El Centro

Wednesday morning we had our first class field trip. Every week we get to go out for a few hours in the morning to explore a different part of Merida. We met in our classroom, but immediately went downstairs and met up with Danni, Alex, and their intermediate Spanish teacher. We walked around the corner to the bus stop, and we had our first experience with the public transportation of Mexico.  Buses here vary widely, from air-conditioned with cushioned seats to open windows and metal seats. The price to ride anywhere in town is $7MXN, which equals about $0.56USD. Pretty cheap. The exchange rate right now is about $12.5MXN = $1USD. It makes for some pretty crazy prices For example, I went to Walmart tonight and spent $336. In USD, that is only $26.88.

We went downtown, to El Centro, as it is known here. I did not take as many pictures as I should have, but I will probably go back sometime. We got there and walked for a few blocks until we arrived at the Palacio del Gobierno, or Palace of the Government.

The courtyard of the Palacio

El Palacio del Gobierno is located downtown near the Plaza Grande. We walked around and took pictures there for a few minutes, waiting while one of our teachers and one of the students went to look for Debora, who dropped her bag on the bus and was unable to get off with the rest of us. We had been walking for five minutes before anyone noticed, but thankfully we all had our Mexican cell phones with us and they found her quickly.

Our next stop was the Ayuntamiento, or City Hall. There were people everywhere, and our teacher explained to us that every Wednesday, the mayor is in front of the building talking to people who have questions or concerns.

View of the Ayuntamiento from the Plaza Grande

We went inside and met a group of Mexican students and our tour guide, Raul. He led us on a tour of the area that lasted almost two hours, completely in Spanish. I was pleased that I could understand him easily. The history was absolutely fascinating! In the patio of the Ayuntamiento (which is inside), we started our tour by hearing that we were exactly on the site of a Mayan pyramid. It was torn down by the Spaniards when they arrived in the Yucatan, and the stones were used to build the cathedral.

View of the cathedral from the balcony of the Ayuntamiento

The balcony of the Ayuntamiento

 We continued walking to the Casa de Montejo, the family that led the conquering of the Yucatan. The façade of the building is the only original part left, but we spent some time listening to Raul explain some of the different architectural features.

la Casa de Montejo

 From the Casa de Montejo, we walked to the Cathedral. Built in the late sixteenth century, the cathedral served as both church and fortress. It was built strongly in case of a Mayan revolt. This cathedral is the oldest on the whole North American continent.

The cathedral, that is, THE cathedral.

In addition, it is a huge building! In the morning, there were a lot of tourists and a few worshippers. When Stephanie and I returned later that afternoon, there were some thirty people scattered throughout the church praying or worshipping.

 Our final stop on the tour was right where we began, in the Palacio del Gobierno. It is distinguished by the murals lining its walls, which were painted in the 1970s by Fernando Castro Pacheco. I loved looking at all of them, reading the plaques, and hearing the tour guide's interpretation of them.

This is one of the two large murals on the lower level. The first represents the life of the Maya before the arrival of the Spaniards, and this one depicts how their lives changed following the Spanish invasion.

The staircase murals were also fascinating. This one, in the center, represents the Mayan belief that men come from the corn. The corn plant is painted with beautiful detail on this large mural.

This is the mural to the left. It depicts the Mayan fear of the night, with the jaguar, death, hunger, and war all portrayed as coming from the night. See the crescent moon in the upper right corner of the mural?

This mural shows that with day comes all good things. Prosperity, the Arts, and the finer things of life are shown here. The sun in the upper left corner shows that this is only during the daytime.

 There were multiple murals on the walls of the upper level. There was also a room of history, lined with still more murals, all painted by Pacheco. My favorite of all was the mural of Fray Diego de Landa. In his left hand, he held a flaming torch, and at his feet was a large fire in which could be seen burning books. In his right hand were a book and a pen. This is the story the guide told: Fray Diego traveled through all the Mayan villages in the area and burned all their writings of their culture and villages. He believe this was an important step in evangelizing the Mayan culture. Some twenty years later, however, he thought better of his actions and wrote down what he knew or could remember of the culture. So it is that because of him, we know almost nothing of the ancient Mayan civilizations, and it is also because of him that we know what we do know.

Other murals had interesting stories as well. The final one we looked at was two feet walking along dirt road. These feet signified the amazing resilience of the Maya. Despite everything they endured from the Spanish, the Mayan were not conquered or defeated. They are alive and well today. One third of the Yucatan Peninsula is Mayan.

Long and drawn out post, I know, but it was truly interesting to me. This blog is as much a journal for me to go back to as a blog for you to keep up with me. Look for my post tomorrow night or Saturday about our trip to Celestún and my move to the house of doña Carmencita! Questions? Leave a comment below!