Last Great Flying Adventure -- An Evening Out with Olivia and Maria

15 October; A Yucatan Evening in Merida --

After a tiring day and a half of long-distance air travel and a full day of walking-running-chasing with my "Little Punkin" Olivia, tonight we would have dinner out and attend a famous annual celebration held in an outdoor park/stage on the other side of Merida. Abuelita Maria was our chauffeur and guide and masterfully negotiated the traffic and narrow streets of this old Capital city of the State of Yucatan, finding her way to a parking lot within walking distance of the park/stage.

We had a light dinner in a fine hotel restaurant located just across the street from the site of the evening's festivities. This photo I took of Olivia with her glasses off is the only one I have. It shows her typical impish grin and ever-happy face.

The festivities were the "Serantas Yucatecas", an annual event that has been celebrated here for at least the past 40 years or so. Featured were a small brass band, a trio of guitarists and a multi-couple dance troupe. The dance troupe performed several routines, the most fascinating of which was one where each person held a tray on which was an open bottle of beer in the center and four half-filled water glasses surrounding the outer edge of the tray. Grumpy watched attentively when each performer was placing their tray upon their head; he observed no indentation on the bottom of the tray, nor any apparatus on top of the head to ease the task of this balancing act.  Grumpy was convinced that this was "for real". As a climax, each person spun around and around -- notably at such velocity that water could be seen flying out by centrifugal force over the sides of the half-full glasses! Not one performer was seen to need to reach for his tray to keep it from falling!

Olivia had had a hard day!! Grumpy happily carried her back to the car and gently laid her in her hammock for a good night's rest. Grumpy left very early the next morning to catch his 6 a.m. flight back to Seattle; he didn't disturb his little sleeping Punkin. He keeps this memory of her peaceful sleep as his parting view.