Merida Re- Visited

Merida, know as the White City, has long been a wealthy city.  The city prospered in the 20th Century on the extravagant wealth created by the Henequen growers. Henequen  once processed into Sisal Rope was shipped by the boat load around the world.  Today the wealth is evident in the up-scale homes, the shopping malls and  rows of luxury car dealers..  On car-row gleaming luxury vehicles of every make temp the upward mobile.

   

Our tour day in Merida was a damp dreary day. What better way to see the city on a rainy day but on top of a open air Double Decker Bus!  After all we did bring the umbrella.

I just loved this contrast between the old and the new

Wealthy industrialists of the early 19th Century built beautiful and large city homes.  Homes like this remind me of the mansions built about the same time in places like Newport, RI and Chicago's Lakefront.  Both countries at that time in history had people who rolled in ostentatious wealth, while others suffered.

Speaking of ostentatious. This one represents a Chinese nightmare.

 Blue isn't my favorite color, but this one is cute and the size is manageable.

It's a good thing heating isn't a issue down here.

View of the Cathedral from the upstairs of the Government building across the Zocalo.

Zocalo

Merida has very strict building covenant's.  Regulation controls the height and the appearance of new construction or remodeling.  Behind this old elaborate facade is a courtyard and beyond the court yard hidden from view from the street is a modern glass bank building.  When you step in expecting to see something special what you do see is a assault to the senses.

This is what I would have expected a courtyard to be.  Our afternoon of re-visiting Merida was once again a pleasure.  We had caught the Centro bus on the wrong side of the road to come into town. This simple mistake  gave us a 45 minute tour of the villages north of town.  So now the trick of the day is to find the correct bus to return us to the Liverpool Mall and our RV Park

"Driver are you sure  we can get there from here?"