We Made It To Our New Airbnb in Mérida México!

We’ve finally entered the extended international phase of our second year of slow-travel!

We loved visiting everyone in the USA and had a great time. But we were itching to get out on our own again and repair the damage that leading a more sedentary, calorie-rich life did to our bodies.

The damage should be manageable, and hopefully, it won’t take more than a month or two to get back to our travel-fighting weight.

We’ll see.

And now that we’ve finally settled into our new Airbnb in Mérida, we have the time to report how we got here from Boston, and what our new apartment is like.

Let’s take a look!

Why Go To Mérida, México?

Mérida is the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatan, an area steeped in Mayan culture. And with a population of about 1 million people, the city is not small!

We were lucky smart and decided to visit during November and December, as it can get very hot here. During the winter months, the temperatures max out at around 90 degrees F, with relatively low humidity. And at night it cools off to around 70 degrees F.

Although you might think that compared to past experiences in Latin America, it would be too hot for us. But compared to coastal Panama, the winter weather in Mérida is pretty great! We just hunt for shade during the hottest parts of the day, and all is well.

So why did we decide to visit Mérida?

A bunch of reasons actually.

Statistically speaking, Mérida is the safest city in all of Mexico. So it is a great first stop to get used to the ebb and flow of Mexico (a new country to us), with a minimum of extra stress.

Mérida isn’t a huge foreign tourist or expat enclave. This is not to say that there aren’t expats here (there are) or that foreign tourists don’t come here (they do). But they don’t overrun the place like we’ve seen in some places in Latin America.

Mérida is a great base to visit the MANY Mayan archeological sites found in the Yucatan state. We LOVE exploring archaeological sites! And by spending two months here, we can take our time and see a bunch of famous and less well-known, places.

The city of Mérida has its own cultural charms. And by this are talking about the food, post-Colombian history, and local vibe. There are also a bunch of museums and parks here to keep us entertained.

Mérida seems like a solid spot to get some maintenance-related medical issues addressed, that our USA health insurance doesn’t cover. Specifically, I am going to get some ophthalmologist work done (my post-cataract prosthetic lenses need laser cleanup, I suspect), as well as dermatological exams, and blood work. And I probably don’t need to mention that costs are significantly cheaper here compared to the USA. Of course, we’ll report about how all of this goes down!

Our Final Day In The USA – Boston, Massachusetts

We didn’t fly to Mérida directly from Ohio after we visited Rhonda’s family. We first flew to Boston, stopped over for a day to visit friends and family, and *then* flew to Cancun!

It was a great opportunity to see my brother Dan again, as well as hang out with my old college friend Mike.

Mike lives really close to Boston Logan International Airport, so it was great that we were able to stay with him during our stopover. And we also had a whole day to ourselves to explore historic Boston, which was also fun.

Our apologies Mike for forgetting to get a picture with you! We’ll make up for it when we see you again in a few months.

So Why Did We Fly To Cancun Instead of Mérida?

Bottom line, the frequent flyer award flights to Mérida were terrible. Either the flights had unreasonable layovers, cost too many frequent flyer points, or had fees that were almost as expensive as buying the tickets ourselves.

But the airline JetBlue had frequent flyer point deals from Boston to Cancun that were impossible to ignore. We were able to snag 2 direct one-way tickets for a total of 27,600 TrueBlue points + $88.46 USD in fees.

Sweet.

And we had a free IHG-branded hotel stay available to us through another credit card we use.

So between the cheap airfare and a free night at the InterContinental Presidente IHG Resort in the Hotel Zone in Cancun (normally ~$350 USD/night), we figured that this would be a good way to dip our toes into the waters of the Cancun tourist trap.

And from there we would take a bus to Mérida the following day.

The only downside to this deal was that the flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30 am, which meant that we needed to get to the airport at around 4:30 in the morning!

Ugh.

But Mike offered to drop us off since he was working from home that day, so all was well.

Thanks, Mike!

Getting to Our Hotel In Cancun, Mexico

Mercifully, our flight to Cancun went off without a hitch.

We landed at Cancun International Airport around noon, sped our way through customs, and bought ADO bus tickets ($130 MXN/$7.43 USD per person) from the airport to the ADO bus station in downtown Cancun.

The ride was about 1 hour.

From there we hopped on a local bus (line R1 – $1 USD/person) that ran to the Hotel Zone, where we were dropped off at the bus stop right in front of our hotel.

Amazing! And WAY cheaper than a $50 USD taxi ride from the airport to our hotel. The cost difference more than paid for our dinner at The Surfin Burrito.

The beaches of Cancun are certainly spectacular! But so were the prices of most things.

To call Cancun a tourist trap is an understatement. All signs were in English and the local economy was 100% geared toward foreign tourists, so it was tough to get a real sense of local culture in this area.

We would have liked to have spent another couple of nights in the area as there were cool things to see on foot (or local bus) in the Hotel Zone, but not for the price of a 1-month stay in an Airbnb!

But we did have a good time in Cancun! We wrapped up our night there with supermarket wine and blue cheese, and cocktails (free with my IHG loyalty program status) on the beach at our resort.

That’s just how we roll.

Getting to Mérida from Cancun

This was actually really easy.

The next day we took the R1 local bus from our hotel back to the ADO bus station in downtown Cancun, and at noon took an ADO luxury bus to the ADO bus station in the historic center of Mérida.

We bought bus tickets ($592 MXN/$32.60 USD per person) in advance through the ADO bus website, so all we had to do was show up and board the bus when it was time.

The seats were cushy, the AC cold, and the ride smooth.

In total, the trip took a little over 4 hours. And when we walked out of the Merida ADO station, we were only a 10-minute walk from our Airbnb.

Welcome to Our Airbnb in Mérida México!

As usual, we found our long-stay Airbnb in Mérida using the detailed methods we describe in our post: A TTT Guide to Long-Term Airbnb Stays – How to Get a Cheap Apartment that Doesn’t Drive You Crazy.

Our Airbnb is an old-school traditional-style casita, meaning that it is basically a long concrete corridor subdivided into successive rooms. There aren’t any windows, except at the bedroom end, which has a sliding glass door to the common area outside. But the place is pretty huge!

Recent renovations mean that there has been some concrete dust residue that only tall people would notice, along with a few rough-around-the-edges decorative touches. But nothing that would cause us to find a new place.

Like with all of our past Airbnbs, they each have their own personality and usually require additional cleaning to our standards (particularly in the kitchen) before we settle in long term. Short-term renters probably could care less about these things.

A great perk of the apartment is that it abuts Barrio de Santiago, which is a quiet, safe neighborhood, within easy walking distance of the historic center. That means there are a ton of things to see and do without worrying about transportation. Local buses, intercity buses, and Uber are common here, so even if we want to go further afield it will be easy (and affordable) to do so.

Walking into the front door we have our living room/work area.

There is a ceiling fan, couch, comfy chair, storage chest, and desk for productivity.

Two bicycles are supplied by the owner, with locks and safety equipment. We’ll see if we are actually brave enough to use them in the local traffic!

Turning 180 degrees from where the last picture was taken is our dining room/sitting area.

Loads of glassware is provided in a china cabinet (not in frame), apparently for large parties that are forbidden on the premises. There is also a ceiling fan and hammock (not in frame) with secure anchorage hooks affixed to the concrete walls.

We may give the hammock a try soon!

Moving into the next room is our kitchen.

We have a center island, ceiling fan, a 2-burner induction stove, a sink (with water filter for drinking), microwave, and loads of pots, pans, plates, and cutlery. And there are many different ways we can make coffee here, including 2 drip coffee makers, several French presses, and an Italian-style espresso maker.

We also have a full-sized refrigerator and a dedicated wine refrigerator. There are also multiple Bluetooth speakers for jamming to tunes from our devices.

The last large room is our bedroom.

We have a full-sized bed (barely long enough for me), AC, ceiling fan, side tables, a couple of wardrobes, and a randomly placed vanity desk. Sliding glass doors (not in frame) lead to the outside, which is where most of our cleaning equipment is kept.

And finally, connected to our bedroom, we have our bathroom.

It is oddly arranged, in that it forces you to walk through the shower before you get to the sink and toilet. But it hasn’t been a problem so far.

So for all of this including utilities and high speed internet, we are paying $28.60 USD/night (including a 20% long-stay discount that barely offsets the 19% Mexican government Airbnb tax add-on).

For the area, this Airbnb is pretty good value for money.

But compared to some of the Airbnbs we have rented in other countries with more polish and lower cost, it doesn’t compare as well. But we knew Airbnbs were going to be overpriced in Mexico (compared to the rest of Latin America) due to the 2020 tax law, and because of that, we are OK with what we paid.

If there were no 19% tax added on during the final booking, I would say that our Airbnb in Mérida was a solid deal compared to other Latin American countries we have visited.

C’est la vie.

But that won’t stop us from having a great time in Mexico! Eating out looks like it might be pretty inexpensive, so we hope that will help offset the increased accommodation costs we are planning for.

Until next time…

Thanks for reading!

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