29/10/2022
What we have “Learned” in the first couple weeks of being in Mérida, Yucatán.
Ants: These as****es are everywhere and will get in your backpacks, zip locked items, etc. if any food is something they might want, which does include nuts, tortillas, cookies, popcorn, etc. We’ve thrown away a lot of food early on. It’s a battle you cannot win and I hate them. A lot of houses spray. This Air B&B does not.
Driving: I think if you can breathe on your own, you can drive. Rules like signs, lights, etc. are all suggestions that mean nothing depending on the driver. Red lights may be a brake tap and go, all lanes may want to turn left or right at the same time so lining up is pointless as people will go around each other. Or perhaps they want to pass you using the sidewalk. It’s all good and allowed. K and I asked ourselves what it would take to get pulled over as this has happened in front of the Policia.
México Spanish: What we are taught in school is mostly European Spanish and doesn’t do as good of a job with locals. We quickly learned that the rude way of saying I want is, yo quiero, while the more respectful way is Me Traes (pronounced May Try-Ace), which means “May I have”. We have learned how to handle all of our ordering of food, which is a great place to practice.
Some helpful words for dining:
Me Traes…., Por Favor (May you bring me… please)
Disculpa, ¿aceptas tarjetas? (Excuse me, do you take card)
¿Qué es esto? (What is this?)
La Propina (tip)
¿Te encargo la cuenta? (basically means, I’m ready for the check. If you don’t say anything, you will be there all day lol)
Y sería todo por ahora (that would be all for now. You will hear this a lot. Or merely todo ahora. It means are you done? All done, or nothing else. All is well. You say Si, or ask for something else.
Tengo una pregunta (I have a question)
¿Cuanto Questa? (How much does it cost?)
Para Llevar (It means to go. To go orders or to take food home)
Esto es delicioso (This is delicious)
Gas: We were nervous about getting gas, but it’s been perfect. The secret is to go to Pemex, the federal gas stations. They accept tarjeta (card) so you don’t have to carry around thousands of pesos for gas. They tell you “zero” meaning they’ve cleared the machine to zero for filling up. You say Llenó (full) for a fill up. It’s the word you need. You then state the gas type. Regular or premium, which is by color. Green or Red. Gas is priced per liter so we did the math of how our tank size converts.
Restaurants: Some of the high end restaurants we’ve gone to are going to total around $25 to $35 per person for a nice sit down place like the seafood one we went to. That is for something like 2 cocktails, 2 drinks, 2 appetizers, 2 meals, & 20% tip (the typical Mexican tips between 10% and 15%). We think this is an excellent deal when places we’ve gone to in Las Vegas or elsewhere of similar high end quality were around $100 to $200 per person.Street vendors or quick stop sit down places are much cheaper. Expect $5 to $10 per person at these. This would be like our Cochinita Pibil y Lechón place with 2 cokes, 2 huge Tortas, & 4 tacos for $200 pesos, which is $10!
Spas: You can get full pampering for such a good price here. Full package spa service is around $130, which include multiple hours of massages, mani pedís, etc. My pedicure massage package is $300 pesos or $15. Excellent pricing.
Haircuts: Insanely good prices. Barbers are around $50 to $150 pesos ($2.50 to $7.50). We went to an amazing place that gave us the best haircuts we’ve ever had and the prices were $240 ($12 US) for men and $340 for women ($17 US). Amazing prices indeed.
Groceries: Costco has been a help when it comes to some of the American things we enjoy like maple syrup or nut butters, which are just not popular here. Many types of rice are hard to find, so you go with what you can find. We are working hard to adjust to what is here and used more often. We’re still looking for K’s green Tobasco, Napa cabbage, and some other Asian things. We’ve found many other brands or options for other things.
Printing: Printing is not big here as ink is expensive. We ran out of ink and have needed to do a lot of printing or making copies of things. The thing to do here is find places that do copias (copies). Office Depot is huge here (I know, we were surprised they were still around). As México is still a paper society, you have to get in the queue for copias.
Laundry: Laundry is definitely different. There are very few “laundry mat” type places. They are called Lavanderías here, which are places you take your laundry to, they weigh it by the kilo, you pay, and they wash, fold, and bag it for you! It’s a pretty cool service. So most places, including Air B&B won’t have a laundry unit inside the place.
Tortillas, Fruit, Veg: Tortillerias are everywhere and an easy way to pick up a stack of fresh tortillas for around $10 pesos or $0.50 U.S. Fruita stands are also everywhere and carry the local fruits and veg available. The large Mercados are the markets where all kinds of vendors sell fruits, veg, spices, etc.
Roads & Roundabouts & Topes: There are some main roads that are well paved, but a ton of roads are bumpy and full of holes. There are stop lights on lots of main roads, but the zig zags around the city (which are an insane maze) are controlled through topes (random speed bumps), and lots of roundabouts. Get in that roundabout and hope you get off on your road.
Coffee: The coffee is delicious here. CHIAPAS is a big coffee region and is sold at the local places, including other regions like Veracruz, Maya, etc. Starbucks are also all over the place and offer much better food than in the U.S. They also have some cool flavor combos like Cajeta (goat caramel) iced drinks.
Cajeta: Our new drug of choice. We bought 2 huge jars of local artisan Cajeta at Costco. It’s goat caramel and it’s super popular in México, but the local artisan stuff is insanely delicous. Find it in the states and try it. It’s super good.
Heat: It’s a bit hot here. Florida May hot. I haven’t even been around yet for the real hot months, but I’m getting used to it. It took me almost a week to acclimate and it’s not too bad. Not all places have A/C. Some may have it in the bedrooms only. A lot of places also don’t have A/C. It’s super expensive to run.
Nightlife: When we first arrived, we had walked around our neighborhood and saw a bunch of places that seemed closed. We thought nothing of it as it was like that around town. We had been so tired that we were going to bed pretty early until we started shopping around town one day and it got late and dark outside. As we were driving through town, the place came alive. Places you didn’t know existed had lines of people, or sitting tables out and lots of people eating. The city comes alive at night and in the morning for commutes. Our neighborhood ended up being loaded with restaurants that only opened past 6pm. We’ve learned that and have adjusted our schedule. It’s so hot here that life shifts to the evenings.
Greetings: We found out early on that greeting people is customary and nearly rude if you do not. There are 3 main greetings used and it’s taken me a few weeks to make sure they were operating at the correct time. Buenos Días (Good Morning). Said in the morning to around 12pm. Then we switch over to Buenos Tardes (Good Afternoon). I thought it was switching at 6pm, but it doesn’t. Buenos Noches (Good night) is used at the end of the night, not as a greeting. I kept messing this one up, but got it now lol.
Toilets: This was going to be a concern for me as there were no real rest areas on the way down and I have a tiny tank. Turns out, gas stations all have bathrooms and the going rate everywhere you stop is $5 pesos to use the bathroom. Some gas stations like Shell have a coin machine you put your money in that opens the gate to the bathroom. Secondly, the annoying part of México is that you can’t flush toilet paper. The sewer system isn’t setup well. If you have stayed anywhere outside a resort, you know what the little trash next to a toilet means. Heads up to anyone traveling.
Milk: Milk or Leche is not cold here. It is sold in cartons and is irradiated (shelf stable). We have found an oat and flax milk at Costco that is delicious.
Eggs: All the eggs are outside the refrigerator in a section of a store. It makes it nice because you can just buy a bunch and set them on the counter to save fridge space. Many countries don’t wash eggs, so they are shelf stable.
Trash: Many expats complain about this and I am one of them. There is trash all over parts of Centro and some other places. People will just throw their trash anywhere. I clean up our house area and more trash finds its way around us and everywhere else.
Centro vs North: We thought we’d want to be in Centro, but now that we are here, we really like North better. Centro is way too busy and crowded with narrow streets. The north has wider, nicely paved roads and just as much amazing places.
Policía: The policia have been absolutely great with us. We’ve never had a problem and they’ve always been helpful.
Yucatán People: Everyone we’ve met in the Yucatán have been incredibly welcoming, gracious, and helpful as we learn. We have been overwhelmed by their kindness, which includes expats as well. We’ve met such nice, welcoming people.
Adaptability: We have been surprised in how we have adapted to the culture so easily. We have integrated into the flow of things with little stress. The facilitators at immigration mentioned our adaptability as we waited in line with locals for 3 days.
