Living the Slow Travel Life in Mérida Mexico
We’ve been living the slow-travel life in Mérida Mexico for a couple of weeks now, and have finally settled into into a groove.
We pretty much have of our day-to-day living patterns established now. We’ve identified restaurants we like. We’ve explored a bunch of sites in the Centro Historico area. And we’ve started making plans for some more exotic excursions!
Long-time readers may be surprised by our lack of urgency in doing more touristy things. But we will be in Mérida for two months, so we have lots of time to plan and do things the way we like (read: cheaply).
So when we aren’t getting medical procedures done, what have our day-to-day lives been like?
We’ll show you.
How We Start Our Day
As always seems to be the case, we wake up at around 6 am without an alarm.
We immediately put on a pot of coffee and dive into our daily Spanish language studies. Our morning studies, comprised entirely of audio and/or video input practice, generally last about 1 hour.
Then we start planning our day.
Generally speaking, we use the mornings to shop or explore before the heat of the day kicks in. Temperatures here can get into the 90-degree range by mid-day, so we like to get our daylight outdoor activities done before we turn into sweaty messes.
If we aren’t eating lunch out, we like to be back to our Airbnb before 1 pm to escape the heat until the sun goes down at around 5 pm.
Getting Around Mérida
So far, we are keeping things simple.
The vast majority of the time we either walk or use the Va-y-Ven public bus system.
If necessary, we use Uber. But so far we have only needed to use that service to get to doctor appointments in more distant locations, or to get home quickly when we have wandered far away without a bus station close by.
There is an extensive collectivo van system here as well. It can be a great way to visit many of the towns in the orbit of Mérida, but it can be difficult to find pickup/drop-off locations to suit your needs. Bottom line, we still need more time to figure this system out.
Shopping For Our Daily Needs
Currently, we are living near the Barrio de Santiago region of Mérida, which is a stone’s throw away from Centro Historico.
In this area of Mérida, it isn’t too hard to maintain our daily lives. If we need supplies or groceries, we generally visit one of the big grocery stores or one of the local markets.
Large grocery/department stores are well-represented in Mérida. Near us, the best options are the Soriana/HiperSoriana grocery stores or WalMart.
Prices in the grocery stores are reasonably competitive (especially if you shop for sale items), but when you really want to save a buck, the local markets are the way to go!
There are several local markets within a 30-minute walk, but the largest by far is Mercado Lucas De Galvez.
This market is a maze of corridors filled with vendors selling just about anything imaginable! It is total chaos though, so you have to keep your wits about you.
One of the nice things about this particular market is that many prices are clearly displayed, so if you get ripped off it really is your own fault. We just made sure we got baseline pricing data at the grocery stores before we went.
In our experience, the best market deals are for produce, snacks, and street food. There appear to be good deals on meat and fish too, but we aren’t savvy enough to assess quality on those types of things.
Killing Time at Free Public Events
Mérida is a city with a lot going on.
Every night except for Sunday, there is an art or cultural event at one of the public parks in the Centro Historico area, and they are quite well done.
We’ve gone to a bunch over the last couple of weeks, so here are some examples:
You get the idea.
These events are a fun way to end the day!
Killing Time In Free Public Spaces
We’ve also been surprised at how many public spaces are free to enter. To date, we’ve gone to two zoos and a number of smaller museums and galleries, all for free.
Although they may not be as elaborate as paid versions, they are a good way to spend an hour or two.
Here are a few examples:
Catedral de San Ildefonso, the oldest cathedral in the Americas, dominates the Plaza Grande square. We were lucky enough to be able to sneak in while the doors were open!
Museo Caja Montejo shows how the interior of the home of the Montejo family (the conquerers of the Yucatan region) was furnished. It also houses temporary art exhibits for Mexican artists.
Parque del Centenario was a beautiful green space that even had its own modest zoo!
Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Yucatán is where the governor of the Yucatan state does his business. But the second floor displays murals that outline the history of the Yucatan peninsula since colonization by the Spaniards. Free and open to the public!
Killing Time Exploring The City
Every region has its own personality in Mérida. Some are more commercial, yet others are more residential or touristic.
And some, like Paseo de Montejo and Plaza Grande, are just fun places to walk around and people-watch.
Getting to know these areas has been fun for us, even when some aren’t very touristy. Taken as a whole, they give you insight into how local life really is here.
Eating Our Way Through Mérida
Although we eat the majority of our meals at home, still love to go to high-value locations to gorge on local cuisine.
Here are a few of our favorite bang-for-buck places so far:
Winding Down For The Day
Assuming we aren’t going out to one of the free public events at night, we usually hang out at home during the evening and wrap up any personal loose ends.
For example:
- We do resistance band exercises if it is a workout day.
- We wrap up our Spanish language studies.
- We make calls to friends and family.
- We plan upcoming day trips and long-term travel.
- We read.
- We track the condition of our finances and monitor economic trends.
- And we do the typical YouTubing and Facebooking everyone else probably does.
So basically, ignoring the fact that we are doing these things outside of our home country, our day wraps up much the same as yours probably does!
Closing Thoughts
As you may have guessed, we are really enjoying life in Mérida.
And we haven’t even gone to any of the archeological sites, cenotes, or beaches yet!
Although we still prefer smaller towns in the countryside like Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador, Mérida has surprised us with how much there is to do and see.
That, and Mérida is EXTREMELY safe.
We’ve been in and out of all sorts of neighborhoods here on foot and not once did we feel like we were in any danger. This isn’t to say that bad things couldn’t happen, but we definitely feel that Mérida’s “safest city in Mexico” moniker is well deserved.
Until next time…
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