Merida

Merida, Yucatan

Maybe you'll get the info, maybe not, who knows?

(Either that, or they're not sure of their translation)

Sunday September 5th - Wednesday September 8th 1999

After the hell that was Villahermosa, we caught the long bus to Merida as a base for our trip to Chichen Itza. This was a big improvement - the weather was more pleasant since, although it was still very hot, it was much less humid. Also, our hotel was clean and cockroach-free (although on the first night Veronika trapped a small mouse in the bucket in the bathroom used for soiled toilet paper, which the plumbing can't handle). Mice I can deal with; cockroaches I'd rather not. The staff of the hotel were friendly (one of them even spoke reasonable English, a first for us), and the place was obviously used to dealing with foreign budget travellers like ourselves - they had a book exchange and provided bus and other information. The location was also quite good, half-way between the bus station and the centre of town. Most Mexican bus stations are several miles away from the centre of the town, but the Merida bus stations are actually fairly central.

After the conquest of central Mexico, the Spanish decided to conquer the Yucatan peninsula - Cortes had first made landfall after setting out from Cuba in 1519 at Cozumel, an island off the Yucatan coast. The Spanish crown sent Francisco de Montejo senior (confusingly one of three conquistadors of the same name, father, son and nephew) in 1527. They landed at Cozumel, and then at Xel-ha on the mainland, and realised that the local people, the Maya, were not interested. They then sailed westwards, conquered Tabasco in 1530 and set up camp at Campeche. From there they tried to push their way inland, but four years of fighting got them nowhere, and they were forced to retreat to Mexico City. In 1540, the younger Francisco de Montejo came back to the Yucatan with his cousin of the same name, and by striking an alliance with the Xiu Maya they were able to defeat the Cocom Maya and convert the Xiu to Christianity, and within four years they controlled almost all of the Yucatan. One of their victories came when they captured the Mayan town of Tiho. This major settlement reminded them of the Roman remains in Merida in Spain, so they renamed the city and turned it into the colonial capital. Merida was administered directly by the Spanish crown and not from Mexico city; this in part has resulted in the Yucatan's separate cultural and political identity. Another reason for this is the existence of a substantial Maya population in the Yucatan - estimates suggest around 1 million people in the area speak a Maya language. The people of the Yucatan look different from those in the rest of Mexico, and it's a very common sight to see many Maya women dressed in their traditional costumes. The men mostly wear western clothing.

The focal point of Merida is the Plaza Mayor, which was in turn the religious and social centre of the Mayan city of Tiho before the Spanish arrived - the Spanish re-used some of the stones of the Mayan town to build their buildings. Often (including every Sunday) the streets around the square are closed to traffic, and the city authorities sponsor cultural performances seemingly every day, usually in front of the town hall - we saw a vaquero-style dance performance. Most of the crowd were Mexican, and the people of Mexico seem to love such performances - wherever we've been, they've been packed with cheering locals. This is also where the hammock-sellers are most numerous and persistent, although nowhere near as bad as at Teotihuacan.

The Plaza Mayor at Merida

A highlight of Merida is the Governor's Palace on the Plaza Mayor. Despite the presence of numerous uniformed guards toting nasty-looking machine guns, you're free to wander about. The main point of interest is the series of murals and paintings depicting the history of the Yucatan peninsula. There are some brutal paintings showing the ill-treatment given to the Maya in colonial times, as well as pictures dealing with the "War of the Castes", when the Maya rebelled in 1847 against the Yucatan ruling classes, who had armed and trained them in the hope of seceding from Mexico and perhaps joining the USA. After capturing Valladolid, which was notorious for its abuse of the Maya, the rebels soon took control of the whole peninsula except Merida and Campeche, receiving supplies from the British via Belize. The white settlers' governor was about to abandon Merida when the rebels returned to their farms to plant corn. In the meantime, the Merida authorities received reinforcements and aid from Mexico City in return for accepting Mexican control. The settlers' counter-attack halved the Mayan population of the Yucatan between 1848 and 1855, although some rebels fought on until 1866 in the jungle of southern Quintana Roo.

The expensive hotels in Merida congregate around the Paseo de Montejo, which was built in the 19th century in an attempt to create a broad European boulevard along the lines of the Champs Elysees in Paris. It's much smaller than that of course, but it is in stark contrast to the narrow one-way streets of the rest of the city. Along either side of the boulevard are banks, hotels, expensive restaurants and grand old mansions, some of which have been preserved. At the north end sits the Monumento al Patria, a huge semi-circular statue carved with representations of dozens of important Mexicans.

Monumento al Patria, Merida