15/09 - Eve of Independence Day

As one of the few, Claudia and I have decided not to travel over the weekend of the national holiday in order to experience the Día de la Independencia in Mérida as 'locals' and not as tourists - the right decision as it turned out throughout the day.

My first highlight of the day was already the lunch. Just as it should be for Día de la Independencia, Toñis cooked a huge pot of delicious Pozole for all of us, which we all ate way too much of during a very extended lunch. Pozole is a stew with corn and meat (maybe a little comparable to gyro soup), served with lettuce, onion, and radishes - all very finely chopped. On this occasion, I shocked my roommates again when I told them that in Germany we also simply take a bite of radishes and eat them with bread or something like that. Apparently, Mexicans perceive the taste of radishes comparable to onions, so the question came up directly: 'Do you also eat whole onions?!' Always entertaining, these small but fine cultural differences.

In the evening, Claudia and I went to the city center with Antonio, Mateus (also two exchange students), Eduardo, and Hugo (Mexican friends from the university) - of course, it was also bathed in national colors.

After a cozy dinner with one or two cocktails, we made our way to the square in front of the government palace, where at 11:00 p.m. the 'Grito de Independencia' followed as the highlight of a solemn speech by the Yucatán governor.

And what we experienced there left us speechless. When all the people on the square shouted 'Viva México' three times in a row with incredible passion and then sang the national anthem, Claudia and I stood amazed in the midst of the crowd and had goosebumps - impressed by the national pride of the Mexicans.

As a conclusion to the official celebrations, there was a large fireworks display, before the many bars and pubs in Mérida continued the celebration until the early hours of the morning.