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The City of Mérida

     Before the famed Francisco de Montejo arrived on the limestone plateau of Yucatán and selected the perfect spot to build his city, the Mayans had already been there and built their own city of Ichcaanzihó which means "five hills." Later on, it was renamed T'ho, which is how Montejo came to know it, but with the ruins that he saw upon arrival so very similar to the Roman ruins in the city of Emérita, Spain, he decided to name it Mérida when the city was founded on January 6, 1542. In 1618, Felipe II, king of Spain bestowed upon Mérida the title of "noble and loyal city."
The crest of the city of Mérida

     Initially, the city was divided in 4 neighborhoods around the parks of San Sebastián in the south, Santiago and Santa Catarina in the west, San Cristóbal in the east, and Santa Lucía and Santa Ana in the north. These parks are still central meeting points in the city, and the students in this year's program are already familiar with a few of them. 

Reunion in Santiago after a day of exploring the city

A view of where we had our dinner of panuchos and tamales

A view of the park and locals getting set up for an orchestra of old timers that perform every Tuesday for folks who like to listen and those who, like our students, like to dance!

     Many of the central parks host weekly free events. Along with the orchestra of Santiago, shown above, Santa Lucia has traditional "trova" music every Thursday, the Gran Plaza smack in the center of the city hosts a "vaqueria" with traditional music, dress, and dance each Monday evening, and all the public parks offer free WiFi for all your Skyping and researching needs. 
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