Liz: Day 12: At El Mercado

We gave it a good effort yesterday.  We walked down to Merida's main market (mercado) in the morning.  It was full of people and fruits and vegetables and chickens hanging by the necks and spices and food carts and noise.  Musicians were set up every so often playing the drums or guitar or singing.  I wish I could say we hung out and tried some food at the food carts.  Instead we bought some fruit and then fled to the supermarket to buy comfort foods and then home to be comforted as we've all been under the weather. 

In the evening we went to La Chaya, a Mayan restaurant where women dressed in traditional Mayan dresses sit out front and make homemade tortillas for your dinner while you watch.  The food was very good. Otis has, to our surprise, been enjoying all the food he's tried so far.  He tried the chicken pibil dish last night and loved it. Patrick ordered chaya, the drink. It's a bright green drink and I have no idea how it was because halfway through dinner I was slammed with a fever, aches and pains and all I could think about was getting home.  Sofia was still sick also and declined to eat her empanadas. This morning (Wed) when she got up her fever was much better, which is a huge relief.  I was prepared to call the travelling doctor to come take a look at her today if she still had a high fever.

On the bright side, we have gotten to meet some fun people hanging out at our hotel.  Sofia and I met a 4 year old girl and her mom from Vienna.  The girls didn't have any trouble playing  even though one spoke only english and one spoke only german. It turns out that they were also were traveling for the first time in ten years, taking an extended trip and heading down to Belize after the Yucatan.  We also met a couple families from Australia (who just happened to meet each other here at the hotel) who are here for the same but opposite reason as us: they are avoiding an extra hot summer.
Below: the market, Sofia and I buying fruit, Otis' chicken pibil, Otis, Patrick's shark dish pan de cazon.