In which Layla and Roz visit Mayan cities and feel very relieved to have clothes

By Layla 

Our holiday to Mexico kicked off with an inauspicious start. Up at an ungodly hour, our plane from Washington to Philadelphia was delayed because the crew's bags got stuck behind a door - a bizarre tale that meant we left an hour later with an alternate crew, touched down with minutes to spare, sprinted through the terminals, hopped on a little airport buggy, and reached a very silent, empty gate after it had closed. Luckily for us, a toilet malfunction delayed departure and we were able to plead, beg and cajole ourselves onto the plane! Our suitcases, alas, were not so lucky. As the final bag made its way sadly round the carousel in Cancun, we resigned ourselves to the lost luggage desk - and while filling out the requisite forms, missing the bus we'd planned to get to transfer to Merida, our first destination. 

Bags duly registered, and an unlikely-sounding promise from US Airways to deliver them to our B&B 4 hours away when they arrived, we set about getting ourselves to Merida. Since Roz had managed to sustain second degree burns to her face courtesy of some boiling soup and a faulty blender, we had changed our Mexico route at the last minute to not put her face in the sea - and this meant starting our holiday on a bus. So we duly acquired a bus ticket for the next bus, whiled away an hour and a half in an airport restaurant (and an airport shop buying toothpaste) and then sans luggage, we hopped upon the four hour bus to the city of Merida. 

By the time we arrived at our little B&B, we were ravenous. So we checked in and headed out to Amado, a pretty courtyard restaurant where we ate enchiladas and drank mohitos while enjoying an atmospheric band playing on a little stage in front of us. A Mayan cultural festival is currently taking place in Merida, so our walk both to and from the restaurant was punctuated with visits to different pretty little squares with Mayan music performances - all very cheery. Merida is a pretty and charming little colonial-style city with lots of arty things going on. 

The next day we were up long before the crack of dawn, thanks to the somewhat unexpected but much appreciated appearance of our luggage from Cancun Airport at 5am! Hooray! Once it was light and we hoovered up an excellent breakfast, we took a taxi to Bici-ruta, the Merida Sunday close-down-the-streets-for-bicycles extravaganza. Having foolishly failed to bring ID, we couldn't rent bikes, but we strolled down the length of it, along a street known as America's answer to the Champs Élysées... Not as busy as the Colombia equivalents we enjoyed earlier this year, but still fun. We popped into a nice little restaurant for beers and fruit, then after further pottering around the Sunday market in the main square, sat down to lunch at an Italian restaurant in a very pretty little square just as a very jolly little outdoor tea dance with live music. Large numbers of older locals clustered to watch and the whole area was full of couples dancing. An excellent and delightful accompaniment to our lunch, though we didn't dare get up and dance ourselves! 

After lunch, we realized it was approaching 3pm, the time when it was apparently going to rain, according to the woman in our hotel. Sure enough, as we walked along the road the drops started and we dashed inside the modern art museum just as the deluge commenced! To the sound of rain battering off the roof of the cool modern art building (MACAY), we enjoyed some cool and some fairly uninspiring local modern art - interesting and enjoyable - particularly when peeking outside to the torrential rain! After it stopped, we walked home and I braved the swimming pool while Roz watched and laughed at me, under the guise of protecting her face. Later we went out for dinner - salads and wine in one place, then down to the busy main square area for beer. I chuckled and photographed the result of Roz's request for a large beer - in fact a giant glass that I believe is known as a yard of beer. We strolled home, inexplicably exhausted but having really enjoyed Merida. 

Today we were excited not to get up while it was still dark. At a civilized hour after another excellent breakfast we boarded a little tour van bound for a charming little market town featuring a church with bunting and a pharmacy where we bought a weird bottle of antihistamine medicine for a Roz, and then to Uzmal and Kabah. Both of these are impressive Mayan ruins about an hour and a half from Merida. In a confusing weather situation that veered from rain to blistering sun, we strolled around these old cities, the guide pointing out salient features. We admired bird motifs and watching iguanas, and climbed one of the pyramids for a very cool view over the jungle, while Roz kept her hat at a perky angle to shield her face. Both ruins were very cool, though we had a particular soft spot for Kabah which was still being excavated whilst we were there. We were amused to see the various stones that fell off the buildings over the years have been retrieved, lined up on the grass, labelled, and were being painstakingly put back in their original places by a team of restorers. Amused - and glad that wasn't our job. We were the only visitors, which felt like an added bonus.

After an unexciting late lunch in a hotel, we drove back to Merida amidst a giant rainstorm. We are now huddled in our hotel room with beer, eyeing up the murky, darkening sky and wondering if I dare brave the swimming pool for a preprandial swim... I suspect Roz will force me.