The Feria Yucatán Xmatkuil 2011 is currently in its last week and ran from November 11 and ends on December 4. The 37th annual Yucatán traditional annual fair located outside of Merida is expecting 2,100,000 people who will be able to enjoy more than 2000 artistic and recreational events, and more than 1000 exhibitors who offer a great variety of products at your disposal.

This really is an event and the grounds are massive. We went last weekend and have to go back this week-end because we missed so many parts of the fair. We went later in the afternoon and our goal was to see the dinosaurs, the circus, some of the fair and have a bite to eat before leaving for home. The cost is only 15 pesos ($1.17 CDN) per person, with the kids five and under free.

Right before the circus we took the kids through a magnificent display of reptiles, bugs, animals, and ending in dinosaurs with a massive T-Rex staring at you out of his eye as he moved his head around. All the exhibits in this section were motorized and doing some sort of action for you. Hmmmm, Noah was NOT a fan of this exhibit as there was lots of growling, grunting, and things jumping out at you. And that was mostly just me trying to take pictures again… if you want pictures in this exhibit you must pay 70pesos… otherwise put your camera away cause there is somebody in every room watching you. I did get a picture of the outside of the exhibit and one inside the first hallway of the history of dinosaurs. This exhibit was great and I would definitely recommend it to children over 5 or 6 years of age.

The circus was also 15 pesos per person, we did pay for Noah for this as he was 5 and I am not sure if he was free for this event. The circus was fabulous! I just wish I was able to use my camera to take pictures of the animals and the different acts. They have a no camera policy and they really enforce it…so please do not push the Circus Master as he gets awfully mad when you take pictures. Security guards and the police follow shortly behind and you will find yourself dropping your camera on the ground — just not worth it So needless to say, not very good pictures taken by me at this event.

The circus features numerous clown acts, fabulous acts of juggling, balance, monkeys, miniature horses, camels, zebras, and of course LIONS! At half-time, they started putting up the ‘cage’ in which we thought there might be one or two lions… TEN big lions came into the ring, and at this point the flimsy little wire mesh ring they had just put up in about 3 minutes did not look all that strong! The lions did their performance which of course had them jumping through the ring of fire! It was pretty cool and I am very happy our boys were able to see a circus like this. The last circus we went to in Calgary had clowns and dogs… and was very expensive. This 15 pesos was money well spent and hopefully the boys will remember the lions jumping through fire rings forever.

After the circus, which was just over two hours in length, we walked to one of the food courts which had to have at least 20 different restaurants featured. Many Mexican places mixed in with Burger King, KFC, Dominoes Pizza, and others. This place was huge. Of course Evan & Noah only wanted a corn dog as they has missed them at the Stampede this year. The corn dogs were also 15 pesos each.

We did not get to see all of the grounds so we are going back this week-end, for its final week-end until next year. I am hoping to get some great pictures in the day of the rides and the rest of the fair.

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