[7/20] Merida is a beautiful colonial city, founded in 1542 by Francisco Montejo. The view here is of the zocolo, or town plaza, with the main cathedral of the Catholic church in the background. Merida was built on the site of the ancient Mayan city Tiho. In fact, the early conquistadors forced Mayan slaves to build most of the early major buildings such as the cathedral out of stones torn from the ancient Mayan ruins in Tiho. Today, if you examine the walls of the early colonial buildings, you can occasionally find a few stones that still have ancient Mayan carvings intact on them.