Slow Travel Review: Mérida, México – The Land Of Color & Nature

by A Purple Life, posted in Budget Check-In, Finance, Food, Reviews, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews
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Welcome to my second International Slow Travel Review! I spent 9 weeks in Mérida, México – by far the longest I’ve stayed abroad in my adult life and the longest I’ve stayed in one Airbnb. So let’s see how Mérida measured up 🙂 !

I originally chose Mérida as part of a campaign to convince my Mom to widen her horizons from the Maldives and Tahiti to places like Thailand and Mexico. To do so safely was one of the main talking points and despite stereotypes, Mérida, México is safer than my hometown of Atlanta, GA.

From Numbeo

With these stats in front of our eyes, we were off to our longest stay in México! And on this front, I must say that the stats do speak to my experience. Mérida felt wildly safe. I felt safe running alone during the sunrise. I also met several solo female travelers during our time there who said they felt completely safe living their lives alone in Mérida, even at night. Sweet 🙂 . It seemed like a wonderful, comfortable and welcoming city.

Weather & Holidays

Climate Check

Ok – enough of that nitty gritty stuff! Let’s talk about something fun: SUN! I have been intentionally planning my nomad travels around sunshine. I totally get what those stereotypical retired snowbirds are talking about 🙂 .

As a result, we booked our stay in Mérida from April-May thinking that this would be a sunny, but relatively cool time temperature wise before the heat really set in during June-August. Well, we were totally wrong about that 🙂 . And I’ve added “checking the climate with Time & Date to my pre-travel booking checklist as a result. You live and learn 🙂 .

It turns out that April & May are actually the hottest months in Mérida. After that, it becomes the rainy season and majorly cools down. While we were there in the spring, it often got up to 114F, which was a record for me in a humid climate and I did not love it – unless I was lying in the pool. Luckily though, we had just come from Phuket, Thailand which had slightly lower temperatures, but was more humid so it felt hotter and sweatier to me.

After about a month, I got used to the heat in Mérida, learned to enjoy the constant breeze that runs through the city, and realized that I should walk on the shaded side of the street whenever possible 🙂 . I also learned that getting up at sunrise (6:30am) was basically a requirement to running comfortably in that weather, which is why I got burned out doing so after about 5 weeks. So, heads up in case you’re heading anywhere: Check that climate and plan accordingly!

May is the hottest month – not July like I assumed and June starts the rainy season. Next time I’ll visit earlier in the year or late in the fall since both times are not very rainy and are hot, but not the hottest time of the year. While I was there, there was a record high real feel of 114F and that happened fairly regularly.

Source

Daylight Savings Time

It seems like this is just a list of things I was ignorant about…oh well 🙂 . Here’s another: México has a different Daylight Savings Time than the US. That totally makes sense, but in the moment, I didn’t even think about it. When we arrived in México, the US had just done Daylight Savings Time, sprung forward, lost precious sleep, become grumpy and all that jazz 🙂 .

Well, I awakened one morning to discover:

Apparently, México went through their Daylight Savings Time switch a few days after we arrived. We were all confused comparing the different times on our electronics and trying to figure out what happened. So, check when the country you’re visiting experiences Daylight Savings Time (or if they even do it at all).

Source

Holidays & Opening Times

Something else I was surprised to see was that Mérida shuts DOWN a week before Easter – like even clinics were closed, which is cool. Celebrate! However, that’s something else I have now learned to research before making plans and of course the free site Time & Date once again comes in clutch with country-by-country Holiday Calendars.

Another thing to note about Mérida, is that Google Maps’ opening and closing times are just wishful thinking 🙂 . Opening and closing times are often inaccurate and sometimes shops don’t open at all, which is cool. I’m all for taking time off when you need it. However, edited hours are usually posted directly on the shop’s door, so just a heads up if you’re in a rush and relying solely on Google Maps – that info should be taken with a grain of salt.

Airport Arrival & Departure

Arrival Steps

Here is everything that happened after I arrived in Mérida – just a heads up so you avoid any pitfalls.

When I was on the plane, I was asked to fill out an Immigration Form and I was expected to have my own Pen. My neighbor didn’t have one so I loaned him mine. Overall: bring your own pens 🙂 .

The United flight attendant claimed we didn’t need to fill out a Customs Form unless we have something to declare, but that turned out to be untrue. If going into Mérida as a US citizen, you need to fill out that customs form on the plane as well or you’ll be asked to leave the long line to do so.

So fill out both forms, get in line for Immigration, answer some questions (including how many days you’re in the country so calculate that before hand if it’s not on your form to do so) and then get any checked bags you have and stand in line for customs. They took my form, asked how many computers I had (1), and then waved me through.

I didn’t have to go through the scanner, but someone did look through my bag before I left – I assume to make sure I wasn’t lying about the number of computers I was carrying 🙂 . They also asked if I was carrying any food and I wasn’t, so make sure to eat your road snacks in advance!

Then there was a long hallway and in it were 2 big blue taxi stands. One was open and I paid there for a Flex Taxi to my Airbnb. However, that’s not the only taxi stand. If you follow the exit signs and then turn right instead of leaving the building, there are other taxi stand booths for Flex and other companies like ADO.

At the taxi booth, they told me it would be a 25-30 minute wait, but that wasn’t accurate. I went outside and there were lots of Flex cabs waiting at the second island outside the airport. There was supposed to be an attendant to show me where to go, but he wasn’t there. Some dude was honking at me to show me where that guy was, but instead I just asked one of the Flex cab drivers what was up.

He talked to someone, took one of the tickets the taxi booth gave me, and put me in a van. We were leaving when they put another dude in my van. I thought I had paid a 1 person cab fare and they’d mentioned nothing of a shuttle, but whatever 🙂 . One pro tip:  I had a sticky note with my address on it since I didn’t know my high Spanish numbers at the time and it came in handy twice. My cab was 240 pesos ($12 USD) paid with a credit card.

Electronics Tax

The first time my partner entered México, he went through México City and encountered no problems carrying (1) personal and (1) work laptop. However, when he flew into Mérida directly from the US, he was charged an 20% tax on the original value of his second computer, which was about $200.

Unfortunately, our Spanish wasn’t amazing at this point so he wasn’t able to explain that it was a work laptop. It seemed like the assumption was that he was bringing it into the country to sell it, which wasn’t the case.

No one at this airport checkpoint spoken enough English for him to explain either, so he paid the tax. Fortunately though, his company said they would happily reimburse him for it, but heads up in case you travel with multiple laptops to México.

Departure Steps

Leaving Mérida was pretty simple. I had already checked in online, and received my boarding pass, which I had on my phone, so I went towards Passport Control, they checked my passport and ticket. Then I went through Security, which didn’t have a TSA Pre-Check (I know – woe is me) so I took out my electronics and liquids and took off my shoes.

Then this was the only tricky part – on my way to the gate, there was someone asking what people’s final destination was and if it was international, directing them into a separate line to the left that led to Immigration. If you didn’t interact with this person you could have just gone to the right directly to the gates.

I went through immigration and they gave me a green stamp on my passport (it would have been on my ticket if it wasn’t on my phone). I then sat at my gate and they announced several times that you have to go through the immigration line to get a green stamp before boarding so heads up! That wasn’t super clear from the signs in case someone isn’t there to direct you.

Walkability

Phew! Ok – that intro was longer than I expected. Now that you know how to properly plan and enter Mérida, let’s see what it’s like! Mérida is a very walkable city. We never rented a car during our 9 weeks there and got around just fine. There are sidewalks everywhere, always other people walking somewhere along the street and as I said, I felt comfortable running or walking by myself at sunrise.

When we didn’t feel like walking or had a farther destination in mind, we took Uber or hired a taxi for a day. Uber works the exact same way it does in the US and through the same app. We used this even for hour long trips, such as to the beach. However, if you’d prefer to get to the beach by public transit there is an Autoprogreso bus that’s $1 per person and leaves every 15 minutes or so. That was our original plan before I felt too lazy 🙂 .

We hired a Taxi by getting the number of a taxi driver through our Airbnb host, but our Spanish school classmates also gave us a number of someone they recommended. We paid a flat fee of 2800 pesos (or $139.87) for a 12-14 hour day of the taxi driver’s time and unlimited miles.

In addition, there is an ADO bus that has been highly recommended by other Mérida expats to get between cities in the Yucatan if that’s something you’re interested in.

Also, addresses work a little differently in México, which confused me for a hot second when I arrived. Here’s the formula:

Address = [STREET] [HOUSE NUMBER] [ZIP CODE] [CITY] [STATE] [COUNTRY]

Another interesting thing about Mérida is how their streets are numbered. Even numbered roads go north/south and odds go west/east. However, numbers increase as you go South (which I wasn’t expecting) and West.

This does make walking around easy once you get the hang of it. Also, most streets are one way and have street lights, walk signs and green flashing lights when the light is about to change. I love it!

Language

One of the main reasons that we chose to live in Mérida while learning Spanish, is because few people that you encounter day-to-day speak English there. However, our Spanish teacher pointed out a flaw in our logic that I hadn’t been aware of: while few people in the Yucatán speak English, a third of the people actually speak Mayan, which has heavily influenced the Spanish there and made it quite different than the Spanish spoken in the rest of the country. Oops 🙂 !

So basically, we were doing Spanish immersion on hard mode, but that made it all the sweeter when we could do it 🙂 . Also, it was fun to learn a few Mayan words from the locals, such as Ma’alob ki’in, pronounced “Maah low keen” , which is used for all the day’s greetings such as good morning, good afternoon and good night.

This is Monumento a La Patria, which is a Mayan-style homage to Mexican history. It was my favorite monument in Mérida

Inclusivity & Safety

As I mentioned, I felt very safe living in Mérida both alone and with my interracial partner. In fact, our Airbnb hosts were an interracial gay couple and another interracial gay couple stayed in another Airbnb within our compound. Overall, everything felt friendly and inclusive to me. I also loved seeing this inspiring sign at a major restaurant on the main drag that translates to “Welcome to all people of any race, creed, ideology and sexual preference.”

Money

When we arrived in México in the spring, the exchange rate was 1 USD: 20 Méxican Pesos. That made it easy to just move the decimal point of a price to the left one place and divide by two to calculate in my head how much something would cost.

Cash was necessary to pay for anything at the mercados and for our electricity in our Airbnb, but otherwise credit cards were accepted everywhere we went. For the cash I used my beloved Charles Schwab Investor Checking Account, which reimburses all ATM fees internationally.

Utilities

Electricity

So I previously bought this adapter for international travel, but didn’t need it in México. I think that was because our Airbnb is owned by a Mexican man and his Canadian partner so it’s possible that they have different plugs compared to the usual homes in Mexico and caters more to expats.

Everything I had worked in their plugs unlike universal plugs we had at our Airbnb in Thailand. According to this helpful site México uses Type A plugs, which are the 2 prong ones that are also found in the US, but some of my electronics have 3 prongs, but this time it wasn’t a problem.

Plumbing

Ah different plumbing 🙂 . It seems to be standard in Mérida to not flush toilet paper down the toilet. The plumbing can’t handle it. This was an interesting contrast to our Airbnb in Thailand – a country where this is a common practice, but not for our complex that primarily housed expats. Anyway, this wasn’t a big deal, but it was something to get used to.

Even now that I’m back in the states, flushing toilet paper freaks me out a little since I’m no longer used to it. The weird things you learn 🙂 . Also, here’s a map of places where you can or cannot flush toilet paper that was eye opening to me

Source

Nature

Nature in Mérida was similar to Thailand – amazing, gorgeous and everywhere. I saw birds that I couldn’t have dreamed existed, parrots liked to hang in our yard and a dinosaur sized iguana enjoyed hanging in the sun near our porch. It was magical.

Our badass dinosaur neighbor – The Black Spiny Tailed Iguana (Source)

However, the flip side of beautiful and abundant nature is…abundant nature 🙂 . We were living in the middle of all this gorgeous greenery and with it came other creatures as well, specifically lizards and ants. Interestingly, lizards actually eat insects so that helps a bit with the problem, but I must admit, I was not used to seeing a small lizard friend sneak into my house. They’re cute, but I was a bit startled 🙂 . I guess that could also be because we lived in basically a glass house with the ability to open all the walls. Come on in, lizards!

The other thing I wasn’t used to were the ants. Our host said that ants are a fact of life in Mérida and as a result, to keep ALL open food in the fridge – even food you wouldn’t necessarily refrigerate. We did so, but I swear that if a piece of food dropped or a pile of crumbs got out of my sight, the ants were there in minutes. It was pretty impressive actually 🙂 .

So Mérida was a natural adventure, but one I don’t regret at all. It was different, but I enjoyed it. In fact, I think Mérida has been my favorite place we’ve lived so far.

Medical

Basically this:

I’ve now written entire posts about medical tourism in Mérida so feel free to check those out if you’re interested:

  1. Medical Tourism: A $32 Dental Cleaning in Mérida, México
  2. Medical Tourism: Visiting a Doctor for $2.50 & Filling A $1 Prescription in Mérida, México

If you just want the TL;DR: Medical care in México was quick, wonderful and super affordable. I’m excited to return.

One heads up that didn’t make it into my previous posts was about Covid tests. The US dropped their restrictions so this might not be helpful to a majority of my audience, but if you’re looking for a Covid test and didn’t want to bring your own BinaxNow, we had a great experience with Farmacia Mérida (Calle 60 452 X 49 Y 51, 97000 Mérida, Yuc., Mexico). I walked in, told them when we would come in to take the test so I would be ready (though you can do this over the phone), showed up and we were out of there with a certificate the airport accepted in minutes.

We also previously had a great experience with Salud Digna for a $13 test. However, their site is entirely in Spanish and while we were there, their website changed and we could no longer pay online, which was a requirement for those tests. Weird.

Further, my classmate used Biomédicos and actually had to cancel her travel plans home for a funeral because her results looked positive, but upon inspection, were inconclusive. Hopefully none of this info will be needed in the future, but just in case: here it is 🙂 .

Water

So water is not drinkable in México. Unlike our place in Thailand, our Airbnb in México helped us out immensely. They had 20L (5.3 gallon) “garrafones” delivered to our address so we just grabbed a new one when we needed it for $2 (40 pesos) each. However, if your Airbnb isn’t set up like that, water is sold in every grocery store that I saw.

Food

Food in Mérida was delicious and ran the gambit of affordability. I would love eating the local favorite Sopa de Lima or grabbing $0.50 Paletas from the mercado:

And because my fancy Mom was there, we often ordered takeout through Uber Eats. Similar to Grab in Thailand, these food deliveries are done on the backs of mopeds or motorcycles instead of cars. However, you can order straight through the regular Uber app that’s used for ride share, but they encourage you to download a separate app to do so – I never did and it worked out fine. I just clicked the “Food” instead of car option.

Also similar to Thailand, the app is sometimes lagging by a minute or so, so be ready to grab your order when they’re close by . We ordered from a lot of local places and it was all wildly affordable and often had a $1 delivery fee, which is way lower than we’re used to. So even with a handsome tip, we ordered a lot of food for relatively little.

One thing that I found super helpful was discovering that all the taquerias won’t just sell you tacos, but also a 1/2 kilo or full kilos of their cooked meat that you can use as you wish. That was a COMPLETE game changer for my keto eating habits and the deliciousness of our meals. We could buy a shitton of delicious meat with all the accoutrements for less than going out for dinner. I’ve never seen that in the states.

Bakery/Panadería

So we tried several bakeries while in Mérida and were surprised to see that the best bread that you use for toast or sandwiches actually came from the grocery store. It’s possible that these places just have a secret bakery hookup that we couldn’t find, but the regular grocery stores were our best bet for great bread.

However, when we went to the bakeries, I was curious about their process because it’s new to me. I’m not sure if this is a covid thing, but when we arrived, we were told to grab a serving tray and put whatever we wanted to buy on there with tongs. We then brought our filled tray to the front to pack it up and pay.

Cost

I like to base estimates on solid facts and that’s why I began my retirement calculations by assuming I would continue spending the same amount that I did during my awesome HCOL life in Seattle, which cost $18,000 a year. I then added 11% on top of that amount just in case, to come to a round $20,000 for my annual retirement budget.

This padded assumption also adds another cushion to my plan because most places in the USA and especially the world, are cheaper to live in than Seattle, Washington. Here’s how Mérida, México compares to Seattle:

From Numbeo

My costs below are overall higher than they would be if my partner and I were traveling alone because we were with my Mom who is a classy lady with classy tastes 🙂 .

Lodging 

Cost: $928.63 each per month

Basically this:

Food

Grocery Cost: $131.57/month

Groceries were wonderfully affordable and easy to acquire. We loved walking to the mercado and grabbing fresh fruit and less often going to the actual grocery stores to get all the staples.

Eating Out Cost: $120.44/month

Most of our eating out was through delivery, but we did go to a restaurant several times to enjoy the local delicacies. It was all wonderfully delicious.

Alcohol Cost: $15/month

Like many places, Mérida has some random laws around when you can buy alcohol. According to a local newspaper: “State government sources explained that hours for beer sale will go back to the usual: Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., in all stores of beer, wines, and spirits, as well as in convenience stores and supermarkets with the corresponding permit.”

So be sure to check the local laws and if there is any signage in a store before trying to take alcohol to the counter so you can avoid the embarrassment I felt 🙂 .

Transit

Cost: $46.69/month

We mostly walked around Mérida with a few Ubers thrown in for trips where we were carrying groceries or wanted to go farther like the beach. A hour ride to the beach cost about $10 and a ride about town was $1-2. Yeah it’s wild – I know.

Entertainment

Cost: $64.50/month

My main entertainment outside of mandatory daily pool time and my mind bending immersive Spanish classes were our excursions!

Another fun fact that I also mentioned in my last monthly recap that a few years ago it was discovered that the main pyramid at the Mayan ruin Chichen Itza (that we visited last month) has a cenote under it! And not only that, the cenote underneath the main pyramid is exactly in the center of a grid of 4 other cenotes that surround the sight. Cool!!!

Education

Cost: $754.24

This was for our immersive Spanish lessons:

Conclusion

And that’s what I discovered after living in Mérida, México for 9 weeks! It was an amazing first time visiting México for longer than a week and I loved it. Mérida, México may be my favorite place we’ve lived so far in my retirement. It’s so gorgeous, green and full of delicious food 🙂 . Anyway, until next time, this was my Slow Travel Review!

What’s the most exciting place you’ve visited?

If you’re interested in my other Slow Travel Reviews, they’re all here:

21 thoughts on “Slow Travel Review: Mérida, México – The Land Of Color & Nature”

  1. Really enjoyed this piece, because it reminded me of the Philippines and how much I miss it! 🙂

    Absolutely spot on with regards medical tourism. In the West we think we’re all that – but actually the dental clinics in Manila (my fave: https://dentista.com.ph/branches/) are way, way better than what you’d find in UK (at least on the NHS).

    For cleaning you get a fully qualified dentist (not a hygenist), and the cost is very, very good value (I think we paid about £40 ish for the two of us to get a full checkup and through cleaning). Plus, you don’t have to wait 6 months for an appointment like you do in the UK. Sure, NHS is “free” (or near enough), but sometimes it’s well worth paying a little extra for a far superior service.

    Ah, I love the smell of fresh pandesal in the morning… 😉

    Reply

    1. As a previous resident of the UK – agreed, 100%. I now live elsewhere and pay much more for medical and dental treatment, but there are next to no waiting times for appointments, the quality of attention and service is excellent, and they don’t hurry you out the door. It’s annoying to have to pay so much, yet I can’t deny I’d rather have this than 2 week+ waiting times just for a ten minute GP appointment where they tell you to sleep it off if it’s anything less than an emergency XD

      Reply

      1. Claire, sadly things have moved on (and not in a good way) since you last lived in the UK. I recently had to wait 4 weeks (yes, weeks) for a GP callback, and it was only that “quick” because I would accept any old GP, and not my personal GP.

        I guess we should be grateful for what we have though…

        Reply

    2. Oooh! I’ve never been to the Philippines, but it’s on my list 🙂 . And that’s great to know! I’ll add Manila to my ‘dental possibilities’ list. Thank you!

      Reply

      1. > I’ve never been to the Philippines, but it’s on my list 🙂 .

        Feel free to ping me (you’ve got my email) when you’re planning – I know a few islands the tourists don’t know that are magical. There are also a few places to avoid. If you’re a diver, or love to snorkel, you are going to be in heaven.

        The Dentista I go to is the one in Shang Mall – very nice – and very friendly. I’ll be going back March next year, meltdowns at LHR, pandemics and wars permitting…

        Reply

        1. Will do! Thank you for the offer 🙂 . And I love to snorkel (and am contemplating getting a diving license) so that sounds magical to me. I hope you get to go back in March! My fingers and toes are crossed.

          Reply

  2. Very thorough write-up! Sounds like a fantastic place. I’ll consider if I ever get the money and time off to do a world tour 😉

    Reply

  3. The bakery system isn’t a COVID thing. That’s the way you do it in any Mexican panaderia I’ve been in whether in Mexico or the US.

    Reply

  4. Thanks Purple for such a detailed write-up! Merida is at the top of our list for a Feb/Mar 2023 trip with the fam. So glad to hear you had a great experience and appreciate all the reviews and breakdown of costs 🙂

    Reply

  5. I know you have lived in and visited large cities so I’m surprised you have not seen this but like Sarah above said, any Mexican bakery has this procedure. You grab a tray and fill it up. Some Asian bakeries are like that as well. As for the meat, restaurants don’t generally sell their meat but any Mexican grocery store or mini-mart / carniceria sells marinated meat by the pound.
    Sounds like a great place to visit. I always enjoy living like the locals when visiting a new place.

    Reply

    1. Lol – it’s quite possible I just never paid attention until now. I’ve been very surprised with what I’ve noticed while being more present in retirement that’s always been there, but I never took the time to notice (like birds or how bakeries work apparently 🙂 ). Thank you for commenting!

      Reply

  6. I would love to go here next year. Glad to learn all of these tips. It’s my dream to see the Mayan pyramids.

    I need to keep on learning Spanish to prepare for the trip next year.

    It’s lovely to know that you guys want to visit my homeland Philippines. I’m moved to Canada years ago.

    When you visit the Philippines we also have Paletas in summer and it’s called “Ice Candy.” Also don’t miss “Halo Halo” which means a mixture of a lot of things. It’s a dessert that you can have all year round especially if you stay in a beach.

    If you like to stay in a beach go to Boracay and El Nido (The Nest) , Palawan. I haven’t been there myself but would love to go to on my vacation.

    Go to Intramuros (Walled City) and Ilocos Sur (South Ilocos) if you want to see and experience Spanish era. That was 333 years of Spanish colonization. And yet we don’t know how to Speak Spanish.

    Fun Fact: Most of Tagalog words are similar to Spanish. Some have different spelling but same meaning and pronunciations.

    Baño = banyo
    Tenedor = tinidor
    Cuchara = kutchara
    Mesa = mesa
    Como esta = kumusta
    Libre = libre (we all love free stuff 😬)
    Para = para (stop. Use it when riding in a jeep/jeepney – public transportation)

    Often in the palengke/merkado (Tagalog) or palenque/mercado (Spanish) you can hear people count in Spanish.

    Like uno, dos, tres, and so on. We were taught to count in English, Tagalog, and Spanish when we were young.

    And don’t worry mostly everyone knows how to speak conversational English. And if you want to continue learning Spanish there are many schools now like Instituto Cervantes in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

    I’m talking way too much. Anyway, would love to continue following your adventure. Buen viaje!

    Reply

    1. I hope you’re able to go! And good luck with your Spanish learning 🙂 . Thank you so much for the tips about the Philippines – that’s super helpful. Also that’s SO cool about the language!! I had no idea that much stuck around. And thank you for following my adventures – I’ll keep writing about them then 😉 . Buen viaje a ti!

      Reply

  7. Thank you so much for this detailed review of Merida! Looking forward to going their in the next 24-36 months. Any chance you can post your pre-travel booking checklist so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel? Or where I can find it on your website?

    Reply

      1. Hello again and thank you for the prompt reply! Here’s the section of the article I was referring to regarding your pre-travel booking check list. Even if it’s just in your head, I could use any bullet points you’ve got so as not to start from scratch, LOL!

        ********************************************************
        WEATHER & HOLIDAYS
        CLIMATE CHECK
        Ok – enough of that nitty gritty stuff! Let’s talk about something fun: SUN! I have been intentionally planning my nomad travels around sunshine. I totally get what those stereotypical retired snowbirds are talking about 🙂 .

        As a result, we booked our stay in Mérida from April-May thinking that this would be a sunny, but relatively cool time temperature wise before the heat really set in during June-August. Well, we were totally wrong about that 🙂 . And I’ve added “checking the climate with Time & Date to my pre-travel booking checklist as a result. You live and learn 🙂 .|
        *************************************************

        Reply

        1. Thanks so much for pointing out the section! You’re making me realize I should write this mental checklist down 🙂 . The things I check are:
          1. Covid restrictions/requirements to enter a country
          2. The time zone (and how that will change my partner’s work schedule and me calling friends)
          3. The weather/rainfall/overall climate at the time I’m thinking of visiting

          For Mérida specifically I would also suggest looking up local holidays like I said in the post since everything shuts down during the bigger ones. I hope that helps!

          Reply

          1. Thank you SO MUCH, APL! That’s exactly the type of information I need as I plan these international trips in the not-too-distant future. Much appreciated and this DEFINITELY helps!

            Reply

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