Last days in Merida

The end of our week in Merida was more relaxed but the heat index was rising...36C in the afternoon! Luckily, the humidity is not as high here as in Cancun but 36C is 36C!!!!

We still had to explore the Merida market and found it during one of those sweltering afternoon...We have seen many markets during our travel in the Caribbean but this one was really very special. First its huge size! but also the produces! it looks so chaotic but it is a really neat place to be!!! We bought super large avocados, juicy mangos and had we been on our sailboat, we could have loaded the ship with amazing stuff!

Walking by the "fish" department, we notice small kiosks serving seafood ceviche; we had a large portion of fresh shrimps in tomato juice with crackers...that's the way they serve shrimps there.

And then we found out that it was Carnaval!!!! Of course, we wanted to experience that.  That is when Merida started to transform itself, with its street being closed for a part of the afternoon, seats and gates installed along the main streets for the parade, and with an equal influx of tourists and sellers of all kinds.

The first parade we saw was the one for pre-school children .... Mayan people are short with the average adult being 1,40m...so you can imagine how small these ninos of 3 to 6 years of age were !!! Difficult to see them in a parade...but we caught them in the hour before the parade when their proud parents were walking with them to the start line...

Oh! by the way, what this little girl in the bottom right picture is eating is called a "marquesitas": a thin pancake or crêpe filled with gouda cheese or with Nutella!!! If you wish to see how they are made, check out the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2vOXybZ0LQ and you will appreciate that to make them when it is so hot outside must be quite taxing!!!!