Changing Character of a Provincial City: Merida, Mexico

Mérida, the capital, is a large city that still retains its provincial atmosphere, despite the growing population, which recent censuses have reached figures of over one million inhabitants. Mérida, densely wooded and full of green spaces, keeps memories of its colonial past and other periods of its long history, which give it a stately image, with a different character from other provincial cities in Mexico.

Built on flat land, it rises on the ruins of the Mayan metropolis of T'ho, whose grandiose temples and adoratories reminded the Spanish warriors of those monuments of Roman antiquity erected in Merida, the august emperor of Extremadura, which led the conqueror Francisco de Montejo el Mozo, founder of the new Yucatan capital, to baptize it with the same name of the imperial and secular Hispanic city.

From its foundation -January 6, 1542-, Merida began its life as a colonial city, with streets and squares laid out symmetrically, in the style of the old Castilian and Andalusian cities, whose original structure still survives in the Merida of our days. The visitor who strolls through the center of the capital city of Merida, the nerve center of commercial life, should not overlook the group of old buildings that make up its historic center, around the Plaza Grande, surrounded by leafy Indian laurels, one of the most beautiful in the Mexican province.

There, in front of its eastern side, stands the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, built during the second half of the 16th century, which stands out for the monumentality of its austere architectural style and singular charm, and the grace of its airy twin towers. The Casa de Montejo, a jewel of Plateresque art, completed in 1549 to serve as the ancestral residence of Governor Francisco de Montejo and his descendants, displays on its striking stone facade, a filigree set of Spanish warriors, griffins, and other mythological animals, as well as the effigies of Montejo and his wife.

Above the central balcony, the imposing family coat of arms of the conquistador stands out. This and other buildings of the Plaza Grande were erected with stone ashlars extracted from the great Mayan pyramids that stood there and were demolished by the Spaniards to build their new capital city. The historic center of Merida includes, in addition to other ancient temples of merit, colonial squares and pleasant parks, numerous buildings of French style (eclectic), built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, amid the Porfirian regime.

Nestled in the heart of the historic center, is a popular commercial area, the Lucas de Gálvez market, an infinite emporium of fruits, flowers, animals, handicrafts, and other Yucatecan regional products, a delight for tourists and visitors, boils with activity. The belle époque of the henequen boom at the beginning of the century is reflected in the Paseo de Montejo, an elegant boulevard lined with old trees, located not far from the historic center of Merida.

The grand European-style private residences that the Yucatecan landowners of the time built there, bringing architects from Paris and London, have largely disappeared, victims of the demolishing pickaxe of "progress", leaving the best promenade in the city as a commercial zone, access to the modern residential neighborhoods in the north of Merida.

Connected by air, sea, and land with the rest of Mexico and abroad, the capital of Merida has numerous hotels and inns within the reach of all budgets. In its varied outpouring of restaurants, cafés, beer halls, popular snack bars, amusement centers, and handicraft stores, visitors will find a warm welcome and a peculiar courtesy free of protocol and solemnity.

Despite its tropical climate, Mérida does not register rigorous summer -or winter- excesses, which allows people to dress lightly, comfortably, and informally throughout the year. The jacket and tie only appear on special occasions, or when going for a photograph.

Since time immemorial, the Yucatecan capital has shone as a cultural center of great importance, the cradle of countless poets, writers, composers, and artists, has in its magnificent José Peón Contreras Theater - named after the famous poet and playwright, son of this land - the most appropriate venue for the many artistic and cultural events that continually take place there.

Since the 17th century, the city has had its university, institutes of higher education, rich libraries, as well as groups, and academies of sciences and arts. Since the introduction of the printing press at the dawn of the 19th century -before Independence- different literary newspapers and magazines were published in Mérida, which nourished the cultural environment and stimulated the sensibility of the Yucatecan soul.

For those who love folklore, Merida registers different regional dance academies and continuous municipal public shows, dedicated to national and foreign tourists, where you can admire, in all its fullness of grace and joy, the zapateado or jarana yucateca, performed by skilled squads of boys and girls, wearing the sumptuous and colorful regional mestizo attire.

History and layout of Merida

Mérida, the white city of the 20th century to which poets and troubadours have sung, was founded on January 6, 1542, on the indigenous layout of the city of Ichcaanzihó, also called T'hó. This indigenous seat when it was conquered was occupied by about a thousand inhabitants and about 200 houses surrounding three main squares.

Both settlements, pre-Hispanic and colonial, had in common an orthogonal layout; the first, corresponding to the Postclassic period, was composed of large plazas surrounded by platforms and pyramidal bases of temples and palaces. From the ceremonial center of T'hó, four avenues departed toward the four cardinal points that communicated with the chiefdoms and nearby towns. The second, colonial, had a central nucleus with a radius of 500 meters, surrounded by bordering neighborhoods inhabited by natives.

The colonial layout was designed and presented to the town council by Francisco de Montejo, el Mozo, and approved by the City Council, which made it known by public proclamation on January 22, 1543. Its grid layout followed the checkerboard pattern with a rectangular shape, whose main square was initially occupied by a large hill and shrine that had to be dismantled to make room for the initial center. From this square would emerge the four main streets of the city that would be structured in 20 blocks: those for civil and ecclesiastical authorities, and the subsequent divided into four lots for the one hundred neighbors and settlers conquerors.

The blocks around the main square were destined, the eastern one for the church of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación -later it would be for the cathedral-, the northern one for the royal or government houses, the western one for the town council and council buildings: slaughterhouse, alhóndiga and jail, and the southern one for Governor Montejo.

The ceremonial center of T'hó, completely abandoned, provided enough material for the construction of the buildings and houses of the new city, whose name was given to it because of its well-carved lime and stone buildings with many moldings like those the Romans made in Mérida, Spain. It was conceived and designed according to the Crown's thinking for the cities founded in America. The colonial seat, growing during the 16th century, extended three blocks to the north and south, and four blocks to the east and west, surrounding the city were the suburbs inhabited by four indigenous Mayan towns: San Juan, Santa Lucía, Santiago, and Santa Catalina, and one, San Cristóbal, populated by Naborío-Mexican Indians who arrived with the Spanish armies.

Mérida had a centric urban development throughout the Colony, the indigenous towns gradually became neighborhoods under the pressure of the Spanish population growth and reproduced in their interior similar characteristics to those of the central nucleus, always with the church and the central plaza as guiding axes.

During the XVII and XVIII centuries, the city marked its limits through seven arches built by the military engineer Manuel Jorge de Zezera. The urban overflow enveloped them and today only three are preserved as evidence of what the city was in other times: San Juan. Dragones and that of the Bridge.

What can currently be considered the historic center of Mérida-prior to the change from concentric to zonal layout-conserved the urban architectural codes of the 19th century, with clear elements of colonial origin? Despite the uncontrolled growth of the city in its last years, the historical center exerts a unique force of attraction up to the present time, not only because of the services it concentrates on but also because of the weight of the cultural tradition of its surroundings.

The feelings of belonging and identification of the inhabitants of the Yucatecan capital with its historic center are affirmed on Sundays, from nine in the morning until nine at night, when the central streets of Mérida are closed to be able to walk freely and participate in the representation of a mestizo wedding in front of the Municipal Palace. The large crowds enjoy the entertainment provided by the Plaza Grande and spill over to the Hidalgo, Madre, and Santa Lucia parks, where they find live music, antiques, paintings, handicrafts, and many other curiosities.

Plaza Grande

Time of tour: 15 minutes

The main square or zócalo is the heart and initial center from which the political, ecclesiastical, and civil life of the city revolves. Its central axes are 60th Street, from north to south, and 61st Street from east to west.

Since its foundation, it has been remodeled several times over the years. Currently, it is surrounded by two rows of corpulent and old Indian laurel trees, whose green and leafy branches provide magnificent shade to the passers-by who frequent it and welcome in its benches and free spaces, without social distinctions, all the citizens who come to it. It is a place of daily meeting and conviviality in its festivities and celebrations.

Cathedral

Visiting hours: from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

It is the main church of the diocesan government where the bishop has his seat. This sacred precinct is for the parishioners a sign of the magisterium and authority of the pastor and a sign of the unity of the believers. The cathedral is solid, solemn, and enveloped with an air of sacredness. It is the only cathedral of this magnitude completed in the sixteenth century.

It was built between 1561 and 1598 by Pedro de Aulestia and Juan Manuel de Aguero. It has an area of almost 4,440 square meters. The total cost of labor was 300,000 pesos, which was contributed in thirds by the Royal Treasury, the landowners, and the natives, who were the first to pay, and who were also required to provide the materials free of charge "... stacking stone upon stone was the burden of the Katun...".

The cathedral faces east and is more than 42 meters high above the level of the atrium. It is 64.21 m long and 40 m wide. The sober and unadorned baroque front shows three entrance doors. A large arch stands out, pointing beyond its limited space. The towers of eccentric axes end in the form of a tiara; they are rather modest so as not to detract from the splendor of the composition of the facade.

The interior is masterfully described by Manuel Toussaint: "it is noble, no other cathedral in Mexico offers it soberer, purer, more dignified... Over enormous stone columns, with smooth shafts, stand vaults adorned with chess-shaped coffers and a dome with the same ornamentation. It is noteworthy that the three aisles of the temple, as well as those of the transept, are at the same height, at the same level. Only the dome rises higher above them". The great arches are of Renaissance Mannerist origin and the dome of the transept confirms it. The exterior part of the dome is decorated with several carved buttresses and four buttresses of stonework, thus achieving an elegant and superb architectural ensemble.

The cathedral has three chapels built on the north side, one in honor of the Cristo de las Ampollas, another dedicated to Santa Ana, and the third serves as a baptistery. On the south side is the chapel of San Jose. It is worth observing the painting that represents the cacique of Maní, Tutul Xiu, before the camp of Francisco de Montejo in T'hó (the old Mérida), in its simplicity of traces shows a historical vestige of the beginning of the spiritual conquest. On the main altar, there is a gigantic Christ called Christ of Unity, the work of the Spanish sculptor Ramón Lapayese del Río; it is carved in birchwood on a mahogany cross and has presided over the liturgical assemblies since 1955.

Despite the sacking suffered in 1915, the cathedral precinct preserves the splendid construction that ennobles and dignifies it in its sobriety and hieratic majesty.

The Peninsular Athenaeum

Tour time: 40 minutes. Visiting hours: Wednesday to Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

It was originally the residence of the bishops of Yucatán and was transformed into the Museum of Contemporary Art of Yucatán, Macay. Its construction, on the east side of the Plaza Mayor, was begun by Fray Diego de Landa between 1573 and 1579 and was completed by Bishop Gonzalo de Salazar in the seventeenth century. The prelates' living quarters were directly connected to the cathedral until the beginning of the 20th century when the Revolución passageway was built.

The building, located in an extension that goes from 60th Street to 58th Street, has two main courtyards. The first has an arcade, both on the first floor and on the upper floor, forming long, narrow porticoes. The facade facing 60th Street was originally simple, without moldings or ornaments, consisting of a single door and a set of windows and balconies. Its present facade of French style and with elements of Doric order, whose architect was Manuel Amabilis, is the result of the remodeling ordered by General Salvador Alvarado. Remarkable are the decorative elements among which stand out the French style stuccoes with a lion and a revolutionary eagle. In the upper part of the facade, there are two Minervasque flanking the national coat of arms of the early twentieth century.

After having housed several official and military dependencies, the Ateneo Peninsular is now a worthy venue for contemporary fine arts. In the halls arranged along its corridors are exhibited the art collections that the Museum keeps. Aside from the permanent exhibitions that the visitor can admire, there are also temporary exhibition halls that approach, through the plastic arts or painting, the current cultural movements.

House of the Governor Francisco de Montejo

Time of tour: 15 minutes. Visiting hours: from 8 a. m. to 5 p.m.

It is believed that Montejo's house was built by the indigenous people of his commission of Maní; the date of its beginning is not known, although it is probable, given its dimensions, that it was built between 1546 and 1549. In its construction, as in that of the main buildings, the stones of the hill to the west of the main square were used. It is the most important monument of civil architecture of the colonial era in New Spain. It can be described as a true jewel of plateresque art of the first importance. For its direct similarities, it can be said that it is inclined toward the Spanish plateresque architecture of Valladolid and for its general aspect to that of Andalusia.

Its magnificent façade is composed of two parts. The lower one, of a rather European style, is built around the door, framed with high reliefs of Renaissance motifs and medallions containing shells from which human heads emerge. In the upper corners are sculpted, on the left, a bearded man covered by a helmet, and on the right, a woman with a crown. Because of the importance, they have in the composition, they could represent, according to the custom of the time, the owners of the house, in this case, Montejo and his wife.

Between the central part and the described figures, there are two quadrants; in both, some tritons hold cartouches whose inscription says on the right side "Amor Dei" and on the left side "Vincit". The central part of the key supports a ledge, the base of the balcony, formed by a man in a sheepskin suit whose position conveys the idea of carrying the weight of the balcony structure. In other Spanish constructions, it responds to the figure of the architect, who in this way implied that the whole work depended on him, as in the case of the Portico de la Gloria in Santiago de Compostela.

The portal is framed by Corinthian columns whose capitals are decorated with children's heads. The frieze is sculpted with fantastic animals simulating deer, while the balcony bracket is decorated with children's heads expressing different feelings: joy, sadness, and admiration.

The second body, of indigenous workmanship, was sculpted later and does not maintain the refinement and purity of the lower body. In the frame of the central balcony, we can see, especially in the stonework, the same criteria used in the Mayan constructions. In the decorative elements, there is a clear medieval influence, such as the wooly warriors on both sides carrying mallets and the armed soldiers on the heads of the vanquished guarding the Montejo coat of arms.

The background is decorated with plant motifs, stylized acanthus rising from the helmet crowned by an eagle. In the frieze of the high part, there are the figure of a man and two women to the sides. The abundance of human figures in capitals, friezes, and door frames is one of the peculiarities of the doorway of the Casa de Montejo. On the cornice are two rampant lions and in the middle of them is a tombstone with a very erased inscription "This work was ordered by the Adelantado D. Francisco de Montejo. The Year of 1549".

Municipal Palace

Tour time: 10 minutes. Visiting hours: from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The Casas Consistoriales or City Hall was originally located next to the Casas Reales ("Royal Houses"); later they were moved to the west of the main square where the current two-story building was built in 1735, with semicircular arches and double-aisle corridors in the lower part. Afterward, it underwent several modifications and enlargements, including the installation of the clock in the upper central part, and around 1871 it obtained its present appearance.

In the twentieth century, during the twenties, the central tower was inaugurated with a clock of four faces, and in 1949 was installed in its main entrance a portico carved in stone of the eighteenth century, from an old property that was demolished at a number 530 of 58th Street. Almost all municipal authorities have been concerned about giving prestige to the Palace dignifying its Salón Cabildo, refurbishing it with taste its spaces, and decorating its walls with oil paintings, frescoes, and coats of arms of the city.

The city of Mérida offers every day of the week a show of folklore and culture for the enjoyment of its neighbors and the delight of tourists. On Mondays, at nine o'clock in the evening, a Regional Vaquería is performed in front of the Municipal Palace. This festival tries to recreate what the "vaquerías" have been and still are in the towns and originally in the haciendas. Its name comes from the party and jaraneada that was organized after branding the cattle. Guarachas, sones, habaneras, and jaranas are danced accompanied by the Municipal Orchestra.

Government Palace

Tour time: 20 minutes. Visiting hours: from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The current Government Palace had its antecedent in the Casas Reales (Royal Houses), the headquarters of the colonial government. The chronicles describe them as a Moorish-style mansion with its carved arches and pilasters, and corridors enclosed by railings that gave a pleasant view of the plaza and served both as an office for administrative and government business and as living quarters for the governors and representatives of the Crown. At the end of the 19th century, it was destroyed to build what we know today as the Government Palace.

It was inaugurated on September 15, 1892. The construction project responded to the desire to concentrate on the new building of the offices of the Executive Branch. The Palace, of eclectic classicist style, has two floors and covers a quadrangular surface of 42 m front and back. Its exterior is formed by three vertical bodies. The central one has the main balcony, supported by four pilasters and Doric-style columns, topped by a frontispiece in the center of which is a medallion with the national coat of arms. Above the doors, in the upper part of the building, there are a series of skylights that enrich its architecture and overall view.

Inside it has a large central courtyard. It is remarkable the Ionic style portico that gives access to the upper floor as well as the stone balustrade from Ticul. On all its sides it has galleries of five arches each one of Tuscan and Doric style. Its ceilings are made of zapote wood beams from Tampico, Tuxpan and Campeche.

Beginning with the government of Carlos Loret de Mola, the Palace added to its decoration 27 mural paintings by the renowned Yucatecan painter Fernando Castro Pacheco, which are distributed on the two floors of the building: galleries, History Hall, and staircase cube. They were painted between 1971 and 1978, and depict significant moments in the history of Yucatán with a grandiloquent expressive force. They are a peninsular history lesson with a magnificent selection of themes that illuminate epochs, characters, and experiences of the great epic of the Mayan-Yucatecan people. The Government Palace summarizes the political life of the state and marks the guidelines of its growth and relationship with the national and international environment.

Hidalgo Park

Touring time: 5 minutes

The small square of El Jesús, so-called because it is located in front of the church of the same name, was officially called Parque Hidalgo in 1877, due to the maneuvers carried out in that space by the battalion quartered in the Government Palace and composed of indigenous "hidalgos", recognition that was granted to them for defending the prevailing political system against the indigenous insurrection led by Cecilio Chí.

Some years later, in the central part of the park, the government erected a monument to General Manuel Cepeda Peraza, at the initiative of the Círculo de Estudiantes de la Preparatoriadel Estado. In 1897, the park was officially named after the surname of this heroic defender of federalism in Yucatán. Hidalgo Park, a meeting point for citizens and visitors, is an attractive place to be and to enjoy pleasant and serene Yucatecan nights.

El Jesús Church

Time of tour: 10 minutes. Visiting hours: from 8 am to 12 noon and from 6:30 am to 8 pm.

It was built by the Jesuits with the help of the neighborhood at the end of the XVII century, located near the cathedral, precisely at the intersection of 59th and 60th streets. It is known by the name of El Jesús in memory of the Jesuit fathers who administered it for many years. The titular of the Catholic precinct is the founder of the Society of Jesus, Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

The temple was part of the Jesuit School of San Javier, which was requested by the city council of Merida to educate the youth, at the beginning of the XVII century. It was inaugurated in 1618 and later was elevated to the category of University. By Royal decree of 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish dominions and the sons of San Ignacio who worked in Merida left the school and the temple on June 12 of that year. Later, parts of the school and the convent were demolished to build the Peón Contreras Theater.

In times of the government of General Alvarado, the church house was demolished to place in its place the Morelos Park, where nowadays there is a monument to the maternity, reason why it is known as the Mother's Park, a park and atrium beautifully frame the temple whose plant has the form of a Latin cross. It has a continuous barrel vault up to the transept, where a beautiful half-orange dome rises. The wood, the marble, and the decoration with oil painting in the interior make the enclosure a propitious space that invites recollection.

The facade is sober, severe, and formed by two Corinthian columns with their elements: base, capital, and entablature. In its façade, one can perceive a certain influence of indigenous manufacture, a clear vestige of its artisan action. The towers are remarkable, slender, and well proportioned: they consist of three simple bodies separated by cornices, with arcades for the bells; they are crowned with small cupolas in the form of a half orange. The interior and exterior of this temple present a unitary ensemble of great dimension, beauty, and architectural proportion.

Peón Contreras Theater

Time of tour: 15 minutes. Visiting hours: Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Mérida has been the cradle of great writers who have achieved through various literary genres a worthy and meritorious place in Spanish-American literature, such was the case of Dr. José Peón Contreras, who has been said to be "the restorer of the theater of the homeland of Alarcón and Gorostiza", and "the most fertile and eminent dramatic poet of Mexico after Juan Ruiz de Alarcón".

His play La Hija del Rey (The King's Daughter) has been recognized as the most excellent of his works. Such was the success of this play, precisely in the Principal Theater of Mexico City in 1876, that the Yucatecan public opinion requested Mr. Francisco Zavala, owner of the new theater in Merida, to name it after the famous Yucatecan poet. The owner agreed and it was inaugurated as the Peón Contreras theater in 1879, with the play El sacrificio de la Vida (The Sacrifice of Life) by the already recognized playwright.

The present theater building, which kept the same name, was inaugurated in 1908. Its Italian builders were the architect Pio Piacentini, who carried out the project, and the engineer Enrico Deserti, in charge of the construction. Its forum is of Italian style. Its main façade has two orders: on the first level with cushioned design and rectangular openings. The second has its corners advanced.

The pediment is semicircular and the arch is semicircular. The rest of the facade has three pairs of columns of the smooth shaft. It calls attention to the absence of a wall that generates an ample space with the idea of ventilating with air currents this ample room, that in-between acts would serve as a place of meeting and rest. Every Tuesday the Folkloric Ballet of the University is presented in this enclosure, a reason that offers us the opportunity to get to know the beautiful theater in its interior.

Autonomous University of Yucatan

Tour time: 15 minutes. Visiting hours: from 7 am to 10 pm.

The historical background of the University dates back to the year 1700 when a Royal Decree granted the foundation of a seminary school under the patronage of Saint Peter. With the royal approval and the economic contribution of Mr. Gastón Güemes, Provisor and Vicar General of the Diocese, the building was constructed at the intersection of 57th and 60th Streets by the Jesuit Fathers.

It had a central patio surrounded by columns and corridors on only one floor. After the expulsion of the Jesuit order, it served as the cradle of the Conciliar Seminary of San Ildefonso. Political vicissitudes and critical economic circumstances determined changes and diversity of official uses, sometimes as an educational institution and other times for public administration.

It was not until 1922 that Governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto created the Universidad Nacional del Sureste ("National University of the Southeast"), headquartered in the colonial building of the old Colegio de San Pedro. It was necessary to refurbish it and add a second floor in the same style, in addition to providing it with academic spaces to support higher-level studies. The entrance to the building was relocated to the confluence of 57th and 60th Streets. The façade was designed by maestro Gottdiener Soto, who decided to use stone from Chiluca, Querétaro.

The sobriety of its decoration evokes the novo-Hispanic plateresque style. Its flattened Ionic-style columns elegantly frame the entrance gate to the university campus. The crowned coat of arms of the city of Merida stands out in the center. The second body of the facade is even more austere: it presents a balcony with a smaller central door and is also framed by two lateral columns. Its central courtyard is adorned with superimposed arcades that, by combining styles, transmit the sensation and reminiscences of old university cloisters.

Today this building, which for many years was the headquarters of the University with its schools and faculties, houses only the Rector's Office, the central offices, and the University Cultural Center. Due to the growth of the student population and the diversification of professional studies, the fifteen faculties, the two Preparatory Schools, and the Doctor Hideyo Noguchi Regional Research Center have been built in different parts of the city, which make up the University as such. Every Friday, on the central patio of the University, a student serenade is offered, open to the public, who can enjoy not only the music but also the pleasant atmosphere of the university cloister.

Santa Lucia

Tour time: 10 minutes. Visiting hours: from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., closed on Tuesdays.

Los Héroes Park is known as Santa Lucía because of its proximity to the temple dedicated to this virgin and Christian martyr of the fourth century. In the center, there is an obelisk dedicated to the memory of Colonel Sebastián Molas Virgilio, martyr of federalism in Yucatán, and on the east side of the park was built during the XVI century by the conqueror and land-owner Pedro García, and was finished in 1575.

The whole of the temple with patio, sacristy, corridor, and atrium presents a harmonious architectural structure formed by beams, buttresses, and beams, which added to the belfry that adorns it, give it a stately and austere aspect. Its atrium served as the city's cemetery until 1821, the year in which the city council destined the San Antonio Xcojolté estate for this purpose and where the General Cemetery is currently located.

The town of Santa Lucía, populated by Mayan indigenous people, also received blacks and mulattos, ethnicities, and occupational strata that worked for the city and whose growth turned the area into a residential neighborhood for the white population during the 17th and 18th centuries. This simple and pleasant park, with its leafy huaya trees, had its origins in the 17th century.

At the corner of 60th Street, there was an arch that indicated the limits of the city. It was a stop for the horses of travelers arriving in Mérida and on two of its sides its sober arched portals are still preserved. It is a park of tradition and ancestry that currently frames and hosts weekly Yucatecan serenades. In the northwest corner are placed the effigies of outstanding Yucatecan composers, whose romantic trova has sung to their city and its women.

On Thursdays at nine o'clock in the evening, the traditional serenade is held weekly in Santa Lucia Park where music, poetry, and regional dances - the jaranas and the Torito - make for a pleasant time for those who come. The coolness of the night under the leafy trees, the colonial setting of the park, and the attendance of Meridanos and tourists make the serenades a manifestation of coexistence and peculiar delight.

Expiatory Temple. Las Monjas

Time of tour: 10 minutes. Visiting hours: from 9 am to 1 pm and from 5 pm to 7 pm.

It is located on the corner of the intersection of 63rd and 64th Streets. Its construction was finished in 1633 and was named after Our Lady of Consolation. It has a single nave limited to the east by the presbytery and to the west by the choir. The ceiling is of a canon vault followed by the presbytery, which has a vault of handkerchiefs decorated with simple lacerías. The choir is very original for its disposition, unique in Yucatan. Its ten arches rest on low columns that form three small naves. This choir could have been a primitive church with a basilica floor plan.

The façade of the church, of high smooth walls, is of masonry, except for the corners, moldings, and closing of the doors, which are of carved stone. At the top, the belvedere is an original feature of the building. Its bell tower is in the shape of a spandrel with four semicircular arches. Its finials are the same as those of the cathedral. This temple was part of the convent of the Conceptionist Nuns founded in 1596 at the request of Governor Antonio de Vozmediano, with alms from neighbors of Mérida and Valladolid.

Among its benefactors were Fernando de San Martín and his wife, who obtained from the king 800 ducats of perpetual income for the convent, which was also an orphanage and asylum. It ended its noble mission in 1867 when the government destroyed the convent and later sold the land in pieces. It is currently a parish and expiatory temple run by the missionaries of the Holy Spirit. Because of its long tradition, it is called the temple of Las Monjas ("The Nuns").

Museum of Song

Time of tour: 15 minutes. Visiting hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 2 pm.

This museum is located in the Casa de la Cultura, next to the church of Las Monjas, part of the facilities of the Conceptionist Convent. In the Yucatecan people, poet and troubadour, the sensitivity, nostalgia, and delicacy of the indigenous feeling converged harmoniously with all the quixotic elegance of the Castilian character. This peculiar conjunction, enriched with the diverse influences that came from abroad, especially from the Caribbean, has made the Yucatecan song a song in which the lyrics without music sing and the music without lyrics is poetry. The inspiration of its creators has given true musical jewels that all of Mexico has sung with admiration.

Cirilo Baqueiro was one of the initiators of the first great era of Yucatecan trova; it is said that he walked the streets of Merida along with José Peón Contreras serenading with music composed by him to poems by Manuel M. Flores and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Another pioneer was Fermín Pastrana, a fine guitarist who contributed to the creation of a style of accompaniment to the romantic song, and we are forced to skip over other names to arrive at Ricardo Palmerín and Pepe Domínguez, true lords of the trova during the golden age of the 1920s.

Then came Guty Cárdenas and later Pastor Cervera, Juan Acereto, Enrique Navarro and Armando Manzanero. The list of Yucatecan musicians, poets, and performers, extensive and of excellence, has left a clear and definitive influence on Mexican romantic music. This town of troubadours and poets could not lack a museum for those who created Peregina, Aires del Mayab, Beso asesino, Las Golondrinas, or Rayito de Sol, and for those who have sung with excellence to their women and their homeland, where Mérida occupies a special place.

Regional Theater

524 64th Street and 63rd Street

Mérida has, for the popular entertainment of its inhabitants, the regional theater Héctor Herrera, which since its beginnings has been the exclusive preserve of the charm, grace, and mischievousness of the family of Don Mario Herrera. One of his sons, Cholo, is the one who has maintained it as a central figure in recent years. He offers his audiences not only a theatrical show but also an approach to the daily problems of the citizenry linked to local politics, which are gracefully and wisely brought to the stage. The language, a mixture of Maya and Yucatecan, sprinkled with a mischievous double entendre, amuses the diverse social classes that attend. Attending a Cholo show will be an uncommon but pleasant experience, where you will be able to approach the sincere manifestations of the identity of the Yucatecan people.

El Mercado Grande (The Big Market)

Touring time: 40 minutes

The Mercado Grande, the portals, the wide street of the Bazar, and its surroundings constitute the heart and arteries of the commercial zone of Mérida. The market, built between 1905 and 1907, had its colonial antecedent in La Placita, today Bazar de Artesanías García Rejón ("García Rejón Handicrafts Bazaar").  The wide street of the Bazaar with its buildings from the beginning of the century was the first promenade that the city had, called Paseo de las Bonitas ("Promenade of the Beautiful").

Its original grain portals disappeared and the ones we now see leave us a remembrance of past times with colonial taste. The structure and network of services of the Mercado Grande are not very logical given the overflow it has suffered, but it continues to be a colorful fair with fruits and vegetables typical of the region, as well as the attire of its vendors and seafarers, whose firm personality of the people of the Yucatan is present through the intermingled voices of Mayan and Spanish.

Yucatecan food is renowned for the combination of its condiments and its preparation, in which today pork and turkey are the preferred ingredients, replacing the deer and pheasant that used to be consumed in the past. The most commonly used condiments are achiote, oregano, garlic, chili peppers, including sweet, xkatic, and habanero, red onion, orange and sour lime, pepper, tomato, epazote, saffron, capers, prunes, raisins, and banana and chaya leaves.

Among the most representative stews and also the most requested, we can mention cochinita pibil, poc-chuc, queso relleno, papadzules, relleno negro; lomitos, longaniza and escabeche de Valladolid, frijoles colados, frijol con puerco, brazo de chaya, puchero and potajes, tikinchic depescado, sic de venado, huevos motuleños, codzitos, panuchos, salbutes and tamales ticuleños and colados.

Among the beverages, you can taste pozole (a drink made with dough), atole nuevo, horchata, granizados, and trolebuses -prepared with seasonal fruit and ice-, fruit ice cream, Yucatecan beer, and Xtabentún -liquor from the distillation of the aromatic plant of the same name.

Breakfasts and snacks are usually accompanied by tasty chocolate in water with delicious sweet bread: simple puff pastries and ham and cheese, simple and stuffed pastries, tutis, escotafí bread, milk bread, biscotelas, French bread and brioche bread, and Yucatecan pastries are also wide and varied.

Among the readily available sweets are meringues, besitos, yemitas, coconut and pepita candies, marzipan of coconut, guanabana, pepita and almond, sweet potato, and coconut atropellados, tamarind pulp, and guava paste.

The good taste and seasoning of the stews, the variety, and combination of them, the taste for bread and desserts, and the delight in the social coexistence make the Yucatecan people a friendly, cheerful people, of fine treatment and rhythmic speech.

Festivities for the spirit

The joyful and festive character of the Yucatecan people is demonstrated by singing and dancing to the sound of the jarana in their vaquerías, guild festivals, carnivals, and fairs. In all the towns there are popular celebrations whose main motive is to celebrate their Patron Saint or the Virgin in any of her various invocations.

These annual religious-profane jolgorios ("celebrations") last for several days with masses and processions, dances and "vaquerías", bullfights and fairs with fireworks and tasty food: cochinita, tamales, and "elatole nuevo". Other important celebrations are the Day of the Dead and those related to rain, both with strong indigenous religious connotations.

Hanal-Pixan or soul food consists of a special tamale called mucbilpollo opibes and a drink, tanchucuá, which is accompanied, based on chocolate, masa, aniseed, and honey. These foods cannot be missing in the altar that is erected inside the houses to honor and remember the dead, being the living who savor and enjoy this splendid food. The festivity is celebrated from October 31 to November 2.

The feast of the Cha-chaac, or rain, is a peasant celebration that, although strongly rooted, is disappearing with the transformation of labor activities and migration to the cities, which breaks the direct relationship with the sowing and the land. It consists of a ritual of invocation to the indigenous gods to ask for rain. It is performed in the field or the cornfield. It lasts about seven hours, and a H'men officiates who pronounces the prayers and invocations, makes the offerings, and blesses the food that the attendants will eat afterward, as well as the balché drink -sacred liquor- which is indispensable in the agricultural ceremonies.

The carnival is one of the main festivals for the city of Merida as well as for the towns. It is celebrated from Friday to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and in some towns later during Lent. In these festivities, there are dances, parades, rides, and floats where young and old enjoy themselves and give free rein to healthy joy and lively fun.

In some towns of Yucatán, some fairs go beyond the regional level. The Yucatan Fair of X'Matkuil stands out for its tourist, industrial, gastronomic, handicraft, livestock, fishing, agricultural, commercial and cultural projection. In its 24 hectares of extension, a wide program of activities is organized, with the presence of service chambers, companies, charro associations, municipalities, and social groups.

The fun and socio-cultural entertainment take place with the presentation of artists, plays, charreadas, live music, orchestras, boxing, wrestling, children's competitions, bodybuilding, dog shows, etcetera. The fair begins with an inaugural parade presided over by the elected queen; it lasts approximately two weeks and the most important part is the livestock exhibition. It has been held since 1974, with increasing participation of both exhibitors and visitors every year.

Lace and embroidery

The attire of the mestiza is simple, elegant, and very colorful: the hipil as a daily dress and the terno, for parties and weddings. The hipil is a straight suit, with embroidery of bright colors or a single color around a square neck and the edge of the bottom. It is complemented with a white embroidered round whip that extends the length of the hipil.

The terno is similar to this one, although longer, and a rectangular embroidered doublet is added as a lapel that is attached to the collar and a hem is also embroidered on the whip. Both garments end with an embroidered silk lace strip or hem.

The fabrics used can be cotton, linen, or silk and the embroidery can be cross-stitch or machine embroidery. Both the hipil and the terno are worn with a shawl and white slippers. This attire is complemented with filigree, coral, or cocoyol rosaries and with a soguilla -golden chain- with its medal; the earrings are also made of filigree and coral, and a beautiful bow - moño- that adorns the hair gathered in a chongo ("bun"). The jewelry constituted for the mestiza her savings and her economic independence.