Merida

The State of Yucatan is a majestic territory thanks to the natural wonders that make it magical and unforgettable. Ground of tropical forests where the fauna extends in a multicolor fan, where the wisdom of old Mayan lies and where legends take life in caverns, natural wells and underground currents. 463 years already counts the capital of Yucatan: the very noble and very loyal city of Mérida, founded the 6 of January of 1542. Large city where the ideals of modernity and the virtues of the culture converge harmoniously, fused in a single crucible with indigenous roots and European influences.

Mérida is a charming city, with old districts of the Historical Center interlaced by wide and hoisted streets from San Cristóbal in the east and Santiago in the west; of the Hermitage of San Sebastián in the south to Santa Ana in the north. The serenades sound in the Park of Santa Lucia whereas people in Santiago dance with rythm of an orchestra; a magnific colonial ex-convent in La Mejorada, and so many large houses, old mansions with French style influence, colonial temples, museums, buildings, history... it‘s the city of Mérida! The surroundings of Mérida are with an archaeological wealth without equal: 40 thousand square kilometers of territorial extension where great amount of pre-Hispanic sites connect each other, at that point that the specialists affirm that Yucatan is, probably, the Mexican state with greater number of discovered zones. More than 1600 identified places testify the birth and apogee of the extraordinary Mayan culture, as well as hundreds of grottos in which the vestiges of that millenarian culture remain alive. At 10 minutes of Mérida we find the site of Dzibichaltún, where the power of the nature captures the senses of those who can admire the incredible phenomena of equinox.

Old colonial buildings and "henequeneras" properties are conserved in the limits of this colorful city, whereas throughout it‘s urbanization they stay raised in stone centennial buildings of incalculable historical and artistic value. Let us keep as an unequivocal testimony of this cultural wealth the oldest catholic temple of the continent: the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, among so many other bastions exposed to the eyes of the world. Mérida is always in celebration! Every year thousands of visitors worldwide are captivated to the heat of a glad city, having unforgettable evenings front to the building of Municipal Palace where the people dance the traditional yucatecan jarana, or every Sunday with orchestras playing with latin rythms such as salsa or cumbia. And being Mérida the cradle of great writers and composers, the cultural world offers a fan of possibilities: theater, folkloric dance, cultural cinema and scenic arts in the Mérida Theater, located a few steps from of the Plaza Grande. The Museum of the City exhibiting history of Mérida, while the Museum of Athenian Contemporary Art of Yucatan shows in several rooms the best works of the national and international art, counting in addition on a permanent collection of painters from Yucatán: Fernando Castro Pacheco, Fernando García Ponce, etc. The Museum Cantón Palace located on the famous Montejo Stroll, small and sumptuous palace of great beauty erected in the last years of the Porfiriato by General Francisco Cantón Rosado, with marble stairs in several tones and moldings finely finished, dedicated exclusively to the Mayan archaeology.

Or the Museum of the Yucateca Song! The "trova" is considered cultural patrimony of Yucatan, so it had to be elevated in its honor a museum that lodges pictures to the oil and bronze sculptures of the maximum representatives of this musical sort: Ricardo Palmerín, Guty Cárdenas, Armando Manzanero, etc. This enclosure is located in the district of La Mejorada and here the people can listen to the music of trios or "trovadores" every week. So many museums to know, and so much to watch and listen in this magnificent yucateca city! The environs of Mérida offer an interminable world of natural and archaeological beauty, keeping in each stone the remote past of a magical civilization: the Mayans. Dzibilchaltún with the Temple of the Seven Wrists and the Xlacah natural well; the world-wide recognized Chichén Itzá with the Castle of Kukulcán, the city of Mayapán or Aké, etc. Have you ever submerged in the crystalline waters of a natural well? Millenarian rivers that distinguish the state of Yucatán where the senses of their visitors are delighted. And between so many the Cenote Sagrado well, one of the most important of the Peninsula, located in Chichen Itzá, as magnificent as mysterious, remaining like an eternal symbol of the nature for pride of the yucatecos and the world. Come to the city of Mérida! City of handcrafts, gastronomy without equal, culture, history... an unforgettable city.