Five Days Of Photography On The Streets Of Merida Mexico
Last week I spent 5 nights in Merida, Mexico, the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán and a vibrant city full of rich Mayan and colonial heritage.
It's a 4-hour bus ride from my home in Cancun and I stayed at the Hostel Catedral Merida located at the heart of the city just in front the Cathedral Church and at the corner of the main square. I got a private room there for 500 pesos ($25 USD) a night which included breakfast. They had AC in the rooms, great WiFi, clean bathrooms and showers, and a friendly, helpful staff.
I love hostels because they are much more social than a hotel and it's fun meeting interesting travelers from around the world. It's also a great place to introduce people to Steemit. I met a cool couple named Spenser and Autumn and Spenser signed up under the handle @knapptime. Go say hi to him. He posted about Merida with some great pics you can see at Merida --- by @knapptime
. Tell him I sent you and give him a warm Steemit welcome.
![plaza_grande](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://preview.ibb.co/jdaTvd/plaza_grande.jpg)
You couldn't ask for a better location. The center of the town at the Plaza Grande right outside my front door was full of activity and great places to eat and transportation readily available to anywhere you want to go in the city.
What I love about Merida are the city markets where farmers and craftsmen sell their wares each day. This is a real Mexican market where you get to practice your bargaining skills, although the prices are so low it feels silly trying to talk the price down. Mercado Lucas De Galvéz is the main market in the city and takes up several blocks of space offering everything you could possibly imagine.
The fruits and vegetables are plentiful, organic, locally-grown, delicious, and so inexpensive you could feed yourself for a week on less than $10. Tomatoes for 0.10 cents a pound, avocados for 0.30/pound, habanero peppers, potatoes, onions, watermelon, pineapple, coconuts, spices of every variety, shoes, leather goods, clothing, farm supplies, meats, flowers, crafts, and art for so cheap it's a wonder how they can make a living.
Your senses are completely overwhelmed as you wander through the narrow passageways that meander past the vendors packed so tight it feels almost claustrophobic. The sights, sounds, and aromas envelop you as you make your way through the chaotic and frenzied market transporting you back in time. It truly is a unique experience.
The city itself has a rich history and founded in 1542 by Francisco de Montejo the Younger on site of former city T'ho.
There were three Spanish conquistadors named "Francisco de Montejo": Francisco de Montejo "el Adelantado" ("The Lieutenant", the eldest); Francisco de Montejo y León "el Mozo" ("The Boy", his son); and Francisco de Montejo "el Sobrino" ("The Nephew"). Mérida was founded in 1542 by Montejo y León ("el Mozo") and named after the town of Mérida in Extremadura, Spain. It was built on the site of the Maya city of T'hó (/d̥ʼχøʼ/), which was also called Ichkanzihóo or Ichcaanzihó (/isʃkan'siχœ/; "City of Five Hills") in reference to its pyramids. T'ho had been a center of Mayan culture and activity for centuries: because of this, some historians[who?] consider Mérida the oldest continually occupied city in the Americas.
Carved Maya stones from ancient T'ho were widely used to build the Spanish colonial buildings that are plentiful in downtown Mérida, and are visible, for instance, in the walls of the main cathedral. Much of Mérida's architecture from the colonial period through the 18th century and 19th century is still standing in the centro historico of the city. From colonial times through the mid-19th century, Mérida was a walled city intended to protect the Peninsular and Criollo residents from periodic revolts by the indigenous Maya. Several of the old Spanish city gates survive, but modern Mérida has expanded well beyond the old city walls.
Late in the 19th century and the early 20th Century, the area surrounding Mérida prospered from the production of henequén. For a brief period, around the turn of the 20th century, Mérida was said to house more millionaires than any other city in the world. The result of this concentration of wealth can still be seen today. Many large and elaborate homes still line the main avenue called Paseo de Montejo, though few are occupied today by individual families. Many of these homes have been restored and now serve as office buildings for banks and insurance companies. Korean immigration to Mexico began in 1905 when more than a thousand people arrived in Yucatán from the city of Incheon. These first Korean migrants settled around Mérida as workers in henequen plantations.
Mérida has one of the largest centro histórico districts in the Americas (surpassed only by Mexico City and Havana, Cuba). Colonial homes line the city streets to this day, in various states of disrepair and renovation; the historical center of Mérida is currently undergoing a minor renaissance as more and more people are moving into the old buildings and reviving their former glory. Wikipedia
Henequen is an agave, a plant species native to southern Mexico and Guatemala and is used for textiles and to make cordage to bind hay bales. It was a huge industry back then and looks a lot like the agave plant used to make tequila.
I was able to take some pictures with my new camera and stop by the camera shop to pick up a speedlight and reflectors. Years ago I used to really be into photography, back in the day when we still used film, and I would spend hours in the darkroom developing shots.
Today with the introduction of digital photography taking good pics is so much easier now I decided to get back into it. Once earning enough Steem, I bought a Canon T7i and few lenses and will be showing some of my pics in future posts on Steemit.
Here are some of the pics I took of Merida. All of these pics were taken with no flash, all done in camera with no post-processing and all shot in manual mode in RAW format. Very old school techniques that will hopefully start to come back to me as I get used to doing photography again.
It was a lot of fun trying to get some vivid shots in various low-light conditions without a flash. It is kind of like riding a bike and is slowly coming back to me.
Hope you enjoy the pictures. They were shot in RAW but have been uploaded here in JPEG.
![fans](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://image.ibb.co/kUVE1J/fans.jpg)
![flowers](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://preview.ibb.co/dPQiTy/flowers.jpg)
![tomatoes](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://preview.ibb.co/h0T91J/tomatoes.jpg)
![dancing_in_the_light](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://preview.ibb.co/bvMF8y/dancing_in_the_light.jpg)
![habanero_peppers](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://preview.ibb.co/bUFdvd/habanero_peppers.jpg)
![pigeon_in_flight](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://preview.ibb.co/gpJL8y/pigeon_in_flight.jpg)
These next two shots were taken in almost total darkness with a long shutter speed to capture the ambient light.
![cathedral_merida](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://preview.ibb.co/m8dsMJ/cathedral_merida.jpg)
![green_wall_in_darkness](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://image.ibb.co/e8UKkd/green_wall_in_darkness.jpg)
![mayan_woman](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://image.ibb.co/nHDvQd/mayan_woman.jpg)
![mayan_shaman](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://image.ibb.co/kHEryy/mayan_shaman.png)
![Soldiers_at_Plaza_Grande_Merida](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://image.ibb.co/cOQjkd/Soldiers_at_Plaza_Grande_Merida.jpg)
![mayan_sculpture](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://image.ibb.co/ckdLQd/mayan_sculpture.jpg)
Thanks for having a look and hope you enjoyed the pictures.
![luzcypher-emoji-verified-2.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://s16.postimg.org/fg72y0snp/luzcypher_emoji_verified_2.png)
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Awesome photos!
You're an amazing story teller @luzcypher I could see myself walking through the streets as I read your post. Great photos too.Absolutely fantastic!
I must go to Mexico before I die, it's such a beautiful country, full of culture and music, I love the pictures, and colours, BTW, there is a city in Venezuela that's also named Merida full of culture and history too.
I love mariachi music, Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Agustín Lara, Lola Beltrán, Vicente Fernandez, José Alfredo Jiménez, etc, but the one that I dearly love and admire is Juan Gabriel, I think he's one of the greatest composers of all time, there's not enough words to describe his influence in modern music.
Hell, I even love the band ZOÉ, they're awesome.
Keep up the good work my friend @luzcypher
Great shots, brother... You've got a really good eye, man!