Imagine Mérida

Becoming Expats in the Yucatán

Archives for November 2013

He’s not heavy, he’s my Buddha

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The house is almost done. Casa Nana’s floors, windows, doors, finishings, and now the garage door, are all in. There are some odds and ends that will linger, and yes, we still have to furnish it, but basically, I now have a house in Mérida. “My house in Mérida.” I love that phrase. Let me say it again. “My house in Mérida.” Oh, sorry Paul … “Our house in Mérida.” Yeah, that sounds good, too.”

We’re starting to bring down our stuff! First on the list, the Buddha statue that Paul acquired a few years ago. Both our parents (and probably the workers) would probably prefer a Jesus ornament, but we’re kind of connecting to the Buddha right now. So while Jesus is in our hearts, Buddha was in our carry-on luggage. We could have shipped him down, but Paul felt [Read more…]

A new trend, and an old problem, on Mérida’s sidewalks

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cinderblockNo, I’m not done bitching about the sidewalks in Mérida. It’s just insane. Look up to admire the work being done on the facades in the Centro, and you risk twisting your ankle on the crumbling sidewalks or gaping potholes that are all around.

Here’s something brilliant: Outside this one popular cantina on 62, the crack in the sidewalk is marked with an equally hazardous [Read more…]

Cold weather is relative in tropical Yucatán

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bajastempsToday I am waking up to one of those cool, crisp Connecticut fall mornings, and all I want to do is light a fire and cuddle up under a warm quilt.

The problem is, I’m in Mérida, where I was expecting a tropical Thanksgiving. Right now, it’s 66F/19C, which would normally feel just fine! Why is 66 degrees so cold? No more joking about the locals overreacting to weather that’s only moderately warm. It really does feel cold! My blood couldn’t have acclimated in just a couple of days!

I shouldn’t complain. Back home, the weather’s been miserable, even by our standards. A cold snap hit the minute we left, which is pretty good timing. It’s been a glorious fall, and we escaped the first sustained icy plunge by flying to Mexico, where now we’re experiencing frente frio numéro 14, the cold front that has us alternating between pleasant warm days, chilly drizzle, and windy downpours. The changing weather has made our throats scratchy because our bodies do not like alternating weather conditions. When the sun comes [Read more…]

It’s nice to have spies in Mérida

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output_4nt0XMI rely on my spies to tell me what’s happening at Casa Nana, and here I want to pay tribute to them. Here’s to them. Paul and I send love to you from increasingly dark and chilly Connecticut.

Some spies I pay, others are in the volunteer corps. The paid spies are from our property manager’s office. Someone comes by twice a month to check on things and make sure the bills and taxes are paid. They take photos of whatever interests them and email them down. Once the house is done, their responsibilities will increase. And of course, our trusty architects send a Foto Friday report, but they don’t count as spies. We like to get an objective point of view from our new friends.

We continue to make new friends via the Internet and anyone who passes by lets us know what they see. One morning, we’re told [Read more…]

Advice goes out of date quickly in Mérida

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8726050774_e845220125_cAt the end of a Frommer’s piece on Mérida, there is this disclaimer: Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice.

And how!

Our first trip to Mérida, in 2010, we let the guide books scare us to death. “Don’t drink the water!” is a common refrain from friends who may have visited Mexico and suffered “Montezua’s Revenge.” Our first lunch, it was the waitress who got grilled. At a perfectly respectable restaurant on Calle 55, the waitress assured two nervous gringos that the lettuce was washed and the ice cubes weren’t from the tap. Same at a cocina economica off 68 or 70, where [Read more…]

Where Yucatecan cooking meets Kentucky’s farmers

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Every year I travel for a design conference that pops up in various places in the world. It could be Buenos Aires, it could be Cleveland. This year, it landed in Louisville, Kentucky, where I was floored to find The Mayan Café just 14 blocks from my hotel. Not since I met a fellow blogger under the arch in St. Louis have I allowed my Yucatecan imaginings disrupt my yearly conference, I had to set some time aside to explore.

The café’s website strongly advised reservations, and since I didn’t have any, I knew I’d have to arrive early. And since there was a fundraiser later that evening to attend, I got in at 5:15 p.m. on Friday for an early supper. There was only one other couple, and when they seated me by the kitchen door, I knew they were gearing up for a full house. In about a half an hour, that deduction proved correct. The dining room was filled. Starting as a food cart in the mid-1990s, the restaurant

[Read more…]