Greetings from Vancouver,

 

Having made fairly extensive trips to various areas of Mexico and elsewhere, my husband and I have narrowed down our search for our next permanent home to the Yucatan peninsula. Our dilemma is where exactly.

 

We are 61 and 62, active, healthy and currently working but looking forward to a change of pace. We like entertaining, theatre, concerts, book clubbing as well as walking and hiking.

 

We rented a wonderful colonial home in Merida Centro last year and, after the culture shock, just loved it. My husband is from Sicily - we started off our married life there - and there are many similarities in architecture, culture and climate. 

 

However, the thought of living with the constant drum of traffic noise might just drive me totally crazy. Will it? And I want a garden. Would a smaller city suit us better? A place on the coast?

 

Given all the collective wisdom of this community, I would really appreciate hearing about the experiences of arriving at the place you choose to call home from those who have already travelled this road.

 

Thank you and kind regards

Elizabeth

I have visited Merida 6 times in the past 14 months.  It is my home away from home.  I did indeed need to get use to the traffic and the fact that if it is bigger than you are that it has the right of way.  But once you are behind the doors of your home the sounds of traffic are quite muted and more so in your patio.

 

I believe that if you like to entertain and enjoy the activities that are available in the city, most of which are FREE, then Merida is the place for you to settle.  If you enjoy the coast you can always catch the bus for a few hours or a day.  You have the opportunity to visit the ocean for an extended weekend or month, etc.  The house maintenance on the beach is incredible and frequent not to mention the sand and dust in your house.

 

Merida is a city of color, culture and just plain fun.  My husband and I will be purchasing a  home in Merida within the next couple of months to be used as a vacation/retirement home.  We also like the music, the closeness of the mercados and the active life of the city.  I also am a huge gardener and looking for space to have the beautiful tropical plants and a small herb garden.  You will also find a large number of organizations to participate in and widen your scope of friends.  We are the couple that have parties several times per year and plan to continue this practice in Merida.  I enjoy knowing that when I visit Merida, alone, that I can go to the theater then dinner and walk home alone at midnight with NO fear for my safety.  I seem to love Merida nearly as much as I love my husband.

 

Good luck with your choice....

I am sure that if you read through the forum you will find all of your questions answered.

First question.... Where did you live in Vancouver?  If it was anywhere near downtown, or Kits, or south Granville or VGH, you should be golden.  Merida is a much smaller city.  (We are ex-Vancouverites who moved down about 2 months ago)

We are on the coast right now, but are moving into Merida on Sunday for the next 6 months, while we build.  It is deadly quiet out by the ocean at this time of year.  We hope to be able to take in a lot of city life while we are in Merida. 

If you are interested, PM us and we will let you know what our thoughts are in a couple of weeks.

TBURGESS

We live on the North Shore so it is much less urban than Kits or Downtown. Until quite recently my retirement dream was to have acreage on one of the Gulf Islands until the thought of one more soggy winter made Mexico infinitely more attractive. We found the Yucatan quite captivating and, as I said before, my Sicilian husband felt completely at home. For me, it's a bigger leap of faith.

 

I would certainly be interested in hearing your take on city life.

 

Thank you for your reply.

I think it is a personal choice. We own a house on the beach in Chelem, my husband would tell you that is the only way to go. He loves going in to Merida for dinner, or strolling, or events, or movies, or shopping.... and then retreating to relaxation and the sound of the waves at the beach.

I would tend to disagree. I think it better to be able to walk to all of those things right outside your door, and when you need a break head out to the beach for the day.

"deadly quiet" I love that statement, I call it relaxingly quiet.

This topic has come up on Yolisto and MI many times before and ultimately it's a matter of how you prefer to live. No one else can make that choice for you. So the best thing is to test drive rentals on both the beach and in the city before you buy.

It all hinges on whether you are a city or country person. Although I work in Toronto, we live on a cottage country lake north of the city and we love the dichotomy. A crazy, nutso work day in Da Big City, followed by the welcome sanity of a few hours out riding my horse or boating on the lake.

Unless it's the winter, and then I spend my spare time sulking inside (grin).

We prefer the beach when we are in the Yucatan (all winter next year for the first time. Can't wait). It gives us what we want and need: long walks on the sand, beach combing, ocean swims, poolside reading, writing, playing music, down time, quiet solitude (we're in San Bruno) and that wonderful long view with ocean as far as the eye can see.  I simply never tire of it.

Although we do get nortes in the winter on the beach, the upside is that when it is stinking hot in Merida, we have those lovely ocean breezes to cool things down. And you will find that if you choose an oceanfront home with a lot of natural plant life in front (or plant it later), it keeps the blowing sand to a minimum. 

We still go into the city at least once a week to hang with friends, play some tunes, soak up a little culture, shop or dine (with New York Chef as our guide, of course). Then we gratefully drive back to our dream casa on a tropical beach, feeling like the two luckiest people in the world.

Merida's Centro has gorgeous colonials which we totally love, but the city's core is noisy, hot and dusty (try and avoid bus routes if you buy there). As much as we love the colonial look, we know from experience we would very quickly find their tall walls claustophobic.

That being said, there are some lovely, lush tropical neighbourhoods scattered throughout the city that might appeal to someone from green Vancouver.

But know that no matter which spot you finally chose to hang your panama, if you stay near Merida or its coastal cities, you'll come out a winner.
Please keep us posted.

 

 

I think bookworms post is very true, you're either a country or a city person.

Welcome to elizabethinvancouver and to all of you.

 

We are from Van as well and have lived here just over 2 years full-time in Merida (Santiago).  We too are 61 and 62 and love to entertain.

 

We love the beach, but would not like to live there year round...the constant sand and salt air are just not "us"...we feel we can only put up with so much "beach" and after a week or two, we've had enough - but that's just us - many others love it!!

 

We don't have a colonial - more of a "Califorian Art Deco" type of house that is a ways back from the street, so our back patios are fairly quiet, and we don't get the fumes, but we do get the constant street dust that is common to every household.  We have a little herb garden started that we want to expand on.  My hubby planted a succulent cactus garden in the back and we put in all different types of palms and tropicals, so we find our surroundings wonderfully relaxing.  We don't have the claustrophobic high walls, our home is not attached to the neighbours, and we always get the breezes if they're blowing. 

 

That's our take on it, but as the other posters have advised, you have to check out what is right for you.  If you like, you are more than welcome to come and see the type of home we purchased, just so you have an idea of the kinds of houses available here. PM me at any time - it'd be great to meet another fellow Vancouverite LOL.

 

Whatever you choose to locate to, I'm sure you will be happy here - the "beach people", are just so friendly and helpful and have lots of social gatherings that seem to be well attended while they are here, whereas the Meridians generally tend to socialize on a more one-to-one basis within a "group of friends".  Just to expand on that statement a bit - there are clubs and groups to join here in Merida, and you can get as involved as you wish and meet many people - these groups always seem to have something on the go as well.  The ones we have met are great.  The difference might be that a lot of the people living here year-round might have chosen Merida as a location as it's easier to avail themselves of the "cultural" aspects of what is available when they actually reside in this beautiful city.  Living here full-time makes us view things in a different way I guess, and "our holidays" are usually going back to our places of family.

 

Welcome to the Yucatan - couldn't think of a better place to be!!

As other posters have said, the choice of Merida or beach is a personal one. We decided on the beach but are up in Merida on a regular basis for shopping, the movies, the symphony or simply to wander around. The road to Merida is so good that the drive is not a problem and we find the beach much more relaxing.

We were brought up in the big city and spent the last 10yr before coming here in Calgary but  love the relaxed beach life with the easy access to the city.

I am sure you will be happy with whatever you decide and again, only you can make the decision.

We are in Chelem, which is not quite so "quiet" as San Bruno.