PHOTO GALLERY TWO (Family Reunion)

PHOTO GALLERY THREE (Mayan Ruins, Museum)

PHOTO GALLERY FOUR (Merida, Anthropology Museum, Dances)

PHOTO GALLERY FIVE (Progreso Malecon)

Day Eleven

On our last full day in Mexico, we got together with Rocio's Mom and Dad, along with her brother's family and her sister, and went into Merida. There was a show scheduled in Merida's Revolution Square that featured classic Yucatecan dances by performers in historic dress. There was some really interesting dances, one that was done with a bottle balanced on the top of the dancer's heads, and another with a whole tray of glasses and a bottle balanced on their heads. Then they did the same dance, only balanced on a small raised platform.

Merida is known as the “White City” because in years past the citizens dressed in white. The men wore all white, including a white fedora, and the women were in the classic hipils, the Yucatecan embroidered dresses. It's very elegant and given how bloody hot the days are in Merida, probably just makes good sense.

In addition to the dancing there was the now-typical artisans market, where we bought more small trinkets and some toys for the kids.

Next we went to a restaurant that Rocio's brother recommended, which turned out to be a great choice. There was a neat little mariachi band, and the food was traditional Yucatecan cuisine. I had a dish called queso relleno – stuffed cheese. Take a ball of Gouda, hollow it out and fill it with beef and spices, cook until soft and cover with a white cream sauce. Rich, but sure is good. It was apparently the King of Spain's favorite when he came on a visit once.

Lots of pictures, lots of singing along with the band. It was a nice family moment, even though I didn't understand a word of it.

Day Twelve

Time to go home again. Our flight out is at 7:20, so we need to be at the airport by 5:30 to get through customs and make sure everything is OK. Rocio borrowed a clock from the hotel staff and set it for 4:00, and we were to meet the van the airport at 4:30.

I didn't sleep well, knowing that the alarm would go off at 4:00. It did, and we got the last bag ready. We had packed everything else the night before. I moved them into the lobby – we were the only ones in the hotel, so I had to unlock the front door Went back to the room. Waited. No van. Clock showed 4:45, still no van. Starting to get very nervous.

Rocio went to call her niece (we were using her boyfriend's van). Then I noticed the clock on my phone. 3:45 AM. Huh? Turns out Rocio never changed her watch from EST to CST, so we were up an hour earlier than necessary. One last adventure.

The van was there at 4:30, we loaded up and were on our way. Got through customs with no problem, and on the plane. We had a connecting flight in Houston.

Approaching Houston, we started to run into bad weather. The landing was delayed by 30 minutes, and once we were on the ground we had to go through US Customs. Which meant our bags had to come off the plane and go through the process. I had given up hope on making our connecting flight. Once we got through the border, I checked with the ticket agent and found out that due to the same bad weather, our connecting flight had also been delayed and was still on the ground. So we rushed to the gate and go there right as boarding began. We got settled and made it back with no further problems.

We had our friends pick us up in our van from the Orlando airport, and we stayed and visited with them a few minutes. Then we got on our way back home. Of course, we had to make one important stop before we got home. Cracker Barrel, of course. A fitting end to a great trip.