What did I tell you about bus tours?

I know, I know: you told me not to go on them, and I should have listened to you (yes, that's you, wise Filson family!). But Noam asked me to come with him on the tour around Mérida, and I didn't have anything else to do today. So, 100 pesos later, I was on the double-decker tourist bus, listening to the sterile American voice coming through my headphones.

It was like 1,001 other big-city bus tours the world over. Famous historic buildings. Stops at plazas and museums. That surreal sensation of feeling a world away from the people you're driving past on the sidewalk.

Great (cough cough) view of Mérida from the tourist bus.

The one really good thing about this bus tour, was that the girl working on the bus (handing out headphones) was really nice, and spoke great English, too. She said that she's never been to an English-speaking country: she just practices with her tourist passengers.