Imagine Mérida

Becoming Expats in the Yucatán

Archives for September 2014

Sofa shopping: Our eyes are bigger than our sala

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Nasstrom sofa

The Tokyo sofa from Nasstrom, seen here with some swatches, just baarrreeely fits in the sala.

We drove all around yesterday looking for the perfect sofa for Casa Nana. I had already done some reconnaissance work from back at home, separating the wheat from the chaff before we even arrived. Still, it was a busy day.

We first went to Nasstrom, which appealed to me because their furniture is made in nearby Umán. They supply Ikea with furniture built to their specifications, but I don’t think this is “Ikea furniture,” other than the Scandinavian lines. For one thing, no assembly required!

I came for the Linnea sofa, but stayed for the Tokyo. Our sala isn’t overly large, just enough room for some seating between the terrace and interior courtyard pond, so we have to beware [Read more…]

Settling into everyday life in Mérida

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Costco in Merida

The Costco in Merida is better than the one back home.

We are here for just a week, but that doesn’t stop us from playing house in our new house.

There is something about rolling your shopping cart into the hot parking lot that feels like a rite of passage for a wanna-be Yucatán transplant.

Good friends (thank you, Good Friends!) took us to the Costco, the true center of expat life in Mérida. Oh, did you think the true expat center was some place cultural, with local significance? Nope, it’s the Costco, a place where meridano and expat agree is the place to load up on household essentials like family packs of bathroom tissue and bottles, or boxes, of wine. If you want to live like a local, you’re going to be going to Costco.

We went on a Saturday morning, which we were warned is a kind-of “family time” there, with mom, dad, grandma and the kids crowding the aisles for the free samples. But we got there at 10:30, ahead of the crowds. As we left an hour [Read more…]