Trip to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

Emmerson and one of the lovely, tropically hued buildings on the Paseo Montejo. 

Wow, Merida sure did impress. I did not even know Merida existed prior to Emmerson opting to do a study abroad in Mexico. Originally, the program she selected was in Mexico City. She would have been staying in a dorm situation at an international university in the city. DePaul transferred her to the program in Merida as the one in Mexico City required a higher level of Spanish proficiency than Emmerson had at the time. Actually, she had no official instruction other than the Spanish course she was taking at DePaul at that time. But she still wanted to go so glad the Merida option worked out. She would be staying in a homestay with Dona Marilu (who I now know is an absolutely lovely lady who has taken wonderful care of Emmerson) who has been a study abroad mom for over 20 years BUT does not speak a whole lot of English which is ideal for a student like Emmerson who could definitely benefit from an immersive experiencing as terrifying as it can be at times!

So that's the background of why Merida. It is the capital of the state of Yucatan, which is in the southern part of Mexico and makes up part of the Yucatan peninsula. The Yucatan Peninsula is where Cancun and Tulum are located, but in the state to the east of the state of Yucatan, which Merida is the capital city. 

Again, I knew nothing of the city, which I actually like going into a trip, so I can experience it without any preconceived notions. It is one of the cleanest, well functioning, and overall delightful cities I have been to. 

And here is a chronological visual journey of Emmerson and my time in Merida last weekend (Fabruary 12 - 15).

In the always a joy baggage check line at O'hare. I took the red eye Volaris flight. It left at midnight, transferred in Mexico City at 4 am which was a delight. I think Mexico city is like 294 in Chicago - perpetually under considerable construction. And then on to Merida. I rarely sleep on airplanes but slept a lot of the way so that was a swell surprise.

Arrived in Merida without issue, and then had an issue.  I cleared immigration no problem, scurried thru the airport taxi official and then unofficial area as I planned to uber. Texted for uber and received a response. It said, "meet me on calle 32". I responded. "I don't know where calle 32 is". He canceled. So I checked my surroundings and realized there was not a whole lot of Uber action going on. I pulled up a map and found calle 32 and made my way there and tried uber again. The uber critter assured me there was a driver coming soon and I watched them on the uber map as they video gamed around but none committing. And then I heard back from the uber fellow who canceled with the interesting message "its federal land" as if that explained everything - but it actually did. They were not allowed to pick up within a certain radius of the airport. So I began wandering away until finally I got one to stop. This all took about 45 minutes. I went to the centro as Emmerson was in class until 1 pm and I figured I could sit and drink coffee and basically just do that for a while. Here I am in centro.

And the cafe on the centro plaza where I drank coffee and ate that fruit, which was quite nice. 

Yayyyy! After a bit, I got another uber, without any excitement, who took me to UATY - University Autonomous Something beginning with a T Yucatan but all in Spanish. This is where Emmerson studies. So I texted her and after a few minutes, turned around and there she was!! Yaaayyyy!

It was Valentines Day season so I had Emmerson "pozu" which she did dutifully - they have learned from years of posing for my random pictures that protesting just prolongs the inevitable so just get it done. She did note that it was embarrassing as we were in the student hang out area and she had an audience. 

Emmerson with the official UATY cat, Mordisco?? or something like that - the biter. He just basked on the table and passerbyes would say hi and pat it - part of the students experience. Sidenote - lots of cats in Merida - as it is definitely a street cat city not a street dog city - (check post from 20 years ago to get my take on this dog cat world reality ...). And Emmerson has taken to them very fondly. 

It was carnival while I was there so different related festivities were taking place. Emmerson heard their was a child and pet parade in centro so we made our way there via bus. The bus system in the city is amazing. Merida is not a crowded city - so traffic is not bad at all. This enables public buses to be actually efficient - on time and reliable - unlike many more densely populated cities where buses have to join the traffic jams. They also had a new fleet of electric and hybrid buses which were comfy and pleasant. The parade consisted of different costumed neighborhood groups of children lead by a pickup truck with massive speakers blaring whatever song they were dancing to. And this group was followed by another truck blaring music with its gaggle of dancing children following behind and press repeat. We were there at least for a half hour and there was no end in site of the procession. Unfortunately - no pets. 

Cool scene as the backdrop is the downtown campus of Emmerson's UATY university. 

Fonding up another street cat. Most seem tended to and "live" near/in/around a store/restaurant/establishment which most likely does the tending to. 

Passing time on Paseo Majeo (I forgot the actual name of this street and have already called it two things) one of the mainstreets leading in and out of centro. It was quite the contrast to centro - the old colonial center of the city - as the street is quite developed with broad sidewalks and lots of slick restaurants, cafes and stores sharing space with street vendors and taquerias. Nice place to stroll and stop for a nutella filled croissant and esspresso!

My favorite dining experience: Jefe de Jefe's!! All the food we ate was quite nice but this taqueria was not only delicious but just a cool place. They have all sorts of Mexican quick type of foods - buritos tortas etc but I think most known for their tacos and thats what we focused on. You select the type of meat from a list and corn or wheat tortillas and thats it! Condiments are placed on the table and the tacos follow soon after. I got horchata which I rarely get but always enjoy. 

The cone of meat for the pastor tacos. 

In front of Dona Marilu's house where Emmerson is staying. She's got a really nice setup. There is another boarder from a program thru Rice University staying as well and she and Emmerson have second floor to themselves. Each has their own room and they share a bathroom. Dona Marilu is in her 60's and has her mom living there with their live in caretaker. Emmerson gets her meals there - typically breakfast and dinner on their own/on the go but they often eat lunch all together. 

In centro in one of the many squares in front of one of the cathedrals. Notice in these photos how clean it is!!

Same square.

Inside the cathedral. I believe this is the oldest in the city.

Merida is only about 20 miles or a 45 minute bus drive from the coast and the popular tourist town of Progresso. Here we are on our way. Just buy a ticket at the station and centro and your on your way!

5 Minute walk from the Progresso station to the beach. They have one of those set up where you claim a sunshade and chairs on the beach and then attenders come and you buy food and drink from them and the restaurant that is on that part of the beach. We spent a few hours there just relaxing. The water was bit chilly and not a lot to do in the water by oneself so spent most of the time relaxing on the beach.

Ha - I am still wearing the fit I had on in Chicago. It was not chilly by any means but felt good to be warm after the arctic blitz we've had in Chicago. 

There we go - sun screen and shirt, seafood ceviche, and a fruiffy beverage - that's more like it. The ceviche was quite tasty.

They seem to like these style of city monograms. 

Back in Merida at a cafe in centro whiling a way the time until ......

....... dinner! This was a neat place on one of the centro plaza's. It had a second floor and a few balcony nooks situated over the sidewalk below where we opted to sit. 

Yucatan style braised pork with tortillas and a very nice pizza. 

I opted to get an Airbnb close to where Emmerson lives. It was basically a bedroom with a bathroom and attached to the owners house but with its own private entrance from the carpark. It was a great location as it was a 5 minute walk from Emmerson's place. Saturday morning I was finally able to rouse myself for an early morning run. Unfortunately I forgot my Garmin watch so had to use my phone in a hip carrier which doesn't always work and this time it did not. I just like to get a map of places I run that are not my usual but oh well - not this time. It ended up being about an 8 mile run because I could not check my phone as it was all zipped up in the carrier. It was fine on the run out as still morning cool - but it was quite hot on the return run. But always fun to get out and about in new places. 

A breakfast place down the street from Emmerson's showing some bizarro photo edit of herself that Ada always sends. It was tasty and so nice to just sit outside, chat and watch things go by.

The Mayan influence is quite present in Merida from the people to the Yucatec Maya language to the food and the story of the Yucatan and Merida. A Mayan monument in one of the main round abouts in the city.

The fancy Merida McDonalds!

Still in awe of the machinations of the flour factory. 

Awe inspiring. 

And across the street was the largest park in Merida - La Plancha?? Maybe? It has lots of trains which made me think it might have once been a train station/terminal. And it had a really big flag.

Twinning on our last day ... by accident which made it even better.

Coffee and macha for Emmerson on our last day. Spending some time before getting our final lunch at Jefe de Jefe's before heading off to the airport. 

The cone in full effect. We went an hour after opening so it was definitely heftier than hour previous evening visit. 

Portugal 2025! Porto

 A short train ride from Braga and we were in the lovely city of Porto spanning the hillsides cascading down to the Douro River. And its loveliness is officially recognized by UNESCO as Ribeira, a large part of the original city situated along the river front and adjoining hillside, has been given World Heritage status.

On the south side of the Douro River in the area of Vila Nova de Gaia. You can see the Ribeira part of Porto in the background across the river left of the bridge, that was designed by Gustave Eiffel, yes, the famous French fellow. 

But before venturing off to Porto, we needed one last powdered pastry powered breakfast at our favorite cafe in Braga. Ada doubling down on her favorite and holding some sort of fruity beverage.

Exiting the old part of Braga via the city gate to get to the train station which was just outside of the old city and a short walk from where we stayed. 

The blue tile work on the building to the left of me and the gate was stunning and we would come across more of it as we traveled thru Porto and Lisbon. 

Yaaayy - a quick train ride to Porto and we stepped off into a throng of multiple tour groups getting the details of the station. Porto was bustling and definitely touristy in many parts but not in a bad way at all. The station was beautiful and decorated in that pale blue tile mosaic that I mentioned in the final Braga image.

Ada in our doorway with the Douro River in the background and Vila de Gaia across the river. 

Our B and B/hotel was situated in Ribeira on the banks of the Douro River. The train station was located about a half mile from the river but all of Porto is on a hill, so navigating the cobblestone sidewalk with Ada's rolly suitcase was a bit of an adventure but it was a relatively short walk to get to our place. I booked all our places kind of randomly. So it was interesting to see what we got when we arrived! This was in an area that used to be all the apartments and such for the dock workers. They were going to wipe it all out a while back and build a promenade along the river like they did in Lisbon, but the people of Porto were not having that so this rather blast from the past area of Porto remains in tact and has become a very popular area - as we would fully experience in our two night there .... LOTS of restaurants and beer gardens and LOTS of people drinking LOTS of beer and fully enjoying all the live music, vendors, and other forms of entertainment situated along the river area. 

Bunk beds and quite small but functional and clean and in a very interesting location. We spent little time in our hotels so it was just fine. It did require quite a walk up into Porto proper every morning as we were at ground zero regarding elevation.

Out on our "balcony" which was a sidewalk servicing the apartments and restaurants above the quay where most of the bars, restaurants, vendors and such were located.

The sidewalk and river quay below. The green doors opened into our room.

Walking up from our riverside apartment into the city, with another lovely cathedral in the background.

Another street scene. It had toasted up a bit since Braga and the sun was out for the remainder of our trip. 

Another fit and another cathedral! This one had the blue mosaic covering the east wall.

So this was random. We were walking about and saw this long line portioned into time slots. It was a long line so obviously something quite popular and maybe something I did not want to miss out on! So after a bit of inquiring, we found out this was the bookstore where Miss Rowling worked for a while when she was living in Portugal and became the inspiration for whatever alley, where the wizard children go to by things, in the Harry Potter series. 

Another cafe kind of situated at the "top" of Porto, where the hillside plateaus a bit. It was in a large square of, believe it or not, a cathedral!

And the Porto McDonalds, or at least the one that gets some mentions in the tourist scrolls. It used to be the Imperial Cafe and is located centrally along one of the main Porto squares. McDonalds kept the original architecture and it makes for an interesting McDonalds experience. I look angry, but I'm not - just my resting bitch face. 

Slick - bit more impressive than an M.

Fancy inside. 

And the infamous francesinha. It is one of the dishes that visitors are typically asked if they have tried it yet. It is various layered meats enclosed in dough covered in melted cheese and a paprikaish sauce and topped with an egg. It was fine but a lot. Ada had a mini version and I think the face was because she had just had a drink of her fizzy beverage not in response to the mini francesinha. 

The food scene was an interesting situation. I would have loved to have tried more seafood and definitely the giant grilled sardines. I enjoy regular old sardines in a can so I can only imagine how good fresh grilled ones would be. Unfortunately, imagine is all I did do to my strange "certain types of fish" allergy that leaves me very ill. I might have been able to eat more but I did not want to take the chance and end up spending a day curled up on the bathroom floor. So, we did try lots of pastries!! But I had to steer clear of the fish. 

This was something I had never seen before. A lot of the streets in Portugal served pedestrians and vehicles. On the streets that were more for pedestrians, they would have one of these cylinders. When a car approached, a sensor would detect the vehicle and the cylinder was retract into the ground allowing the car to pass on to the "pedestrian" street. Then it would rise up again into place blocking motor vehicles. Some kids would ride it up and down which I thought was neat.

One of these things you stumble across that you never expected to see. Most churches are free to enter and others have hours or charge for entry. This one had a wedding going on during the day but we came upon it at night and it looked like people were entering so we thought we'd have a look. It ended up being a light show that was on showing in the church. It was pretty impressive and a different way to bring modern technology into highlighting the beauty of these structures. 

It was about ten Euros and about half an hour and a neat surprise to start our first evening in Porto.

In the alley ways and backyard areas of the apartments where our room was situated.

On the quay below the area where our room was located. Gustave Eiffel designed bridge in the back.

Some Day ..... 

Stop in at Starbucks on our first full day walkabout. Fun to see how US establishments adapt to other places.

And our first cafe of the day on the beginning of our walkabout. 

I went for a run early on this morning to map out what we could do for a walking tour. We began at our place on the Porto side of the Douro River. Walked up into Porto and stopped by Starbucks to check it out. Then went to the cafe in the previous image because thats what you do in Porto to kick off your day, keep your day going and end your day! Then we made our way over to a church with a terrace overlooking the city which is where the next several photos are from. 

Ceramic tile wall of the church.

Ceramic tile wall and the church.

Overlooking the orange rooftops of Porto from the church terrace.

Random duck siting on our walk about.

Douro River and Porto cascading north up the hillside. Our room was just above that green awning in the center of the photo.

Good view of the city and the Douro River. You can almost see the mouth of the Douro where it ends in the Atlantic.

Yaayyyy - fit number 2.

We had crossed the bridge to the south side of Porto which is officially called Vila Nova de Gaia. These are taken from a fort with a good view from the southside.

Another view of the Douro making its way to the Atlantic. I didn't know how close we were to the ocean until we did a boat tour highlighting all the bridges that cross the river around Porto. After the last bridge siting, we could make out the breakwater that protects the mouth of the Douro. So the next morning I excitedly went on a run to the ocean with the hopes of getting into the Atlantic in Portugal. Fortunately, the area where the Douro does flow in was not industrialized at all and there was actually a sandy beach right where the road I was running on turned to run along the coast. So I ventured on to the beach and to the surf and had a splash in the Atlantic. It was about an 8 mile run but worth it. 

"Posu"

And then we took a cable car from the high point down to the shoreline. Why, because it was in the guidebook and seemed to be a thing to do but it was quite uneventful if you have ever been on a cable car before .... 

And then we stumbled on to a motorcycle event along the banks of the river. There were hundreds of bikes there and some pretty slick ones for sure. A bit loud at times because bikers seem to have the uncontrollable urge to rev their engines whilst driving down a crowded street going five miles an hour. Its really annoying and a bit silly, but I get it, sort of.

Giant dog!

He was really big and slobbery.

Squinting as we relaxed a bit on the riverside.

Bridge from the Vila Nova de Gaia side.

After we crossed back into Porto, Ada hit some shops and I went strolling. Cool ceramic exterior.

Charcuterie dinner. It was very nice.

Taken by our waiter, who was from Africa, as the majority of the service workers, and many other "typical new immigrant jobs" seemed to occupy.

Duck siting.

After a busy day, back in our home area, party time on the quay.

Our area looking across the river up the hill to the Vila Nova de Gaia side.