Calderwood-Korpijaakko Vacation

Street View of Valladolid

Photos by Stephan Neven of the Rivera Maya and the Yucatan

Mayapan to Mani

With no assurance that it wouldn't rain all day we set out for Uxmal around noon. The idea was we could get there at 4.30 and see everything before dark at 6. Then we could have a quick dinner and go back to the light and sound show at 7. We decided to stop at Mayapan where Kathleen had made a fashion shoot for Tatler magazine 5 years ago and called her toddlers from the signal on top of the pyramid. Now there are towers everywhere and her London blackberry was going mad all day in the car competing with Seamus's NY iphone for attention. They took forever climbing around and I went back to read a book on glyphs in the car. Then I took a wrong turn in Mama and we ended up in Yo Butt before going to Mani for lunch at 3.30. After a tour of the newly (almost) renovated convent we headed back to Merida and the faster internet service. Uxmal later...

Day of the Dead

This year my friend Kathleen came from London with her two offspring Manu 8 and Armand 10. On her first trip to the airport on Sunday she discoverd Armand's French passport was expired. After getting a temporary passport on Monday she booked a flight for Wednesday which was cancelled once she reached the airport . Back home she was contacted by the airline (Mexicana) after threatening to twitter 15,000 followers and she was booked through Paris and upgraded. Once at the airport on Thursday she found out the upgrade had not been paid for by Mexicana and that she couldn't get on the flight at all. Finally she was redirected to NY where she spent the night at her expense and arrived on Friday night in Merida... Just in time for the Hanal Pixan alters set up on the Ermita park and churchyard and extending for several blocks... Seen one seen them all was my reaction. They were a bit more enthusiastic and the place was packed. It's very local and not touristy and that does have some charm.





Saturday was Halloween and we spent the whole day looking for costumes. Manu found a skeletal ballerina costume to buy at the very dusty and spooky rental shop on calle 62 and 49. At the bottom of a barrel we found some old paper masks for the rest of us. Armand went as a green Alux. Kathleen chose vampire mask which became a ghoulish bride once we bought the tiara and tulle at the quinceanera shop. Josh, Seamus and I went as black ghosts. We walked around Santiago giving away candy and went to a little party at Casa Azul.



Sunday the alters were set up in the zocalo around 11 and when we got there at 1 they were taking them down. I have no idea what the point was. The place was swarming with tourists and locals and it was hard to see anything. I had guests at Sac Chich who had come especially to see the Hanal Pixan alters as they work for Gourmet magazine. I don't think they saw much of anything beyond a pile of sticks and palm leaves. There were some beautiful flower crosses and some nice alters but they were very hard to see. I rained all afternoon and so we stayed in and watched Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" on my new Apple TV.




Monday was the actual "Day of the Dead" and we spent the morning at the cemetery. We ran into several TV reporters and someone from the local newspaper who was surprised to see a group of Gringos. We also ran into a couple of vultures hanging out in a crypt. They also seemed surprised to see us. And the sky was beautiful.... and that's why we're here.

While searching for orchids

While searching for the address of the nursery in Yotholin, Ticul that sells orchids I ran across this website of Billie Mercer who has beautiful photographs of Mexico on her blog. She has some black and white photos of the Yucatan trip.

I grabbed this photo to remind me to tell you that there is a great exhibition up of toys at the anthropology museum now December 2007.

Plenty of time to pack

voyager of the seas cruise

Join the Lonny Lynn Orchestra on a 7-night Western Caribbean Cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's "Voyager of the Seas" March 8-15, 2009.