Latin American Bloggers Meeting - The End

On our final whole day in Merida, we all met at a super fancy restaurant for a breakfast buffet. The food table took up the entire length of the room! I think even the vegetarians amongst us got their fill! For dessert, Heather brought out all the fun prizes and we played the steal it game. Lots of laughter, stealing from each other and dice tossing around the table.

After breakfast, Theresa had arranged for us to take a bus tour of Merida! I've always wanted to do that. Two hours of driving around in an open air bus with our own tour guide. I certainly know the difference between French and Italian architecture in Merida now.





Heather had a good time. But then she is always cheerful no matter what is going on. Gotta love that gal!



The afternoon was again free time. More shopping, more napping!

The schedule called for us all to meet again where Paseo Montejo starts. We were going to the remate. It's kind of a food vendor fair and entertainment. After some initial confusion as to where we were to meet and the usual trying to keep a group together problems, we all ended up in the right place. Unfortunately, Paul and Nancy heard that it was cancelled so they never showed up. (we heard afterwards that they had a good time anyway!) Also unfortunately, our hostess, Theresa, was unable to attend either.

We had a great time. Wandering around the various food booths, sampling various goodies, avoiding the obviously not so goodies and sitting outside a restaurant drinking beer and gossiping, er, talking amongst ourselves!

The show was pretty good. The main event was a dance troupe who performed various folkloric dances from the Yucatan, Tabasco and Chiapas. Here they are in their Yucatan costumes.

The time in between was filled with various singers and bands.

The whole evening ended with a 10 piece Mariachi band. I like the big member Mariachi bands, but this one was horrible. They seemed a bit out of tune and they shouted, rather than sang, the lyrics. Oh well. Still had a good time!

Sunday morning found the whole crew enjoying another buffet breakfast at the Hotel Colonia on Avenue 55. With full bellies, we bid the crew goodbye and made our own way back to the hotel.

But not before Heather and Lisa dragged my butt all around a little flea market we passed on the way.

The perfect fit is everything.

Heather and I hitched a ride with Lisa in her Vocho. I am so glad we did not have to take that bus again. It was so hot that we took the back roof off the convertible. Lisa and I sat up front and were shaded. Poor Babushka Betty had to sit in the back.

Believe it or not, I have never taken one of those hold-the-camera-at-arms-distance-self-portrait type shots before. But I wanted to show you all how much fun we were having!

Here's a picture of our friendly, pretty and thoughtful chauffeures waiting patiently for Heather and I to return from our potty break. The car ain't bad either!

In summary, I am really grateful to Theresa for picking up the ball where I left it last year and putting this event together. She did an outstanding job and deserves a standing ovation from all of us who attended, or are living it through our reports. She was ably assisted by Jonna, Mimi and Lin who opened up their homes to us.

It was such a delight to see old friends and to meet new ones. I fully intend to keep in touch and to keep on reading the delightful blogs that these people produce.

So......where we will be next year? Playa del Carmen? Mazatlan? Stay tuned!