A while back someone from a US university was doing heat island or city environment studies (effect of plants and trees on city temperatures?). Does anyone remember who / where that was? At least one of their studies was specifically on different neighborhoods of Merida. The more plants, the lower the warming.

Excellent paper on old Havana explores what makes these colonial designs work. Tablada et al 2009 in Building and Environment.

And, even if they don’t rot, they will hold moisture, making the room more humid.

We just went through this with a friend who really loves wood floors. He put in wood floors in Merida. A few roof leaks (a little water, not a lot) and bugs later, and the floors were all torn out. Rotted and eaten. And they were “madera duro” “tipo Brasil.” Thousands of dollars… They were not soft wood. Finished, sealed and still rotted and eaten. So, just sayin’….

Properly built block walls will have a stone foundation to above ground level, then have a water-proofing coat of something like tar (probably is tar) and then the blocks are built on top. The cement blocks (and stone foundation, if it shows) are covered with a stucco layer of cement.

That type of wall would hold paint well (if you use two coats of cement sealer (sellador) on it). I’m assuming since you don’t want flaking, that you also do not want the traditional higher up-keep cal paint. A good paint like Comex or Berryl will stay pretty decent for a while.