Daily Life
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Working Gringos We just updated our grocery shopping article, including adding details suggested by readers. Shopping for groceries in Merida is still not the mindless but somehow comforting activity we used to take for granted back in California…
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Working Gringos Do you live or will you be coming to Yucatan with children? Here’s a page with information about activities, programs and places for kids in Merida and the surrounding Yucatan…
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Robert Kimsey Our second article on rooftop gardening in Merida reports how things have gone over the last year, where to find seeds and what to look for, when to plant and what vegetables do best here in Merida…
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Working Gringos Here’s a rundown of the special dinners and events around town on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. As we learn about more, we will add them here!
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Working Gringos It’s time for people to know what AFAD, the oldest dog shelter in Merida, is doing for all of us, here in Merida and along the Gulf Coast of Yucatan…
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Working Gringos Every once in awhile, we like to take a stroll through Merida’s oldest cemetery, located in the San Sebastian area between Calle 66 and Calle 81A. There’s nothing like visiting a cemetery to give you a new appreciation for life…
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Working Gringos Hurricanes are a fact of life in this part of the world. Five years after we first wrote this article, we reflect upon what has happened in the Yucatan and what we have all learned about hurricane preparedness…
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Michael Lewis Ever wonder what its like living on an island in a tourist town? Photographer Michael Lewis gives us his insight into what life is like living on Cozumel…
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Working Gringos A company that wants to revive the ferry between Florida and the Yucatan Peninsula is trying again to gather information. If you are interested, here is a questionnaire they would like you to answer…
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Khaki Scott We are always asked for suggestions about where to donate money, things or time. Here is a comprehensive list of places we know about in and around Merida and the Yucatan Gulf Coast. And we welcome your additions!
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Byron D. Augustin Evidence that Valladolid is becoming a viable community for expat living is the recent creation and opening of the Valladolid English Library…
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Working Gringos Growing fruits and especially vegetables in the unique Yucatan climate is not what we norteamericanos are used to. Robert Kimsey has created a unique and successful system, and now he’s sharing it…
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Working Gringos That’s what they call the United States, you know: Gringolandia. Here are some ruminations about our two countries, ten years after we officially became expatriates…
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Michael Ramos and Alan Oslick For the second part of our two-part series on Taking the Bus in Merida, we cover everything from bus lines and fares to combis and collectivos, how to catch a bus, how to find your way home and many other important bus-related tidbits…
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Michael Ramos You see them and dodge them all the time, walking through the centro of Merida. If you’re smart, you will take advantage of them and start using them to get around the city. Here’s how!
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Emilee Tombs A young woman from England recently offered to tell us her experiences while volunteering on her vacation in Merida. As it turns out, her volunTOURing vacation in Merida was everything she wanted it to be…minus the surfers!
Our good friend, John Venator, who lives in Valladolid, attended the Red Bull Cliff Diving Competition yesterday just down the street from his house. Here is his account of the day…
We took careful notes on our recent trip, driving through Mexico to the Texas border with our two dogs. Here are the details of the trip so you can know what to expect next time you do it…
Many of our readers ask us about driving with dogs into and through Mexico. Here is an account from a couple that did just that earlier this year…
When visitors ask us where they can find the heart of the expat community in Merida, we tell them it’s the Merida English Language Library, of course!
To counter the daily barrage of bad news that shows up on your computer screen, here’s a story of inspiration, dedication and hope for the future of Yucatan and the world…
Abogado is the Spanish word for Lawyer. Before we moved to Mexico, we had spent enough time with American lawyers to last a lifetime, but here the lawyers are different…
To most of us, it is soccer. To most of the rest of the world, it is known as futbol. Just days remain before the start of the world’s most watched sports event, futbol’s FIFA World Cup. For those of us who think that the Super Bowl of American football is a big deal, think [...]
Visit a Maya family in the rural pueblo of Santa Elena south of Merida near the Ruta Puuc to see how they make a living during tough economic times…
Los Leones, Merida’s professional baseball team, played a pre-season game against their cross-peninsula rivals, the Campeche Piratas. It was a beautiful day…
Yes, there is organic produce in Merida… and it’s grown right here in the city by a man who enjoys knowing his customers…
The Working Gringos have been living up to their name lately, but last week they treated themselves to a night out on the town. The quality of their experiences was a pleasant surprise…
A constantly growing list of the restaurants in Merida and the Yucatan Gulf Coast, with times, addresses, phone numbers, directions and readers’ comments. A valuable resource!
Just two blocks from our home, the Yucatan tradition of Hanal Pixan (Day of the Dead) was brought out into the streets for all of us to share, enjoy and contribute to…
Our good friend Reg is an avid bicyclist, and has spent hours bicycling in cities around the world. He brings us his best tips and ideas for safety and enjoyment on a bicycle in Merida…
Visitor or resident, it’s a rare person who can ignore the plight of the street dogs in Mexico. Terry Godown shares her story about two dogs that stole into her yard and stole her heart…
Creative thinking and follow through have been the ingredients for a very successful program helping children stay in school in Progreso. Now two more women are copying this success in their own communities…
In answer to Barack Obama’s call to service, a group of local American expats visited a local elementary school to donate chairs, tables and books for their reading library…
Every year about this time, talk turns to paying dues. There are taxes on your house and your car that have to be paid at the beginning of the year… well, at least as close to the beginning of the year as you can manage.
A local expat tells us the story of searching for nursing home in Merida to care for his wife, who is suffering from the onset of dementia. Read also about a group of local expats taking the whole issue of retirement homes into their own hands…
Day of the Dead is not celebrated in the Yucatan as it is in the rest of Mexico. Here’s a rundown of some local traditions and the events you can expect to see in the next few days…
We all get our electricity here in Mexico from the same place: CFE. We recently learned something very important about how rates are calculated and we thought we would pass on our hard-earned information…
We hate to admit it but we have actually passed up a ripe mango in the store because we were too lazy to get messy eating it. Today we learned a mango-eating style and we’ll never pass up a mango again…
You think it won’t happen to you but it might. Or you live in fear that it might happen to you and it may never. Mordida! It happened to Working Gringa one day, and here is what she learned (and you can too!) from the experience…
Looking for something to do on the last night of the year? Merida’s hotels and restaurants are all offering something special on New Year’s Eve… here’s the quick rundown.
This year in Merida, the Day of the Dead celebration on the Plaza Grande was bigger than we expected and bigger than ever. Here’s a short report and some photos…
Do you ever wonder how you can make a real difference for a local family? Here’s a story of how one woman is making a difference in the lives of students and their families in Progreso, Yucatan…
An excerpt from a new book about the Merida professional baseball team, the Leones, and their 2005 season. This particular chapter is about the food served in the stadium, but as with everything about baseball, it’s about so much more…
Three totally unrelated things arrived in Merida today: locusts, sculptures and the new Yucatan Living Emergency Numbers bookmark…
When Emily and Sid visited Merida recently, they didn’t plan any celebrations, but Merida and its people made other plans…
Find out what happens when the Working Gringos call the number on the English-language flyer stuck in their door last week to get their stoven repaired…
Finding a school for your English-speaking child in Merida is not easy if you don’t speak Spanish. We’ve done some of the legwork for you…
Every other day or so, when we arrive at our office in the morning or come home at night, one or more bits of paper are either slipped into the door or under the door or between the doors…
For the last year, daily life for the Working Gringa has started with a walk along Paseo de Montejo with the dogs, URL and Mali…
Last weekend, we wrangled an invitation to film a Mayan pig farm on the same day that Mexico played its decisive game in the World Cup…
It has been nearly three months since Socco May started beauty school in downtown Merida. Here’s an update on her progress…
The last time we traveled back to California, we found ourselves sitting at a stoplight in our car and feeling rather thirsty. We were suddenly struck by the absence of something we have come to expect and even appreciate here in Mexico…
You may remember Soco, whose quinceaños we attended awhile back in her home town of Oxtapakab. Now she’s off to beauty school…
In the past two days, the Working Gringos have had two medical experiences; one of them was comfortingly similar to experiences we have had in the States, and the other was a bit different…
Yesterday, as the world was reading about Merida and the cheap real estate here, some of us lucky residents decided to get out of Dodge for the day…
No, it’s not misspelled. The Spanish word around here for sweater is sueter, believe it or not…
We just found out about a fellow expatriate who is writing a blog about living in Mexico, Ruminations of an Expatriate…
On Saturday, a good friend of ours had a house-warming party. This was a party we did not want to miss, as the house she has just finished renovating is about one hour east of Merida in a tiny pueblito in the Yucatecan countryside…
On the way home from Costco, we were remarking how many things we used to think of as “missing” from Merida when we first moved here…
Mexicans have a much higher standard of personal grooming than Working Gringos will probably ever achieve…
Today is one of those days when those of us who moved here remember why…
Here’s something that you just don’t get in the States: a man to watch your street…
Hurricane Wilma is headed for the Yucatan. Not that we’re worried or anything. Merida is probably the safest large city in a hurricane zone that we can think of, now that we think of it…
There is a whole side of life in Merida (and many other Mexican cities) that most visitors to Merida never see…
Early in the morning, this sports park is surprisingly well attended. Surprising at first, but upon second thought, maybe not so much. At 5:30 AM, Merida is cool and fresh. By 7:30 AM, it gets hot and muggy. When would you rather exercise?..