Market in Merida

We went to a great artisan market in Merida yesterday. There was a wealth of beautiful cross-stitching, traditional dresses, guyabera shirts (a traditional Yucatanean shirt made from sisal fiber), crocheting, straw weaving and braiding, silk ribbon embroidery, and beading. We met a lady named Alma who talked us into a bright yellow dress with hand embroidery for me and a handsome Guyabera shirt for Chief. She was very typical of the ladies in the market and quickly wrapped us around her litle finger. We also saw a lot of herbal remedies and honey products. My very favorite were the shell sculptures made with local shells like we have on the beaches here. There were religious creches, barbie doll mermaids, and a very humorous wedding couple that looked like birds. Another favorite was the hammock seller. He had hammocks of all sizes, including one that a hummingbird would fit in. Very cute! I found a beautiful loomworked bracelet in glowing rainbow colors made from transparent seed beeds; for only 85 pesos, about 6 American dollars. There were a lot of ladies wearing the traditional dress, which is a white skirt and short sleeved, thigh length tunic loaded with lace and exquisite cross-stitch embroidery. A good portion of them were doing handwork including crochet, beadwork, silk ribbon embroidery and basketry. The embroidery was gorgeous and the ladies who were crocheting were doing it without even a look at their work. I really wished I had some knitting to whip out and sit with them as they were quite social. Maybe next time!
We had gone through about half the market when we turned a corner and were treated to a delicious Mexican food smell. Of course we were instantly starving and headed down to the food stalls which were manned by waiters each beckoning us to his particular booth. We chose one that looked good and got panuchos and cochinita pibil which is the Mexican equivalent of Kahalua pig. Two cokes and both our lunches cost about $10.00! And it was delicious.... All in all, the market was a lot of fun and we even found a parking spot across the street!
Sorry about all the pictures being a jumble; next time I'll start at the end so it makes a bit more sense-but you got the idea!