March 19, 2008 - orchids and ruins

One of the great things about living here in Merida is that so much and so much variety is so close. Today, we were inspired to take a day trip that involved orchids, ruins, and pok chuk (a native Yucatecan dish involving pork and sour oranges), although our initial plan called only for an orchid run.

We had read on our friend's blog (http://www.yucatanliving.com/) that there were several orchid growers nearby and having an empty outdoor wall, although no trees, we decided to make a quest. We headed south and then east, and then north again making a loop without retracing our steps and found not three, but one orchid grower, where we purchased 6 smallish orchids of 4 varieties for 420 pesos or about $40US. Once they are mounted on the wall, I will add a picture, but for now, imagine that in a year or so we hope to have a lush wall covered with flowers of different sizes and colors.

We started in Chochola (accent on the last syllable) and came up bust, no one knew Jesus Guevara (--we suspected it was like when the immigration officers show up and everyone flees out the back door). Our black car with two gringas was a little too suspicious for this sleepy town. Relentless, we headed on to Yotolin by way of Muna and Ticul. Here a block off the main square, a woman copped to being Senora Castaneda -- although as it turned out, she was not Teresa, but her sister-in-law Fiona who lives with her, that we dealt with to buy the orchids. She had a bunch of big luscious orchids attached to her lime tree and was willing to rip the roots off to sell them to us, but we demurred and instead purchased smaller orchids attached to smaller pieces of wood for which we have high hopes.

Heading on, we stopped and drove around Oskutzcab, but could not locate senora Gongora, so went on to Mani, the home of a restaurant known for its pok chuk and for the owners being descended from Mayan royalty at the time of the horrible auto-sa-fe at which Franciscan friar Landa zealously burned all the Mayan codices or books he could find. We were not wowed by the pork which is marinated in sour oranges and baked and then covered with delicious pickled pink onions, avacado, and tomatoes, then sliced in small pieces, but it was OK. We think the reputation is based on the royal connections.

The day was still young, so we returned to Merida by way of Mayapan, a very sweet small ruin, that is like a miniature of Chichen Itza with teeny pyramids and an observatory about 1/4 the size of Chichen's. There seemed to be lots of stone platforms with no inherent purpose. Maybe we are getting jaded,but seeing these piles of rocks formed into shapes but without any explanation beyond things like "skulls were found here" or "plaster replicas of human hearts were found here" is not that exciting any more. One interesting detail at Mayapan was a series of semicircles of rock (possibly an ampitheater style of seating?) that we had not seen at other places.

Having just celebrated a birthday, I found that what I wanted to eat by way of celebrating was only slightly similar to what I would have selected before heading to Mexico to live. I had chicken salad, grilled sweet onions, and fresh succulent mangoes for lunch and some sushi for dinner (sushi is something I would always have done!!). Since I have given up coffee ice cream for 60 days, I have to wait until Easter Sunday to indulge in that again. Something to look forward to!!! However, it was a very happy birthday.

October 12, 2008 update on orchids -- finally some blooms and we are pumped. Lost one plant completely, but others seem to be doing OK. We still have high hopes.