The Gentleman Friend arrived last night. It was delightful to see him and to share new experiences, but also an end to eating what and how I want, and the timings I prefer. So it goes, one gives, one gets. As soon as he arrived we went for a stroll around Merida where there was music playing at every corner and entire families relaxing in the public squares. It was relaxed and joyous – the start of Holy Week here, perhaps, but also just a society where there are public commons and a habit of enjoying them.
Dinner was less glorious, we went to a Yucatanese restaurant which was a bit stodgy and at times even unpleasant, but luckily a palate cleansing ice cream sitting on the street and listening to music.
This morning we strolled down to the same taqueria I’d been to a couple of days earlier (partly because I’d decided that another Yucatanese meal was not, perhaps the right thing) and on the way back we wandered into the museum of folk art. This turned out to be excellent. It was a government museum and definitely had that air, with a stern woman manning the entrance who gave us instructions on how to view the objects, which books to sign, etc. There was a special exhibition of contemporary folk art with some spectacular pieces including a lovely Catrina on a swing and the Mexican tree of life which looks like it belongs in Paprika. On the way out we picked up a very fine little Catrina that will go to the GF’s mother as a birthday present.
We took the bus, a two hour journey, and have now arrived in Valladolid where we are staying in a converted warehouse at the end of a highly instagrammable street strung with buntings for Holy Week. Valladolid is smaller and far poorer than Merida, which is the state capital, and the people are very Maya indeed in appearance. I hadn’t realised that there were areas with so little admixture from Europe, though I suppose it’s to be expected.