MEXICO 2012
Sunday 15th January:
As it was Saturday night the girls in the house had lots of bottles of beer and a large bottle of cheap vodka. We are each responsible for cooking our meals and yesterday after walking around Merida and going in and out of museums and art galleries I went to the supermarket and bought some fruit and vegetables. I was still feeling very tired and could hardly be bothered cooking but knew I’d feel hungry in the night. I chopped and fried an onion, cooked some potatoes and carrots, chopped them and fried them up with the onion added some ground pepper and that was it.
After I had eaten I sat and watched an old black and white film on the television, determined to stay awake until nine o’clock. I am still tired after the long journey. Pia, a German girl came and chatted about her travelling. She is only staying in the house for a short time but has been travelling around the Yukatan for a month. Six girls are in the dorm upstairs and Debbie is in a curtained off room in the main entrance, she has been in Mexico since last July and is going home next week. We also have a Venezuelan man, Theo, in the other makeshift room off the entrance. Ian and I are in the room off the kitchen. There are two bunk beds in our room and I have the lower bunk of one set and the Ian the lower bunk on the other side of the room. I hide behind clothes and a towel draped from the top bunk and Ian is discreet behind a mosquito net he has draped around his bunk. Somehow it works, we have managed to address this unusual sleeping arrangement quite comfortably.
The girls sat outside last night drinking and chatting, I said that I was going to bed. They shouted through the open window outside my bedroom, ‘are we disturbing you Wendy?’ ‘No,’ I assured them but I might as well have invited them in. They said that they would go up to their room and continue. Within minutes I was asleep. I was aware of noise in the kitchen sometime later when Ian returned from the bar but I couldn’t bring myself to wake up.
It’s now 5a.m. and I am wide awake. Yesterday we spent the morning wandering around the town centre, it reminded me of Ecuador where the remains of a wealthy society live on. Little ladies bustling about the shops and markets in crisp white tunic dresses beautifully embroidered at the yoke and the hem. Tall scruffy backpackers stand out amongst the locals. I like being back in a muggy warm place with the familiar smell of rotting debris and spices. I like walking miles along straight roads lined with ageing Spanish houses and derelict cars. We went inside a huge church where the sermon echoed around the cavernous building and little Mexicans stood respectfully murmuring responses. There were fans everywhere to cool the devoted.
We returned to the Italian café where we had had a milky cappuccino earlier, for iced coffee piled high with whipped cream. The nod to the Italians was neither in their coffee nor their pastries but it was pleasant sitting by the open window as Volkswagens raced past spewing out their fumes and the artefacts of Mexican crafts dangled from shop doorways. Colour and noise are everywhere.
I’ve just got back from Progresso on the coast. I went with Ian on the local bus, about forty minutes from Merida. It was lovely to swim in a warm sea; the waves were erratic and came from all directions. We walked along the jetty where people were fishing and pelicans waited for the fish to be brought up on the end of a line!
We are now ordering pizzas for everyone in the house and then Ian and I are going to a free concert in the middle of town, salsa music. It is a cultural society and there are lots of free exhibitions and concerts. On Tuesday there is a big band in one of the squares with dancing – I’ll be there! This morning, Sunday, there were lots of market stalls everywhere run by the Indians, very colourful. There are now seven girls in the dorm that accommodates eight in four double bunk beds; I appreciate the space I have in a shared room with Ian, albeit an unusual arrangement.
