Celestún and "Mérida en Domingo"

Sorry I'm late with this post -- I knew I would regret telling you all to "check back on Monday." I had a wonderful, fun-filled weekend (Celestún on Saturday and downtown Mérida on Sunday), but have been so busy catching up on schoolwork that I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. Who knew studying abroad would require so much studying? I've had to write so much in Spanish today that even English is not very appealing to me right now, so I'll let the pictures take it from here...

Saturday morning we woke up early to drive to Celestún, home of the Parque Natural del Flameco Mexicano.  It was a gorgeous morning...

...but there wasn't a single flamingo to be found! Heavy rains the day before made the water too deep -- flamingos are filter feeders and have to be able to touch the ground.

But we still got to see lots of other wildlife!

Pelicans!

Mangroves!

Man catching (harvesting?) shrimp!

Then we had lunch at this place. No big deal, it just has a panoramic view of the water.

The weather was perfect...

...initially.

Fortunately, we were able to get a swim in before it got really bad!

We took refuge from the rain and played (you guessed it, Hodgeses) mafia.

The excursion definitely didn't go exactly according to plan, but what ever does? It was still a great day, and I had even more to look forward to on Sunday. Sunday morning I visited Mérida's Mayan history museum. I don't actual have any pictures to share, but my favorite exhibits were the ones about the Mayan creation story and the juego de pelota (ancient Mayan ball game in which the captain of the winning team was sacrificed to the gods). 

After the museum, I went with my host parents to Mérida en Domingo, an event held downtown in the Plaza grande every Sunday. Vendors set up stalls all along the plaza and surrounding streets are closed to traffic and reserved for pedestrians and bicycles. Entire families turn out to enjoy the food, music, and shopping. 

 

Once we were done strolling around the plaza, we crossed the street to take a tour of the Casa de Montejo. Francisco de Montejo was a conquistador of the Yucatan peninsula and Mérida's founder.

Construction began on the house in 1542...

...but its interior was restored to the style of the late 19th/early 20th century.

dining room/comedor

dining room ceiling!!

 Pretty great weekend, huh? Now back to reading about la sociedad maya en el periodo clásico...