Sunday Bike Ride in Merida

A few years ago they started a tradition of closing off the streets through the center of town and out the grand boulevard of Paseo De Montejo on Sundays from 8AM to 12:30PM.

Read these two stories; http://www.yucatanliving.com/events/bicycles-in-merida.htm  and http://yucatantoday.com/en/topics/bicycle-route , click for a Route Map. It sounded like a fun thing to do. So we planned the trip so we would be in Merida on a Saturday night and broke camp about 7:30AM to drive our RV and bikes to a side street at the most northern part of the route. 

We started and rode by the beautiful old mansions on the boulevard.

Exactly at 8AM all the streets are blocked and volunteers are at every intersection motioning when to go or stop. The route was very easy to follow and people were jogging, walking and riding. They were almost all local residents. 

The entire round trip is only 7 mi. but you can shop along the way, especially at all the craft stands in the central Zocalo. It was a much more pleasant way to see the city, especially after spending Saturday being crushed by the thousands of shoppers at the central market.
We were back to the RV and on our way by 9:30AM, there was still not much traffic and it was an easy ride on Circuito Colonias to make our way out the SW part of the city to head for the large Mayan ruin of Uxmal. We plan to tour, go out to dinner and see the sound and light show at the ruins. Camping is only 120 pesos, which is only 70 pesos more than just for parking for the day. The 111 peso/person entry fee covers both day tour and the show, Dinner at the Lodge at Uxmal was good. and they allowed me to use their wireless internet which I can reach at my campsite.