Operación "escapa el papa"

(Operation Escape the Pope - not to be confused with "Operación escapa LA papa," which would be Operation Escape the Potato)

Yes, the pope was in México this week. Yesterday he came to my town - San Cristóbal de las Casas. Now I don´t have anything against Francis, but I frankly did not want to be around for the "gran caos" that I knew would be happening. A week before he arrived there were protesters camped out in front of the cathedral. People were busy cleaning and repainting the exterior, and then the day before I left town, there was already fresh graffiti:

We don´t want the pope we want justice

I left on Thursday afternoon for a 14 hour bus ride to Mérida, the capital of the Yúcatan, and current home to fellow Fulbrighter, Andrea. It was well worth the tiring journey.

While Andrea was in Spanish class, I visited a bookstore, walked around the town square

and visited the anthropology museum, which had an exhibit on Mayan sculpture:

After Andrea´s Spanish class, we visited a local cantina and then went back to the square to watch a demonstration of the Mayan ball game, pok-ta-pok, where players pass a heavy rubber ball with their hips, shoulders, and buttocks:

The next day, along with Andrea´s welcoming gringo neighbors, we rented a car and drove out to the coastal town of Celestun, where we took a hair-raising boat ride and saw flamingos,

Mangroves, and a swimming hole that was not so tempting for the sane members of our crew. Can you spot why?

Then we enjoyed a meal of fresh seafood and spent some time relaxing on the beach.

When we got back to town, we went out to dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant, chanced upon a Valentine´s concert in the park, and visited a fancy ice cream shop.

Flavors: Mango, plantain with hibiscus, pineapple with chaya (like spinach), lime with mint, mamey fruit

That day was my favorite day in Mexico so far.

On Sunday, Valentine´s day, we had coffee on the Paseo, a road that they close off for biking and walking on the weekends. We were too late to rent a bicycle for four, but enjoyed some excellent people-watching of families, dogs, and balloon-sellers.

We visited Animaya, an animal park, and got to witness lunchtime disputes among the animals:

In the evening, we relaxed and read at the neighbors´ pool.

On my last day, we did some work at Andrea´s apartment, sampled some Yucatecan cuisine, and visited a contemporary art museum.

One of my Tsotsil classmates sent me a long list of Yucatecan specialties to sample.
 I didn´t manage to check off the whole list, so I guess I´ll have to go back. 

Just some plastic bag baobab trees with a background of Philip Glass... and an Andrea!

Many thanks to Andrea and her neighbors for being such incredible hosts in Mérida!