CHAPTER 18. CENTRAL AMERICA & YUCATAN CONT.

After a good breakfast we taxi to the airport to find our Aviateca flight has been canceled and there isn’t another until tomorrow. We get on a standby list at Taca and with great luck get two no-show seats to Merida via San Salvador and Belize City. Every seat is full on both segments, and from Belize to Merida one passenger sits up in the pilot’s compartment. We arrive at the Hotel Caribe and are in our room by 12:30. We have lunch at the Merida International then walk in the market area where there is much to buy, but we wait for that. There are many vendors on the streets, most with panama hats or hammocks. As we go to dinner at the Hotel Panamericana there are large groups of carnival dancers on the streets. We have a good shrimp dinner at the hotel and see a show of Yucatan dancers.

After sleeping late and breakfast at the hotel, we taxi to the bus station and buy tickets for Chichenitza for tomorrow, then walk to the market and buy a Yucatan dress. At the Montejo Hotel verandah we have beer and tacos and watch people; there are many people on the street, gathering for a later parade. In the afternoon we go to the civic center and see the State Government Building and it’s murals and the Cathedral with massive columns and little decoration. Walking, we find Alberto’s Restaurant and have delicious Lebanese food. Back at the hotel we pay our bill and prepare for the bus trip to Chichenitza.