Merida

We arrived in beautiful Mérida, the largest city and capital of the Yucatán on 27th October - in time to fully appreciate the Día de los Muertos (day of the dead) celebrations. We spent a week here, so felt like we got a really good feel for it whilst enjoying some incredible day trips.

Merida is a fascinating city, and there is rarely a shortage of things to do (and particularly so at this time of year). Much of the city looks very colonial, and many of the historical sites tell stories of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and the colonisation of the Americas. Starting in 1519, Cortés arrived in the Yucatán peninsula with 11 ships, 500 men, and 16 horses (of which there were none in the region), and strict instructions to chart the peninsula, NOT to colonise. Cortés had other ideas. More on that later.

Thought Merida, as with many sites of historical or religious importance in Mexico, many of the colonial buildings (including the beautiful Cathedral at Plaza Grande) were built using stones and materials of former Mayan sites that were destroyed and replaced (with colonial buildings or Catholic churches, for instance). It seems like an apt picture of colonialism to destroy sites of local significance and use the materials to make a less authentic creation. Whilst awful, a small part of these places live on, despite their destruction, which feels quite poignant and hopeful in a sad way.

Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral at Plaza Grande

We visited the Palacio de Gobierno (the Governor's Palace) at the main square - Plaza Grande - to look at some oil painting murals by a Méridan artist, Fernando Castro Pacheco. They told stories of the history of the Yucatán, ranging from pre-Hispanic times to colonisation and beyond. They were so impressive and it was fascinating to browse through them whilst government meetings were happening all around us. They are big fans of murals in in Mexico, and we saw some incredible artwork.

Festivities

During the end of October/start of November, many festivities begin throughout Mexico. The least celebrated of these is Halloween - we saw some children and tourists dressed up like pumpkins or witches, and some who dressed their dogs up like tacos (super cute). The main festivities were what we came to Merida to aee: Día de los Muertos (day of the dead) and Janal Pixan.

Janal Pixan

Janal Pixan is a Mayan tradition celebrated in the Yucatan, which translates to “food of the souls” and is the Yucatan counterpart of Día de los Muertos. Taking place over a three-day period, it is essentially a way to connect with loved ones (relatives, friends, even pets) who have died. The first day, Janal Palal (31st October) is dedicated to children who have passed; the second, U Janal Nucuch Uinicoob (1st November) is dedicated to deceased adults, and the third, Janal Pixanoob (2nd November), is when mass is held, normally in a cemetery, in honour of the deceased. The festivities are heavily focused on honouring the dead through the medium of food: families build ‘ofrendas’ or altars to their deceased loved ones, and decorate these with colourful flowers (normally ‘cempasúchils’ or Mexican marigolds), candles, pictures and the favourite foods of their deceased loved ones, as well as seasonal foods like Xec (a mix of citrus fruits, jimaca and chili powder, which I tried and was delicious and like nothing I'd ever tasted before), seeds and sweet breads (like Pan de muertos, made with butter and citrus - of which we had MANY).

Offrendas

Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos, or day of the dead, is something that many associate with Mexico. It traditionally lasts for two days, 1st and 2nd November (it used to last much longer, but festivities were historically moved to these dates after the Spanish conquered, to coincide with Catholic traditions of All Souls and All Saints days). The festivities are marked in many areas by huge parades, ofrendas to deceased loved ones and Catrina maquillage (skull make-up).

A fascinating fact I only recently learned about the festivities, is that whilst it has been celebrated in Mexico for many years, there was no large parade in Mexico City before the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, which shows such a parade taking place. After this, the government decided to put on a huge parade every year. Interesting!

Parades

In Merida, we watched two huge parades, of Catrinas, locals in traditional dress, famous characters and even dogs dressed in costumes.

The first of these parades, el Paseo de Los Animas (the Walk of the Souls), takes place on 31st October and is the largest of the parades, starting at the General Cemetery and ending at San Juan Park (not far from where we were staying). Those marching cross through the Portal de Luz (the portal of light, which allows the spirits to cross into the land of the living) and advance by candlelight, in silence. The mood was eerie and somber, and the route is lined with alters to deceased loved ones, with families selling trinkets or food to parade goers along the way, often in aid of children's charities (with 31st October being dedicated to children). The number of people in attendance is absolutely overwhelming and incredible - no one is getting anywhere in a hurry, and the atmosphere is intense.

Even the police have Catrina make-up!

We wandered around the beautiful cemetery beforehand. The cemeteries here are so interesting and impressive.

We managed to grab a seat right outside the cemetery gates (although this did mean we waited a good few hours for the parade to start). In the meantime, there were recreations of the traditional Mayan ballgame - there were no decapitated heads in this version, but the ball was literally on fire. The players even managed to score a few goals.

Goal!!!

The games were preceded and followed by ancient Mayan traditions, including announcing that on this night, the mayor invites souls to cross over to the world of the living, to visit the altars their loved ones had built for them.

The following night, we watched El Desfile de Catrinas (the Parade of the Catrinas), which is a much more upbeat, lively parade - with parade goers and walkers, children and dogs dressed in Catrina makeup, dancing through the route.

Celestun

One of our day trips was to Celestún on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico - we woke up early and got a rather indirect bus (which took about 2.5 hours)

but it was fascinating passing through lots of tiny towns and villages. When we got to Celestún, we headed to the beach and took a boat trip to see flamingos and mangrove forests.

It wasn't quite flamingo season yet (which starts in November) but as we have been very often on our trip, we were very lucky, and saw many flamingos, as well as pelicans, vultures, cormorants: I even saw a Crested Caracara just walking down the beach. The boat was moving too quickly for a picture unfortunately. It baffles me the things you see looking out of moving transport - gone in a flash, never to be seen again.

The boat trip was incredible - we stopped in the water to swim and rub the mud all over us (which is good for the skin, apparently) and were really near to some flamingos, which felt surreal.

We grabbed some lunch on the beach and made friends with some local dogs (as usual) before heading back to Merida.

Uxmal

Our second Mayan ruins visit was to Uxmal, about 1/2 hours away from Merida. The Uxmal Archaeological Zone is located in the Puuc region, and is considered to be one of the most important sites in Maya culture. The town of Uxmal was founded in 700 AD and was home to approximately 20,000-25,000 inhabitants. The buildings that you can still see standing in the site date between 700 and 1000 AD and are remarkably preserved and impressive, particularly the Pyramid of the Magician, which towers over the site.

We also got up close to some Black Vultures, that we've been seeing throughout Mexico!

It lacks the crowds of Chichén Itzá, and you can walk on and explore many of the ruins, unlike it's better known counterpart. I found the Pyramid of the Magician so impressive, with the entrance at the top carved to resemble the mouth of the rain god, Chac.