Some time ago, Noe decided he wanted to learn to ice skate.
Having spent the vast majority of his eight-and-a-half years on Planet Earth in the tropics, ice skating is one particular activity that seems very exotic to him.
In San Cristobal de las Casas last December, we happened upon a plaza-turned-ice-skating rink. It was packed with locals having fun trying their hand at this foreign pastime. But being that it wasn’t much more than a thin layer of ice covering concrete, we decided to give it a pass.
In the back of her mind, Lori already knew, apparently that there was a much better rink in Merida—where we were headed in early 2025.
From there, it ended up being one of the boys’ Christmas gifts. Which is how we find ourselves at Galerías Mérida on this particular Saturday morning.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but once we got there, I was impressed. A very nice rink in the center of a [very COLD] upscale mall on the Yucatan Peninsula.
It’s been decades since Lori or I have been ice skating. I had forgotten how different it is from rollerblading (which I’ve not done in 20+ years). I’m happy to report that after a shaky start, most of it seemed to come back to us—at least to the point where neither of us suffered any major falls.
Noe took to it pretty fast, I must say. By the end of our 2+ hours there, he was skating along like he’d been doing it for years.
Riley didn’t do too shabby either. But he wasn’t too keen to venture far from mom or dad. And after 45 minutes or so, he was done.
All in all, a fun morning teaching the kids something new and doing an activity we never get to do in Mexico.
We’re coming up on a week in Merida and the food has yet to disappoint. De la Union has by far the best panuchos we’ve had so far in Mexico—with lechon al horno filling (a Yucatan specialty) to boot.
A couple nights ago, we enjoyed a special belated birthday dinner for Lori at the restaurant side of the Museum of Yucateca Gastronomy. Today, we’re back for the museum portion.
Typically, you’re supposed to be able to watch people cooking local Yucateca dishes, but on this particularly night, looks like we missed them.
We tried out the tongue-twisting Pipiripau, which is one of the more unique gastro-bars we’ve been to. The drink menu wasn’t anything amazing, but the ambiance is pretty cool.
Every Saturday night and Sunday morning in Merida, they close a mile-long stretch of Paseo Montejo to motorized traffic. It’s nice to see so many locals enjoying the perk.
Back to our favorite Merida coffee shop—Manifesto Cold Brew Bar—for some frothy Nitro goodness (by far the frothiest Nitro in the country so far).
Afterwards, we took advantage of the light Sunday morning traffic and nice weather to walk back down to La Plancha for the boys to get some quality playground time.
Afterwards, we walked back a different way and stumbled upon the city’s old central train station, which has been converted into the Yucatan University of the Arts.
That there on the left of the photo is none other than a Class C RV around the same size as ours doing some urban boondocking. Guess we could’ve brought the RV with us to Merida, after all. But I’m more than happy with our decision.
Gelato at Pola was recommended to us and we’d definitely pass that recommendation along to others. Both the Strawberry/Cranberry/Red Wine and Cardamom flavors are particularly worth trying.
If you’re not in the mood for gelato, you can always get these at the abarrote down the street…
“…from the creators of ‘Toxic Waste'”
Merida is known for its striking electric buses. We never had reason to ride one, but they’re a pretty cool sight all over town.
Dushi Cafe‘s tuk tuk truck along Paseo Montejo.
On our final evening in Merida, the boys finally got their wish of taking a horse and carriage ride down Paseo Montejo by night. Lori and I had planned to do this all along, but between the rain and other activities, found it surprisingly hard to fit it in up until the last minute.
After a week in Merida, it’s on to Isla Holbox tomorrow morning, by way of the Western Hemisphere’s latest and greatest manmade marvel: The Maya Train!
