Merida

Just one full day in Merida, and the previous evening I had missed the orientation walk but actually didn't miss anything.
We set off for a drive of around an hour to visit the Celestun Bird Sanctuary and biosphere reserve. It was a beautiful day with clear sky.

We got on a little panga which took us along the river where we saw flamingos, hundreds of flamingos  that were quite active as it is the mating season. When standing they were pink, the young ones paler and their wings contrasted beautifully when they flew.  Quite a sight.

We went into the mangroves where we saw an alligator, then we stopped at an Ojo de Agua where we saw many fish, and some people about to swim. Perhaps they hadn't seen the alligator!

The whole trip seemed to be over rather quickly, then we returned to Merida. I thought we were bring dropped at the museum, but everyone seemed to have changed their minds, so we returned to the hotel, where I waited for Julie to collect laundry before we set off to explore. We got side tracked  by a couple of shops but the embroidered dresses didn't fit so I passed on that one. Then we visited the book shop but couldn't find anything our guide had recommended.  But Julie got  chatting to a chap, who took us upstairs into a textiles shop that was like Aladin's cave.

 (The dress shops have beautiful clothing embroidered for women and very attractive shirts for men, which are used all the time with some for special occasions.)
Here we negotiated shopping and did some bargaining and Julie came out with a Panama hat and a man's shirt but not the bedspread. I just helped with the Spanish. Then we found the post office, an interesting little  building with a pair of scales and not much else.
From here we walked to the San Louis area where we found a Mediterranean restaurant where I had salmon and Julie had a salad. Am not sure we sorted  the bill and tip out properly but I did explain it to him.

After this we went to the anthropological museum which had an exhibition on about Mexican history and another about embroidery. It was such a big  building, I think we were expecting more.

We headed back towards the hotel, passing through various squares and stopping for a drink.

On our return, I had a swim and later went in search of some wine. But once again, there was  no white wine by the glass, only red,  so I sat in the atrium area and sorted out my online accounts.  Tomorrow we leave at 7.30am  for Playa Del Carmen, our last Mexican stop.