Comments on: Yucatan News: Miss Mexico and More!

By: Harald Jezek

Harald Jezek — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:28:32 +0000

Here a comment on the topic of “what is fraccionamiento”:
1) There is a difference between the term “colonia” and “fraccionamiento”. “Colonia” means city district with a complete set of infrastructure (stores, schools, churches,….). On the other hand, “fraccionaiento” are not organically grown, but built for the purpose to create housing.
2) Houses in fraccionamientos (and I’m talking more of the new develoments) are very much alike and very basic. Usually they come with 1 or 2 bedrooms, small kichen (w/o furniture), bathroom and living room. Often the total isn’t much more than 50 m2.
They are fairly cheap, but don’t include anything than the bare necessity (often not even a toilet).
All that is not a 100 % rule, exceptions obvioulsy exist. As CasiYucateco mentioned, there are older “fraccionamientos” that are very difficult to distinguish from a “colonia”

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:12:32 +0000

I will be arriving in Merida shortly before Christmas. I would be happy to help Mexico Bob rebuild Merida Insider, if he would like the help.

By: CasiYucateco

CasiYucateco — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:15:59 +0000

There are both “colonias” (neighborhoods) and “fraccionamientos” (subdivisions or developments) within older parts of Merida as well. Colonias will be areas around the older center of the city. Fraccionamientos are, generally speaking, farther out.

So, my point is, not all fraccionamientos are brand new subdivisions with the too small houses and no green space. There are older fraccionamientos as well.

Here’s a high-falutin’ way of saying it: (source: UNESCO)

Studied according to historical sequences, barrios (districts), colonias (colonies) and fraccionamientos (divisions) correspond to different moments of urban growth, i.e. the colonial city, the post-porfirian city and the modern-day city, result of a speeded-up urbanization process and a development mode partly immersed in globalization. These three concepts now coexist in the urban space at the level of cultural, social and symbolic values.

So, the difference between barrio, colonia, and fraccionamiento can be location (center to perimeter) and date of development (oldest to newest).

My personal wish is that the government begins to limit the tiny size of these new homes (people need some space to live) and to require more green space in areas with hundreds of new homes.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:39:38 +0000

I agree with your sentiments regarding Merida Insider. It was an invaluable resource when we were considering buying in Merida. It provided very helpful information for our obtaining the FM-3 and assisted us with our actual moving and driving to Merida. We miss it, inspite of some of its limitations, and hope to see a resurrection.

By: Nan

Nan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:44:10 +0000

Congratulations on the review in Mexperience. It is richly deserved as you provide an enormous amount of information in an entertaining manner.