Progresso Beach

After driving through Cholul, we went on to Progresso, the beach town nearest Merida. It has been a long time since we sat under a palapa roof (palm thatched roof) and drank a beer and felt the sea breeze.

Cholul

Cholul is a village just a kilometer or so outside the beltline highway that surrounds Merida. We thought it a charming place and the yellow church, although not open, was photogenic. In the picture below, Kent is with our neighbor, a young schoolteacher here in Merida. She was very helpful in navigating us out of Merida on our first time taking out the car since we arrived.

It was Sunday and many in the village were gathered in the shade of the trees on the square in front of the church.

One of the walls which surround the houses of the wealthy who live here.

Another wall around a rich man's estate. From a peek through the gate, the inside grounds looked exceptionally lovely and well cared for, but the outside was ignored--except by iguana.

Not all the people in Cholul were wealthy. This is one of the traditional Mayan houses, oval in shape. Some are not stone, but a kind of daub and wattle and have thatched roofs.

More Merida Street Scenes

And a couple sculptures from the modern art museum downtown.

Merida Street Scenes

Walks in Merida

Near our apartment.

Behind the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

City parks.

On the Way to Wal-Mart

I hate to admit it but one of our first stops in Merida was Wal-Mart. No place keeps such long hours, has so much stuff, and makes it easy for a gringa to find a mop, a mixing bowl, food, and flip flops all in one place. We'd tried a closer local market, but it was late and other than tired, dusty papaya there was little to be had.

Wal-mart is on Paseo Montejo, a broad boulevard shaded by overarching trees with monumental statuary marking major intersections. It's Merida's answer to Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma. The street is lined by turn-of-the-century mansions, shops, and restaurants and presently a sculpture show by Mexican and Japanese artists.

Even the fire hydrant replicates the sculptural Mayan curves of a work of art.

The Kedl's Merida Apartment

Friends have asked to see what our apartment looks like. Actually, as much as anything, it reminds me of our Chinese apartment in Kunming, although it has clean tile floors, a stainless (stained) steel sink, and a good shower. The bed is as hard as the tile floor and the whole place is as barren as a cheap motel. However, we have an air-conditioner in our bedroom, which we don't use and ceiling fans in the bedroom and kitchen/dining room/living room which we do use. The apartment's appeal is that it does have furniture and it's in Centro and close to all the museums and activities in the various parks.


I hope to get connected to the internet in the apartment next week sometime and then the pictures should come more regularly. Today, I have discovered that if I come out on the laundry patio and sit under the clothes lines near my neighbor's window, I can pick up the signal from her apartment. I do wish I could do this from inside our apartment, but the walls on these old buildings are very thick and the signals will not penetrate.

Now that you know what we are up to, we'd love to hear from you. I'm never sure if anyone, but family is out there looking.