8/17/10 - Merida to Villahermosa

We walked around Merida a little this morning before driving to the airport. At the gate a couple disembarked from the arriving flight. Raquel had left her seat and the woman asked, first in Spanish and then seeing we were from the states in English if it was available to set her belongings in for a moment. We explained that that would be fine. I asked her where she was from. She was fully bilingual with hardly any accent in either language, most likely Mexican, Mexican-American, or Chicana. She replied that she was originally from Los Angeles and her husband was from Merida and they had been living in Merida permanently since the late 80’s. Given that I also grew up in Los Angeles, we started talking. She even knew the neighborhood where I had lived! The world is indeed a small place.

Just a side note. I met an American doctor who was currently living and working in Merida and on our first night we met a man who spent half his time in Merida and half in NY, NY. He didn’t mention whether he was American or Mexican. Merida is a popular place.

Villahermosa reminds me of Louisiana. It's got a lot of swampy water surrounding it and is pretty hot. This hotel is not like the others. It's one of those modern international business class hotels with 6-8 levels. Across from us is a Holiday Inn :-( Also the hotel is located in a new, expensive area far from the historic center of town. We took a taxi to the zocolo where the locals hang out and had a dinner of tacos. At the zocolo there's a big pedestrian mall and lots of these taco joints that have the meat set up on a vertical spit similar to gyro meat. These were some great tacos! The strange thing is that, at least on a Tuesday night, Villahermosa turns in early. We were told that restaurants start to close around 7 or 8pm. This is not Merida! We got a local taxi back to the hotel and the driver, who had lived here for 42 years, was very amiable and talkative and was patient with my Spanish.