Merida Market, Xcambo Ruins, and Progreso!!

/ Ed Armstrong
I loved going to the Merida market!! It is huge and so colorful!! It covers more than 10 blocks!! It was amazing all the spices available!!

The fresh fruits and vegetables were everywhere!!

There were beautiful leather crafted shoes as well as every other possible leather product!!

Merida is famous for its embroidery. I loved the colors on these bags!!

Every spice you can imagine is available at the Merida market!! Ajo is garlic and cebolla is onion.

These radishes were massive and so colorful!!

These green chilis are habanero chile and they are extremely hot. In the restaurants were we have eaten our meals, they have always added one habanero chile on our plates. I had one small taste and my tongue still burns!! No more habanero chiles for me!!

Fresh meat was readily available! Our guide told us that everything would be sold today.

The red sacs in these chickens are unlaid eggs!!

There was a whole area for poultry in market. I could not believe the size of these turkeys!!

These tomatoes were so colorful and beautiful!!

I loved all the colors and textures of so many different vegetables!!

The bouquets of flowers were so beautiful!!

One of the main experts from Merida is honey!! I was amazed to learn that it is one of the largest money makers for the city of Merida. It was available to buy in both large and small containers.

Merida is famous for its embroidery and these shoes were so beautiful and colorful!!

There are many religions icons sold in the market.

There are also superstitious icons sold in the market.

Good quality jewelry is available in the market!

There was a large section of fish for sale at the market too.

After the seeing the market, we drove to Xcambo to see these Mayan ruins. They are famous in the area.

The Catholic church built a chapel on the Mayan ruins.

This massive male iguana was enjoying sunning himself on the Xcambo walls. I guide warned us to not get too close as they can bite!!

I really enjoyed seeing this Mayan structure!!

As we left Xcambo and were driving to Progreso, we say wild flamingos in their natural habitat!! I have never before seen flamingos in the wild!!

In Progreso, we ate lunch and had a great view of the beach!! After lunch we changed into swimming suites and enjoyed cooling off in the Gulf of Mexico!!

I loved the colorful sign for Progreso with the water behind it.