On Saturday we went to a “pop up” Korean dinner. We met Charlie at a social event. He’s a chef that recently owned a Korean restaurant in Playa de Carmen.
When he told us about his one night only Korean seven course dinner we bought tickets.
It was really good. When he opens his full time Korean restaurant in Merida we will be sure to go.
On Friday we started to feel the full effects of the Merida weather. May is their hottest month and we’ve been
warned about it. It’s like when people move to Seattle and ask if it rains in the winter or newcomers to Chicago ask if it’s cold in the winter.
As it gets closer to May it is getting hot.
We can sit outside until 10:30am then stay inside into 5:30. In the mornings and evenings it’s nice in the shade on our balcony. We’ve been taking a few walks in the morning, but today we walked to the gym and it was too hot.
On Thursday night we attended a, social meetup. This isn’t a great picture. Merida has tons of events. Every night of the week there is something going on. We haven’t been to many yet. But as we settle in we will start going to more of them.
On Wednesday I had my third maintenance drug treatment in México.
I have the routine down. First I sign a ton of paperwork.
Next I sign a promisary note which includes a fingerprint. I’m pretty much admitted to the hospital each time for my 30 minute infusion.
Then I get to my room where there are cookies.
Usually when they are done food shows up. The first time it was a really good egg sándwich. The second time it was a really bad chicken sándwich. This time it was chicken, pasta and jello.
I was pretty full after the cookies so only ate the crackers.
Then I settled in for a long wait before I was released. Knowing I’d be waiting made it go pretty fast. When they came to release me they gave me the gift key.
Jeff joke that you probably get it after spending $20,000 at the hospital. Each treatment costs $7,000 US dollars which thankfully insurance pays for.
On Tuesday we had a quiet day. Not much happened, although I did get to the bottom of why Izamal is painted yellow. Chat GPT said no one really knew.
One idea is that it was to spruce up the city for a visit from the Pope in 1993. That wasn’t that long ago. If that was the case couldn’t they just ask someone?
Another theory was it was to pay respect to the Mayan sun God. Or it helped to keep mosquitos away.
And then after more digging, I found the real reason. In the 1960’s the mayor of the town wanted to increase tourism. So, he got the entire town to paint all the buildings yellow. I have to wonder if he also owned a painted store.
On Monday we, walked to our favorite coffee Shop. There was a reason we were the only one on the street. It was really hot, even at 9:00 a.m.
This week they featured coffee from Oaxaca which is really good.
Later in the day we had baby carrots and this chopped jicama. I was thrilled because I love jicama bit is hard to cut.
After trying the precut version it’s worth the trouble to cut it. The added something to these to keep then from dying out which made them kind of slimy.
On Satuurday we took the Mayan train to the town of Izamel. It’s called the yellow city because the entire town is yellow.
We started at a restaurant that had the best food we’ve had here so far.
Then we walked around town.
There are two Mayan ruins in town. These are the only things not yellow.
Jeff climbed up the second one. I knew better.
After a full day we took the train back. This time it tan on time without any problems.
On Saturday Jeff and I took the Mayan Train to the town of Izamal. The train is new and a bit controversial. It was built to increase tourism and is beautiful. Many people think it’s a waste of money because it won’t be run correctly.
Once it’s all built, if it’s all built, it will be amzing.
The Merida train station is way out of town, but really big and well organized.
We chose the town of Izamal because ot was only 35 minutes away, perfect for a day trip.
The platform was so orderly they had us stand in the area where our assigned train car would stop.
When the train arrived everyone clapped.
We were all ready for our 35 minute trip. They even mopped the floor after everyone boarded.
Forty five minutes and two more moppings later we we’re still at the station. My heart sank when a man boarded with a megaphone. No good news is ever said through a megaphone.
They had overbooked the train. We all had to move to a bigger train on the opposite track. No one clapped for this new train.
The train finally started, then stopped. More mopping, then it made it to the first stop. Tixkokob. Two people got off, one person got on. More mopping.
The train sat there for hours. Luclily there was a really nice woman and her college aged daughter seated across from us. It might have been Stockholm syndrome, but we became fast friends. The daughter went to university in the city of Queretaro which we’ve been intetested in.
We all agreed that next time a train arrived we would boo instead of clap. Finally after three hours our train made it to Isamal.
The town was beautiful. I’ll post about that next.
On Friday we went to the Mayan train office to buy tickets. The train is new and has,a,website but it’s hard to figure out. The tickets took longer to buy than the trip will.
We bought tickets to the town of Izamal which is the first stop from Merida. The town loojs interesting but it’s more of a trip to see how the train works.
After getting our tickets, we went grocery shopping. I’m not sure if this is sold in the US but I’m pretty sure it would be too spicy for me.
On Thurday we have a quiet day. Jeff worked, I had a Spanish lesson and we walked to the gym. Our neighborhood is modern but still fun too look at
