Random Tips for Living in Merida

Frida the Xolo dog (yes she's real!) has nothing to do with this post.
She's just too cool not to include. 

Now that I've lived and worked remotely in Merida a few months, I've learned a few things. Here are my practical tips gleaned so far in the city that keeps on making me like it more.

Merida really is super safe. 


You've heard this, right? People say Merida is the safest city in Mexico. When I first arrived, I wasn't sure of this. My Airbnb was in an unfamiliar neighborhood about a 20-minute walk from the town center, and so I was hesitant to walk so far alone in the evening (and as you know, that's when people go out). So if I went out I would walk to town, but taxi home later.

After being here for a while, though, I realized that I was being overly cautious. I would see women and families out walking at 9 or 10 at night all over the city. Now, I don't hesitate to walk anywhere, at any hour (of course I'm never out past 10, in reality)! I always stay aware of my surroundings, because no place is perfect, but Merida truly could be the safest big city I've ever experienced.

Central park around 9 p.m.

If you take an Uber, sit in the front seat. 

This has been explained to me by several Uber drivers. When I first got here, the city did now allow Uber, so although the app was super popular and a common way to get around, the drivers were technically working illegally. Therefore, they didn't want you to sit in the back seat and make it obvious. I remember this when Melody and I took an Uber 30 minutes to the beach. I had to sit in the front with the driver and she sat in the back, making it hard to chat. I've read more recently that Uber has now been legalized, but in practice, they seem to still be getting harassed by police, so I still sit in the front just to be sure.

Your house will have ants.

I doubt this would be a problem in a hotel, but I've had ants in each of my three Airbnb apartments here.  At first you think it's tolerable but then they just seem to take over. I'm hesitant to use bug spray, so I just try to keep everything insanely clean, but they have an amazing ability to sniff out the smallest particle of anything they can possibly eat and then tell a thousand of their closest friends about it. I've heard boric acid works but I've yet to track it down. The good news? I never see cockroaches! 

No, you really can't flush the toilet paper. 

This was something I first experienced when I lived in Costa Rica, so it wasn't a big shock to me, but it is still a rather unpleasant fact of life here. The sewer systems apparently can't process paper of any amount or kind, so instead of flushing it, you put it in the ever-present garbage can next to the toilet. You'll notice this anywhere you go, such as the airport, restaurants, and bars. There will be a sign that tells you not to flush paper, but I always wonder how many foreigners know what that sign says, and probably a good amount gets flushed, nonetheless. However, having already flooded a toilet once in my travels, it's not a chance I'm willing to take. So I deal with it.

You have to always carry small bills with you at all times. 

Having big bills in your wallet is like having nothing. And when I say big bills, I mean pretty much anything bigger than a 100-peso bill (which is like a U.S. five). If you have 200-peso bills (like tens) or, god forbid, 500 peso bills, you will not be able to buy things. Right now, for example, I have only a 500 peso bill in my wallet and I'm not sure how I'm going to pick up my laundry later, which costs 40 pesos. In fact, the laundry was actually ready yesterday, but I had to swing by and tell her I didn't have change. She understood and said she'd see me tomorrow. Good thing I have one more clean pair of underwear.

But it's not just little mom and pop places. Even a convenience store or some of the grocery stores will look at you with frustration when you hand them a bigger bill. This makes no sense to me, since I've usually just seen the five people in front of me in line give the cashier small bills, which it seems like I could easily be given as change. Yet, they still do not want the big bill. And, after they grudgingly take it, they often crouch down into some top secret area out of sight (a vault?) where they spend a couple of minutes doing something mysterious before reemerging with change.

Just carry small bills.

And change.

It's also extremely handy to have coins. I keep a little change purse just for this, and when it's full, which is very rarely, I feel a major sense of accomplishment. You'll find you need change constantly– to tip the person who bags your groceries, to give a storekeeper exact change (they love when you do that), or to put in the hand of an old woman in the park. Change is almost as precious as small bills.

Just stay inside from 1 to 5. 

Merida is hot. Yes, it's less hot some months of the year (November through February), but it's still hot. When I first moved here in late October, I used to try to get out of the house on my lunch break sometimes to take a walk or run an errand. That was a big mistake. Even that time of year, the heat of midday is just too much. It's a dry heat, so it sneaks up on you; you don't really sweat, you just find yourself dizzy, dusty, and thirsty. You'll notice you don't see a lot of other people out, but the ones you do see are sticky, dazed, red-faced foreigners. When you get home, you're exhausted and need a cold shower. So my advice is to do what the Yucatecos do and try to stay in by day and instead go out in the evening. That's when the city comes to life anyway.
Not quite time to go out yet

On a similar subject, even though it's ridiculously hot, most people don't wear shorts. 

I am, of course, from Florida, where people wear shorts and flip-flops day and night pretty much everywhere but work. We wear jeans when the weather gets cold in the winter. Here, that's not the case. I think the general feeling is that this is the city, not the beach, and in the city, people dress nicely. I get that. It was the same in Costa Rica and Guatemala. Here people don't seem to be bothered at all by wearing jeans and pants even when the temps are up to 95, as they have been lately.

Most of the people you see wearing shorts, particularly short ones, are (surprise!) foreigners. When I first got here, I tried not to be one of them and to do as the locals do, but it was unbearable (especially because most of my jeans are skinny jeans-- an extra level of torture). But now I have to admit I've surrendered to the heat. Yes, when I can I wear skirts and dresses, but many a day I have dressed for the blazing heat in my shorts. (I guess you can take the girl out of Florida...)

Want to meet people? Go to the Monday Conversation Club at the English Library

This group is awesome. The English Library (which is in a beautiful old Colonial home) organizes Spanish and English practice for the community every Monday night. How it works is that you show up and they place you by language and level at a table with other people who want to practice their language skills. It's a two-hour event, and usually groups spend one hour speaking Spanish, and the other hour speaking English. I love this simple concept because it truly is a great opportunity to practice, and at the same time it's a low-pressure way to meet people and socialize. (No commitment required– you know I love that!)

Trip Advisor photo of a group 

So, those are my little tips for now. I'm sure I'll add more since I can tell that Merida is a place I'll keep coming back to.

Money spent yesterday: 

2,885 pesos - plane ticket to Leon (to go to San Miguel de Allende on the 10th)
40 pesos - fruit smoothie
50 pesos- two giant jugs of water

2,975 pesos = $155 USD

Comments

  1. That dog seriously looks like a statue. Amazeballs!

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