We went back to the Yucatan Feria on the last Saturday of the event which is located on 77 acres at Xmatkuil just outside of the city of Merida. This event is massive and we could still go back for yet another day to try to explore everything. This fair took place from November 4 to December 11th this year and was expected to have over 2.1 million visitors. Featuring more than 1000 exhibitors, and 1800 events, I am not sure how you would get to see everything in 6 hours! Their parking lot is much like Disneyland, but has the look and feel of Mexico in that it is not paved and has trees growing in the middle of the roads – but it is clearly labeled and they do have the double-Decker party buses driving around the lot to get you to and from your vehicle.

Today we took the bus from Progreso to Xmatkuil for the Feria, the cost of the return trip offered by autoProgreso was 55 pesos. AutoProgreso really has this done to a science and when you choose to take the bus, you are automatically scheduled for your return bus 6 hours later. We took the 1pm bus and arrived to the Feria at 2pm leaving us just 5 hours to explore before getting on the return bus.

Upon arrival we turned right to explore the ride section and found that the dolphin show was occurring at 4pm which we planned to return to. We then walked through the entire ride section to allow the boys the opportunity to choose which ride they would like to go on. We allowed the kids to go on one ride and they chose a giant air filled slide and bouncy area. For 20 pesos they were able to run around and bounce for 20 minutes in this area. They loved it and wanted to return if they were given the opportunity. But that was the only ride we let them go on as we definitely ran out of time as we ran to catch the bus. The ride area was huge and they really did have a lot of rides for both little kids and bigger kids.

Next to the dolphin area was a section enclosed for “mariposa’s” (butterfly’s) and this area had some big butterflies! One of them landed on Evan and he was quite shocked to have a little friend on him. Even when it flew away from him it came right back to his bright orange shirt.

The dolphin show, 15 pesos each for general admission, was fabulous and worth seeing. This presentation consisted of the dolphin show, seals, sea lions and divers. Starting with the divers who put on a great performance and Evan was quite concerned for the safety of the man who climbed all the way to the top of the skinny little ladder! The sea lions were quite funny and performed great. The dolphin part was a little short and had less jumping than Evan would have liked to see but he did enjoy watching the trainer ride the dolphin around the pool.

We did pop in to the rodeo section to watch the start of the 6pm semi-finals of “bull riding.” We only stayed to watch the first two caballeros ride their cows (umm bulls) as we still needed to eat before getting on the bus. We did not know what to expect but the boys enjoyed watching the show, especially the second rider whose cow actually put on a show (umm, bull) for about 4 seconds before walking around. Neither of the riders were bucked off as the cow (ummm bull) was tired within a couple of seconds and then started walking. Best part of the show was watching the caballeros try to rope the animal and direct it out of the ring.

To wrap it up, we had almost 7 minutes to spare as we were racing to the front to catch our bus so I put the boys on two miniature horses, slapped some sombrero’s on them and snapped some pictures. Then we were racing to the parking lot to get on the bus which left promptly at 7pm, with or without you.

We did still miss an entire section of the fair and will have to return next year. I think we will come one day with the kids and one day without kids. There is a lot to see and you certainly can’t attend all the events in one day.

You can find more about the Feria by clicking here. I would use a translator if you do not speak/read Spanish! But the site is well organized and easy to follow the links. Google Chrome has an automatic translator which works very well with this site.

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