Giving Jane the tour of Mérida

Yesterday morning we walked from the house toward Calle 60, the main street of the "centro".  We went to Café La Habana for breakfast so that Jane could try "huevos motuleños".  Even though she is not a big breakfast eater, she really liked them.  I then gave Jane the tour of the main plaza that I had given to Nancy and Fred.  We visited the Casa Montejo, the Cathedral, and saw the mural paintings in the Government Palace.  Jane also did a bit of shopping in some of the nicer shops along Calle 60.  (Let's be honest... most of the shops sell tourist junk.  But there are a few stores that sell high quality merchandise.)  We also paid a quick visit to Hotel Luz en Yucatán.  She wanted to see the hotel that I had been raving about for so many years.  Now that she has seen the hotel, she understands why I keep coming back again and again.

During our tour, we did one thing  that I had never done before.  We climbed to the second floor balcony of the city hall.  It was a great location for a view of main plaza.

After our exploration of the "centro", we walked back to the house for an afternoon siesta.  I wish that the house were a little closer to the heart of town.  It's only a 20 minute walk, but if you go back and forth to downtown twice a day, that's a lot of additional walking.

In the evening we went to "La Tradición", one of the best restaurants for traditional Yucatecan dishes.  Jane had x'catic peppers (a Yucatecan variety of chile pepper) stuffed with "cazón", a type of shark.  She said it was very good.  I had "pan de cazón"... layers of tortillas and shark covered with a tomato sauce.  You may have read my post last November in which I described having "pan de cazón" in Mexico City.  That was rather mediocre, but this was superb, as good as what I had once in Campeche, where the dish originated!

Heading back to our neighborhood, we walked along Calle 59.  That street has been spruced up in recent years, and the facades of most of the older buildings are illuminated.  Very pretty!

We reached the Plaza de Santiago, the heart of our neighborhood around 9:00 P.M.  Every Tuesday evening a band plays Latin music from the 1940's on the plaza.  The event attracts a large crowd of mainly older couples who dance to the "oldies".  (Some of them are very good dancers!)  There is also a good sprinkling of "gringo" couples joining in the fun.  Everyone has such a good time, that you can't leave without a smile on your face.