Join me on my adventure to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico and an added bonus trip to visit the Monarch Reserve. I will be joining my spouse, David MacFarlane, as he works to promote “Climate-Smart Forestry.” I will be photo-documenting his work and sharing photos here. We depart for Merida on January 3, 2025.
After Mexico, we are off to Padua, Italy! Here, David will continue his work, teaching a class and doing research in the Italian alps!
Latest post…
L’avventura Continua
I find myself playing catch up with sharing our adventures. I suppose that is a good thing. Days have been busy and time has been passing. This will be a longish post packed with our recent adventures. Back at the end of May, we went to Vicenza for a day trip. Known for the architecture…
The Dolomiti
Functional Ecology of Trees Field Trip There are moments in life when the place that you visit takes your breath away. The pictures you take rarely measure up to the actual beauty and awe that you feel. The depth and scope of what you try to capture with your little lens is beyond its capability…
Fair Verona
May has moved along rather quickly and I definitely have some catching up to do. I am going to rewind back to May 1st, when we visited Verona. We planned an overnight so that we could relax and slow down a bit and see all we wanted to see. May 1st, which was on a…
First Day in Merida
After a long day’s journey into the night filled with a flight cancellation, and convoluted rerouted flight itinerary filled with obstacles, we arrived at our Airbnb in Merida, Yucatan, a little after midnight on January 4th. After snatching some sleep, we braved Costco on the Saturday before Dia de los Reyes to stock up on some essentials. It was packed and brimming with people. It was just like any Costco, really, except for the line for the bakery that was snaking around the rear of the store. The hot item? Costco’s version of a Rosca de Reyes cake. It is massive! Read more about these cakes and the traditon here. https://www.mexperience.com/kings-day-gifts-and-kings-loaf-traditions-in-mexico/
My personal highlight was visiting the Costco Cenote, Cenote Ka’Kuztal. The area all around Merida is filled with many Cenotes, which are essentially sinkholes filled with fresh water. Read more about Cenotes and how they were formed here. https://sites.northwestern.edu/monroyrios/ring-of-cenote
Exploring our Neighborhood
We decided to explore our quiet residential area on foot. We are staying in the Garcia Gineres neighborhood, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Merida. There are several nice parks and little cafes near us. We ate at this little breakfast place that looked like a house converted into a cafe, called Don Massu. I had the Avocado Toast…que rico! After breakfast, we went to a large outdoor sports park, Campo Deportivo Salvador Alvarado. There are tennis and pickle ball courts, basketball courts, a full track, a dirt running path, fields and stadium seating. It is all open and free to the public. We found walking a bit challenging at times, due to cracked pavement and narrow walkways. There were many trees which pretty much blocked our passage and we found ourselves ducking under branches and sidling around trunks. Some of these trees were quite impressive and it was really nice to see that people valued their presence and just let them be. We even saw a massive sapodilla tree that had a carport built around it. They do provide some welcome shade in the heat of the day, which we were grateful for as our walk continued into the hot afternoon.
Forest Therapy and Forest Bathing Walks 