Week 89: Monday, May 5, 2025 – Sunday, May 11, 2025

Good afternoon, my loyal readers,

I hope you all had wonderful weekends. 

I'm currently writing to you, sitting by the edge of the pool at my beautiful hostel in Mérida, Yucatán, where I've been for the last several days.

When most people think about the Yucatán peninsula, they think about Cancún and the beach resorts on the Caribbean coast. But what most people don't know about are the secluded beaches with incredible wildlife, the underground system of freshwater pools called cenotes, and the rich culture and heritage of the Maya people who are alive and well, despite our understanding of the "collapse" of the Mayan civilization. When I planned this trip, I truly had no clue how beautiful this part of Mexico was going to be. But it was beyond what I could ever imagine. So let me take the chance to tell you more about it.

I left for my trip on Monday of last week and spent two nights in Querétaro. After arriving in the afternoon on Monday, I ran some errands and also got a much-needed haircut at a hipster salon in Querétaro. On Tuesday, I saw my friend Rachel for breakfast and my other friend Cole for dinner and in between I got my nails done in preparation for my beach vacation.

On Wednesday morning, I checked out of my Airbnb, grabbed a quick breakfast, and took an Uber to the airport to await my flight to paradise. While I had given myself plenty of time to get to the airport and get through security, for some reason I didn't hear or wasn't paying attention when they called for the boarding of my flight. It wasn't until I heard my name over the intercom that I started running for my life in order to not miss my flight. Luckily, I made it in time to get onto the plane, and shortly after, we were on our way.

Upon arriving in Mérida, I took a taxi to my hostel, and I proceeded to meet a very nice young woman from London—Jazmine—who was also staying at the hostel. She and I left the hostel and took a stroll around the city's central square before she offered to walk me to a local restaurant to try traditional Mayan cuisine, which shares similarities with food in other parts of Mexico, but uses its own unique ingredients, seasonings, and flare.

After dinner, I returned to the hostel, and met yet another lovely young woman—Deborah from Italy—who was preparing a salad for herself in the hostel kitchen. Deborah proceeded to tell me about a fun bar with live music that she had been to the night before and hoped to visit again that night. I decided to join her, and before I knew it, we were at a lively club, dancing salsa with a cute group of individuals who were part of a salsa dance class and who came to the club every week to practice the moves they learned in their classes. Deborah and I left the club around 12:30am and got back to the hostel, where we both showered off the sweat from dancing and the heat and went to bed. 

The next morning, I woke up bright and early and went outside to write and enjoy the natural beauty around me. Around 7:30am, a complimentary continental breakfast was served, and I enjoyed a selection of yogurt with fruit, bread and butter, quesadillas with refried beans and grilled onions, and, of course, coffee. It was a beautiful spread, which I enjoyed in the company of the new and interesting people also staying in the hostel.

After breakfast, a woman I met from Brazil and I took another stroll around the city center, this time taking more time to explore the buildings surrounding the square, namely, the cathedral and the local and state government buildings. After visiting the important buildings in the center, we returned back to the hostel (mostly to escape the heat) and I prepared my things to move on to my next destination: Campeche. 

A little bit of background about this trip for context. Back in March, I was supposed to go to Cancún to celebrate my birthday with my friend Jess from the states, but unfortunately, we couldn't make that trip happen. Luckily, I was able to see Jess when I went to Boston in March, and instead of losing the ticket all together for my trip to Cancún, I decided to reschedule the ticket for Mérida in May, with the intention of visiting my friend Veronica, a Peace Corps Volunteer, who is serving a third year here in the Yucatán. Veronica, however, does not live in Mérida, she lives in the neighboring state of Campeche in the capital city, and when I told her I was coming to Mérida, we decided that I would first go see her in Campeche and then we would return to Mérida together. Well, due to certain circumstances, Veronica could no longer come to Mérida with me, and instead, we decided that I would come to Campeche at the beginning of my trip and then return to Mérida on my own. Well, due to other circumstances (namely the incredible heatwave that started this week when I arrived), Veronica told me that it would be better for me to stay my first night in Mérida, then come to Campeche for one night, and then return to Mérida for the weekend. 

Anyway, after getting my things together at the hostel, I made my way to the bus station in Mérida to take the bus to Campeche, and after a 2-hour drive, I arrived in Campeche around 5pm and took a ride-share over to my friend Veronica's house, where she greeted me and then we promptly left her apartment to go to her weekly English conversation club.

The conversation club—Coffee, Cakes, and Conversation—took place at an adorable workshop for artisanal goods in the center of Campeche. The group of people that gathered there were mostly college-age women, local to Campeche, but there were also a couple of documentarians from outside of Mexico who were in Campeche to film a documentary who joined in on the activities and made for an extremely interesting conversation and cultural exchange.

After the hour and a half was up, Veronica and I, along with one of her friends who works at the workshop, went to dinner on the main avenue of the town and enjoyed more traditional Yucatecan food. While it was incredibly hot and humid, we sat outside and enjoyed the atmosphere of the beautifully-lit pedestrian-only street. 

The next morning, Veronica and I both woke up early and got ready to leave the apartment—Veronica to go to her work and me to start exploring the town. Veronica gave me some great suggestions for museums to visit, and so I got started at the first one on the list: the history of Mayan architecture in the region, which was really well curated. The museum had various artifacts from the Classical Mayan Civilization—the time in which the Mayas were building grand cities and temples—and excellent explanations about the significance of the different symbols and writings found on the sides of the different artifacts. According to a woman working at the museum, it was better for many of these artifacts to be taken from their original sites, as they were either damaged or would have been possibly stolen from the site had the museum not taken them under their protection. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the Mayan civilization, which thrived between 200 and 900 C.E. and their rich cultural heritage in this part of Mexico. 

After the architecture museum, I went into a few other smaller museums, before taking refuge from the heat in a wonderful coffee shop. There, I ran into a couple from Australia, who had been traveling for almost 6 months throughout South and Central America before coming to Mexico to spend the last leg of their trip before moving up to Canada to start new jobs. Coincidentally, they were also heading to Mérida for the weekend, and while we planned to meet up, the timing simply didn't work out and we didn't get the chance to see each other. I did, however, run into them in the street yesterday. They were biking and I was walking, but we didn't get the chance to formally meet up again. 

Upon leaving the coffee shop, I braved the 100º+ heat plus humidity and took a trolley tour of the city for the afternoon before finding another cute restaurant to sit and grab some lunch in. Once Veronica was done with work, I went back to her apartment, and from there, we went to the boardwalk to watch the sunset over the ocean. 

That night, I left Campeche to return to Mérida. This time, I chose to stay at a different hostel, one that my friend Cole recommended to me that he stayed in during his trip to Mérida. I arrived at the hostel around 11pm and got unpacked and ready for bed.

The next morning, I decided to join a tour to the cenotes, the natural pools of freshwater that surround the Yucatán peninsula. With a group of 12 people from the hostel, we took local transport to the town of Homún where the most popular cenotes in the region are found. We had the chance to visit 3 cenotes, all with different geology: 1 completely covered, one with a small window to the sky, and another that was completely open to the world above. We had the chance to swim, to jump off of platforms above the water, and to generally enjoy ourselves. I was lucky to have gone with a great group and to get to know a group of people from all parts of the world. 

We arrived at the hostel around 6:30pm and proceeded to jump into the hostel pool, which was delightful. My friends Musmé, Osvaldo, and I spent over an hour in the pool playing pool volleyball and having a grand old time. Both Musmé and Osvaldo are from Mexico—Musmé from Guanajuato and Osvaldo from Mexico City. It was great fun getting to know them and exploring Mérida with them.

After getting out of the pool, we invited another young woman, Mathilde from Denmark, to join us on our pursuit of finding Marquesitas, a local delicacy, consisting of a crunchy crepe shell filled with Edam cheese from the Netherlands and filled with various other ingredients to choose from such as nutella, caramel, dulce de leche, marzipan, and more. It was a decadent treat and a fun experience shared among friends.

We returned to the hostel after wandering around and enjoying the city at night and proceeded to make plans for the following day. Unfortunately, Musmé was heading back to Guadalajara where her work is based the next morning, but Mathilde, Osvaldo, and I decided to make plans for a day trip out of the city. Mathilde wanted to go to the famous Chichén Itzá, which would have been incredible, but I really wanted to go to the beach to see the beautiful Yucatan coastline. As it was late, we decided to leave the decision for the morning.

While Mathilde still really wanted to go to Chichén Itzá, we made the decision to escape the heat and head to the beautiful beaches of Celestún, a community on the coast with clear beaches and a biosphere reserve where flamingos are known to flock to. Around 11am, went left Mérida city in pursuit of flamingo sightings and secluded beaches.

An hour and a half later, we arrived in Celestún, and after a dip in the ocean, we decided to take a boat tour out to the mangroves and hidden beaches of the reserve to see flamingos and take in the natural beauty of the region. While it wasn't the height of flamingo season by any means (we were told that at the peak of the season, there are over 20,000 flamingos in the reserve), we did get the chance to see a few dozen flamingos in their natural habitat as well as visiting the beautiful natural ecosystems of the region and geeking out over the wildlife (that was mostly me). 

I have never been one to stay in hostels while traveling, but I think I have been converted to one. The ability to get to know like-minded people from all over the world and instantly make new friends is such a beautiful experience. In just the four short days that I spent in the hostels, I made a number of new friends, and I was able to learn so much from people's different experiences and points of view. 

This has truly been one of the best vacations that I've ever taken. While I have lived in Mexico for over a year and a half, only now am I truly convinced that it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I wish I had spent more time during my service exploring more of the country, but I know now that even once I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer, I will be coming back to Mexico to explore and get to know even more of its culture and natural beauty. 

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Love,
Ilana