5 Loves, 5 Hates: Our Honest Take on Living in Merida, Mexico

Erica (0:00): So then my number two would be, I don't wear bras anymore. Welcome back to This Might Be a Bad Idea, where love, life, and chaos collide. I'm your host, Erica Mascaro, and

Jeff (0:20): I'm Jeff, the other host, emotionally, physically, and professionally unprepared.

Erica (0:25): Always. So today, we are talking about what we love and what we hate about living in Mérida, Mexico. And we've been here for about ten months now.

Jeff (0:36): Yeah, almost a year.

Erica (0:38): Yeah. So people ask us all the time, what do you actually love about here? What drives us crazy? So today, we're being honest, and we're gonna give you the five things that I love, the five things that Jeff loves, the five things I hate, the five things that he hates, and no sugarcoating. Right?

Erica (0:55): We're gonna be real and honest. Jeff, you wanna start with the five things that you hate?

Jeff (0:59): Yeah, I'll start that. So some of the top five things, and again, we're gonna be totally honest. So hopefully no one hates me, but the trash. I think I walk around a lot. I see a lot of stuff, and there's a lot of trash on the ground.

Jeff (1:15): Like, a ridiculous amount of trash. Like so much trash that people just dump trash out the window. And, of course, me walking a lot, I do see a lot of kids, to older people just dumping trash and walk away. Almost kinda shocking that you look around, there's that much trash. But that is the case.

Jeff (1:35): So number two, I think, the insects. So coming from Pennsylvania, we don't really get insects as much where we do get them, of course, in the summertime and sometimes in the springtime, but, of course, never in the winter and never in the fall. So I think here, you do get them three hundred sixty five days a year. Flies, mosquitoes, ants. I mean, everything that's coming out is gonna come out every single day, three hundred sixty five days a year.

Jeff (2:03): So that's, of course, something that I have to be used to, that there's gonna be mosquitoes biting me all the time. So that's number two. And I think that is kinda big because I do a lot of itching. Number three is there's a lot of, I think, food that's probably not the healthiest food. So I did there's probably more unhealthy food here than healthy food here.

Jeff (2:25): You drive around. You do see a lot of shops. They do sell a lot of Coca Cola, a lot of soda, a lot of chips, a lot of candy, things like that. You don't see too much shops selling fruits and vegetables. So I think that's something that's a little bit more difficult to deal with, but you do have to work hard to find those shops that do sell the vegetables and the fruits rather than the sugar.

Jeff (2:49): So that's actually number three. And, of course, that is very important to me, since I do like to eat healthy. Number four, things are very slow here. Coming from the U.S., I have about zero patience, so I do want things to happen quicker, but they don't. So that's something that I have to get used to.

Jeff (3:09): That mañana definitely means tomorrow, and that's what we hope is tomorrow. But a lot of times it's not mañana, it's the next day after mañana. So a lot of things do work a little slow here. So that's something that you do have to adjust to. Number five would be the inconsistency of the services or work that we have done in our home.

Jeff (3:30): So we do, you know, things fall apart. We call people to come out and fix them. They do maybe fix them, but then something else breaks that most likely while they were fixing, they altered something and now something else doesn't work. So we do find that a lot. Not everyone, of course, works like that.

Jeff (3:50): There's a lot of people that work consistently and they work, they do the job and we're happy with them. But I think there's probably more people that don't really care too much about the work that they do. They just kind of get it done and leave. And then a day later, we have to call them back or call someone else to come and fix it. So I think those are the five things that I think really do drive me nuts.

Jeff (4:14): I think there's still a lot of help though. We do have groups that we're involved with, and those groups have people that they've worked with that have done a great job. So I think word-of-mouth is huge here. So if you do move here, of course, getting involved in those groups is very, very important. But those are kind of the five things I think that do drive me a little nuts about living in Mexico.

Erica (4:36): Yeah, I would say my list as well. I wouldn't say these are things I hate. These are just things that I kind of the learning curve of dealing with by living in Mérida, living in Mexico. The number one is just being away from my family. I am a family person and I love experiences.

Erica (4:53): I rather spend time doing something with my family than an expensive gift or anything like that. So one of the reasons why we moved down here is a slower pace of life and spend time with family. So now we have a home where we can host people and friends. So we're hoping that we can do that more often. But there is that distance now that we've moved somewhere warmer.

Erica (5:14): So that's probably my biggest number one. Number two would probably be the heat. I am going through perimenopause, going into menopause probably, eventually. So having to deal with the heat, as much as I love not having to deal with the cold, the heat does get to me. Jeff does his daily walks.

Erica (5:33): I am not going to be doing those in 104 degree weather. It's just not suitable for my health. And I get nauseous. I'll get headaches. So I stay in the cool AC, but having to deal with the heat is another thing, not my favorite.

Erica (5:48): Then I would probably say just the inconsistency of work, kind of like what Jeff was talking about. As far as the things like internet reliability, because we do work remotely, water pressure is a big thing here in Mérida. We're lucky that we do have a pressure pump. The road conditions, they are horrible here. There's a lot of traffic.

Erica (6:09): There's a lot of big holes in the road. There's a lot of what they call topes, which would be your speed bumps. But there are a lot of just craters in the road. So even when we do drive, we have to be very cautious about holes in the road because the roads are not kept up. So just certain those things.

Erica (6:23): And then like, I'll get it done eventually. We do have contractors who will come out and it's kind of like the cable people, they come in between ten and three, maybe, possibly, but you just never know. I've learned to just be like, it's Mexico, at some point it'll get done. It's not a priority. The only time where I've ever had a priority is when our, I think our breaker blew and we didn't have electricity.

Erica (6:45): But again, we have solar panels. But there's nothing that's ever really a priority for us here, unless Leo was sick or Milo was sick or Jeff was sick. I would say the language barrier, I do speak Spanish, but it's not my first language and I don't speak it enough at home. So sometimes it does get taxing for me mentally, just trying to translate everything in my brain. So sometimes I just get frustrated.

Erica (7:08): So sometimes that is just a challenge, but that's the one reason why whenever I go to places, I try to speak as much Spanish as possible because I want to be able to improve myself and be able to think of it like it's my first language. And then I would probably say just the paperwork of things. There's bureaucracy everywhere, so we have to apply for our visas, we have to renew our paperwork for the trash, there's paperwork to be filled out for that. There's like, I have to give them like four pieces of paper in order to renew my trash every year, which is ridiculous. We do have to renew our taxes, because we do, we're foreigners, so we have to have a bank trust and we have to renew that every year.

Erica (7:49): So there's just things of paperwork that we didn't have to do in the States that we have to do here, so it's just kind of a trade off for being able to live in Mexico. So that kind of brings us to the things that we love. So why don't we just round off? You do one and I do one.

Jeff (8:04): That sounds great.

Erica (8:04): So why don't you start?

Jeff (8:07): I'll start and think one of these, and this is number one that I love about this place, is the weather, I think. It being warm all year round, not much rain that happens consistently. I love it. I just recently, it was almost it felt like 110 degrees out there. That's for me to go out walking.

Jeff (8:28): I mean, that's amazing to feel what 110 degrees feels like. So I think the weather is huge. That's why we moved here. That's why I wanted to move here. I, of course, was sick of the cold.

Jeff (8:42): Winters in the Northeast. We just wanted something that's warm all year round and where I could just wear shorts and no shirt and just live like that for the rest of my life, like I live on an island. But that is one thing that I so love about this place. Even if it's 100 degrees out, I still appreciate it not being 18 degrees, freezing snow, slush, just all that not fun weather that people have to deal with, especially in the Northeast.

Erica (9:15): So I will agree. So I will say ditto on that. It's not my number one thing that I love, but I will say that I agree on the heat. I ran away from the cold. I lived in Philly all my life.

Erica (9:25): I ran away at 17 to Miami because I don't like the cold. I will take the 104 degree temperature over negative to zero degrees.

Jeff (9:35): Yeah. I mean, the weather, that's a no brainer. We're happy to have the warm weather all year round.

Erica (9:41): Yep. So number two.

Jeff (9:43): Yeah. That's number two. So I think for me, it would be the history of the area. I think Mérida has just a ridiculous amount of history. That's incredible.

Jeff (9:53): I mean, the U.S., of course, is having a birthday this year for two hundred and fifty years. But outside of Mérida, there's places that have been around for two thousand six hundred years around here. We went and saw some of the ruins, and it was just amazing to look at this place and think someone was standing here 2,600 years ago and how different the times were. So that's just amazing place just to walk around. I think the cenotes, of course, too.

Jeff (10:21): I think the cenotes are just beautiful, and just amazing with the stories on the cenotes. And being able to go and swim in these beautiful cenotes. I mean, definitely, the history here is just it's almost breathtaking to look around and think what was happening twenty six hundred years ago here. And it still blows me away, and I could visit those and swim in those cenotes all day long.

Erica (10:48): So then my number two would be, I don't wear bras anymore. I mean, I'm wearing a bra right now because we're filming a show with you guys, and I'm wearing makeup because of it. But otherwise, I don't wear a bra, I don't wear pants, I don't wear makeup. I wear a lot less clothes. I mean, I guess it's a hundred something degrees.

Erica (11:07): So yeah, I'm trying to stay cool, but it's just a different lifestyle here. I don't really care as much about, not that I don't care about how I look, but I'm just not concerned about all this other outwardly looking stuff. And living in the States, I wore weaves in my hair, and I wore weaves since I was in high school. So, I mean, it's been twenty plus years since I haven't really seen my natural hair. So living in Mérida, we decided, okay, I'm not going to wear these anymore because it's just too hot for one thing because the glue and everything, and it's just too much to have on your body.

Erica (11:39): So I was like, I'm just going to go natural. I haven't worn my hair natural in years, but it's just nice to be back to basics and to be back to myself with learning a different part of myself too. I haven't washed my hair since I was a child. So I was like, I got to buy shampoo. I got to buy conditioner.

Erica (11:57): I had to get a blow dryer. I'm like, these are the basic things that most people do all the time, but I just never had to do it for myself. So that's something I'm learning, just learning to love myself and be back to the basics. So that's kind of cool. So I love that about being in Mérida.

Erica (12:12): And Jeff obviously accepts me for however I look. He's my husband, I love him for that. But yeah, I get to be me, which is pretty cool.

Jeff (12:19): Yes. I accept you for everything and I appreciate and I feel so welcome to be with you. I'll be married to you. I think the third one for me, believe it or not, a lot of people probably would be thinking maybe that isn't the case, but it's the people. Everyone has been great with us.

Jeff (12:38): So we’re coming from another country. So the only thing that we could hope for is that people accept us. And I think people have accepted us here. The community here, it's more of a community driven, very friendly, very family oriented. I think family is number one here.

Jeff (12:54): And I walk around a lot. I walk around in these strange towns and these probably people look at me and think, what is this person doing in our town? But they make me feel that I belong. And I think both of us can agree that everyone here makes you feel like it's okay to be here. It's okay to live here.

Jeff (13:13): It's okay to learn how everything works here. And I think that's something I really appreciate because, of course, when you move to a different country and say people are yelling and throwing things at you, you're probably not gonna be too happy living there. But it's not like that. I mean, everyone's been incredibly kind to us. I think that's something that I greatly appreciate and helps us every day.

Erica (13:35): Yeah. I would piggyback on that. My number for you would also be the community and the welcomingness of here. One thing that I felt when we were scoping out the area is just the calmness here and the people are just willing to help you without a hidden agenda. So I had people reaching out and asking, how can I help you?

Erica (13:54): And for me, that's been very difficult because I'm always the one that's helping other people. So for people wanting to really help me and have concern for me, it's been pretty brief. There's a big expat community here. We have something called Black Mérida. So we do a social table every month where we go to lunch and we just kind of experience and talk about each other and our experience moving here, why we moved here and how we can help each other.

Erica (14:22): And that's been really helpful for me, just having that community. And I just joined an entrepreneurs group of all local expats and now I joined a women in Mérida group. So we have all these chances to connect with people who have the same shared experiences with us, which is already something big because we already relate on one thing. We got wooed here. So we all have that one thing in common and that reason why.

Erica (14:47): And then we just connect on a different level. And one thing that's really important about what I've learned about living here is people focus on being with each other, just being present. For me, that is really important because I just want to spend as much time with my family and that's why we moved here and focusing on community and being with each other. One thing that the locals always say is we're here for a good time. We're here to spend time with each other.

Erica (15:13): And that's what's important. And we're not here for work. Work is just something that's done in the background. There's times where people will not do a job because it's on a weekend and they want to spend time with their family. That's more important than getting a paycheck.

Erica (15:26): And that's just very different from the States. So that's one thing I really do like about that is just the local community and the connection.

Jeff (15:33): Yeah.

Erica (15:34): So that might go into our next one, number four, which is?

Jeff (15:37): So I mean, number four, definitely something that we focused on moving, at least for me, is finding an area that was a slower pace of living. Me, of course, living in the U.S. Both of us living in the U.S. We would start work on Monday and we would just hope to get to Friday and have a great weekend. But I think you kinda miss out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday just to get to Friday.

Jeff (16:03): And I think life for me is just too short to miss out on those days. And I think here, it's definitely slower pace. They don't focus on what's gonna happen tomorrow. They focus on just here today and being happy and focusing on today and looking forward to tomorrow. But definitely, it's a slower pace, and that's what I love about this place.

Erica (16:24): Yeah, I mean, I'll piggyback on that. Same thing is we joke about workers saying mañana, but everything is a slower pace of life. It is spending time with people that are important to you. And we got our second cat Milo, he's my biggest reminder of slowing down, because he shows up at my work office door, home office door, and he meows at the door at like 4:30, 5:00 reminding me, hey, it's time for us to cuddle.

Erica (16:51): It's our cuddle time. So you got to stop working because it's time to be present and be with me. And if I'm still in my work chair, he'll jump in my lap. And then when I go to type something, he'll put his arm out and stop me from typing. Or if I pick up my phone, he'll put his hand out and he says, no, mommy, it's cuddle time.

Erica (17:12): So he has really made me stop working at a certain hour and spend time with him. And then it's also one of the reasons why I married Jeff is he is the opposite of me. He reminds me to have fun and have the time. I am a go, go, go, work, work, work person. So that was a big challenge for me is learning how to slow down and be here and be present.

Erica (17:35): And so it's been a challenge like relearning who I am being here, but it's one thing I love. Tomorrow I could drop dead and work would replace me, but my family would still be missing me. So those important moments, spending time with your family is going to be more important than anything else.

Jeff (17:52): I think number five for me is the city that we live right next to. That would be Mérida. Sure. It's probably the hottest place in Mexico, but it's such a beautiful city. It's clean.

Jeff (18:05): It's colorful. They focus on art. I mean, it's just beautiful. And you can walk down the street and see a giant building with just beautiful artwork painted on it. So that's something that is just going into the city and visiting that stuff and seeing that and hanging out.

Jeff (18:21): This is amazing place to live. We looked at it. It was extremely safe. I think it was ranked the twenty second safest city in the world. So I think that's such a positive thing.

Jeff (18:33): Of course, when you're gonna live next to the city, having a city that you could go into, see incredible history that's from thousands of years ago or hundreds of years ago, but at the same time, completely safe. And I don't speak Spanish, so for me to go into a city, there's some issue. Definitely, there'd be a communication breakdown. But I feel like everyone's there to kinda help and listen, and they're not gonna judge you. And I think that's something that I've picked up on since the last year I've lived here and especially going into Mérida.

Jeff (19:05): Such a special, special city that I think anyone that's looking to vacation, you should think about, of course, vacationing in Mérida.

Erica (19:12): Yeah. I mean, I would say and then my final would be just the city itself. Kinda Jeff mentioned some of the things. There is a lot of history. There's so much to do here, not in just Mérida, but all of the Yucatán.

Erica (19:24): There's a lot of culture. There's a lot of history, as Jeff was alluding to. And then there's just little small villages that specialize in certain things, specialize in hammocks, specialize in these different things and just seeing the history and how people live and it's just an amazing thing to be a part of. So I want to explore more and see more of the Yucatán and explore more of the history and not only the Yucatán, but more of Mexico. It's so many states here in Mexico.

Erica (19:51): And so it's just so much to explore and see. And I love to travel. So I just want to get out there and see more of this great place. So we really love being here and we want to thank the community for letting us come here and be a part of it. But the last thing we want to leave off on is someone is watching this and seriously thinking about making this move, taking into account our love and our hate list, does it still seem like a good idea to move?

Jeff (20:21): Yeah. I mean, definitely a good idea. I think you gotta look at our list and kinda see, okay, will the heat bother me? If the heat bothers you, that might be an issue. That's only three months out of the year.

Jeff (20:33): Also, the insects. If insects drive you nuts, then, yeah, that might be a problem. But I think other than that, the best thing, of course, is to come out, visit, vacation, even vacation now where you really know what the heat is like. Yeah. But other than that, I think you don't get annoyed by those type of things.

Jeff (20:52): Beautiful place to live. And like we talked about, history, the art, everyone is so welcoming. It's an amazing place overall.

Erica (21:00): Yeah. So that's all that we have for today. Thanks for tuning in.