Frank and I spent a week in and around Merida, Mexico. My oldest sister, Sharon, and her husband, Gardner, live in Merida for three months in the winter. Their home is in Maine—so, what would you do for the winter—Maine or Mexico? Me, too! I hadn’t been to see Sharon and Gardner since I flew to Oaxaca, Mexico to see them about six years ago. I was amazed that it had been that long.
Now that Frank has a passport, it made perfect sense for him to go with me. He admitted that he was a bit tentative about visiting Mexico. It was all he could do to take a taxi into Mazatlan last February when we cruised the Mexican Riviera. But we found a decent deal on Frontier Airlines and booked a good deal on a hotel just a few blocks from Sharon and Gardner’s apartment and away we went.
Our first adventure was to get from the Cancun airport to the ADO (ah-day-oh) bus terminal in Cancun. Sharon emailed us detailed, step-by-step instructions. It was pretty easy actually. The trickiest thing before that was finding an ATM that worked—the third one we tried produced plenty of pesos and we were in business.
The bus terminal was lively and fun. A nice local man helped us get to the correct ticket booth and we booked on a first class bus to Merida. We had about an hour wait so we had time to get a sandwich and “people watch”. We got to wait in the “first class” waiting area which had a TV, but all we could watch was some teenage sitcom in Spanish. I don’t think it would have made much sense in English, either. We checked our bags and it wasn’t long till our bus was ready to depart. Our lone concern was that Sharon had hoped we’d make it on to the 5:00 bus. By the time our shuttle from the airport circled the airport parking lot and pulled back in to the same boarding area, evidently to collect more riders, we were too late for the 5:00 bus. It didn’t matter much to us, but they had said they’d check the bus station in Merida about 9:30. We arrived about 10:30 and happily they had hung around, waiting for “one last bus”. It was so fun to see them again. They quickly arranged for a taxi and we headed to our hotel—the Yucatan Vista Hotel.
I had no idea what to expect, the pictures on line seemed nice, but you know how that can go. The owner is British. Sharon described him as “the only person in Merida without a personality!” He is nice enough, but he mumbles in his heavy British accent, and Frank got tired of asking him to repeat himself. He took us up to our room, showed us how to work the hot water, gave us our keys—one to our room and one to the front door, and left us to get settled. Sharon and Gardner stayed for a few minutes. Their place is about a 7 minute walk.
One of my favorite features of our room was the little balcony that overlooked the dipping pool in the courtyard.
View from the balcony--
A few mornings we enjoyed the “special breakfast”—Fruit, omelet, and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Our room was clean and bright, and best of all—the AC worked perfectly.
It was a great place to flop for a siesta in the middle of the afternoon, and the location was perfect—close to Sharon, close to the parks and the Zocalo, a bus stop right across the street, and just about 6 blocks from the temple and the church.
We did a temple session Saturday morning. It was lovely. There was a missionary couple from Orem, and we were able to use wireless translators.
I didn’t get a picture of the chapel where we attended church on Sunday. We attended the 11:00 block, just Sacrament Mtg. As we were sitting, waiting for the meeting to start, the clock moved nearer and nearer to 11:00 and no prelude music, no organist. When Elder and Sister Palmer walked in, Frank commented to them that I play, would the Bishop like me to play the organ. He gave a great big nod and up I went to check out the pretty deluxe Yamaha Clavinova. I found the organ setting and we sang Onward, Christian Soldiers, Jesus, Once of Humble Birth, and Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing. As the meeting ended, a bit ahead of schedule, the bishop got up and made some sort of an announcement. I heard the word “music” two or three times and as he turned around to sit down, I motioned “Should I play?” Yup. So, it seems that I was also the special musical number—for about 7 minutes, while the other ward that meets at 9:00, made their transitions to their next class, and this ward waited, avoiding crowds in the halls. It was a very comfortable situation. It there is one thing I can play with zero stress, it’s hymns. Pretty soon the bishop stood up and dismissed the congregation and that was that. Frank asked Sister Palmer if she could point out the Relief Society President and translate for us. We had brought with us a full suitcase of clothes—I cleaned out my closet and Frank brought some clothes from DI that Tom gave him. We put the clothes in two large garbage bags from our hotel and brought them to the church, hoping that we could donate them where the need was greatest. Instead of the Relief Society president, Sister Palmer approached the Stake President, who happened to be there that day. He immediately said that there is a village just out of Merida, in his stake, where the need is great. He was very glad to accept the bags and we were grateful for the opportunity to give. It added a nice feeling to our Sabbath.
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