Mérida, day three

Howdy Travel fans,

It's late, and for a change, it's cool outside. OK, these days 78 degrees F feels cool, and also I've been in the pool. Las cervezas por el bebida maquina (vending machine. On the side of it is written "The Clicky Bar") are helping me recover from a hard day of touristing.

The highlight of my day? Haggling over dusty mexican LP's in a junk shop so crammed full of, well, junk that they had to clear things out of the way for me to squeeze sideways in to the record stacks. The poor guy manning the till had his hopes high on making a mint on a beat down 7" from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", but I wouldn't give him more than $5USD (50 pesos) for it. It was in so-so condition and it's not my particular obsession, so normally I wouldn't buy it unless it was like mebby a buck. I swear it upset him so much that he looked like he had just been told that his best friend had just died.

I think he's got some kind of emotional connection to that movie. Ah well, what can one do?

Our hotel is a sanctuary. Inside, it's as calm and relaxing as a meditation retreat. Outside it's the hussle of NYC with much smaller sidewalks. It's good to see that this is a vibrant lively city. What a strange mix, however, of affluent spanish-colonial and not-so-affluent mexican modern.

Unlike Spain, hardly anyone smokes here (tho smoking laws are more relaxed than the US) and nightlife closes down early. They are also much more serious about alcohol laws - no take-home sales after 10pm! On the other hand, people are quite friendly and not at all reserved about starting up a conversation with a gringo. Complete strangers wave and smile. Ya gotta like that.

Tomorrow we head out for Campeche. Stay tuned...