With our car packed we say goodbye to our little three room seaside apartment, and our new found friends. Leaving the sand streets and ocean breeze, we make the thirty minute drive into the vibrant city of Mérida. Our Casa Renta is located in Mérida’s Centro Historico in an area of renovated two hundred year old homes. This area is commonly referred to as “Gringo Gulch”. Less than twenty years ago the colonial facades and the city captivated the hearts of a handful of Norte Americanos and Canadians who scooped up the crumbling centuries old structures for what now seems like a few pesos and an expat haven was born. To the young locals the Centro meant Grandma’s old house with peeling paint, ancient walls, outdoor kitchens, minimal bathrooms and poverty. The young families desired Norte Mérida, the Mall, Sam’s Club and Golf Course Subdivisions, copycats of North American suburbia.
Fast forward to today… The beautifully restored homes line the streets and the splendor that is Mérida lives on. Mérida has the largest amount of colonial architecture in Mexico outside of Mexico City. No longer are these wonderful crumbling homes available for pesos, but many are still much less expensive than homes north of the border.
Eduardo welcomes us to our Casa Renta, opening an ancient door to dark wood beamed twenty foot ceilings, the floors gleaming with hundred year old French pasta tile. Deep fuchsia ginger artfully arranged in a clay pot adds to the ambiance. The mouth of a concrete jaguar spills cool water into the turquoise pool. Through the inner courtyard past the pool graceful aches lead to the Casita where a master suite with an indoor/outdoor shower offers a quiet retreat. From the rooftop terrace we have a sparkling nighttime view of the Cathedral.
For information on renting or buying a house we can recommend Leann Roberts with Mexico International. She was our agent when we rented this house. Her contact information is:
| Email: |
| Phone: (999) 920-6856 |
| Fax: (999) 920-6856 |
| Cell: (999) 223-2536 |
Just found your blog. I caught up on all your entries.
ReplyDeleteSo how is your Merida stay going? Are you enjoying it? How is your rental house? Have you met many people?
Hey PQ, We have been reading and enjoying your blog also. Thanks for commenting.
ReplyDeleteWe are not up to ''real time'' on our blog yet, we were in the rent house in February.
Merida is a great city and we have met some very nice people.
Coming soon we will have some posts about our casa.
Wow, I love the kitchen in this place. And I can't wait to hear about your casa... and pics!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteGarry here in Morelia. I have been toying with the idea of moving to Merida for some time now. Morelia is fine as far as all of that goes but I miss the sea.
People tell me fearful stories of the heat in Merida-surely as many tell horrible stories about the bandas of Morelia and the drug war problems we have here. I have had no problems here in Morelia except with the various bureaucracies, i.e. phone, cable, internet etc. but all worked out in the end.
Is the heat that bad? The one great thing about Morelia is the relatively decent weather and the mexican nature of this place still without a great deal of expats.
I am a swiss canadian and have my eye on the far east for next year but would still like to spend my ultimate winter etc., possible one year close to water.
lovely blog and informative.
garry
Thanks for commenting Garry. In the months of April, May, June it can feel very hot here. We are from west Texas so we are used to the high temps but when you factor in the very high humidity sometimes it can almost get unbearable. It is on these days when you need to go to the beach, get in your pool, or just stay in the shade and try not to move too much, lol. Merida is a great city, we live farther south than most expats in a very traditional neighborhood and we really like that. Come for a visit, the weather is starting to get very nice now.
ReplyDelete