oh, man...

Merida is a very friendly town. Ok, there are lots store employees who are stationed around town and seem to think all touristas de los Estados Unidos are dying to buy hammocks and-or Panama hats; they are always trying to direct us towards those stores. They sometimes open store doors and try to guide us in. But again, most other people are friendly and very good humored.

This is a really creative town. Today we went to a regional art museum. My personal favorite piece was a bird sculpture made from seed pods. We were also very taken by work by a photography who varied his colors just enough to make the images look like they come from the edge of dreams. Another one did some wonderful shots of natural areas in Mexico. A third did shots from the air of cities in the developing world -houses upon houses upon houses with no visible space in between. There was also a room of photos that I can only describe as science fiction art - cats in space suits, all kinds of images of extra-terrestrial critters. There are really some creative folks around here. We look forward to seeing what kind of musicians and other performers show up on the Plaza tonight.

But it is so congested and hot, and yes, the air quality is pretty bad. Imagine yourself in a huge crowd of people rushing along the very thin sidewalks. I described it in my journal as like being in a human avalanche with no way to escape the rush; meanwhile, cars seem to be aiming for people. We have not seen anyone get hit, I think people here know how to deal with all this.
Again, it is good to experience this to get an idea of how most of the world lives.

We refreshed ourselves with a home made ice cream a little earlier. I think Kate had strawberry mango. I had grape, and it was yummy. You can get really unusual ice cream flavors in Mexico. I have also seen avacodo, cheese, corn, and jalepeno ice cream.

We are heading back to our little apt. to rest in a cool place for a while. We will cook later and come out to see what the New Years festivities are. We will spend tomorrow at Celustun, another bird filled estuary, and will leave Merida for Isla de Mujeres on Jan. 2. I will check in from there if not before.

Again -¡Prospero ano nuevo!