sacc3850
Sep 11, 2005, 9:36 PM
Post #4 of 14
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Re: [Paul Rodriguez] Rentals in Merida
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Can't Post | Private Reply
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September 11, 2005 10:45 PM EDST
Hola, Pablo. Merida is a city of one million people. You can find the same facilities there as you would in any major American city, except they are cheaper, and are staffed by a very amiable people. "Nice" is something that we gringos forget to be frequently in our relations with others, except for families and friends. Your friend will join many thousands of us gringos and become a "snowbird", even if for only this winter. Last winter I signed up in my mind as a permanent snowbird, and you could not pick a better time or place, than the Yucatan peninsula and Merida in the winter. Merida in summer is no place for your friend with a heart condition, as the temperatures can become BRUTAL.
Just the opposite in the winter. Very balmy and pleasant, plus the winter is the "in" season among the Gulf and Caribe coast areas, but just the opposite in Merida, since most tourists favor "beach" over cities and towns. I am 80 years old, and this past January-March, I drove 7980 miles from Virginia to the Caribe, Yucatan, Campeche, Chiapas, San Cristobal, Villahermosa, Veracruz, and back. To keep this within the limits of reasonableness, I will give you an example of how very nice the Mexicans(majority of them)can be to strangers. Going down, I was in Tuxpan, a nice seaside town south of Tampico. I was looking for a nice motel, and stopped to check one out. The lighting was poor, and there was uneven pavement to allow cars to enter. I took a really nice fall, banged my head. hit my knee on the ground, and was very much a mess. A young Mexican "good samaritan" guy came to my rescue. He called the Mexican Red Cross, and very promptly a van arrived with some EMS technicians, and a police officer. The medics
checked me out, saw that I was a good bit battered and bruised, and swabbed the affected areas with antiseptics. The police officer asked me if I was in good enough condition to drive, and I said that I was, after getting to the comfort of my car and trying to do so. The police officer left after taking the info for his police report. I asked the medics to accompany me to the motel that I was seeking since I looked like an old guy who had been in a bar room fight and came in second, and would not be allowed to check into this nice motel. They did so, along with the young "good samaritan" guy, and they accepted me as a guest at the motel. Another, example of the nature of Mexican hospitality was in San Cristobal, Chiapas. I ate in a cheap "taco" joint that I had eaten on a prior trip, because I was too lazy to walk a few blocks further to a better place. I didn't get "turista", I got food poisoning. Nobdy dies from "turista", you can easily die from food poisoning. At my hotel they called a doctor, at my request, and a really good one came, whose specialties were internal medicine and geriatrics. He wrote a number of prescriptions for me, and gave me express written instructions on when and how much of the various medicines to take. The charge was $ 45 US dollars for this Sunday house call by this fine doctor. I survived. Also, I had three car breakdowns, and in each instance was back on the road the same day at about a quarter of what I would have paid in los Estados Unidos. I was stopped twice by los federales(federal traffic police) and was treated kindly and assisted in each case. I was stopped seven times by young Mexican soldados(soldiers) at check points, and they were more interested in me and my minivan than in the contents. Lots of gringos rent cars down there. Very few drive their own that far into the country. After reading(suffered) this far, I will give you a candid view of your friends proposed trip. I suggest that you go online this website and scroll down on the left to the "2600 mexican websites" spot, and click on that. At the bottom to the left where there is a blank, type in "yucatan", and when that opens on the first page thereof, click on the numeral 2 that appears, which will bring you to the second page. Scroll down to the TierraMaya website, and they have plenty of rentals available for $ 400-$600 monthly in the Merida area. I suggest renting as near the Centro(city center) as he can. But check the place for street noise first. He will be a short walk from some great restaurants, movie theaters, free outdoor music, and stage and art presentations. One thing surely, he will not be bored, he will eat some ghreat food, he will be safer in Merida than in Florida, he will have medical services available at a fraction of the cost in the States, and he will have a hell of a good time. Get a good travel book about the Yucatan, and they will have locations and prices of hotels and restaurants in Merida, and the whole state. Plus, travel by bus is cheap and very comfortable. Cabs are far cheaper than here. As a starter, try the Posada Toledo, at 57th and 58th streets before he rents his place. They are very hospitable there, and speak English. Rooms are in the $ 34-$35 area nightly, and get one of the newer rooms on the third floor(they have five). Try the Restaurante Habana nearby, which is a first class coffee shop. Go to the ruins by tour. Go to Celestun for the flamingos, and go to Ticopo nearby(20 miles) via second-class bus for the Saturday afternoon show presented by a cast of about 400 Mayans of that village dressed in native costum. Just like MacArthur, "he will return". Buen suerte! sacc3850
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