petrified trees, mangroves and a little swim as well. Stretch it out over a whole day and it's perfect.

Last day in Merida I finally make it to the museum (third attempt). There are some beautiful pieces, but the coolest bits are about the mayan way of making themselves look prettier. Skulls of 5 days old babies used to be placed inbetween 2 planks in order to make the forehead longer and flatter. Ouch!. They also used to file their teeth sharp and pointy and all teeth together formed a t shape. They used to hang little balls inbetween the eyes of little kids so they would eventually be very crosseyed. And, last but not least, tattood themselves by painting various parts of their body after which they would cut these parts into wounds. The blood would mix with the paint and there you have your tattoo. It was just as painfull as it sounds, so therefore they would do it small bit by small bit. The people with the most and biggest tattoos ruled.

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