Weekend Life in Mérida

We began Saturday with a visit to the Mercado Lucas de Galvez, which is the municipal market in Mérida. It's a bustling two-story building that takes up the entire block, and you know you're getting close to it because the streets are filled with people.

The lower level was jammed with both vendors and patrons, making it difficult to navigate through the aisles. At one point, we rounded the corner and wandered into the meat market, complete with hanging body parts of every variety, and leering animal heads. A pretty gruesome sight, so we did the best to walk in front of the kids and block their view as we shuffled them out of the area. Fortunately, they didn't seem to notice, since they were busy eyeing the toys and playthings for sale in the opposite direction.

We purchased matching embroidered shoes for Jennifer and Emma at just a couple of dollars apiece, before heading across the street to a craft shop for some browsing. There I picked up a guayabera while a vendor tried to convince Jennifer that she needed a jeweled beetle. This is a live beetle that has been trimmed with jewels and a gold chain to fasten to a button on your blouse or dress. It was a big sucker too, think Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The vendor told Jenn that all the fancy women wear them, but she assured the man that she certainly is not THAT fancy. Nevertheless, the kids had fun holding and playing with the beetle.

We spent the afternoon at the house, then got nicely dressed for a visit to the anthropology museum. However, we had the timetable wrong for the weekend, because it had already closed when we got there. We had to settle for a few pictures in front of it instead.

From there, we decided to treat ourselves to an earlier dinner at Trotter's, an upscale steak and seafood restaurant. The ambiance was nice, the meal was enjoyable, and the children were well behaved.

Every Saturday evening, Mérida hosts 'Noche Mexicana', which is a weekly festival of music, dance, food, and crafts. We left the restaurant and headed to the end of Paseo de Montejo to be a part of the fun. There we watched some very entertaining musical performances, and enjoyed some tasty ice cream. I sampled the corn flavored ice cream, and you know, it was quite good!

It's really surprising that all this happens every week, and it's free of charge, giving families a great opportunity to get out and enjoy the evening together. It was really a nice way for us to experience some more of the culture of Mexico, as well as a pleasant way to end the day.