Under the Fan in the Yucatan: Life's a Beach!

We came upon the opportunity via our casa owner to spend a week at the beach.  Merida is about 35 kilometres from the north coast of the Yucatan on the Gulf of Mexico and the port city of Progreso which boasts the world's longest pier at 6.5 kilometres.  The tremendously long pier is necessitating by the shallow water in that area.  Progreso took over as the Yucatan's main port from Sisal in the mid-twentieth century.  Note:  our binder twine in days of yore was called "sisal" because the shipments were stamped with the name of the port.  The actual stuff is called henequen. (Take it easy the "h" of course.)

Mucho Canadians winter and live in Progreso and on the coast east and west of there.  Hard to believe -- a place other than Canada (and Cuba) where Canadians outnumber the Americans!  We are staying in the small fishing village of Chuburna west of Progreso.  Merida is a big city, Progreso is a small city, then you go through Chelem which is a town and on to Chuburana which is a village.

The place seems pretty much abandoned this time of year.  Many open air restaurants and tiny confectionaries plus a couple of cold beer joints.  There is also the requisite church and town plaza.  The side streets are the same lovely white sand as the beach which is cool.  The combination of megatonnes of limestone and crushed shells has produced beautiful sand.  In addition to the lack of services is a surfeit of dogs.  The number of dogs roaming the streets in Mexico is inversely proportional to the size of the town.  No donkeys or roosters though but LOTS of fish.

It is a wonderful coastline for shelling (collecting shells is a noun in this part of the world) and watching brown pelicans fish. Unlike white pelicans which apparently swim in a circle and then close in on a school of fish, brown pelicans skim over the water alone or in small groups and when they spy a fish they rise up a bit and then plummet straight down beak first like a missile to spear the fish.  They look for all the world like “lawn darts” (from days of yore before they were deemed , like so many activities and equipment, far too dangerous).  Watching the pelicans fish provides hours of entertainment as does observing the “boys in the hood”, aka perros, aka dogs frolic in the surf.

When we first arrived in Chuburna you could shoot a cannon off in any direction and not do much harm but the week of Carnaval has begun.  Carnaval is the days preceding Ash Wednesday when good Catholics let their hair down before the somber season of Lent which precedes Easter.  Apparently children are out of school this week and many other workers get at least some days off.  The city of Merida precedes Ash Wednesday with a week of daily/nightly parades.  The main streets turn into cantinas and the locals do their best to stay up all night and make as much noise as possible.  Business and property owners fence their gardens to prevent trampling and littering.  Here in Chuburna it all started Saturday with locals coming out to “the cabin”, many participating in an open air church service in the plaza in the evening and then playing music all night.  Earplugs are a must.  Sunday morning the families are frolicking and/or sobering up in the surf.  Apparently this culminates on Tuesday night or Mardi Gras with one last whoop up and then it’s off to mass Wednesday morning for the annual smear of ashes on the forehead and Lent begins.

While many expat Canadians and Americans own here or rent this time of year, many of the little concrete casas on the beach are owned by families from Merida and environs who use them over the major holidays and the months of summer when the kids are out of school and the temperatures in Merida soar.  It can be as much as ten degrees warmer in Merida than here on the coast and the ocean breeze can be so refreshing even if leaving one as salty as a potato chip.

The many little open air restaurants in town serve fish and nothing but fish so help me God.  Very good, fresh fish.  When you sit down and order a beer you are served an array of appetizer including at least two types of “ceviche” or chopped pickled fish with onions, tomatoes and cilantro.  This is accompanied by yesterday’s tortillas, deep fried which we call nachos, usually a small refried beans and the requisite bowl of homemade salsa.  There is always the “ of the day” which is so fresh it’s usually gasping it’s last in the kitchen and they are proud to take you back and give your choice of victims.  The favored method of preparation is to gut the fish and then dump it head, fins and all into a barrel of hot fat (a Mexican deep fryer).  The result is liberally sprinkled with coarse salt and is delicious.  I had a particularly succulent grouper one day and Neil’s was a name that didn’t stick. Many dishes are served with pickled purple onions. Papas de la Francesa (french fries) are definitely more expensive than the fish per kilo.

Shrimp cocktail is a fish bowl beverage glass or old-fashioned sundae glass full of shrimp in a bland tomato sauce.  Next time I'm bringing horseradish!  Here we have the shrimp, home we have the saunce -- need to get the two together.  And then there is the crab!  La Terracitta in Chelem serves a big plate of pre-cracked crab for only 160 pesos (about $12) that is delicious!  One doesn't even need to feel guilty because it is served with lime wedges only.

Sand, solitude, fish and beer -- the Yucatan beach!

Under the Fan in the Yucatan: "Kulcher" -- Gab and God (Language and Religion)

At one time all Mexicans aspired to be Spanish but not anymore.  Today's Yucatecans seem to take a great deal of pride in their Mayan heritage.  Many Yucatecan schools are now bilingual teaching both Mayan and Spanish.  We attended a special performance in Plaza Grande to mark the end of the annual month long celebration of Mayan culture and the Spanish MC's remarks were translated into Mayan and vice versa.  The world's fascination with all things Mayan has probably reinforced this ethnic pride.  I don't think they resent their dark complexions, however they still seem to prefer the more Spanish Caucasian features in their advertising and I'm sure the men in particular would like to be taller but the tiny Mayan stature must be a dominant gene.

[Which leads me to my popular tangent -- just how tall were the ancient Maya?  Mighty short if you go by many of their descendants.  In the sixteenth century when Spain first started riding roughshod over the Yucatecan residents, endeavoring to save their immortal souls as well as enslave and rob them, a Bishop Landa did his level best to eliminate everything pertaining to the Mayan belief system including burning all their written records, etc.  However, after he had managed to get rid of most everything he could find he had a change of heart, received a blow to the head or something and decided to record everything he knew about Mayan society and beliefs.  His account, An Account of the Things of Yucatan,  is available in most Yucatecan bookstores in a various languages.  Almost everything we know about the ancient Maya has been learned from his record.  Which leads me to my point -- he describes the Mayan men as "tall" and well built.  Was this a mistranslation?  Have they shrunk in the past five hundred years?  Were the Spanish even shorter?  Most perplexing!  Maybe the Bishop was burning more than feathers and artifacts.]

Back to language.  While modern Yucatecans appear to be very proud of their Mayan roots there are two things from Spain that they obviously treasure -- the Spanish language and the Roman Catholic faith. Merida, unlike the resort cities on the coasts, is a very unilingual town and the further one gets from downtown or "El Centro" the more unilingual it becomes.  When we venture up north to some of the big shopping malls, the clerks look obviously surprised when you speak to them in English.  You might as well try Martian.  Gringos don't surprise them but non-Spanish speaking ones do.  It is common to be at a place like the MELL (Merida English Language Library) talking to some lady from a place like Flin Flon and then she'll turn away and lay into perfect sounding Spanish to someone else.  If you live here, you speak Spanish. Period.  Locals love to teach ignorant gringos how to say a few words correctly.  We have been tutored by taxi drivers, store clerks, waiters, and even our "mene mene" man.

[Tangent two:  Many downtown blocks in Merida have an elderly man who earns a few pesos by helping you park your car ("mene mene" means "come on, come on" when someone is backing up), washing your car, helping you with your groceries, keeping your parking space if you're running out to the store for a minute and whatever else he can do for you.  They usually don't live on "their block" but it is definitely their territory and they put in full time hours.  Most carry a red rag and sit on a cinder block, pail or whatever they can find.   I have heard it said that this and the elderly ladies begging downtown tells you quite a bit about the Mexican old age pension plan.  Our "mene mene" is named Manuel.  (Many people never learn their man's name.) He is quite a character and loves to exchange pleasantries with us and teach us a little Spanish.]

Spanish seems to lend itself to oratory and Yucatecans seem to have turned it in to an art form.  Merida is famous for its weekly outdoor concerts, e.g. every Saturday night is a concert in our neighbourhood of Santa Ana, Thursday night is Santa Lucia and so on.  Every concert, public event, you name it has a Master of Ceremonies and can these guys talk!!!  They go on and on and on!  Rolling their "r's" and repeating the same words over and over.  Maybe it's worse because we don't know what he's saying 90 percent of the time but we have concluded that the language lends itself to verbosity like none other!  Filibustering is a way of life!  Give a Yucatecan a microphone at your peril!

The great long aristocratic Spanish names should have been a clue.  The lovely city of Santa Fe, New Mexico is actually "La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís".  And any Spanish aristocrat worth his salt always had at least five or six names.  Good ol' Hernan Cortez was born "Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro" and even a poor peasant like Pancho Villa was named "José Doroteo Arango Arámbula" by his parents.  Meridanos use all three plus names on their business cards.  Perhpas modern Merida is also somewhat like Cape Breton, Nova Scotia where there are so many people with the same two names you need to use a third or fourth just to clarify matters, e.g. John Angus MacIsaac and John Donald MacIsaac, Jorje Navarro Molina and Jorje Elonzo Molina?  Maybe but I think it is more a Spanish pride of ancestry thing which (unlike most of Europe) is often inclusive of the maternal heritage as well.

I purchased a Penguin Pocket Spanish Dictionary two years ago when we were in Santa Fe and it is proving to be very inadequate.  Seems only every second word we need isn't in there partly because what we really seem to want most of the time is food words and cooking terms.  I should have bought the Complete Eaters English-Spanish Dictionary or something.  We have had many a discussion over just what something is on the menu although often the waiters are very helpful.  Neil resorts quickly to pantomime and has acted out many a phrase to the bewilderment and occasional amusement of Yucatecan store employees and aforementioned wait staff.

Every neighbourhood or barrio has its old, beautiful and LARGE Catholic church adjacent the neighbourhood square or plaza.  Often these churches are within sight of each other!  Maybe ten blocks apart max.  And the sound of the various bells, especially on a Sunday, is quite magical.  Every single taxi, bus and collectivo driver of the dozens we have encountered (with the exception of two) has had a rosary hanging from his review mirror.  Many homes have small shrines by the front door and many Meridanos even cross themselves when they walk past a church.  All large homes and haciendas have a private chapel and I found it quite enchanting and amusing to see the statue of St. Geronimo in the tiny chapel of the Hacienda Yaxcopoil. He was sporting a tiny Panama Hat just like any other dapper Yucatecan.  (Our guide was not amused that I was amused.)

Pope John Paul II (or Juan Paulo Dos) visited the Yucatan in 1993.  The magnificent Merida Catedral de San Ildefonso proudly displays very large photos of him in prayer there and a nearby town, Izamal, where he conducted a special mass for indigenous people, still trades on that fame twenty years later.  Yucatecans (and perhaps all Mexicans?) like to have a mass for all special occasions including the Quinceanera or 15th birthday/debut parties for girls that are such a big part of the culture here.  Like all cathedrals there are various saint's shrines around the perimeter.  The Virgin of Guadalupe is a popular spot as is a special chapel where a crucifix that has survived two fires (Christ of the Blisters) is displayed.   I have also found it intriguing to watch the tiny Chiapan women street vendors passing through the cathedral wipe their faces on the robes of a black velvet clad Virgin at the entance.  She obviously has special resonance with them.

These folks are no religous light-weights and it is evident in their high regard for family and community, their generosity to the less fortunate and their hospitality.  They walk the talk.

While over 80 percent of Yucatecans are Roman Catholics there is also apparently a good number of Seventh Day Adventists and evangelical Protestants.  There is also a sprinkling of Mennonites that have migrated to Mexico from the north. (According to Wikipedia there are 90,0000 Mennonites in Mexico.)  They can often be spotted in WalMart (and on Sunday????).  There dress is more conservative and extreme than the Manitoba variety and their language sounds truly bizarre - a mixture of German and Spanish I presume.  Am leben de Mexico!

Under the Fan in the Yucatan: Shopping

Under the fan in the Yucatan: Fashion

Older Yucatecans dress quite conservatively.  The women usually wear the traditional huipil (wee-peel) which is a loose cotton dress with short or cap sleeveless with profuse colorful embroidery around the top and bottom.  They are traditionally white but are now available in black and some other colors which look better on gringas.  Outdoors, huipils are usually worn with a narrow shawl/scarf which seems to have minimal function.  When an older Senora gets dressed up she adds a half-slip with a wide lace edge which peeks out from under the huipil by as much as a foot.  Dressier huipils have two wide rows of embroidery around the bottom and the top often has a large sailor-style collar covered with embroidery.  These dresses can be quite heavy because the embroidery adds a lot of weight.

Mexican men always wear pants (with the possible exception of going to the beach) and shirts (usually short-sleeved).  A popular Yucatecan souvenir is the "guayaberra" (g-why-a-bear-a) which is a short-sleeved dress shirt made of cotton or linen and worn hanging loose.  They feature two or four pockets and sections of tiny pleats down the front and back as well as embroidery and buttons in the same color as the shirt.  They take the place of suits in this hot climate and Mexican men usually wear white ones although fair skinned gringos often look better in off-white and other pastel colors.  Apparently these shirts were made in Cuba until the revolution when Yucatecans had to start making their own.  They are for sale EVERYWHERE in myriad colors and a huge range of prices.

Younger folk are also by and large a modest lot.  They don't show a lot of skin but they sure like their clothes tight.  And the official uniform of all Meridanas under fifty is jeans, very stretchy jeans.  They must be hot!  Ninety percent of Yucatecan women are overweight but the reverse is true of the men.  (I guess Mother Nature knows who will be taking care of the ninos in case of famine and it won't be those skinny little guys.)  Latina women are indeed built like J Lo, i.e. wide curvy bums and relatively flat chested.  Colorful padded bras are for sale on every street corner downtown like flipflops.  (In fact, from my own experience, it is a challenge to find one that isn't padded even in department stores.)  Meridanos don't show a lot of skin but they don't let a little thing like overflowing rolls and curves get in the way of wearing skin-tight tops with their skin-tight jeans.

Shoes!  Young Meridanas are crazy about shoes which may be why there appears to be about 10,000 pairs available for every man, woman and child in the city.  And they like them HIGH!  Only the elderly, children and touristas wear sensible shoes.  Six inch heels are relatively common.  And these are people who walk a lot!  The Mayan blood produces some very short people and it's not uncommon to see women barely more than four feet tall so the killer shoes are probably partly due to a yearning for height.

However, another major factor in Yucatecan fashion is sexiness.  The grotesquely baggy jeans never caught on here because they just don't look sexy and young latinos definitely want to look sexy.  While they don't wear them as tight as the girls, they do wear them about the same as northerners did in the 60s and 70s.
Yucatecans are always well groomed.  The vast majority of women and girls wear their hair long and usually done up.  The vast majority of men and boys wear their hair short and freshly trimmed.  It seems that all the women here, even the poorest, have gel nails!  Natural nails here are akin to leaving your hair grey.  I'm sure they think us gringas are total slobs.

The uniform of most construction workers is rolled up jeans and flipflops or no shoes at all.  They also seldom wear hats and have no work gloves.  Skin is cheap and many of these labourers earn as little as $10 per day.

The younger the person the more northern the clothing.  Children are precious and well cared for by all appearances.  They tend to be dressed in the standard department store options but little ninas are often dolled up like their mothers and occasionally sport a huipil style blouse.

While the Panama hat is a very popular tourist souvenir, most urban Yucatecans don't wear hats and if they do it's a ball cap.  Farm workers tend to wear henequen hats but with a wider brim.  By the way, ALL hats are "sombreros" which is the Spanish word for just about anything worn on your head with a brim.