Merida, Mexico 2009-Present

Current location: Merida, Mexico

I first came down to Merida last year for a 4 week assignment for my company, "to improve the working relationship between our Boston headquarters and the customer care office" here in the Yucatan. Now it certainly didn't hurt that those 4 weeks were taking place during January/February when weather in Boston is cold (we're talkin' below freezing), gray, and miserable!! My manager told me that I really "took one for the team" with with that assignment, and I couldn't agree more. If traveling closer to the equator during the coldest months of the year is what it takes to improve business, I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I recently found a journal entry from the first week of the assignment where I had written: "I can't believe that I'm sitting in an open-front restaurant in the middle of January, in short sleeves, enjoying the breeze, and sipping on an horchata. Just four days ago, I was freezing my butt off in Boston...my soul feels refreshed." Merida was most certainly a breath of fresh air after all of the winters I'd spent in Boston (4 during college & 3 as a "working professional" only having a short 2 year stint in between spent living in Virginia Beach, which had milder winters). I absolutely fell in love with the city, so much so that I petitioned to have that initial assignment extended to 6 weeks. And thankfully, the powers-that-be obliged.

With that extension of my assignment, I got to experience my first Merida CARNAVAL (Feb. 2009). Outside New Orleans and their famous Mardi Gras festivities, carnaval isn't celebrated widely in the US, so it was a real treat to get to be here during this traditional pre-Lent celebration. People from all over the city and surrounding towns filled Merida's main drag, Paseo Montejo, for 5 days drinking beer (SOL, seemed to be the most preferred variety, but Corona made a strong showing as well), listening to concerts at various stages set-up at intervals down the avenida, watching scantilly clad girls shake "what their mamas gave 'em" for all kinds of promotions from coca-cola to cell phone providers (not as scantilly clad as the infamous Brazilian topless carnaval dancers--think more along the lines of short-shorts and mid-rif bearing tops paired with "f**k me" boots), and enjoying treats from street-food vendors selling local favorites including elotes/esquites (corn on the cob or as kernels in a cup with the optional toppings of cream, cheese, CHILE, and limon--best with all 4 toppings, I was instructed, and the spicier the better), marquesitas (a thin pancake cooked over a hot flame in an iron press, which leaves a diamond pattern, that can be filled with cheese, queso de bola (the local favorite, which is actually from Holland), nutella, dulce de leche, or jam--or any combination--the best combo being the cheese and nutella, mm-mm-mm, and then rolled into a cylinder as the pancake hardens into a cripsy shell), tacos del pastor (pork cooked in a tasty special red spice),as well as a wide-variety of fried foods. Children and adults alike showed up wearing very inventive costumes for that year's theme (movies), and my favorites were the oh-so-beautiful crossdressers who put all of the real women to shame! I found the crowd to be more eintertaining than the parades, which had floats dedicated to different movies and more scantilly-clad girls, but were overall unimpressive in comparison to pictures I've seen of Brazilian carnaval floats. It was this former-anthropology student's dream experience to be visiting a foreign city during one of its largest yearly festivals.

It is now one year later, and carnaval just wrapped up earlier this week for 2010's celebration. I went and partook in the festivities for a few hours the first night with a friend from work, enjoyed the obligatory marquesita and a few beers, but we left fairly early. The weather was cooler and rainier this year, and since I'd seen it all last year, it no longer felt necessary to stick around to take in everything (and consume needless calories). I've been living here in Merida as a "temporary resident" since the end of August. It took me 6 months of begging and pleading when I got back to Boston, but my employer finally let me move down here to work from this office full-time on a year contract. I'm successfully avoiding the entire North Eastern winter and enjoying hearing stories about snow and cold from my comfortable Mexican locale. I have to admit quality of life is pretty darn good. I upgraded from my tiny one ROOM studio apartment in Somerville (north of Boston), with a rent of $995/month--nothing included, to a one bedroom house (with seperate kitchen/living room and access to a shared pool in the back) for less than $300/month--everything included. I have a car and all the freedom that brings for getting around (couldn't afford that in Boston where the public transportation system was my best friend and worst enemy). And the best thing...the beach is just 30 minutes to the north, Progeso Beach that is. Within the next month the weather should start warming up and by March or April, it will be beach weather again. I can't wait! Stay posted for more about Merida and my upcoming trip to Mexico City next month with a number of friends from work.