A weekend in Mérida

Today, November 1, 2025, is Luis’s 30th birthday. I wanted to celebrate in a special way. Since I am leaving early Monday morning from Mexico City on an overseas trip, I asked him if we could spend this birthday there. But he said he’d rather go somewhere else, so we settled on Mérida, Yucatán.

We flew from Guadalajara on Thursday night. We’re staying at the Villa Merida Boutique Hotel, which is really quite lovely.

Yesterday we took a day tour to Chichén Itzá. We also stopped at a cenote in Satuta, where we swam and had lunch. Our final stop was the Pueblo Mágico of Izamal, also known as the “yellow town.”

I had never realized Chichén Itzá was more than just this pyramid. It was a vast Mayan city, built between the 7th and 10th centuries. There are many more structures, and our guide told us it would take days to explore the entire site. But there are more photos in my album (link below).

Today we went out for breakfast and have been mostly hanging around the pool at our hotel. Tonight we have a reservation for dinner at La Chaya Maya, which is renowned for its Yucatecan food. And since this is Día de Muertos, there’s a Catrinas parade tonight that we’re hoping to see.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we are flying out, I to Mexico City so I can catch my flight early Monday morning, and Luis back to Guadalajara.

Sunday

It’s now Sunday morning, and I’m sitting by the pool. My flight to MEX isn’t until 3:40 this afternoon, and Luis’s flight to GDL is later this evening, so we have a little time before we have to head to the airport. Luis is still sleeping, so I am taking advantage of the opportunity to finish up this post.

We really enjoyed our dinner at La Chaya Maya last night. It is popular for traditional Yucatán cuisine, so we shared a sampling of local specialties. Pictures of all the food are in my photo album.

We got done with dinner right about 7pm, which is when the Catrinas parade was scheduled to begin. We joined the crowd that was eagerly waiting for the parade.

Which it didn’t until 8pm. It was fun, and some of the costumes were quite spectacular. Each group or organization had a theme, and some of them included singing and dancing. There were some live musicians, but most of the music was broadcast from trucks. It was fun. But by the end I was so tired. My sleep schedule has shifted for some reason, and I’ve been barely keeping my eyes open past 9pm and waking up before 5am.

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Check out all my photos and videos from Yucatán.