The Turibus

Last week Tuesday (3 June)we went downtown for a ride in the Turibus, or tour bus. The Turibus takes a fixed route around Mérida, pointing out historic buildings and points of interest. Without a little more context as to why the buildings were important, I can't remember all of them. I will share a few of the pictures I took. I also had fun trying to catch pictures of pretty plants and landscaping. As we drove down some tree-lined streets, I got smacked in the face by a branch. After that, I got smarter and made a game out of ducking for threatening branches.

This one was definitely one to duck for!

The bus pulled up to the sidewalk and almost hit this branch. We had to back up before we could continue...

The tour started from the cathedral in the downtown area. So we first had to take a bus downtown and walk a few blocks to the cathedral to wait for the second bus. It was drizzling a little bit, but we all opted for the open double decker bus instead of the enclosed bus.

One of the first houses we saw on the ride, once we got past the downtown area.

The front  of a church near the Central House. The man was ringing the bells as we drove past. The grounds of the church are beautifully landscaped...

 

...as this view from the side partially shows. A couple of the girls went to services here last Sunday, and said it was different than going to services in the US. Check out Regan's post about it.

This is the Oxxo one block away from Central House. Oxxo is a convenience store found on every corner in Mérida. We go here to buy snacks, water, Gatorade, and minutes for our phones. We were tickled to drive right past Central House on the Turibus and hear it mentioned as part of the tour. It used to be the private residence of a former governor of Mérida.

This is in the middle of a round-a-bout on the Paseo de Montejo, a major street not far from the Central House.

At night it is lit up, so we always stop to take pictures of it and they never turn out well. This is the view from the south...

...and this is the view from the north. There are two different statues, one on each side of the wall.

One of the former mansions lining the Paseo de Montejo, this building is now part of a university. During the henequen boom in the Yucatan, many of the plantation owners built houses along the Paseo de Montejo. Most of these are still standing today, but the majority of them have been turned into businesses.

One of the large hotels

This one is for Andrew and Aaron. We were waiting at a stoplight, and I was so bored I snapped this picture of a dump truck with a load of rock. Jasmin, sitting right behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and said, "You know we have those in the States, right???" Yea, about that...

This was a building we drove past. I missed the importance of the building, but I enjoyed taking pictures of the grounds!

Except for that I was having trouble holding the camera straight!

This view from the other side shows a little more of the landscaping around the building.

This is another stoplight special. I had time to zoom in on these plants...

...in front of a Chinese restaurant! Hey, if the food is as pretty as the plants..!

These were the last pictures I took before my battery died. I liked the hedge covering the front of this building...

...and the vines covering this fence. These two pictures were taken while we waited at the sidewalk under the huge tree (shown at the beginning of this post).

After the bus returned us to the Plaza Grande, we walked over to the ice cream shop and enjoyed a refreshing treat. We could choose between several types of ice cream as well as sherbets and other frozen fruit concoctions. Delicious! We then caught the bus back to the Central House, and regretfully opened our books again. Excursions are our favorite parts of the week!