What a day.

Here I am in ´Nomad Youth Hostel´ here in Merida, Mexico. It´s about 10:30 PM on my first night here. What a day.

I got here at about 9 AM this morning. I flew over from Cancun, a flight that should have been just a connecting flight yesterday. But since AeroMexico moved the flight to today, they comped me hotel and food overnight. I had to bug them to make this happen, but hey, it´s only fair. They sent me to the Marriot Courtyard, a 5 Star hotel with a flat screen TV and a king sized bed. Niiiiiiice.

I had to wake up at 5 AM this morning to catch my flight to Merida. The airplane was the tiniest I´ve ever been on. It fit maybe 15 people, max. Just two rows of seats down the sides of the plane. I could see what the pilots were doing from where I sat. It was pretty cool. I slept the majority of the way.

Upon arrival I took a cab to el ´zocalo´, or the central plaza of Merida. It´s a nice place. One thing I find particularly crazy is that the Cathedral is the oldest in Mesoamerica, built in the 1500´s from stones taken from the torn-down remains of Mayan pyramids. When I see the Cathedral I can´t help but think, poor Mayans. Those damn conquistadors tore down their religious temples, built churches with those same stones, and to add a cherry to the sundae, they converted their children to Christianity. Oh, and not to mention they massacred a large portion of them. Gotta love murder in the name of religion.

I wandered around the city for a few hours, ate lunch at a small side street mercado, and finally found my hostel. My bed is in a decent-sized ´dormitorio´, a room with approximately 12 bunk beds (or 24 separate beds), a couple showers and a couple bathrooms. It´s a good place to crash for a night. Free internet (hence the blog right now), as well as a pool, free salsa lessons, and a jungle-like relaxation area.

It´s nice here. Pretty hot. Somewhat cloudy. Very humid. Relaxing at the pool I met a nice Australian girl who has also been traveling Mexico/Central America, and she assured me not to worry about the dangers people have warned me about. Needless to say this was quite refreshing. Later we met a girl from the Netherlands, whose native language is Dutch but speaks English. Together the three of us went and got dinner and drinks. It was interesting hanging out with two other people from two very different countries. The Australian girl laughed pretty hard when I immitated the Southern American accent.

And now, here I am, sitting in the lobby of the hostel, using the crappiest computer I´ve seen since 1995. Viva Mexico!

I´m not sure what I´ll do tomorrow, but I´m thinking I´ll catch the bus to Progresso, a small beach town about 50 minutes North of here.

More updates to come.