As with most air travel it takes about a day to travel anywhere. In this case, Cancun, which is on the northeast coast of Mexico on the Yucatán Peninsula. It took about 14 hours door to door, to a airport hotel! My final destination was Merida, 4 hours west of Cancun, so required an overnight stay for me. The bus right was uneventful, with mostly forest to view out the windows. Arrival into the city was a surprise. I think was expecting a more modern, more metropolitan city.

Merida is the capital city of Yucatán and has a population of just over a million people. It sits inland from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico about 22 miles . It is often considered the safest city in Mexico and one of the safest in the Americas. It was founded in 1542 by Montego y Leon and named after a town in Extremadura, Spain. Much of the architecture from the colonial period through the 18th and 19th centuries is still standing in the Centro histotico of the city.

There was once a lot of wealth in the area surrounding Merida, which prospered from the production of Henequen (sisal) a brief period, around the turn of the 2Oth century, Merida was said to house more millionaires than any other city in the world. Made from the fiber of the agave plant we know is as sisal.

San Ildefonzo Cathedral was built in the late 16th century with stones from nearby Mayan ruins and is known to be the oldest cathedral in the mainland Americas.

The attraction to the Biosphere for me was to see all of the flamingos.. beautiful in their own way!