One Week to Go...

We spent August 4th hanging about Mérida in between road trips. Emma and Lukas played games in the pool while we packed some clothes and belongings for the next day's trip to Campeche.

In the afternoon, we visited the anthropology museum at Canton Palace, and this time we made it there while it was still open. The museum was filled with mayan pottery, carvings, and artifacts, all housed in a stately marble mansion built in the early 20th century.

The exhibits were really interesting, collected from ruin sites all over the Yucatan, and the bonus was that we could look at them all in the air conditioning. The kids were somewhat concerned about the skulls and burial tombs on display, so we steered them over to the jade masks and sculptures of Mayan warriors instead.

The rest of the afternoon was an exercise in futility as we learned once again that you should never put your complete faith in a travel guidebook, even when it's not even a year old.

We thought we would check out the exhibits at Casa Catherwood, another beautifully restored mansion, then grab a meal at their restaurant. Clearly, the address indicated in the guidebook was wrong because we had to circle the block several times before figuring out it was across the street. And the hours indicated in the book were apparently wrong too, since the doors were locked and no one was in sight.

We gave up on that, and pulled up a park bench in nearby Parque Santiago to regroup. We decided to eat at Villa Maria, another place recommended by the guidebook. We drove several blocks across town, following the map to the address and... yep, you guessed it... Villa Maria is closed down and doesn't exist anymore. Ugh. No luck today.

So we gave up trying to eat someplace new and returned to Casa de Frida, where we had enjoyed a nice Mexican meal during the first week of our trip. The kids enjoyed their standard quesadilla fare, while Jenn and I were served HUGE poblano peppers stuffed with apples, pears, and spiced beef. Really delicious (and the margaritas were good too).

So that's it. We packed, we went to a museum, and we ate. Nothing more for that day? You're right Robin, that does sound kind of boring!

At least the next few days to come were more exciting...