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On Friday night we attended the Paseo de Ánimas. Or the walk of the souls.

There were 500 people walking and about ten times that watching. There are strict rules for what the walkers could wear which is why it was a photographer’s dream.

At the beginning of the walk there was a purple light shining on the walkers. I think they were told to look solemn. A few times I snapped a picture, nodded my thanks and the person would break into a smile.

I love this little boy in the background of the above photo.

Before the parade there were girls and women in costume sitting or standing to welcome the souls.

After they passed by, we walked around and saw some of the altars set up to honor loved ones.

There were a lot of people, but everyone was respectful, sober and mellow. Merida does a great job at keeping everything family friendly. As the people in the parade walked by there was a group of people walking with them holding a rope sort of like a crowd control corral. It was to keep spectators or photographers from joining or getting in the way. At the end people could join and there was at least another 500 people not all dressed up or in Halloween costumes walking with the parade.

It was a big crowd and a bit hard to get there by Uber, but I’m glad we got to see it.

On Wednesday, Jeff and I flew to Mexico City. I needed a scan that they have in Merida but they have better machines in Mex City.

The scan came with a free night in the hotel attached to the hospital.

It came in very handy for my 7:00am test which was just down the hall.

On Wednesday night we checked out the Day of the Dead decorations in the neighborhood of Tlapan near the hospital.

Jeff and this skeleton got along especially well.

These skulls reminded me of the cows in Chicago and Pigs in Seattle years ago where different artists would paint them.

Mexico City has massive parades and decorations for Day of the Dead. We thought about staying the weekend for then but decided it would be too many crowds. 22 million people dressed up as skeletons sounds overwhelming.

We are flying back to Merida Thur night. One million skeletons and a Mayan themed celebration sounds more doable.

Merida has put up their Day of the Dead decorations. They were so fun to see. I can’t believe how clever they are.

Jeff has finally gotten back into making soughdough. He cooked a lot of bread in Panama but not in Mexico.

He got his starter going again. In Spanish it’s called Masa Madre. He has to label it because otherwise it looks like something you would throw out.

We only have a toaster oven so he had to make mini pizzas and loaves of bread. I gobbled down by mini loaf so fast I forgot to take a photo.

On Saturday we went to the town of Dzibilchaltún to see the temple of the 7 dolls. The name was so long we couldn’t get it all in the photo.

We started by going out for a great breakfast. Our waitress was super friendly and spoke great English. When she asked my name I said “Soy Sher” which in Spanish means I am Sher. I shorten my name since they never can pronounce it. For whatever reason she thought my name was Soysher and no matter how much I tried could not explain it.

There was the temple and a bunch of other ruins.

It was “cooler” than it’s been but still 99 degrees, a little too hot for walking around in the sun.

This was steep. Jeff ran up it. I went up on my hands sort of crawling. I wish I had potholders. The stones were hot.

The view was great from the top.

I went down on my butt. Could have used a butt pot holder.

Jeff went up ahead while I enjoyed the bench with a palapa

There was even a cenote. Unfortunately it was not open for swimming anymore.

The temple is named after the seven clay dolls they found in the temple. The website said the dolls were on display in the museum. I dreamed of that air conditioned museum the entire time wec were out there.

Turns out the museum isn’t built yet. Not sure where those dolls are. Where are those seven dolls? They are probably in someone’s living room.

It was a hot day, but fun and only a 20 minute Uber ride from our apartment. Looking forward to going back when it’s twenty degrees cooler.

After treatment on Monday I was full of energy due to the steroids they gave me. We walked around town and had tacos.

If the above photo had a name for a filter it would be oldest sister filter. I didn’t purposely make them blurry in this photo. Although they might not believe me.

Love that they were able to climb up onto these chairs.

Super nice skeleton.

Jeff joined us dinner and this happened. This was not our idea. We asked our waitress to take a photo and next thing you know we were wearing sombreros.

We ended the night at their airbnb.

Jenny and Laura came with me to treatment. They saw me in my ice cap. This med can cause hair thinning so this cap is supposed to help. So far it seems to.

I could not get either of them to eat the guest ham sandwich.

There was enough jello to go around.

They say with me while I was held hostage for two hours waiting to be released.

Then it was time to check out their Airbnb. This was the door into their Airbnb.

It was the must incredible Airbnb I’ve ever been in. It was like a historic house/art museum.

And they had their own private pool.

There were more rooms and more art but we were hungry so went out for tacos. I’ll post those photos tomorrow.

We spent Sunday on the beach which was so nice.

After the beach they dropped me off at our apartment. I was really tired and needed to eat bland food for treatment the next day.

They found a great restaurant and ordered elote that came with grasshoppers. They asked for them on the side.

Yuck! They didn’t try this.

It also came ground up in salt which they tried. They said it just tasted like salt.

They have an amazing Airbnb which I’ll post about tomorrow.

On Saturday we hung out on the beach.

Had some drinks.

We tried the weird crepe but only did Nutella and left out the cheese. It tasted much better without the cheese.

There were also some henna tattoos.

Laura and Jenny got in Friday night for a sisters weekend. We hopped in an uber and headed for the beach.

After dinner we tried that thing that’s on Tic Toc where you walk a funny way and get great selfies.

We obviously are doing something wrong.

Below is the youtube video of how it’s supposed to look. We will try again.