Mérida, Yucatan

It wasn’t hard to pass the time as one of the most famous celebrations in Mexico was happening during our stay. The Day of the Dead, or in Spanish, ‘Dia de los Muertos.’ In Merida, and the Yucatan province they celebrate it a little differently and it is called Spirit’s Festival or ‘Paseo de las Animas.’ It replicates tradition and family life, including a procession that starts from Merida’s General Cemetery and ends at San Juan Park. The festivities are called Hanel Pixan (Feast of the Souls). There were events being held throughout our stay, and we visited at least half of them. This included the parade down central Merida, watching screaming girls and skeleton-painted faces. We visited the General Cemetery before the procession, enjoying one of the oldest cemeteries in Mexico. It was crazy busy, so luckily we scurried off a side street and walked back to our hotel after standing and waiting for almost three hours! We watched some comedy outside a catholic church, and walked by many different food stands. During this time we had lots of snacks, including churros, hamburgers and cheesy chocolate delights. A crazy combination, cheese and chocolate! But it was just okay, maybe we don’t have the taste buds for it!
Some highlights of our trip were the spectacular graffiti, giant Merida signs throughout the city centre, the hundreds of different colour doors and of course the food! We ate Papadzules, Relleno Negro tacos, both of which were Yucatan specialties. We found ourselves making fresh guacamole of course. We visited ‘Paseo de Montejo’ street, a wide colonial style avenue with big sidewalks. Read more